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| We have encountered problems with our new Living In The Philippines . com /jjsblog site.
I am not sure what the problems are but we will save the information here and transfer it to the
other site as soon as it is up and working.
JJ
Hello:
Thanks for your kind comments.
Mama is my wife.. thanks...
my mother has been gone about three years now.
The water goes off to save the energy of pumping
the liquid into the minicipal line in the evening and
during the night.
We intend to turn our rice field into a homestead.
We have made a home so far. We made the home
by filling in part of the rice field that was behind our
rent house, an old house made of bamboo and setting
up on high piles. We brought in 35 loads of 3 cubic
meters of gravel and filled in our house site with gravel.
Then we brought in a few truckloads of sand and gravel
and with a small mold a man made about 200 cement
blocks each day. After making the blocks, the man
stacked the blocks and allowed the blocks to season.
After there were a few thousand blocks, a foundation was
set and the home's walls started to take shape. The walls
of the home were
cement blocks and rebar, on a 1 foot
cement and rebar foundation. The home is three bedrooms,
two baths, one with a bath tub and both with hot water, a
real oddity here in the Philippines. We have a large living
room, a dining room and a clean kitchen. We have a dirty
kitchen on the side of the house, toward the back of the lot.
We have a wood fired, red clay brick oven on the other side
of the house. We have verandas in the front and on both sides
of the home. The house faces a neighbors house. The side
door is the one facing the street. Odd arrangement but the
house fits the land scape and the area. We cut trees on the
property to made lumber for the house, and roof. The covering
of the roof is galvanized iron. We put red brick around the house
on the outside. We also used the same island made bricks to
make our oven. We have slowly
filled in the rice field behind
our home. We still have a drainage problem, but we do have
several nice gardens that are raised beds and productive. Our
future plans include filling in the remainder of our back yard,
with dirt and sand, and then building raised beds. We then will
continue our interest in vegetables and ground fruits. We will
put in about 75 to 100 trees in the back year and the steep hill
behind our home.
We have chickens, turkeys, pigeons, guinea hens, quail and
ducks. We find the ducks the cutiest of all and the chickens
the most practical. We plan on pigs, rabbits and goats in a
year. We also plan to build or should we say dig a fish pond
and then use the fill in an area to build a pig pen and a small
shelter for goats. With the oven, the gardens, and the animals
we will be nearly self sufficient.
We do plan to render pig fat
for lard, and make lye from the ashes
that come from the oven. We will then make and sell goat milk
soap. We figure that we are about 1/2 to 2/3 the way through
the building and establishment of our little homestead. We have
lined up a pair of Nigerian Dwarf does that are bred for Feb and
April of 2007. Those does are young, a two and one year old.
They are good and registered stock. We want to get experience
in making cheese while we are in Houston. We also hope to
gain experience in canning and make jelly and jam.
I have a blog entry that will be published today about fruit
and the orchard that we plan. Trees are very cheap here, from
free to 30 cents for the ordinary trees at the public nursery, to
250 pesos or about $5 for a grafted tree. We put in an orchard in
the past but the orchard did not do well as we put in in and the
gardener we left in charge did
not take care of the trees. Also,
the drainage was poor, a real killer for both fruits and vegetables.
We therefore are planning the fill first and then the fruit trees.
We put in 8 coconut trees yesterday, all free from family members.
I am a retired military officer with a small pension that goes much
farther in the Philippines than it would ever go in America. The
rate of pesos to the dollar keeps slipping for the last two years
after over 30 years of going from 5 to 56 the rate has now slipped
back to about 49 pesos to one US dollar. We expect the dollar to
go as low as 44 pesos per dollar. This will increase our costs of
living in paradise by about 20 percent, plus inflation in the islands.
Labor here gets from 100 to 300 pesos a day, depending on labor
status. A houseboy,
maid or gardener get 100 pesos a day. An electrician gets 300.
A mason or carpenter gets 230 to
250. So my oven required 5
days to build. The mason charged me 230 pesos a day. I gave him
a little bonus of 20 pesos a day, or in total paid him about $5 a day
or about $25 to build the oven. The platform was built by the same
mason/carpenter and also cost about $25. The total cost of building
the oven was less than $200, including labor and materials.
Our home cost about $7500 to build, on land my wife owned.
The improvements have that much or more again, paid as we
went (go) along. We have never had a mortgage here or never had
any intrest payments of any kind. The taxes on the two rent
houses, two barns and the house and 3.2 acres of land are about
2000 pesos or about $40 a year. The natives speak Filipino/Tagalog
but also speak some English as a second language. Most of the
natives are Christian, and in fact most are Roman Catholic, although
almost any
prostastant group is represented here on our island. The
natives are likeable and they like foreigners. My pension goes a long
way and when I am not here, my costs are about $150 a month, including
24 hour guard to watch the property.
Thanks again for your post...
JJ
Garden Gnome <sfg.oamc@yahoo.com> wrote: Hi
JJ, interesting blog. I'm looking forward to seeing a few pictures.
From what you have written the Phillipines sounds like a poor country
if people are going without enough food to fill their bodies. I'm
curious as to the water being turned off. Why is that? Also is Mama
your wife or mother? I couldn't quite figure out. I'm also very curious
as to your homestead. I take it you are setting this home up to be more
self sufficient or at least grow vegetables and perhaps have some
livestock. What is the climate like there? And sorry to be so nosey,
but are you now on a pension or have a source of income that allows you
to pay for the help? Finally, what is a peso worth say in US dollars?
TIA
Have a GREAT gardening day!
Garden Gnome
Ontario, Zone 6A
| | |
| We have a new blog address site that is newer and better software.
Please find our blog at that new address.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
JJ - Editor
| | |
| Hello to all;
I have been very busy doing nothing! We had a week of walks in the cemetery, and never
got one 'trick or treater' at our home on Halloween. We had candy ready, but never saw a
single adult or child. But the next day the cemetery was full of folks just cleaning graves and
paying honor to the dead. We attended mass at the cemetery. Several years ago the Knights
of Columbus constructed a large cross and alter on a small spot at the cemetery. This year I
had hoped that the Knights would also construct a small trench lined with hollow block around
the perimeter of the spot used for the mass. Inside this spot was to be put a large amount of
sand. The sand would support candles that the natives lit after the mass in honor of the dead.
Perhaps next year. Perhaps? Maybe in 2008, or 2009. But, I do hope to see that lot filled
with sand before the end of my lifetime. The current method is to put the candle against something,
anything really, and to let it burn. Soon there are so many candles that the grass is on fire and most
of the grass also burns. Putting the candles in sand, as is common in many Armenian Chruchs, the
oldest established Catholic Churches in the world, is just second nature. I would like to do the
project myself, and I think that I have the parish's blessing to do it... maybe next year, maybe by
2009.
Our birds are doing well. Daughter duck has a nest somewhere, but we can not find it.
I am sure she will just show up one day with a brood of newly hatched ducklings.
Mama duck has her same nest she used to hatch out 9 ducklings out of nine eggs in
August. I remember the date as I had been in Davao and Cebu and returned to the
island on my brother's birthdayt, August 16, just to see the first of the ducklings hatch
out. As time would tell, all 9 eggs hatched. I would have had more eggs and ducks
but several locals like duck eggs and the eggs seemed to leave ever third day or so
Now the old nest is full of eggs. I just counted and she has 17. I
have heard of muscovy ducks hatching 20, but that is about the best I have heard.
She moves the eggs around as if she knew what she were doing. She seems to lay
one egg a day. Then she heads off to lead her brood about their daily activities.
We hope to get some pictures of mama duck and her current brood of nine. I managed
to get one of the males in my hands yesterday. That male did well until let him go and
he gave me a deep scratch on my small finger. I did not think much of the scratch
at the time, but now that finger is letting me know that it is there. I was offered 100
pesos a kilo for the ducks this morning. At two kilos each, I may just break even with
my food bill. The males seem to be pecking at each other, establishing a pecking order.
The females are much small but also much prettier, and with fewer peck marks. The
back yard sure looks a site when we look out and see those white ducks. The seem to
graze, and I guess in reality the ducks are just looking for a few bugs to round out there
diet. These are definitely Filipino ducks, they all seem to prefer white rice to cracked
corn or to corn grits.
There are three mama hens in the field too. One has five chicks, one is brooding 8 and
the other is brooding 9. Our chicken project has been a real success. We have a
sack of rice bran that was given back to us after we harvested out second few bags
of rice from fields we have here on the island. We have a cousin that dries the rice
for us, then mills it. He gives us back the rice, and also the bran. The turkeys and
ducks will eat the bran if mixed with enough feed. The chicken will not. Anyway,
one chicken perched on the top of that bag of brand. We discovered a few eggs
on the top of a cage. I set them on that bag of bran hoping the boys (gardeners) would
get the chicken into a laying basket. Mama added two eggs while we were trying to coax
her into the basket. We left the five eggs, she added three more and is now setting. She
should have hatched the cluch before we head off to America. We also have another
two hens sharing one basket and setting on 19 or 20 eggs, depending on which gardener
is telling the story.
The gardeners are loving the weed eater. The now go out to the field and wear sunglasses
as eye protection, and mow with the greatest of ease. We are hoping to fill in that rice field
in a year and make it into orchards and gardens, with raised beds. We now know that the
concept works. We can garden with raised beds. We will need to be more selective of
our papaya seeds in the future. The seeds from Belize and Thailand did not do so well. The
seeds of the local papaya seem to do well and bear fruit. I will be getting just local seeds from
now on. Most imported seed does not work well. I may try to find a supply house in Hawaii,
but will avoid most seeds from the USA. My advice is that the stateside seed just does not
work. Also, ants carry off the seeds before you have them well watered. The local ants come
in twelve different kinds, each competing for the treats you put out in the garden.
The peso will take a nose dive soon. We understand it will be going down to 44 to the dollar.
I guess that is up if you are a local. Sad, but it went from 56 to 49 in just a short time. We used
to figure 50 for a dollar. I, and many other expats need to rethink our spending and savings.
We have more building projects in mind and we will be needing to spend to get them done. We
will be spending about 20% more, give or take, to get the projects done in the future. I never
remember the dollar going down or the peso going up that much in value... I am sure the value
of the US $ is based on our weakened status because of the war in Iraq. I hope that war will
be over soon. I am watching the dollar against the yen and the won. Both of the Japanese and
Korean currencies seem to be stable against our money, but we will look forward to the end
of the month.
Well we are letting our garden go. We have lots of egg plant that will be bearing after we
leave the island. We have oregano that is about gone, we have basil that is about done.
We have just set out about two dozen tomatoes and they seem to be doing well. We don't
seem to be doing too well with our peppers. The birds seem to love them. The birds, as
in birds like sparrows and such, love the tender shoots of the new peppers... We are also
having a land office business as far as sweet potato tops too. We have ginger and garlic that
are doing well. We are picking more than enough beans for our table, and we are still picking
patella. I am hoping to put in some more upo before I head out to the USA. We have squash
that is in, but I will not be here to care for it, so well will start again new when I return to the
islands next year after spending the holidays in Houston.
Well, I shall leave now. I do hope to write more and look forward to comments from the
visitors.
Regards to all,
JJ
| | |
| We have been gone a few weeks and not doing much of anything.
My birthday came and went. I have applied to teach English as a Second
Language in Koea and have been given a few good job offers.
I may start after the Christmas Holidays, depending on what the North
Koreans do in regards to more Nuclear Testing.
Our chickens have done well. The duck too!
We have two chutches of baby chicks that are doing well with
mama chicken. One group is with 8 baqbies and the other cluch
has nine babies. The nine ducks are now our of their cage, on their
own and walking around and seeming to have the run of the back
yard.
We are planning for our future orchard and have located a small
truck to bring in dirt and other types of fill.
We have purchased clay bricks for building our wood fired oven.
The oven will be completed later this week. We hope to be eating nice
homemade pizza by the end of the month. I am not sure how long it takes
for a clay oven to dry and be fired off. I do know that we have toset small
fires for a week or so as the inside dries. We have slowly gathered reccipes
for mortar, and for the overall construction of the pizza oven. We also want
to make so bread. We have been told that bread ovens and pizza ovens
have different stypes of construction. Hopefully we have made the right
choice in basic design. The elderly man making the oven does seem to
know what he is doing.
Well that is about it for todays entry.
See you all later....
JJ
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