<\/a>One of the 500 households participating in the village project dubbed \u201cGulayan at Bulaklakan.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n
Two decades later, that garden has expanded into a one-hectare research and training center for the Gulayan at Bulaklakan project, where around 15 varieties of vegetables are grown and studied. Manned by barangay employees who volunteer their time, the site is equipped with a composting facility and a solar-powered pump for irrigation.<\/p>\n
Recently, the workers\u2019 toil was rewarded with a yield of broccoli, cauliflower and strawberries.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents can go to the center anytime to get seeds, soil and compost to start their own garden,\u201d Valmocina said. Poor families living nearby are welcome to ask for a little share of the produce if they don\u2019t have cash for their next ulam or viand.<\/p>\n
The barangay allots P600,000 a year to run the center, which also provides free training for interested residents.<\/p>\n
For Noel Abecendario, head of the barangay public safety office, cultivating his own greens has become a form of therapy. \u201cAt night, when I get home tired, I just water my plants and it\u2019s already a stress reliever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His harvests, he said, had cut in half his daily P300 budget for meals.<\/p>\n
Alberto Serapion, another public safety officer who spends his free time at the center, had seen his walls grow heavy with ampalaya and eggplants. When the Inquirer saw him recently, he was busy planting pechay (Chinese cabbage) in between rows of radish.<\/p>\n
Valmocina noted that while the residents\u2019 harvest may be smaller compared to commercially grown crops, Holy Spirit\u2019s fruits and veggies are organic and untouched by chemicals. \u201cIt tastes even better because you\u2019ve worked for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we only have a small part of the community producing their own food,\u201d said the village chair who oversees a population of around 150,000. \u201cIf we can get at least 60 percent involved, then maybe we can start our own (farmers\u2019) market.\u201d<\/p>\n
This June, the barangay is enhancing the Gulayan and Bulaklakan project by giving away seedlings to around 2,000 residents, with the special inclusion of families affected by the Duterte administration\u2019s war on drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can use them to start a livelihood,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you sing (the folk song) \u2018Bahay Kubo,\u2019 all those vegetables mentioned there are here in the barangay,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you really want to grow your own food, being in the city should not be a tough challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the middle of the urban sprawl, these Quezon City residents have gotten their hands dirty and their thumbs green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":900184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34,38,47],"tags":[206080,41955],"byline":[177409],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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