Step 6: The bamboo propagation

Is it possible to imagine a philippine farm without bamboo? Of course, the answer is: no! From touthpick to construction, the bamboo is useful for all. As we have only three small clumps of bamboos, we need to propagate this king of the family of the poaceae.The Bambusa spinosa we have is the most common bamboo in the Philippines, also called Kawayan (Kauayan) tinik. It can be used inside the windbreaks. For this first trial, we choose the culm cutting-1 node technique. After selecting the culm, it is cut at 2.50m from the soil: the middle third of the culm bears the best nodes for the cuttings. So the top of the culm is also discarded.

The longer branches should be cut at the second node and the secondary branches are discarded.

At the nursery, a medium is prepared with sand and vermicompost (1:1) and used to fill large strong polyethylene bags.

It is now time to cut the bamboo. It is important to have a very clean cutting and the saw for pruning is a better tool than the machete.

The cutting is then buried in the bag with an angle.

Last steps as usual: watering, mulching and spraying of microorganisms.

Our cuttings need now around 7 months of care (watering everyday, spraying,...) before replanting the news rhizomes with new shoots.

Step 5: The coconut clumps

There are a few coconut trees in the farm, not enough to quench the thirst of many students! If  we want 40 to 50 coconut trees in a classic pattern (7.5mx7.5m) we will need 2800 m². It is a too much big area. The clump technique (from Bill Mollison, Permaculture, A Designer'Manual, Tagari publication, Second edition, 2002) consists to group 10-12 coconut trees in a circle 5m diameter. The used space is reduced to 80 m² for 4 clumps of 11 coconut trees each.

In other terms 1 ha of conventional coconut tree plantation can accept 177 palms and very few place for intercropping. The clump technique increases the number of palm to 266 per hectare and 8000 m² are available for intercropping.

As the coconut trees are very closed, they will compete for the light and grow in direction of the exterior of the circle. Another advantage is the center of the circle will be filled with the husk, dead leaves and provide to the trees an excellent mulching and fertilizer. The area can stay clean without too much work.

We have now 44 coconut trees planted (4 clumps of 11 coconut trees) and .... a few years to wait before we can taste our bukos!

Step 4: Continuing the living fence

The boundary of the west side is in the middle of a crick used as ricefield. The barbed wire is really horrible in the middle of the rice and we wish to hide it as soon as possible. But what plant can accept these conditions of life? With Davoy, from Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation, we expect that the Madre de Cacao or Kakawate (Gliricidia sepium) can accept the challenge. If it grows, it will also provide free nitrogen to the rice and food for livestock.

So we deliver long cuttings we reduce to small pieces of 40 cm with a slant cut each side. Then, the bark downside is peeled a few centimeters. It avoids also to plant the cutting upside-down. 

A carabao of the village delivers the 880 cuttings along the ricefield. Everybody is happy to have finished the manual sawing!

A hole is made in the dyke, vermicompost is added and the cutting planted.

Result in a few week!

In fact, this row of Madre de Cacao is not really included in the windbreak and we have to start it from the bank of the ricefield. This place is very sensitive to erosion. A leguminous plant is choosen as usual. This time it is Cajanus cajan or Pidgeon pea or, locally, Kadyos. Use of Kadyos are multiple: food, fodder, apiculture, fuel, fibre, timber, medicine and even host for silkworm. It controls erosion and we need to protect the fragil crick bank. It fixes nitrogen and improves the soil.

Direct seeding is possible but its slow early growth during 2-3

 months can be a problem of competition. That is why we used the germination in plastic tray, transplantation at 25-30 days, vermicompost, protection with banana bracts and mulching. The time life of this plant is 5 years.

The first 100 (on the 250 needed) Kadios planted along the ricefield will fix the the bank with their roots longer than 2m.

Step 3: Beginning of the windbreaks

The multipurpose windbreak we started to plant this month will protect the crops from wind. Of course it will not stop typhoons but the negative effects of strong winds until 50 km/h are drastically reduced. This benefic effect improves the production, protects the soil and conserves water. It will also increase the biodiversity and provide farm products.Its design must be considered very seriously: in the worst case, a bad windbreak increases the destructive effect of the wind! The orientation, the density, the number of rows, the height of the trees is not the fruit of the hazard.

The trees  or bushes we chose are the result of a hard selection: the tree should show good qualities when used as windbreak, it must be available in Negros Island, thrive on clay-loamy soil and show at least one useful property like nitrogen fixer, erosion control, fruit, nut or food, bee or bird forage or food, resistance to dryness or water logging, good growth rate, mulching, medicine. Thanks to Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation, Inc. in Bacolod ( http://www.negrosforests.org ) especially to his Chairman Gerardo L. Ledesma and David "Davoy" Castor who helped me in the choice of species of trees and provided a great number of seedlings.

The first flower of a cutting of Hibiscus

in our nursery will be a component of

the living fence

We decided to install 7 rows:

- the first one is along the barbed wire and will establish a living fence supposed to replace the bamboo posts and the barbed wire when they will be destroyed in 3 to 5 years. Most percent of the plants are leguminous and will be used as forage for the lifestock. This row starts to deflect the wind.

- The second row is made with medium size trees (as neem tree), first real rampart to protect from the wind.

- The third row is the place of tall trees (as white lauan) which will deflect the wind high over the crops on about 10 times the height of the tallest tree.

- The forth row is again medium tree but exclusively fruit trees (as cachew or avocado).

- the 3 next rows are leguminous plants used for cut and carry method to feed the livestock.

Today we will see only the first row: the living fence. This row is the first you will see when you arrive at the school farm. It must be nice to see, that is why you will find Bougainvillea spectabilis so beautiful and much more efficient than barbed wire to keep bad people outside! And Tecoma stans, Duranta plumieri, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Caesalpinia pulcherrima will color and become more attractive the limit of the lot. A farm should also look like a garden! 

                                        

                                             

Caesalpinia pulcherrima, a beautiful leguminous plant of Asia!

But it is also a farm and the living fence should also be productive and we will plant Cajanus cajan, the pidgeon pea, Calliandra calothyrsus, Sesbania sesban the egyptian pea and Gliricidia sepium the marvellous and multipurpose Madre de Cacao. 

Let see the plantation of the 500 first Calliandra. The seedlings are planted every 50 cm to have a good windbreak effect. As always in a windbreak we give preference to the efficience as windbreak, not to the productivity. As rule of thumb, 500 Calliandra are enough to feed 1 cow or 4 to 5 goats.

 

Here the 9 steps: 

Cleaning of the roots of sugar cane

     Sticking

      Holing

     Adding compost

   

 Mixing of the compost

    Planting

    Protecting from the wind

    Spraying of microorganisms

    Mulching with bagasse

Step Two: The fencing

A little cleaning is necessary to build the fencing on a plane soil. A bulldozer solves the problem in a few hours.

The fencing is very simple: bamboo posts every 3m, five rows of barbed and planned wire. We only want a protection for our plantations against the appetite of goats and carabaos. As soon as possible a living fence will be planted and will cover and replace this ugly barbed wire fence.

Seven species of plants constitute this living fence: Bougainvillea spectabilis, Cajanus cajan (Kadyos), Calliandra calothyrsus, Desmantus virgatus (Cow pea) , Sesbania grandiflora (Katuray) and Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Bulaklak ng paraiso). These plants are also selected because of their great value in a windbreak and the living fence is the first row of the windbreak. Of course they participate to the increasing of biodiversity and embellishe the limits of the lot.

In our temporary nursery we start seedlings of some of these species. Here are our first seedlings of Caesalpinia pulcherrima, one of the most beautiful flower of Asia.

Step One: The survey

After the administrative work and official ceremonies, it is time now to discover each square meter of the lot. With the help of a GPS it is easy to make a fast survey with basic informations about position and altitude. It is essential to position the windmill, the tanks, the buildings and the crops at the good altitude. As some differences appeared between the old maps and the reality, the City decides to proceed a new survey with theodolite and technical description of 1918.

The City solve also some problems of squatters who use the lot for their own cultures. The City will relocate them.

We can now edit the use of the lot as we see it in a near future and allocate the areas for each crop and buildings, for the livestock and its forage, for the water net from the windmill to irrigation, tanks and wetland. Now there is more or less only sugar cane, but we are at the step one, doesn't it?

13th of June 2008: Groundbreaking and signing of the MoA

On 13th of June 2008, took place in Sagay (Negros occidental) a ceremony which was an important step in the story of the school farm. It marks the end of the research of a place to set up the school farm and the beginning of the real visible starting of this project. After feasability studies in Mati (Davao Oriental), Boys town in Manila and Capas near Tarlac, the final location of the school farm will be the Barangay General Luna in the City of Sagay. This agreement between the City of Sagay and Virlanie Foundation Inc. is not a result of hasard. The Mayor Alfredo G. Maranon Jr as many decision makers and politicians have understood since a long time the advantages and the necessity to prepare the future of farming and reorient it to organic and natural farming. Negros is not only the sugar island of the Philippines but also the most advanced island in organic farming.
Mayor Maranon invited Dominique Lemay and Daniel Collot, the project manager of the school farm to the location of the future farm which is, at the present time covered, of course, of sugar cane. It was the occasion to introduce Virlanie to the barangay authorities, the Captain Barangay, Brenda Benedicto and the detachment of 80 soldiers who protect the place.
After usual but pleasant speeches, the memorandum of agreement was officially signed. Then the document was rolled, placed in plastic tube with a little rice and money, buried in the soil and covered with concrete. Everybody hope this practice will attract good production of the cultures, chance and profits. As of now, Virlanie is the tenant of 9.2 hectares of land and the new step for the project is to consolidate the financing of the project already supported by Air France, the Conseil regional Midi Pyrenees and as soon as possible... other sponsors!