9 September 2024
Now that it's September, I can't help but reminisce about the good old days with our father, including the challenges and misfortunes he faced. This month is both his birthday and death anniversary. How ironic that is. He died in the same month he was born. Although he had the iron fist of a father, he did his best to protect us and give us a better life.
In one of my posts before, I shared about our farm. Our father likes planting, so he bought a farm after he retired. That is one of the properties he left behind before he died. And like he said, if we want to, each of us, his children, can build a house there. It is undoubtedly a vast land. We can even make it a private compound that is exclusive to us. The first person to build a house there was our oldest brother. Still under construction, though. I might be the next in the future. Who knows? I want a tranquil place, anyway.
The farm gives us abundant food, especially during harvest season. When our father was still healthy and able, he planted different fruit seeds on our farm in addition to existing trees that were already there when we purchased the land. It's a harvest season recently. One of the fruits that he wished to see bear fruit before he passed away was our durian trees. I guess there are about five durian trees on our farm that are producing fruits. Some are still young and have not yet produced fruit. Durian is one of his favorite fruits. Eight years ago, he planted durian trees on our farm, but as they say, it takes seven to eight years for durian trees to produce fruits. My family was more than happy when they discovered the durian trees producing blooms five months ago; thus, fruits would follow. The long wait was finally over. Sadly, our father could no longer see or taste his durian fruits; perhaps he could still see them from above.
(Some photos were sent by my brother from his phone, so they have different quality.)
I'm not a fan of durian fruit. I had tasted it for the first time when I was a kid. I remember when I was young, our father was assigned to Davao City a few times, which is the durian capital in the Philippines. He brought two large durian fruits home with him, but I didn't like its pungent smell. So, I ended up eating candies instead of the fruit. From then on, I dislike smelling or eating durian fruits. After a long time, durian resurfaces before my eyes again. We even have durian trees on our farm now. We can eat durian every harvest season. I tried tasting durian fruit again after decades. I was hesitant at first because of the smell. But my siblings seemed convincing and enjoyed eating it, so I tasted a small portion of it. It doesn't taste bad at all! Just don't smell it, though. In fact, its taste is similar to what we call tisa fruit, which I used to eat back when I was young because we also had tisa trees in our backyard.
We harvested durian fruits by batch, and my brother is an expert in determining which fruit is ready to be harvested and consumed. We gave some to our extended family, who also like eating durian. It's a blessing for us because durian is one of the fruits in the Philippines, which is very expensive. Depending on its weight, one whole fruit costs almost a thousand pesos. It is sold per tub on the market, which costs about Php 250 per 500 grams. I am a bit thrifty and practical, so I will never buy 500 grams of fruit for Php 250, lol. That's not even enough for the whole family. Gladly, we no longer need to buy durians because we can simply harvest and eat them during harvest, particularly from May to September.
We have two types of durian trees on our farm: the small ones from the seeds we bought in the market and the other one they call giant durian from my father's friend. The giant durian has better taste than the small one.
Apart from durian trees, we also have rambutan trees on our farm. We have more rambutan trees than durian trees. This is something I want to work on in the near future. The seeds from eaten fruits can be replanted to produce more fruit trees on our farm, which will hopefully be profitable when the right time comes. I am willing to invest in this farm to retain our father's proof of labor and hard work.
We also have jackfruits, bananas, and other plants for family consumption. Existing fruits include coconut trees, which can be harvested to produce oil out of them or sell them at the market.
A small portion of the farm is filled with pineapples. They've been producing fruits since the year we purchased the land. However, compared to the first few harvest years, pineapples appear to get smaller yearly, so we need to replant them. This one below is tiny, but already ripe.
Meanwhile, in our backyard are some fruit trees and plants, such as this old cotton fruit tree, which I guess is older than my siblings or even me. This tree produces many fruits during its season, which our close neighbors and extended family are welcome to ask for free. Some are sold at a very low price. Unlike other cotton fruits, ours is different; fruits are bigger and sweeter. Even when it is still somewhat green, it is sweet rather than sour. For this reason, many people come to our place to ask or buy our cotton fruits.
Meet Pikoy, our parrot that likes eating santol (cotton fruit).
In addition, we also have a mango tree, lime tree, guyabano tree (soursop), papaya trees, and some potted vegetables in our backyard.
I bet many Filipinos here know mansanitas or merabhella. We call it tiny apples or tiny berries. We have a lot here. They grow anywhere in our place.
My father planted this miracle fruit tree years ago because people claimed that it can cure diseases. I bet he was already sick by then but only keeping it a secret from us. These fruits are too big now and can be harvested anytime. We watched videos on how to consume it, so we will be going to make herbal juice out of it one of these days. Hopefully, it could bring a miracle, hence its name. My little niece calls it an apple. It's too huge for an apple, lol.
My father also attempted to grow dragon fruits, apples, and grapes. Unfortunately, the grapes and apples didn't survive because of the weather. The dragon fruits are still surviving, but I haven't seen them bear fruit yet. I thought dragon fruit came from trees, but these look like cactuses. I bet some of you haven't seen where dragon fruit comes from. Now you know.
Those we harvested from our farm and backyard aren't for sale but for family consumption only. However, I want to plant more fruit trees on our farm to make a profit. Our rice field is still stagnant because we have no one to work on it. The land on our farm isn't suitable for planting vegetables, so planting fruit trees or building a poultry farm are the best options.
We felt grateful and blessed to harvest the fruit of our late father's labor. Even on his last days, he ensured we would receive abundant food even when he wasn't around anymore. One of these days, I will visit the farm to give you a tour.
Thanks for your time.
Jane is a Filipina wanderer in a foreign land who finds comfort in nature and freedom in writing. She loves watching raw picturesque landscapes, listening to the symphony of nature, breathing in drops of sunshine, walking through scenic trails and cityscapes, tasting new culinary flavors, capturing pretty little things, venturing into hidden gems, and dancing with the flow of life.
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