Caba, PH – San Gregorio Elementary garden – 12 Jan 2014

The Food Always in The Home (FAITH) vegetable garden project was extended to the public schools in Caba. The team coordinated with the Head School teachers , and San Gregorio Elementary was chosen for the pilot.

San Gregorio garden was built on 22 November 2013.  The school has given the FAITH team a land area, nice and flat 30m x 10m space which is equivalent to 3 standard 100 square meters for planting of string beans, mongo beans, okra and bottle gourd to start with. The Happy Shine garden shop provided the materials needed to start with, shovel, spading fork, rake, drum (for water reservation), and tent for compost, EM1, compost, Molasses, sprayer, sprinkler.

Aida Magno, resident of San Gregorio, lives nearby the school, helped the Faith team and the school members to set up the garden.  She had been mentored in FAITH garden techniques by Reynaldo in 2012.  They are also under the supervision of Mr. Albert Mallari (a husband of one of the school teachers).  He volunteered to observe and administer the preparation of the garden and up to the time of the harvest of the vegetables.

There were six (6) initially identified parents of the indigent students, who volunteered to be part of the program, and eventually extended to the entire kinder level.  This is as per agreement between the parents, where everyone gets to participate and help with the program.  And they feel privileged about it.  During school days, the parents visit the garden, and take turns in taking care of the plants.  They go to the nearby school (High School of San Gregorio) to fetch water using the tools that the Faith team has provided them.  They clean up and weed the area as and when needed. They are taught how to put compost, and how to control pest without using any chemical formula.  This way, the vegetables will be safe for consumption.