Our ancestors said there were two summer seasons in the Philippines, one was in between the months of March and May, the other was between the months of August and November but the summer season we had now is the longest and driest we have felt so far.
This elongated melon is sweeter and more easier to grow than the rounder ones.
It is also in this time where the watermelons are usually harvested because longer sun exposure to ripe watermelons produces the sweetest melons, but if there is melon season, there was also a season where melons nor other sun thriving crops would not survive--the rainy season ofc.
We are now in one of the hottest season of the year and today I wanted show some of the crops we usually harvest on hot summers here in our area.
I grew-up in a rural agricultural town of Baybay City, even though there were great crops we could choose to grow some of them might not be an ideal crop to grow in our heavily rain(y) region. I have tried planting garlic, onions, cauliflowers, and tomatoes once but I believe they needed a greenhouse if we choose to plant these in our town. Yet, there are thriving crops that we grow and will grow well in our province like our local veggies which are the okra, pechay, eggplant, squash, mungbeans, snake beans, and cucumbers. I used to dislike these local vegetables before but now I realized that what is thriving is what we truly needed. These sun loving vegetables and crops needed extra tending during the humid summer months but in turn they would produce a bountiful harvest if we care for them.
It is also in the summer where the farmers layout their plans and predict the weather in the next planting season that while they harvest the rice today, they also prepare for to what is to come in their farming. Our farm lands have changed, there were now concrete roads towards the hills and the rice fields but way better was the irrigation channels towards the least watered fields of the town.
Also on this month, my Mama recieved a good supply of seeds from the local government, all of those are good quality seeds--so happy they were. She hoped that on the farm she was born and raised she'll grow and harvest from the seeds she just had recieved. On the other handmy father had a keen interest in agro-forestry and because of this the property my parents aquired was slowly turned into a thriving food forest.
There is hope in farming even if fertilizers and farming tools are more expensive now than before-- and sometimes knowledge, love for farming, and experience works on the end with ample blessings from above.
I'd love to work on the land one day, planting crops we don't usually grow in our region. The weather is sunny today like the usual dry season we hoped for after the long rain days. Hoping for the rain to come again soon. To start sowing seeds under the showers of rain with our hand-woven buri hats on. Let the long rainy season begin again!
To those who are now in their summer vacation, this haiku is for you,
A white sand beach
Melons and coconut juice
My tropical dream
ABOUT ME
is an introverted night owl who enjoys coffee a lot. An otaku and a foodie, she also lives inside the stories she dreams to publish one day. You can catch her admiring her rainy and picturesque hometown in Western Leyte, Philippines.