Photos Of The Farm From The Opposite Mountain

Rodell Ferrer regularly takes pictures of the farm from the opposite mountain with an eastern direction. From that viewpoint, there is a very nice view of our forest farm.

View On The Farm From The Opposite Mountain

The video shows a walk on the opposite mountain in eastern direction to a view point, from where you have a nice view over our forest farm. The outline is clearly identifiable because of the ipil-ipil planting which was in progress along the border lines in the upper portion at that time.

Alfredo Liongoren holds an individual stewardship as a tenurial instrument over three hectares on this opposite mountain. His earlier attempts to reforest this land have not succeeded and it is all covered with cogon grass which grows as high as three meters at the moment.

The Forest Tree Nursery (4)

The nursery is almost finished and ready to accommodate a few thousand seedlings that we are growing in the seed-boxes first.

You can watch the next stage of the nursery here.

Ipil-Ipil Planting

Ipil-Ipil is popularly known in the Philippines for firewood and is useful in reforestation work. It is also much used as a cover crop and is a good exterminator of cogon grass.
This is a small tree, 2 to 6 meters high. The leaves are compound, 15 to 25 centimeters long, with hairy rachises.

We planted a few thousand ipil-ipil wildlings along the borderline to prepare the upper area for reforestation next year.

Free Farmers Association (3)

Georgy Maragundon is the president of the San Josef Free Farmers Association.

He is explaining the status of the application for the Protected Area Community-Based Resources Management Agreement (PACBARMA).

As soon as this application is approved by the DENR the legal status of the farm land and our rights to develop it will be protected for 25 years. After 25 years this tenurial instrument can be extended for additional 25 years if the development was successful.

DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region IV-A, Calabarzon), Antipolo City (4)

On 19 August we received the response from the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region IV-A, Calabarzon) in Antipolo City regarding or request from 3 July 2008.

CENRO Flordelino M. Rey is explaining the procedure of how a tenurial instrument for Limuranin could be issued.

Limuranin is located in the Marikina Watershed Reservation area and no individual stewardships can be granted there anymore. A tenurial instrument can be granted to community based initiatives only. For this we need to meet with Georgy Maragundon, the president of the San Josef Free Farmers Association.
On the same day we were able to meet Georgy Maragundon in San Joseph to talk about this issue and request the status of the application for the Protected Area Community-Based Resources Management Agreement (PACBARMA).

The Forest Tress Nursery (3)

We started the nursery for the forest tress in July with narra, apitong, mahogany and eucalyptus seeds.
The nursery was expanded to its third stage and a bigger seed box was completed. It carries acacia auri, acacia mangium, kamagong, red lauan, white lauan and teak seeds.
You can watch the next stage of the nursery here.

Narra Seeds

The scientific name of narra is Pterocarpus indicus.
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

Apitong Seeds

The scientific name of apitong is Dipterocarpus grandiflorus.
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

Red Lauan and White Lauan Seeds

The scientific name of red lauan is Shorea Negrosensis and the scientific name of white lauan is Shorea Contorta. Both are threatened species, endemic to the Philippines.
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

Kamagong Seeds

Kamagong belongs to the ebony family (genus Diospyros), and like many other very hard woods is sometimes called "iron wood" so called because its wood is iron-like and nearly unbreakable.
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

Teak Seeds

The scientific name of Philippine teak is Tectona philippinensis. It is endemic to the Philippines. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

Acacia Auri and Acacia Mangium Seedlings

More information on these species on Wikipedia: Acacia Auri and Acacia Mangium
Follow the further development of the seedlings here.

The Forest Tree Nursery (2)

The nursery was expanded to its second stage and another seed box was completed. It carries teak, molave and more eucalyptus seeds.

Later a bigger seed bed was added and the bamboo construction for the 300 sqm-large nursery was finished.

You can watch the next stage of the nursery here.

DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Region IV-A, Calabarzon), Antipolo City (3)

The daily flag ceremony of government offices in the Philippines was held in the morning at the exact time we arrived.
The letter from DENR to our request was prepared, but we could not pick it up because it was in another office where the clerk was absent on the day of our visit.
Gabby Mondragon explained the result of the survey in front of the office building, after the meeting with CENRO Flordelino M. Rey.

On 19 August 2008 we visited the office again and received the letter with an explanation from the CENRO.

Germination Of The Seeds

Our first selection of seeds is starting to germinate!