Growing up in the highly urbanized and mostly congested city of Manila, Felix a city boy had practically no idea of farming. His family’s source of income at that time was T-shirt printing. In the course of their printing business, he observed that the paints they used are very toxic posing a health risk to him and his family. This risk which they face daily ignited the interest of Mr. Felix alternative medicine through herbal plant production and utilization. His first investment in this newly found endeavor is the accumulation of essential knowledge and skills thus, he took the initiative of doing thorough researches and attended various related trainings.
His growing curiosity and interest in alternative medicine introduced him to organic agriculture. This system, he believes, is the answer to improving their health because its products are safe and healthy. He then started to put into action his dream to provide safe and healthy food for his family. His first move was to secure a suitable area for his farm. He found and later bought a piece of land, with an area of about a hectare, at Pinsao, Baguio City.
Like any undertaking, there are challenges this city man has to overcome as he begins his journey. Even the land where his farm is located has a story of its own. It used to be a chayote farm and later remained idle for several years after Mr. Felix purchased it. The land’s idleness attracted a group of squatters who, after a prolonged stay, even declared the land as their own. To make matters worse, the said group even enticed other people to join. This threat then came to his knowledge when his future mother-in-law precautioned him that the squatters were planning to take their claim to the land and are set to invade it.
Anticipating the incident, Mr. Felix moved ahead and asked help from the authorities. During the day of the invasion, the squatters marched towards the area and to their surprise, security guards and law enforcers were already stationed at the possible entry points. Eventually, the squatters gave up but Mr. Felix remained anxious about the situation. He then hired a security guard for a year. Unfortunately, the security guard engaged in gambling leaving the land unattended. Mr. Felix realized that he is just paying the guard for nothing as there was no return on investment for almost a year.
It was at this point that his interest on organic farming began to finally bud and grow. He jumpstarted organic farming in 2006 turning his idle lot into his dream farm. Having his mind fixed at starting purely organic, only 1,500 square meters of the area was initially developed since he plans to expand the production gradually. Consequently, he brought his family and lived in Baguio City up to this date.
Having limited knowledge and practical skills on organic farming, he befriended nearby organic farmers with advanced farming practices. He aimed at adopting their practices since he believes that their practices are seasoned and well-adopted to the environmental condition of his new home. Moreover, with his initial researches on alternative medicine, he integrated herbal plants into his newly established farm. All of these labors are worth it as he sees his family the first beneficiary of the farm produce.
Aside from personal and family reasons, Mr. Felix remained true to his passion for alternative medicine using herbs. He envisions his farm as a source of medicinal herbs to be used as medicine for cancer patients. It is for this reason that he dubbed the crops planted in his farm “life-giver plants” thus the farm name “Garden of Life”.
After years of patience and persistent labor, Mr. Felix obtained a third-party certification as an organic agriculture farm from the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP) through a group certification under the La Trinidad Organic Practitioners (LATOP) Mutli-Purpose Cooperative. LATOP is the first organic agriculture farmers’ group in the Cordillera Administrative Region founded by pioneers of organic farming in Benguet with Mr. Felix as one of its founding members. In 2012, the Learning Site for Agriculture- extension modality of the ATI was institutionalized. Garden of Life was then certified as one of the pioneering learning sites on organic agriculture in CAR.
Part of his organic farming and health advocacy is the promotion of raw-food diet which according to him is way better than processed or cooked food diet. Believing in the principle that only life begets life, he is convinced that consuming raw vegetables, means eating “living food.” He always emphasizes in his lectures and farm briefings that food, particularly vegetables, cooked at 40 degrees Celsius and up is considered dead food due to the breaking down of enzymes at high temperature. However, he clarified that this does not necessarily regard cooked food as a poor source of nutrition rather it lacks the enzymes that cancer patients need so badly. He cited the case of the spinach, which is one of the vegetables planted in his garden. He explained that spinach is better eaten raw because cooking it produces a chemical compound called oxalates that hinders the absorption of calcium in the body.
Consistent with his advocacy, for alternative medicine, he integrated medicinal herbs and culinary plants along with vegetables. Dora for example is used as supplementary food for liver patients. Wheatgrass is also one of his farm’s signature plant because it is considered a superfood, a detoxifier, and is also a good source of protein. Moreover, its pH level is within the alkaline range thus it is highly recommended for cancer patients since cancer cells thrive better in an acidic environment and eating alkaline-based foods will help hinder the growth of cancer cells.
His persistence in practicing and advocating organic agriculture bridged him to various partnerships with several government agencies like the Municipal Agriculture Office of La Trinidad, Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute, Benguet State University, Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office Cordillera Administrative Region, and private organic farms. Out of these partnerships he was able to gather support, in various forms, triangulating the development of the Garden of Life.
Garden of Life, as an organic agriculture learning site, practices OA technologies that are worth emulating. Before becoming an LSA, there are already pre-existing OA technologies that he practices in the farm. In the pre-production phase, he produces his own seeds and employs seed treatment. He then uses seedling trays and sows 1 to 2 seeds per hole giving allowance for seeds which will not sprout or seedlings will not eventually grow. Some of the crops are also directly planted in the soil.
While farming, Mr. Felix is also open to adopting new OA technologies. Composting is one of these technologies which he believes as the heart of organic agriculture. It is bringing back what belongs to the farm and while producing it may be a tedious task, he firmly believes that it is still the safest input in his farm. He said that compost provides the bulk of the macro-elements needed by the plants. In addition to fertilizer, compost is also applied as mulch to his crops during vegetative stage. He also employs the double dig trench by digging a one-foot deep trench and putting layers of compost which in turn serves as the plant bed for the crops. He does this once a year before he starts cultivating the plant boxes and planting a new set of crops. Aside from compost, he also produces vermicompost which he mixes with the soil media for seedling production. Finally, charcoal is also added as a farm input because not all minerals are found in his farm. The introduction of charcoal in his farm reveals a better outcome and yield.
Mr. Fellix also uses bricks to create plant boxes that contain the topsoil mixed with organic compost and vermicompost. The topsoil from the pathways is scraped off and is then added in the plant beds. The pathway is now unfavorable for any plant, including weeds, to grow. This has been his practice to control the growth of weeds in the production area. The bricks also serve as a dwelling place for farm lizards which serve as natural pest control.
His production practices also include crop rotation and companion planting. He believes that in organic agriculture, diverse crops are encouraged to be intercropped. In practicing this, he observed that some crops do not get along with other crops as some disturb or distress the growth of other crops. There are also crops like herbs that ward off insects of other crops. Benchmarking from these lessons and experiences, the farm was able to program what crops are to be planted in a year. This has been his practice and serves as one of the standard farm operations. The farmworkers are made aware of these standards hence, they work with minimal supervision.
Aside from crops, he discovered that rabbit production is more feasible and brings more profit. Aside from the health benefits of its meat product, he considers the ease of its management. Feeds for the rabbits are readily available in the farm like native forages. He believes that rabbits can be organically raised as their food is available within the farm thus, there is need for commercial feeds. He even recommends “lapan” (rabbit meat) as an alternative meat diet for cancer patients. His family is consuming a rabbit per week as they prefer lapan over chicken meat.
He added that rabbit manure is categorized as cold manure. Therefore, it may be applied directly as fertilizer but under the Philippine National Standards for organic agriculture, it has to be composted before application, thus he has to stick to said standards. After several years of raising rabbits, he learned by himself various behaviors of the stocks. He isolates pregnant rabbits and those who have just given birth because they are so sensitive to noise which can cause them stress. A stressed doe can act cannibalistically and eat its bunnies.
Mr. Felix believes that, “learning respects no one, not age nor timing.” While he is implementing the pre-existing and adopted technologies, he realized that OA technologies continue to emerge. This fueled more his interest to further improve his production practices and continued attending training and other capacity-building activities related to organic agriculture. Thus, his attendance to trainings and seminars became the technology adoption-diffusion mechanism observed in his OA journey. He even watches agricultural vlogs on organic agriculture farming practices locally and internationally. If he finds any problem in the course of his farm operations, he also consults with an advanced OA practitioner.
His farm workers are a practical example of the fruits of his OA advocacy. The farmworkers used to be conventional cut flower producers but when they were engaged in organic farming at the Garden of Life, they also adopted some principles they learned in the farm. Hence, they are grateful because their experiences from the farm made them start and maintain a healthier lifestyle. Aside from farming technologies and practices, he was also able to share to his farmworkers one of his guiding principle in farming which is “if a farmer is financially motivated in farming, he will tend to cheat in the future.”
He also considers the support from his family and the different organizations and government agencies as facilitating factors in the implementation of the LSA as an extension modality. His family is very supportive of him in his organic agriculture endeavors. His family members help him in packaging the vegetables harvested from the farm. His children are also delivering the products directly to the clients within Baguio City. He also recognizes the financial and technical supports from DA-ATI and LGU La Trinidad that helped in the development of the farm.
Mr. Felix also encountered challenges in his farm operations. One of which is related to human resource management. He once hired a fresh graduate and licensed agriculturist but to his surprise, the agriculturist does not follow the OA standards. Other farmworkers are difficult to convince towards improving and changing their conventional farming practices towards organic farming. As a measure, he patiently guided the farmworkers in the implementation of the principles of organic agriculture. He works with his farmworkers until he had the peace of mind that they are applying what is imparted to them. However, another problem arose when the farmworkers have imbibed the principle of organic farming. They irregularly report to the farm as they also started their small-scale organic production in their own farms. Since they have built interest in OA farming, he agreed with the farmworkers that they will work on their farms after their working hours at the Garden of Life.
Despite Mr. Felix’s experiences, with all the ups and downs, alongside organic agriculture farming, he continues to be an advocate of safe and healthy food to his family, his farm workers, and fellow farmers. He managed to maintain being a learning site for five years. With his advocacy to expand his influence on other people, he decided to renew his certification as a learning site in 2020 and was granted another five years. Since Mr. Felix focuses on health and nutrition, he steadily dwells on his belief that feeding the soil with full-packed nutrients will in return feed the plants. Crops grown with full-packed nutrients will eventually give consumers the full-packed nutrients they need as they eat safe and living food. All of these in his heart and mind, Mr. Felix and his Garden of Life continues to provide extension services by diffusing practical OA technologies and providing farm advisory services to interested individuals.
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