Piece by Piece

The Glass Trumpet

Many months ago we began the task of converting broken waste glass into a usable material for the Organic Garden Project. This glass now features as a "pebble" like ground material that is both striking in its beautiful patterned placement, but also genuinely intriguing to visitors who seem both impressed and confused by its use. More than the love of this pointy material, or the dire need for its successful conversion, this small victory is the perfect example of our "never say die" mentality.

The central seating and ornamental garden bed was designed to create a comfortable space for visitors to acclimatize to the ideas and concepts we are presenting throughout the garden. 

This central garden bed will contain a constant rotation of beautiful flowering plants, for the purpose of installing a hub of smell and color that will relax and inspire. The flowering plants located centrally in the garden will also encourage pollinating insects to travel across our vast vegetable garden, essentially helping create our vegetables as they go.

Next we will install a trellace system for potted climbing gourds such as Ampalaya. At the base of the trellace (where the glass "rays" meet in the centre) we will construct circular seating that will allow visitors to look outwards at the surrounding garden, eventually shaded by the canopy above.

 

Creativity abounds as every scrap piece of material on site finds a new home. In this case scrap pallet wood, broken glass and bamboo form a beautiful pattern down the central pathway of the garden.

More Then String

A Toast to No Broken Bones

After five months of hopping, jumping but mostly falling over our site's construction string, we can now rest easy and celebrate the final removal of the "trip wires". Although helping keep our garden paths, drains and edging straight and horizontal, its fair to say each and every visitor has experienced a close shave with the maze of string running throughout the garden. The string will not be missed.

Having endured many hours hauling, designing, researching, constructing and convincing it may seem strange to focus so much attention on what can honestly be described as the easiest task to date. 

However, it is clear that this simple act of cutting string is filled with a much deeper symbolism which marks a milestone for our progress.

As a team and as individuals the garden has been an honest reflection of our own strengths and weaknesses. At times each of us have been frustrated and overwhelmed with what often feels like a David and Goliath battle, each of us have questioned ourselves and the likely success of this project, but at the end of it all each of us have sought out the positives and kept on going. The significance of cutting the string is not lost on our team, this simple act moves our work from a vision to a reality. We have constructed the basis for a beautiful garden, there is no stopping us now.

A toast, 

cheers to everyone supporting us

 and supporting the Philippine Organic Garden Project

What came first the rice, or the rice straw

Growing Our Soil

At the Philippine Organic Garden Project we like to think our garden is a response to the world around us. From the soil up we base our decisons on our climate, our geography and our community. 

For most of the year we experience scorching sun, broken into steamy intervals by the pouring rain. For the rest of the year its scorching sun, broken only by the arrival of night. Hot wet and hot dry, this is the tropics. 

Under our feet is the heaviest clay soil, sculpting a landscape of rice terraces throughout our floodplain geography. We see our earth crack in the sun and melt in the rain. As a people we consume an average of 129kg of rice per person per year.  That’s breakfast, lunch and dinner. This climate, this landscape, this culture, begs to grow rice. Rice undoubtedly was going to mark our garden. As we mentioned, our garden is a response to our world.

During rice harvest the floodplain landscape is dotted with hills of rice straw. Perceived to be a waste product, the rice straw is often burnt to the ground, and the conversion of this valuable nutrient resource into a suffocating cloud of smoke is a common sight. So, the race on...with keen eyes and fast hands, and as every contributor to the Philippine Organic Garden Project knows, we must get that straw before it is left to smolder. Like the rice feeds us, the straw will feed our soil.

Layering rice hull, rice straw, rice ash, grasses and manure we intend to create our own soil on the surface of what is there at present. Over time these materials will decompose forming a rich layer of biologically active compost in which we will plant our first season crops. As roots penetrate through the layers we will see the old mix together with the new, slowly repairing the structure and therefore the life of the soil.

With 600m^2 of no dig garden beds created with our very own rice waste recipe, our site will actively demonstrate the use and the importance of rice straw as a mulch and highlight the importance of soil conservation.

We hope the principals of recycling and the use of local materials advertised within our garden will be adopted more widely within our own community. 

We hope to see the continued progression of farmers feeding their soil as well as their community, because as the saying goes, “it’s only a snack without rice”.

A Break From the Shovel | Pala

A Moment to Boast

We should and we will take this opportunity to celebrate our latest victory, Best Booth award at the 6^th Bicol Organic agriculture congress. Our award winning tip? All hands on deck to get your master piece assembled, and we shouldn't forget..a bottle of wine to accompany the process.

Our fresh produce set out ready to win over some hearts and minds at the 6th Bicol Organic Agriculture congress.

 A sample of recycled materials from the Organic Garden Project were used to display our beautifully fresh produce and our broad range of seedlings. Mustard sat crisply next to our hand picked lettuce, protected and bright green inside old tyers stacked as shelving units. Our love for all things recycled was justified as our custom made shelves of alternating gin bottles and pallets gained us attention while proudly displaying our rare varieties of sweet potato.  

Central Bicol State Universities very own delicacy Basil Calamansi Juice was available for sale and taste on the day (minus a few glasses which provided the team with enough energy to keep up with the busy schedule). Meanwhile the sweet smell of our robust lemon grass certainly kept us smelling fresh against the odds of the hot sunny days.

An all round success for us and also for organic agriculture in the Bicol region

Three Months Together

Feeling Sentimental

Its been three months since we sat down to create the designs, stand up to source the materials and get dirty starting the construction of the “Philippine Organic Garden Project”.  

An auspicious occasion for us all and a good time to indulge in some reflection on the many intricacies, frustrations and celebrations woven into the history of developing  the garden to this point.

As a team we have been working around the clock to push this garden forward and pull everyone together in support. The physical construction of the garden is only one factor in our progress to a finished site. Behind the scenes we are lobbying for community support, experimenting with alternative materials and labor forces, while also maintaining the garden as an educational facility where the community is encouraged to engage.

We have a long way to go yet, but we have made some impressive progress.

June

As the June rain fell the grass at our site grew, forever playing havoc with our gardens dimensions (and our patience).  The once grassy field has had a remarkable makeover.

To explain the pattern of leaves in the foreground: all photos here on in were taken from the shady branches of a mango tree, the only point of elevation at the site. As the growing season took hold, avoiding the trees leaves in the photos got harder.

June - July

Keeping us occupied through June to July, we dug 200m of drainage, collected two dump trucks of pebbles and began translating the design from paper to site.

July - August

July saw the collection of materials, and the transformation of 100 pallets into 100m of garden perimeter edging. The shape of our garden began to develop.

August

Focusing on the development of organic matter and soil structure within the site, the month of August saw us moving layer after layer of materials to create these “no dig” garden beds. However, by late August our seemingly endless supply of rice straw did indeed run out. Patience for the team as we wait for the next rice harvest, expected for mid September.

August-September

Late August celebrated the careful addition of our beautiful central pathway garden edging (created from the scrap wood of the old Organic Agriculture building). All workmen’s pathways have been added to the outer “no dig” garden beds and soil development is underway. 

Walking on Broken Glass?

A Challenge for Our Imagination

Recycled materials and some imagination are all you need to produce a beautiful and productive garden environment. Recently an offer too tempting to refuse has got us scratching our heads and running to the drawing board in an effort to prove our point. 

The offer;  An endless supply of broken glass, at a rock bottom rate. Perhaps this offer doesn't sound to appealing yet, but we intend to turn that around, and once again we have been working hard together to convert a waste product into in integral part of our garden design.

Bringing Glass back to LIfe

At the centre of the garden will be an area designated for seating and flowering plants.  Being at the very centre of the garden, this area will act as its heart, the core from where all paths radiate.  The idea is to allow for a calm space which will encourage visitors to stop, relax and ultimately to process the concepts of organic production going on around them.  In this space we intend the ground surface material to be crushed glass.  Taking our inspiration from the properties of glass, we hope to create a space of light , texture, and reflection.

With glass as our inspiration, deciding to incorporate this beautiful resource into our garden was the easy bit, the point of difficulty is in its conversion from junk to treasure.

In search of a smart solution to our new challenge, we have recently become greatly inspired by the concept of biomimicry - in other words - imitating the systems and models of nature and using these designs and processes to solve human problems. Here at the garden we are quickly learning that in copying natures processes and functions are able to see our problems in an entirely new way.  With this in mind we took the erosive capacity of the sea as our prefered way of making our rather dangerous sharp glass into beautiful smooth pieces.

This research and new approach supported our goal, showing with the aid of movement, sand, water and rocks, we could mimic the erosive actions of the sea, and in turn we could use glass as a viable material with which to make a new ground surface in our garden...so, as usual here in the garden, in the name of experimentation we have created something slightly different.

Construction

Our first job was to head to the workshop and convince the staff there to help us with our experiment. Always happy to support our crazy ideas, the mechanics and welders helped us seek out some disused metal to morph into our new "glass smoothing" instruments. 

A few operations later and we had attached a handle, a hook and a metal paddle to a very heavy steel pole. We had created our new stirrer.

The next step was to construct the stirring environment, in effect our own little erosive sea. We placed a metal drum underneath an A-frame, to which we attached our brand new “stirrer”.

The metal drum was filled 1/9^th water, added 30kg of rock,   1 bucket of sand and 20kg of broken glass. 

The idea is to create a product not unlike the glass you find washed up on the beach, smooth, safe and attractive. In utilising the drum filled with sand, water and rocks, we have taken the concept of the natural smoothing process but hope to accelerate it with use of our new stirring instrument and a confined space.  We are taking the processes of nature and bringing them to the human scale to solve human problems - biomimicry in action.

Let the Experiment Begin

The last step in our glass conversion is the manual mixing of the materials. This step is speculative; we are not sure how long we will need to manually mix the glass, sand and rocks in order to create a safe product. We are not sure if this experiment will prove a success or leave us to begin our search for a cement mixer.  This is after all the Philippine Organic Garden Project, so of course we are willing to try and to experiment and we are confident that our natural and organic approach to garden design and resource use will prove an overwhelming success. 

As always we are open to all ideas and suggestions...

One Boot in Front of the Other

A turbulent week saw a key member of our party make a hasty return to their home country, leaving behind a great contribution and a grateful team. The crew have since pulled together to keep spirits high and progress moving in the onward and upward direction. With a change in contributors comes a change in perspective and it has been inspiring to watch as new ideas and directions have come to the fore.

Mud Baths and Skin cleansers

One hundred meters of edging has been created and is well on its way to being carefully secured into position. With waterlogged conditions the going is tough and muddy. Fortunately for us we have carpenters, muscle and an endless supply attitude to put these “once were palates” into their place

 Maintaining a straight edge has proved problematic, combining the sheer scale of the project, varied sizes in the edging material and the varied elevation of the site itself... its slow and precise work. Not to mention, the onset of the rainy season has seen us combat an ever expanding clay soil as our supporting material. Certainly challenging, not impossible and the resulting clean finish are proving to look very sharp indeed!

The Organic Agriculture department is under total reconstruction, with the near completion of the new building which will house the Organic Agriculture display area, meeting room and office space the potential for this site is very exciting. The interior of the building is set to echo that of the garden; sustainable, locally sourced and created from recycled material. In other words, the next project is already looming on the horizon and we have high hopes for what will result.





The soils at the work site are heavy clay and situated at a lower elevation to the immediate environment, this means the area is highly susceptible to water logging, cracking, compaction and erosion. All elements which will lead to decreased soil fertility and decreased production volume and quality.

To combat the less than perfect soil conditions we have agreed on creating a garden of raised beds. Using the “No dig” concept, we will utilize the process of decomposition, a wide range of locally sourced ingredients and a good carbon to nitrogen ratio. The idea is to create our own soil above the original. Considering we have nearly 700m2 of raised beds waiting to be formed, the scale of the project and the scale of material can be sobering. It’s important not to get overwhelmed, one boot in front of the other.

The Marathon

There’s no denying it, we have well and truly entered the endurance phase. Seeing our garden emerge from the mud, the temptation at this stage is to get this project finished and enjoy the spoils of our hard work. However, with our hopes of proving that trash can indeed reveal itself as treasure we intend to produce nothing less than pirate’s gold. So while we chip away at the project, we can see that now is as good a time as any to remind ourselves (and others) what we are truly trying to create in this space:

We aim to create a destination that will inspire our visitors to support organic food production. We hope to highlight the power of the individual in local food and material distribution, engage creativity through recycling and grow delicious vegetable utilizing natural cycles. We intend to inspire through beauty and to prove this project is possible with some enthusiasm and patience. We will produce 700m2 of 100% recycled. 100% organic. 100% people power productive garden space.

To prove our commitment to these values, we will now boast a small but mighty victory. Finding, securing the donation, and finishing the collection of tonnes of disused rock material from a local work site. This job was bigger than it sounds but we will let the photos do the talking.

                                                                        

                                                       Each bag weighs approximately 30kg,

Each bag was filled by hand

                                                                            

                                                                    Each stone was mined by hand

                                                                      

                                                               We filled two trucks with these bags.

Many Hands...

It’s been quite incredible to watch the garden grow over the last three weeks, both physically on the ground and mentally in the minds of all involved. The garden really is starting to take its form. From a field of basil and grass we are now seeing the base plan of the demo garden reveal itself. So once again a huge and organic thankyou, and a large helping of mud and sweat to all involved in getting this far.

Thirsty Work….

One of the projects aims is to use the garden as a tool, bringing people together and proving the concept of "many hands makes light work".  We have witnessed this since day one, but now more than ever the garden’s ability to act as a uniting force is clear for all to see. 

The collective effort of students, workers and volunteers remains vital to the progress of the garden, and their hardwork has resulted in real changes. We have seen the transformation of a green unruly field into a carefully charted blue print, and we are working to bring  functional linearity together with the shapes and processes of nature. Its truly inspiring to watch the garden develop in this way,  with each contribution fusing to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

Building Together

Starting with a pile over two metres high and six metres long our large heap of recycled wood is quickly depleating.  We have made over one hundred metres of material for raised beds; nearly a quater of the way through. Resting the busted thumbs and nail wounded feet, now its back to the junk shops to find a fresh supply of wood to transform into wonderful and useful creations.

Hard Labour

We lost count of the number of rocks that have been collected from the local dump site over the last few weeks. The collective hard work has been a truly monumental feat.  All by hand, tonnes of stone has been moved; transformed from the disused material of one site and given the double function of drain and path material in another.  It’s been great to collect these objects and see the rewards of thinking outside the box. 

Battling against the rain it has been a hard slog completing the paths of the garden.  If you are following our blog you will know that the first spade hit the ground just three weeks ago, yet with hardwork, five shovels and a dozen pairs of hands, the majority of the paths have been mapped, excavated, and graded throughout the garden.  

Elsewhere, the garden has been cleared of vegetation, leaving just a surface cover to protect our precious soil, and we are on the hunt around the university grounds and beyond for lovely materials to build new layers of nutritious future soil to fill our raised beds.

There are testing times ahead for sure, but we are committed to keeping it organic, local and always positive.  We are on a roll, and we are going with it. 

Dig In.

And so it begins

We are all even happier than usual here at the garden.  Its official... the first spade has hit the ground. 

We are now underway, developing what will become the major drainage channel and pathway in the garden.

Starting from the garden's centre point, the drainage channel will eventually slope downward into a series of drainage ditches which surround the garden, all of which will help us to cope with the lovely but copious amounts of rain we receive here in the Philippine wet season.  The detailed process of measuring and mapping in order to manage the flow of water through the garden will hopefully save our skin, our soil and our roots next season. 

Its one small ditch for the garden, but one huge mountain of pride for all involved, and with the contribution of many hands this is  only going to grow. 

Its great to see our garden beginning to take its form, and its inspiring to see the garden already acting as a cross-discipline project for different departments across the university.  Hopefully this is an indication of the garden's future direction within the university and beyond.