Kristel – Page 5 – Goducate … Go And Educate!

2013-02-122013-02-13

Progress with Goducate community farming in Tranca, Laguna

Two community farming projects were started in the village of Tranca about 4 months ago. One was to teach agricultural methods in an elementary school, and the other was the setting up of a communal farm in the Blu-Paong area.

The students at the Tranca Elementary School were taught vermicomposting (how to use earthworms to make compost) as well as how to plant vegetables. The Schools Division Superintendent was glad to see the profusion of vegetables at the school, which was named Best Implementer of Vegetable Gardening in the whole municipality of Bay, Laguna. The second round of planting has already been completed. The focus was on hydroponics because that that was the most successful project.

To learn more about agriculture the principal and the agriculture teacher of Tranca Elementary School visited the Goducate Model Farm last week. They hope to bring the students there some time.

At Blu-paong, a communal farm was set up in October, 2012, in the backyard of a lady whose child was attending a Goducate literacy center. The farm is worked by some of the women in the area. They are still trying to work out what grows best in the kind of soil they have there. Their trial with tomatoes and papayas were not a great success. The yield was sufficient only for personal consumption. The “pechay” grew well, as did the lettuce. There was sufficient lettuce for use in the feeding program at the Goducate literacy center in Lalao as well as for sale in the neighborhood. This season the women will be assessing whether bittergourds grow well in their soil.

Vegetables grown at Tranca elementary school

Teachers from Tranca school (in red) learning about planting vegetables from Goducate staff worker

Women at Blu-paong communal farm tending to lettuce

2013-02-01

Harvest time at Goducate Model Farm in Laguna

The Goducate Model Farm in Laguna is where people are trained to produce crops that have the highest nutritional values, and with least impact on nature. Thus organic farming is promoted there.

Towards the end of last year, people who were victims of the severe flooding brought on by “Typhoon” Hagabat were trained at the model farm and employed as part-time workers. The crops they helped to plant in November last year were harvested in the second week of January. The crops harvested included cucumbers, red chilis, fresh string beans, pechay (pak choi), and native peanuts and corn. Some were kept for consumption by the staff and workers and their families, and the rest sold on the market.

The Goducate Model Farm also cultures African night crawlers (a type of earthworm that makes compost). The sale of the earthworms and the compost produced adds to the income of the model farm.

Checking whether plants are ready for harvest

2013-01-29

Construction of Goducate Literacy Center at Ulik

When a new literacy center was started at Ulik, Mabacan, in Laguna Province, in June 2012, it consisted of little more than tarpaulin strung over a few poles. It was a branch of another Goducate literacy center in Mabacan that was opened in 2011.

In October 2012, construction work began on a more permanent building. The building has now been completed. During the construction period, the students attended classes at another Goducate literacy center. The center is headed by a Goducate worker, aided by a volunteer mother, and is currently attended by 9 nursery-school students.

The plan is to use the center for other other classes as well, such as tutorials for older children, or music classes. As with other Goducate centers, the aim is to help children in the community develop a passion for learning.