Growing a soulful garden of herbs

Here’s a garden/farm that anyone who doesn’t have experience in agriculture can start. One must have a love for the earth, though, to embark on this hands-on experiment. Edith Tobias and her husband Jing lived and worked in New York City for 14 years, she as an accountant-comptroller of De Beers (the biggest processor of diamonds in the world), and he as management consultant. When they returned to the Philippines eight years ago, they decided to go into something different from what they did in the Big Apple. They bought a 2,600 sq.m. raw land grown to neck-high cogon grass in Barangay La Mesa in Calamba, Laguna.

Edith had taken up agriculture at UP Los Baños, but had no experience in actual planting. Jing had attended De La Salle University for business management. When they decided to go into farming, they read up on agricultural trends, and sank hands, heart and soul into what has evolved into an ecological herbal farm.

From the farm come processed food products. What’s more, it offers workshops on ecological farming to children.

The place is a wild paradise of 400 species of herbs, shrubs and trees. For herbs, there is basil, tarragon, arugula, chives, chamomile, and stevia rebaudiana – this herb is 200 times sweeter than sugar – tomatoes, okra and eggplants. Scattered about are lagundi, alagaw, banaba, acapulco and sambong trees from which medicinal concoctions can be made. There are patches of corn and vegetables. Going up trellises are upo, patola, and ampalaya, sigarilyas and sitaw.

All of the vegetations are fertilized with cow manure and sawdust. "We’re purely oganic here," says Edith, adding that in hot summer months, neighbor farmers’ crops that have been applied with chemical fertilizers shrivelled and died, while her vegetables thrived.

Of big help, too, are two large cemented cisterns that collect rain water, that is used by a water sprinkling system with pipes laid out around the farm. The sprinkling system is manufactured by a small producer and costs only P50,000 as compared to the rates offered by bigger companies. Edith and Jing dug into their savings to get the system installed. That is a wise move, since water is the bloodline of farms.

For organic pesticide, Edith and a male helper boil crushed balls or berries of neem for 15 minutes. One tablespoon of this is mixed with one gallon of water and sprayed on herbs and vegetables. Another mixture is kakawati leaves fermented in water; this is not only a pesticide against aphids, mites, red ants and termites; it is also a source of nitrogen which plants need.

Edith advises spraying in late afternoon or early evening, when "bad insects" start to chew on leaves. The good insects come out during the day, warding off predators. Children attending weekend workshops have fun chasing after grasshoppers and dragonflies – some of the good insects.

A good thing going for this farm is that the whole family loves being in it – helping weed out wild growth, watering, and labeling the plants. The Tobias girls (ages 25, 21 and 18) thought up the farm’s name (Soulful Organic Farm – "because our farm has a soul and conscience," says Edith), and design product labels and promo materials. Granddaughter Jade, 5, is the joy of the enterprise. "She knows the names of all the herbs. Sometimes I have to call her to tell people what this or that herb is," says proud Grandma Edith.

From the crops of the small farm, the Tobiases are processing and selling (at supermarkets) sun-dried pesto, bagoong with turmeric and chorizo and herbal vinaigrette. The processing is done by Edith at the farm kitchen. Jing does the marketing, so you can see the bottled spices on shelves in supermarkets. For inquiries, call 0916-325-8684 or email [email protected].