EarthKeepers Landscaping

Arman Saniano is now landscaping the front lawn!! Arman wanted waterfalls but that can wait. Right now a "kawa" with fish will do, and soil, sod and grass, a trellis for the vines. He says it's the kind of landscaping that will grow into beauty rather than have plants that will just grow wild and unruly after lack of maintenance.

Garden growing

The weeds/grass has almost completely covered the front lawn. There are budding rambutans, the flowering vines (begonias and blue bells) are climbing the sagging fence. There is a new gate with an arch made of bamboo and two bougainvillas with variegated leaves were planted on either side, to meet up in the arch and replace the bamboo in the future. The impatiens have been planted next to a row of santan, the pandanus took a place near the fence and the hill. The runo, ritual plant of the cordilleras stand health just below the master bedroom window.

Papaya ang malunggay have been planted at the backyard (someone else's property, actually) and climbing ivy is now growing near the wall. Already imagining all this in three years or so.

Gina and Cely did a great job, with the help of Cely's husband and brood. OF course the sili labuyo, two of them, will never be sacrificed for any ornamental plant.

Other plans: Dill and Duranta right outside the fence.

WE HAVE A NAME!

Today, I decided to use the word Ikotahanan for the little house in Baloc-baloc, Nangkaan, Mataasnakahoy, Batangas. (Note the spelling of Mataasnakahoy, this is now the official one)

A play on ecohouse, of course, but also symbolizing cycles and how materials and energy should always go in cycles. Can't wait to get the kids in on the project. Solar cooker first, hope to eat sinaing na tulingan tomorrow on something cooked in what we will work on as a project in the morning.

Everything but the kitchen sink

Piece by piece, we will put in the improvements. This back kitchen apparently gets really wet in the rainy season. Had to have a sink made so it's the most finished part, floor and other parts not yet done well. Have to also get a tarp so the rain doesn't come in. Couldn't believe a bright yellow counter would be nice, but here it is.

Sink and Kitchen Counter, back kitchen

Kids and a fruiting rambutan, the lake in the background and a future garden. Jade vine ilang ilang, atis, and a few other ornamental plants. Just need GARDEN SOIL!!

Task list and schedule Gina made currently too general, still too easy to miss out. Clean house isn't really one task, after all. The only way to accomplish everything needed done is to break them down. If not, it's too easy to miss. Clean house will then just mean sweep the floor and dust. Then just sweep, then later, just sweep the living room and so on and so forth.

Franny's book is a big help, the time frames are divided into short intervals. If you miss one thing, you can mark it down as missed and you will be able to track progress.

Sink is almost done. Bed in master bedroom placed and assembled.

More tiles needed. Knives and chopping board, more plates, and repair of the gas range. Thinking of devising a washing machine powered by pedals. Solar cooker and drier. Fixing the sun-heated shower tomorrow adn seeing about a rain water collection system. Down the line, solar panels for the lights and natural swim hole.

Our targets should be based on how organized we are able to make our lives there and how sustainable. If we can power a refrigerator with renewable energy, we can get one.

Neighbor is the contractor who did the house!

Had a house blessing by our long time friend Fr. Quiambao on the night of the full moon, April 28. The moon was hiding nearly all night but showed itself towards the later part. Neighbors came including Gina's friend Rosemarie and her husband and child, Cely and her daughter, Ka Amanda's family including Nori and Rodel.

Then today, i met a neighbor who was the one contracted by the seller of the house to build it!! He will be putting up a sink in the outer kitchen in the next few days and just set up the blinds in the living room and the bamboo blinds in the dining. Name is Robert and people called him Polo. Both he and Rodel, Nori's husband smoked so they got an earful from me. No smoking in the house and grounds, though. He will also be installing the spiral staircase, the aluminum bathroom shelves, the rotating ceiling fan and possibly drawers. Have to get more tiles tomorrow. Need Philips and flat screwdrivers and more tox! Also have to measure where I will put the mirror and frames so I can start buying. Put Rodel to work on the papags to be placed in the back kitchen and the porch. Have to dump a lot of garden soil onto the lawn to get good plants.

It's heartbreaking but the altar table from my mother in law which was in storage in my mother's place got attacked by termites!! sending it over to Marilou's tomorrow for fixing. Termites ate right through the top! After that, it will be in the living room. Marilou will also be delivering my narra bed, completing all the beds in the rooms by tomorrow.

Also bought a water purifier already and installed new energy saving bulbs on the chandelier, all 40 watts using up less energy than before but brighter! Gina washed the covers of the cushions on the porch and the spread in the sala. Lent her Franny's book so she could set targets and goals for herself and organize her schedule.

Plants thriving but need to be positioned and replanted. Buried the biodegradable waste around the rambutan tree. The fruits in the potted macopa are ripening fast. The sunflower near the road has died but the bougainvilla (variegated) will soon take its place.

Balai Indang

Plants galore, awaiting planting in the garden. Bought 8 begonias and 2 of a blue kind of the same typpe that grows with abandon in trellises and hangs down, with plenty of black ants. All from Balai Indang. Then went the Arroceros Park earthday and the Makati Garden club had a fruting macopa, variegated bougainvilla and a yellow type of vine. I think they called it shooters?

Can't wait to plant them, planning on having the begonias hang down into the back kitchen and replacing the roofing with a translucent type to let the sunshine through.

Also got inspired by Balai Indang's architecture that lets the natural light in. Hoping I can demolish some walls and replace them with those similar old glass panels and capiz.

Mornings at Nangkaan

Squeezed through my busy schedule, I am off to Nangkaan in a bit to spend early morning there. Nothing like going at different parts of the day to see how the land will treat us.

Sofa trundle has been delivered and papags for the rooms are ready. Still no water, though, the other part of the village with more people gets more of the water. Have to do something about that.

Saw some pulleys at the hardware store, will check if I can put in katsa for blocking the sun out without putting in dust-gathering material on the windows, Wish I could get plants in Tagaytay but it will be a while before I come back.

Still thinking about what to use for porch flooring.

End of April, it will be climate action gatherings again, and I was hoping I could name the house 350 house in honor of our role in helping curb climate change by energy conservation etc. but the Tagalog term for 350, tatlong daan at limampu is quite a mouthful. What is the Tagalog term for sunflower, anyway? Sunflowers, in fact all plants, are the solar panels of the earth from which all biomass energy derive.

Progress

Neighbor is off for the next two days, slow at the factory. So he is building two bamboo papags for our use. Wood was delivered today for the frame, from Dad's mahogany tree farm in nearby San Sebastian. An old spiral staircase was rescued from the junkyard to provide access from the neighbor's house where we will park when there. Found a place for the water tanks to be installed as well, in the South-east corner of the house between the lansones and langka trees. The rainwater collector would be underneath the impoundment for the water-district-supplied water.

Finished not one but TWO sun-heated water containers for solar shower. Will place one on top of the roof at the house and the other can be our portable hot shower.

Bought more seeds and starter pots. Did you know they now sell seed packs called Pinakbet and Sinigang? These are collections of seeds of the veggies needed for these dishes. P129. Starting them tomorrow, hope to plant them in the coir pots towards the end of May.

Noon to 4 at the house

Went hunting for a receptacle for storing water and found a passable one -- a large plastic drum, but not the blue large kind I was scouting around for. Also bought a sponge and walis tingting and walis tambo. Hung a picture of a water lily and some weavings from Davao, which was still a wedding gift from fifteen years ago from Marivic Pajaro. Will be hanging more frames and possible some curtains so the drabness of the unpainted walls can be broken somehow.

First time spending this much time in the place. No water. No tank yet for storage. Seems the water is provided every other day and the last time, neighbors were not able to store enough.

After a picnic lunch with the 5 kids and their Mom Gina, my old Yaya and her daughter Nori and 5-year old grandson at the porch (squeezing the food onto the small garden set table, the boys eating off the porch railing and sitting on the bench), we started to take a serious look at the garden. The locals felt nothing would grow unless planted during rainy season. I had other ideas. No time to waste. The garden only has around 5 clumps of turdan b locking the view, a rambutan int he front, two sili plants on the side of the house facing west, and young langka and lansones trees at the back. Ferns were growing on the side of the cliff next to the east side of the house.

I located the boundary marks and realized there is not much allowance from the house to the edge of the land, maybe under a foot, but the sides are still spacious enough to plant on. Part of the hill on the east side is still part of the property and an old concrete fence about three to four meters long stood. On top of the corner of this fence is where my solar water container should sit. I painted it black today and will install the hose and the spouts tomorrow. The hose is five meters long and will be hanging over the path towards the bathroom window. I painted the container that will be the water heater/solar shower. Hope the water is restored.

Myrna planted the sunflower right outside the fence, in keeping with the sunflower theme of the kitchen tiles and the water dispenser (non-electric) that we brought. The other plants could wait until the weather is much friendlier to planting. Basil, eggplant, lagkitan mais, fennel and chinese kale seeds will be started up first where there is water, then planted after the summer. When the kids move in, their compost and shower water will be drained through to the garden to start up the moisture retention of the soil. Also brought oregano, narra, pandanus, a variety of ornamental plants and the orange hanging flower I bought in bag o' beans during our trip there with Love and Joms.

Placed one of the traviesas on the corner to serve as a bench facing the rambutan, and if facing the other way, looking out to the lake and the sunset. Will bring more traviesas later.

The gate post fell down, the parched earth dug through. Would have to replace it with something. Also decided that none of the front yard will be used for parking anymore, will park at the neighbors. Feels very much like community. Several people passing through stopped by. NNext time, we can offer coffee. Most were on foot, only less then ten vehicles passed through in over four hours. Too bad the road did not have a proper pedestrian lane or even a step footpath.

And yes, something would have to be done about the wrappers of chichirya.

It was the first week of April, 2010, scouring Mataasnakahoy with my sister in law for a place for her to live with her 5 kids. A widow at age 30, she now has to raise all five by herself. Her youngest was 3 months old when her husband died of typhoid in the Calamba epidemic. We found a house for sale after looking up and down the road. Turns out my old Nanny lives next door! Reputedly down the path from the house of the actor with the pupppy dog eyes. But the real clincher was the lake view. By Tuesday of the following week, a downpayment, had been made and I am now a soon-to-be property owner inside the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape (well, by December, full fledged).

On April 9, the anniversary of the fall of Bataan, I started on the project to make this house as green and sustainable managed as possible. First project which I've been thinking about for years is a shower heater powered directly by the sun. Yes, no expensive wafers or anything, just plain old container on the roof, hose going down into the bathroom.

It has a large mango tree at the back, branches trimmed off. In the front part, banana plants and a lone rambutan. Soon, i will fill it with malunggay, kamote, kangkong, kalabasa, herbs and hopefully a couple more trees.

Bringing Envi Planner Anna Gonzales here for renovations also. Thinking of opening it up for more natural light and ventilation, putting in a gray water system to water the plants, a meditation space and a wonderful garden with a swimming hole. All in good time.

Looking at urban homesteading for guidance, since it's a tiny property. Plan to tell the story in this blog. It will be a long story so don't hold your breath.