Bucket List #2

Bucket List #2: Own an organic farm

As I’ve said, I don’t see myself working my ass off when I reach sixty years of age (or maybe fifty if I’m lucky). Now, I’m not really a born farmer. I recognize the back breaking work of a farmer and its one of the reasons I have chosen my way of life: to avoid it. However, as a leisurely farmer merely interested in growing things and not doing it for commercial purposes, I think I can make a fairly decent one.

I  aim to be self – supporting when I retire. If the current trend of social security checks would continue on their current course, I cannot expect to fully be supported by that measly social pension. The best solution: be self sufficient and food being the foremost reason for expenditures, what better way to save on money than to grow one’s own. And it’s healthier. 

There would be sweet potatoes (I need their leaves for my two native pigs); pechay; Baguio beans; leeks; red onions; some bell peppers; cabbages and womboks. And yeah some potatoes and tomatoes (I need to learn how to preserve them later on in my years). A small clump of lacatan bananas on the edges and a small stand for sayote and squash on another side would round it off.

It being organic, I will build a small livery on the edges. There would be two pigs, a few egg-laying chickens; three goats and a horse. Their manure will be enough together with the earthworm bin to reprocess the soil over and over again.

And yeah, before I forget, there will be a small fishpond there with tilapia. Now, I am not really a fish person. I only eat fish if they are barbecued/fried. But I want to fish and the rivers by the time I get old are probably devoid of life, so my only chance to indulge in fishing is to build my own fishpond.

That would probably offset my food expenses for a long time. Now, if you notice, I won’t be putting up a rice paddy. Yup, I know enough of farming to know that rice paddies don’t really yield any results that will compensate the effort you’ll exert. Rice planting is time consuming, financially draining endeavors. I’d fork over a few thousand for a cavan of rice willingly rather than toil needlessly for a few kilos of rice.

Now, you might say that I know nothing about farming. Hehe. You’ll be surprised. I belong to the generation of students who had farming as their THE (Technology and Home Economics) subject in school so unlike you modern students who are taught meaningless skills in elementary and high school, I have experienced first hand how to work with plants and the earth. And, during childhood, my parents had to tend a garden to supplement their income to support us, so I know farming. At least enough to say with confidence that I can do it.

And I’ve taken a course on organic farming (hence, the earthworm bin stated above). If you still doubt me, someday when the time comes, remind me to invite you for a vegetable salad when I have a harvest.