Caba, PH – MKB family garden – 12 Jan 2013

The MKB family are in a challenging stage where their finances are really tight, because their mother has a heart disease that requires weekly check up and regular medication.  M is 26 years old and is the eldest daughter of the family.  They live in San Jose, mountain area of Caba.  Her family is sustained by their father’s rice and corn farm.  Their mother, due to her illness, stays at home and takes care of their needs.

M has a brother M who is 24 years old, and a younger sister K who is 18 years old.  M went to college, but she left before graduating because she decided to help her father by working on the farm full time.  Her brother M finished a vocational course and works as a part time farm helper for the neighbors.  The youngest, K, decided not to continue to go to college after finishing her high school, due to the medical expenses of their mother.

MB is a very close friend of Happy of the Happy Shine Garden Shop.  Knowing her situation, Happy shared information about the organic vegetable garden program with her.  M then expressed her interest in building a garden, as she hoped that it could help them save some money for their mother’s medical expenses.

The MKB garden was set up in June of 2013.  They used a portion of their land that they had for rice and corn, and converted it to a vegetable garden.  They were given the materials needed to start the garden: shovel, spading fork, rake, drum (for water reservation), tent for compost, EM1, compost, Molasses, sprayer, and sprinkler.  They were also given seeds that included chili, okra, string beans, bitter gourd, cucumber, tomatoes and eggplant.  They also planted broad beans from seedlings that they received from neighbors.

The germination of the seeds went well during the first few weeks, but the heavy rains drowned  some of the plants.  Fortunately, the cucumber made it through the rains and gave them a favorable yield that they sold to their neighbors.  The first harvest was 7 kilos at a price of 35 Pesos ( US$0.83) per Kilo earning them a total of US$5.80.  In November, it was such a great production that they were harvesting 10 kilos of cucumber per day.  As a result, they have started participating in the garden shop’s savings program, and also gave some of the cucumbers to Happy’s family as a thank you gift.