Growing Vegetable in a Bottle

Doing my early Sunday round of stalls in the open market of AANI is not unlike biting into my favorite kakanin like my traditional goto and bibingka way back in my Bulacan days. It’s like a weekly ritual that if I skip it,expect a mild tantrum showing at mid afternoon. This is where I buy my fresh fish, seafoods ,rare veggies and  fruits for the week. And more than that, I relish weaving thru its nooks and crannies that reward me with rare finds like Japanese potteries at affordable prices, overrun clothes that are not so pricy at all but can pass off for casual trips to the malls.

Last Sunday was extra special.In my usual jaunt, I noticed this array of healthy-looking bitter gourds and cucumbers hanging in guess what?Coke 1.5 l.  bottles .I was pleasantly surprised to see the gentleman doing the watering and preparing .It turned out this man is Dr. Eduardo Paningbatan.

Dr. Eduardo Punungbatan attending to his customers in his stall.

Cucumber and Upland Kangkong thriving in his EPP( Enhanced Potting Preparation)

His brand of organic farming defies any argument that you need a piece of land to be able to grow your own food.I like this guy.I ended up buying.It’s no big deal, it’s less than 100 pesos but I got a free lecture and demonstration of his farming.

An earthworm sanctuary in Eco park

My search for the most effective and cheapest way to bring back nutrition to my otherwise acidic soil has brought me to Ecology Park, where the couple Mr. and Mrs Castro of Earthworm Sanctuary conducts regular seminars on vermiculture -production of fertilizers from the castings of earthworms.This special couple doesn’t know it but they have taught me the most valuable lesson in natural farming.These African nightcrawlers ( the only species good for vermiculture)feed on agricultural wastes, dead leaves , animal manure, coffee grounds and anything organic. Just pile the shredded bits  in a box made of hollowblocks and line it up with tarpauline or sack as bedding.Put a net on top such that it secures the box(ideally for me  8′ x 5′). In 30 to 40 days, I have my own organic fertilizer proudly enriched with live micro organisms.I even tested its ph and to my satisfaction , it has yielded a 6 ph which means it’s fertile!

the vermiculture station in Eco park by the earthworm sanctuary