The farm was established back in the late 1940s when my grandparents, Cristita and Apolinario Gamayot, moved down to Mindanao from Pilar, Bohol creating a legacy founded on the bounty of the land. The farm still has a number of features from that time. You can find a 60 year old plumeria/Kalachuchi on our land and see the 75 years old ancestral home built using hardwood like tugas and bayong wood. We even have the old jar that my grandmother used to ferment her vinegar and a few items she brought from Bohol.
Starting with my grandmother’s backyard vegetable garden, the farm has been free of pesticides. This may be one of the reasons that she lived 94 years. Over those years, the area has been home to hundreds of free range chickens and a number of cows and goats. The farm has also planted fruit trees like mango, coconut, cacao, guava, biasong and jackfruit with tons of root crops grown like cassava and sweet potato.
The land was split back in 2000, with my father and mother planting coconut, cacao, corn and mung bean to add to the diversity of the crops grown. My family came to own the portion with the ancestral home and my initial plan was to develop the land by planting a mango orchard. Today 40 of these trees survive along with some of the coconut and cacao from my parents.
In 2019,a large portion of the farm was converted to grow more than 2200 dragon fruit vines to take advantage of the high value of that crop. We planted more or less than 100 malunggay trees, papayas and different kinds of herbs and flowers around the perimeter of the dragon fruit. Hoping to deter pests while inviting friendly bugs like bees.
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