Agriculture at Garin Farm Inland Resort, Iloilo

Garin Farm Inland Resort is a haven of activities in San Joaquin, Iloilo. Supposedly, it's only in its soft opening but given the amount of visitors, we heard that they won't have a Grand Opening for it anymore and just operate as usual.

Garin Farm offers three distinct activities: Leisure, Agriculture and Pilgrimage. Let's start with agriculture first because their take was both amazing, delightful and so Filipino that I believe it should be replicated everywhere.

the gate, you pay jeepneys an extra P10/each if you want them to bring you there because it's really out of the way

when you enter the resort, you are greeted by this walkway with squash and upo vines providing the shade

this goes on for a while and it's really delightful because it shows that vegetables can provide both food and decoration, on the left and right are different poultry houses, animal pens and plants

and it was a little scary for such big vegetables to be hanging overhead but still... amazing!

meet the sheep

and the turkey

isn't it neat that this challenge is so very doable? all we need is a wall to festoon several layers of reused tires to serve as pots for tomatoes, radish, camote, etc :) Hello, urban farming!

growing mushrooms the hydrophonics way

instead of flowering shrubs, tomato plants line the walk

and eggplants too (note how soda cans are used in their watering system)

young mango trees

if this does not excite any Filipino, I don't know what will... a hut surrounded by plants, the sequence of which are in accordance to how it's sung in the Bahay Kubo song!

this construction shows that 1,000 sq. meters can provide a farmer with enough space to plant food and raise animals that they can consume daily and also have some extra to sell  (Of course, this hut is a one-bedroom one but I guess you can always build a third floor)

All this time, I thought 'linga' in the song means to look around... I was wrong, it's actually an edible plant too! (and did you know that the veggies in the song Bahay Kubo are all rich in calcium?)

outside of the resort is a big Kamonsil tree, and this is its fruit... we know kamonsil as kamachile :)

Granted, a lot of the plants there are still being eaten by bugs but the potential for learning in this resort is so immense. Entrance tickets cost P150 each (except for children a year old and below). For more information, check out their website: www.garinfarm.com or contact them at:

Phone Numbers:

(+63) 033 314 75 55        

(+63) 916 667 6851         

Email:

info@garinfarm.combookings@garinfarm.com