The Farm House

Telco executive-turned-farmer Ronald Costales and his wife Josie personally toured us in their much smaller family farm when we visited in April 2010. Since then, we have worked together in several projects promoting organics. Ronald was awarded as “Organic Farmer of the Year” by the Department of Agriculture during the recently held National Organic Agriculture Congress (NOAC) in Cebu. Currently, Josie is the Treasurer and one of our co-Board of Trustees in Organic Producers and Traders Association of the Philippines (OPTA Philippines).

Today, this couple has successfully grown their business to a commercial scale, integrated and  sustainable organic farm that supplies top hotels, restaurants and organic grocers. They are the first and only partner farmers of Healthy Options Organic Local Farm which was launched yesterday.

Costales Farms’ Seedling Greenhouse

The farm is certified organic by NICERT and  has a land area of five (5) hectares.  It is the first Agritourism destination in the Philippines accredited by Department of Tourism. The farming practices are based on the Japanese Farming Systems and Korean Natural Farming wherein micro organisms play a vital role not only in enriching the soil but also in the production of vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry and livestock.

Costales Nature Farms‘ mission is for Filipinos to “experience the freshness of nature”.

Organically-grown Romaine Lettuce

This Sunday, January 27th, experience nature and farm life as they hold their 1st Harvest Festival.

Yes, harvest all you can! Pick your own organic veggies, herbs and spices, free range poultry and eggs and organic pork at farm gate prices.

Dine at the farm and enjoy all natural, ready to eat organic salad and organic dishes. Feast on the freshly butchered poultry and pork, live tilapia fish and catfish ‘hito’ from the pond  and cooked without artificial ingredients. There will be guided farm tours, lectures and demonstrations.

Freshly picked salad greens and Josie’s special dressing

Costales Farms’ version of Tinolang Manok (with chicken liver and lemongrass)

Grilled Tilapia – Literally from farm-to-plate!

Grilled Organic Pork Liempo

You can also opt to visit Majayjay Falls, a tourist’s destination which is located near the farm. Experience all these activities with your family and friends  at the farm. The once-in-a-lifetime experience is worth the trip.

The entrance fee to the event is FREE.

Organic Carrots

Have you tried picking your own salad veggies or catching a live fish?

True enough, a week after, Josie Costales sent us an SMS about a launch event by Healthy Options for their new product line of locally-grown farm produce and meats. Of course, we immediately said yes to Josie and confirmed our attendance.

The launch is aptly entitled “Organika” and it will be held tonight at Edsa Shangrila Hotel. We are excited to hear more about it and to meet friends from the organic industry during the event.

We still remember how we responded to him. “Yes, you’re right. Well, it is a journey, and we look forward to a lifetime of exploring, discovering, learning and sharing about the importance of a healthy soil, the seeds grown in it, the love and care in growing them, and the taste of freshly harvested farm produce is the reward of the relationships in this love story.”

This morning, we met Dan Barber and were reminded of that encounter all over again.

Dan Barber is the chef at New York’s Blue Hill restaurant, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Westchester, where he practices a kind of close-to-the-land cooking married to agriculture and stewardship of the earth. As described on Chez Pim: “Stone Barns is only 45 minutes from Manhattan, but it might as well be a whole different universe. A model of self-sufficiency and environmental responsibility, Stone Barns is a working farm, ranch, and a three-Michelin-star-worthy restaurant.” It’s a vision of a new kind of food chain.

Barber’s philosophy of food focuses on pleasure and thoughtful conservation – on knowing where the food on your plate comes from and the unseen forces that drive what we eat. He’s written on US agricultural policies, asking for a new vision that does not throw the food chain out of balance by subsidizing certain crops at the expense of more appropriate ones.

In 2009, Barber received the James Beard award for America’s Outstanding Chef, and was named one of the world’s most influential people in Time’s annual “Time 100″ list.

If you have a Pinoy version of Dan Barber in your life, can you honor him/her by sharing his/her story in Pinoy Organics?

p.s. RESERVE THE DATE: Feb. 23, 2013. This will be our first meet-up event for the year. Venue will be in Taguig and food will be prepared by one of our Dan Barbers. Buzz us if you want to reserve a slot (pinoyorganics@gmail.com). Bring a friend or a date Kita-kits!

Last Tuesday, we attended “Good News Kapihan” held in ECHOstore’s flagship store in Serendra BGC. The proponents for this event were Chit Juan and Tina Dumlao in partnership with ECHOstore and ECHOmarket.

Great Line-Up of Resource Speakers on Health & Wellness

Dr. Albert Jo, a medical doctor turned alternative/integrated practitioner and organic farmer, shared a lot of health and wellness tips such as his family’s  annual detox program, tips on what to eat (and not to eat), and other practical ways to live a healthier lifestyle. Usec. Berna Romulo-Puyat shared the Department of Agriculture’s thrust about organics for 2013. Clinical psychologist Dra. Isabel Melgar tackled the topic on autism, ADD/ADHD and sparked hope for families with children with special needs. It was great to see biodynamic farmer and co-board of trustee in OPTA Nico Aberasturi who helped us understand the many benefits of eating locally produced grassfed/pastured farm meats.

Sharon Tan-Chua

ECHOstore’s first and only franchisee Sharon Tan-Chua shared her touching story behind their new business. Chua said, “It’s not about the money. My husband Chris and I decided to get into this business because of our child with special needs. We live in Quezon City and we wanted a one-stop place to buy everything we need any day of the week.”

After an hour and a half of sharing, laughing, crying, and eating, we left the event inspired. We promised ourselves to re-assess our lifestyle before this week ends and add some new health and wellness goals for this year.

ECHOstore’s Popular Mini Burgers with Lemongrass with Pandan Iced Tea

Join us as we eat local (and preferably organic), exercise more, and inspire others to live a healthier lifestyle this year – and beyond! Cheers!

Good News Kapihan Speakers and Organizers
(In photo, L-R): 1st row Dra. Isabel Melgar, Usec. Berna Romulo-Puyat, Dr. Albert Jo, Sharon Chua, Jeannie Javelosa, Reena Francisco; 2nd row Nico Aberasturi and Chit Juan

What are your top health and wellness goal for this year?

The Many Benefits of Raw Food

You get the best of the best nutrients of whatever you’re eating when you consume it at its most natural state. Heat destroys enzymes and lessens the good stuff in it.

Eating raw food like fruits and vegetables can:

• Cure many skin problems including eczema
• Cure allergies and asthma
• Cure gout
• Lose weight
• Improve overall health

These did not come from a book on raw food. These are some of our real life experiences when we started integrating raw food in our diet.

Since 2011, we have been battling with eczema and after many visits to many doctors, lots of organic, natural then eventually commercial steroid creams, we finally won over this skin condition many people, especially children, are suffering from. One of the keys to that healing was raw food.

Should I go 100% raw all the way?

We believe that the best “diet” is customized according one’s personal beliefs and nutritional needs. It’s been three years since our family started our journey to a sustainable, healthy lifestyle, and we have gone extremes: from no red meat diet to all raw food. Today, a balanced diet according to our blood type plus proper food combination have worked well for us, BUT more dark green leafy veggies have greatly helped us in a major, major way. J

The key is to listen to your body and feed it what it needs to live an optimum lifestyle. Equally important is to slowly introduce raw food (or any kind of change) in your overall diet.  If you want to learn more about raw food and juicing, go here.

And here’s our favorite part. Just in case you want to go raw, PLEASE CHOOSE LOCAL AND ORGANIC vegetables and fruits. You wouldn’t want residues of pesticides and chemicals to go in that glass of fresh smoothie for breakfast, right?

If there’s ONE thing about raw food you want to learn about, what would that be and why?

This year’s National Organic Agriculture Congress on November 6 to 8 will be held in Cebu, one of the emerging organic farming centers in the country.

Assistant Secretary Salvador Salacup of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said that about 1,500 participants from the different sectors are expected to join. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) President Andre Leu will serve as keynote speaker and will be discussing the trends in the global market for organic agriculture.

Theme for this year is, “ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: For Food Security & Business Opportunity.” Topics on standards, food safety, and organic practices will be discussed.

A Chef’s Parade and a visit in a nearby organic farm are also part of the many activities the participants, including ourselves, are looking forward to see during this 3-day event. To know more about this annual event, click and download the programme below:

9th NOAC Provisional Programme

Do you think Cebu is ready to go organic?

The objective of the conference is to share the global organic trends and opportunities with focus on status of major international market and importing countries’ requirements and experiences or best practices in organic marketing in the Asian region.

No less than the IFOAM World Board President Andre Leu will lead the panel of resource speakers together with IFOAM Asia delegates and other guests from Japan, China, India, Europe and the Philippines.

For more details, you may contact the OPTA Secretariat office at 925‐11‐33/ 506‐1082/ 0915‐602‐034/ 0917‐537‐5639.

Every year, we look forward to the annual Negros Trade Fair in Manila. Fortunately, our schedule allowed us to take a sneak peek on its first day. With the theme “Beyond Limits,” it features products from the five sectors of the Association of Negros Producers (ANP): fashion, furniture, gifts and housewares, food, and organic and natural products.

The 27th Negros Trade Fair will be open to the public at Rockell Tent in Makati City from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sept. 26 to 28, and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sept. 29 and 30. Entrance fee is P40.

We will go back to the trade fair tomorrow. See you there!

The nationwide awards program cites the achievements of both public and private entities engaged in farming and includes traditional and modern farmers, fisherfolk, animal raisers, cooperatives, farm communities, organizations, scientists, the academe, LGUs and public employees, as well as business entities in rural and urban areas.

The Awards Program is the special tribute set aside by the Junior Chamber International-Philippines for the agricultural sector which is seen to still be the main driver of the country’s development.

Its main goal, according to JCI Philippines National President Randolf Ivan Ruste, is to foster the steady increase of youth venturing into the agriculture sector, invigorating investment and scientific advancement to achieve sustainable food supply.

TOFARM will give out 11 awards this year, said TOFARM Project Chairman Rommel Cunanan: six in the individual category and five in the group category. These are : Farmer, Fisherfolk, Livestock, Agri-Entrepreneur, Young Farmer, Agricultural Innovator and Urban/City Farmer in the individual category; and Agriculture Cooperative, Family Farmer, Local Government Unit, Agriculture Initiatives and People’s Choice in the group category.

The nomination period for Outstanding Farmer candidates will end on September 30. Validation and Judging of nominees will take place in October and November, while the Awarding takes place in December.

Nomination forms may be submitted as hard copy or sent online to www.tofarm.org.

For more information, call the TOFARM Hotline 709-5001 to 54, fax 709-5006 or email info.tofarm@gmail.com.

So, why don’t you try growing your own small patch of vegetable or herb garden this long weekend?

Photo: www.insanvekalite.net