Building Biogas in Baguio

Diony Cabatbat (right) from Laguna

teaches the ins and outs of building small biogas systems

Local builders of Baguio city learned the ins and outs of building small biogas systems last week. The training on biogas construction started at the height of Typhoon Isang, which did not dampen the enthusiasm and bayanihan spirit of the participants. Construction workers and organic farmers, were among those who volunteered their time and labor to learn the skill, by actually building a biogas digester in barangay Lualhati. This will serve as a demonstration site for interested people to come and visit.

Mr. Diony Cabatbat has built hundreds of small biogas digesters in his home province of Laguna, and generously provided expert guidance for the week-long hands-on training. The design used was developed and tested by the Cavite State University Affiliated Non-Conventional Energy Center (CvSU-ANEC).

Biogas technology, also known as anaerobic digestion, turns waste matter into energy. All kinds of organic wastes, including animal manure and garden wastes, are placed into a digester. There, the wastes are decomposed by bacteria, and the resulting methane gas is gathered and channeled for fuel. In this case, hog manure is utilized, and the gas produced is used for cooking fuel.

The multiple benefits of biogas technology include: savings on cooking fuel, turning refuse into resource, sanitation measure for backyard piggery, elimination of bad odors and pollution generated from raising animals, better relations with neighbors, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

With the training, we hope to make this good technology accessible locally, and trainees are now confident that they can replicate this in other sites.

Thus, if you think biogas is for you, get in touch.#

Find your handful of worms

Introducing the African night crawler

Some complex problems have simple solutions, and a handful of worms may be the answer to the biodegradeable wastes of Baguio city.

On June 13 and 14, thirty people gathered at St. Scholastica Convent to learn the theory and practice of vermicomposting. We were lucky to have Michael Cagas as our teacher, who has built his expertise through seven years of focused practice, experimentation, and teaching of vermiculture and vermicomposting. Though some of us went to the training with doubts about caring for worms, we all left with our bayongs-full of worms, determined to start our own backyard and household vermicomposting, and do our share in solving the garbage problem in the city.

The African night crawler looks like our own native earth worm, in size and color. Unlike the native earthworm, it is flatbellied, which enables it to crawl on a flat wall. Also it does not burrow or bore holes in the earth, and prefers to stay on the surface. Thus, this worm is no threat to the rice paddies, like the giant earthworms now destroying the Banaue rice terraces. Michael allayed the fears of some participants that this worm would become a pest or invasive species, by explaining that it actually needs care and and protection from pests and predators like chickens, frogs, insects. Thus, they would not be able to survive and thrive, if they are not given the ideal environment and home.

One kilo of worms can eat one kilo of organic wastes in a day, and turn this into vermicast, which is a superior type of organic fertilizer. Furthermore, the organic waste is reduced to a fraction of its original volume. Thus, a handful of worms inside a sako, with appropriate bedding materials, can serve as a perpetual bin for household biodegradeable wastes. In other words, your trash bin does not get full because the worms are consuming them and processing them into smaller amounts of vermicompost. Isn't this a wonderful way to manage our organic wastes?

So, what can we put into the sako? All kitchen wastes, like fruit and vegetable peelings, garden trimming, banana stalks, sayote, even pig, chicken, and horse manure. This does not produce bad odors, because the good bacteria are able to fight the bad bacteria.

We learned about the needs, behavior, mating patterns of the African night crawler. Hopefully, this knowledge will help us culture the worms so that they reproduce, and allow us to share a handful of worms to our neighbors and friends. Participants to the training included indigenous migrants, urban poor, gardeners of several convents, NGO workers, and organic farmers.

Thus, if you want to join this worm initiative, ask around, try to find your neighbors who do not produce any biodegradeable wastes, and request a handful of worms for your own household.#

Community Video is empowering

Many of us feel that video is beyond our powers: that it is too high tech, too difficult to learn, to tedious and time consuming, or we are too old for this kind of thing.

These have been debunked through a community participatory video workshop conducted by InsightShare in Itogon.

Participants were taught to use video cameras during an intensive 9-day participatory video workshop in Ucab, Itogon.The output is a 24 minute documentary which communicates the devastating impacts of large-scale mining wrought on their communities by various companies over the years, and now the increasingly alarming impacts of climate change.

Credit goes to InsightShare for their commitment to popularize the medium and the skills necessary among disadvantaged communities and to their local partners, Ucab community, Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network, and Dap-ayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera.#

The Green Wave for Biodiversity in Baguio

Camp One, Tuba, Benguet

A ripple that's turning into a wave around the world has reached this mountain city. The Green Wave for Biodiversity aims to build a consciousness among young people on the loss of biodiversity that is taking place across the planet, and the need to take action to preserve Life on Earth.

soil painting

To observe and celebrate the International Day on Biodiversity last May 22, 2009, 20 youth and children of the Traditional Knowledge Network of Baguio city trooped to Camp 1, Tuba, Benguet with their tents, backpacks, and anticipation for the 2-day biodiversity camp.

Bamboo music

The campsite was a wilderness where the city-bred campers learned to identify plant varieties and their uses, insects and birds and their sounds. The young people learned respect for the earth and all forms of life through fun activities in arts, music, story-telling, exploration, cooking, and tree-planting. Lessons were many in biodiversity conservation, waste management, in traditional knowledge, and cooperation.

Amian Tauli facilitated the exploration and tree-planting activities. Marichu Ferguson led the soil painting workshop. Julius Daguitan, Maty Camfili and Ani Bungaoen led the bamboo music workshop. Rey Fangloy taught how to cook pinikpikan. Maty Camfili led the story-telling by the campfire. 

Here is the written evaluation of one of the campers: "Overall, I thought the workshop was fun and interesting. My expectations were all met and I learned a lot. I enjoyed playing bamboo instruments and painting with soil. I was happy that I was able to plant trees. I also learned a lot about caring for the environment and also about the different cultures in the Cordillera. I think the venue was just right. It was a place with many plants and insects which demonstrated the concept of biodiversity well. It was also good that it was away from the city because it made us experience being away from our parents and taking care of ourselves. Through this workshop, we also learned and applied the concept of cooperation. We got to know new people and even made friends. The workshop was fun. And I hope there will be another one like it: with more songs, stories, friends, fun, learning and of course, pinikpikan".#

A Walk Through Sister Alice's Garden

Sister Alice educates us on garden biodiversity

The Traditional Knowledge Network in Baguio city had its quarterly meeting yesterday, and we were fortunate to be hosted by Sister Alice in Sta. Scholastica Convent in Wagner Road, Baguio City.

For me, a high point of the day was the pre-lunch walk through Sister Alice's gardens, which is called the Seven Healing Gardens of Eden.

The seven gardens are arranged in circles, and each has a theme, like medicinal herbs, fruit trees, flowers, vegetables, cactus, salad, and the centerpiece is a spirulina pond. Sister Alice, like a proud parent, introduced us to her brood of healthy, thriving plants, each with their own name, (like citronella, lady's fingers); character (aromatic, spiky); use (mosquito repellant, to counteract the radiation of computers); and interesting stories which made the one hour walk pass so quickly.

I personally was taken with the herbal medicine garden, which had wonderful scents coming from the lemongrass, citronella, mint, menthos, and parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. There were many others names which now escape me, and made me resolve to bring my notebook on my next walk through this garden. I bought one of each, which I will plant in our backyard, hoping to have a similar aromatic and medicinal garden.

We convinced Sister to display some of her herbs in Balatinaw Store, where they will be available for sale at affordable prices, once the background for each herb is written. Watch out for this.#

Be a Locavore

Boiled cassava served with freshly harvested honey

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a food garden or live next to a forest to hunt and gather from. But more and more people are doing the next best thing in choosing their food: eating local produce in season, and eliminating food miles.

Yes, in these times of crisis and climate change, it matters how far your food travels before it reaches your mouth. It seems that eating local has even a greater impact than eating organic.

In rural areas, and during simpler times, it is/was common to walk a few steps to the home garden, pick a few veggies for a simple meal, or butcher the chicken ranging freely for a more elaborate one. For a snack, harvest the cassava or camote and serve with honey.

These days, especially for us city folks, we need to exert more effort. Maybe start a small home garden, even in containers where there is no available space. Maybe beg a few sayote from a kind hearted neighbor. Or go to the market, and ask a few questions before handing over the cash.

Is that orange a a local variety, or did it come from China months ago, thereby needing preservatives? Is that garlic from Taiwan, or from the Ilocos? Are those noodles imported or locally produced? How far did that squid or chicken travel, since they come frozen in boxes, and have to be thawed in basins full of water? Is that NFA rice a product of Thailand or Vietnam?

Of course, you can also go visit Balatinaw Store at #16 Dizon Subdivision, Baguio City, and be sure that all products on display are locally produced, and good for your health. This past month, I got the following from this store: peanut butter; dried legumes and traditional beans from Kalinga; beautiful organic tomatoes, lettuce, mustard; sili; all kinds of vinegars, pickles, wines, jams and jellies; ginger from Abra; squash noodles made in Sagada; maskobado sugar from Abra; bananas from Kalinga. If you want to start a garden, you can buy compost to help you out. 

And please bring your visitors for souvenirs, like wood carvings, woven items, music, and books. There's something for everyone.#

Bakun Folk Fight Large-Scale Mining

Bakun landscape

Our host warmly invited us to her home for 2 nights

Pila for dinner

Solidarity for the Bakun people's struggle

Communities in Bakun, Benguet are fighting to maintain their lifeways, livelihoods, and culture, as they confront the mining exploration operations of the Australian mining company Royalco. They are questioning the Free Prior Informed Concent (FPIC) which Royalco claims the communities have given them.

In order to call attention to their problem, Gambang community in Bakun volunteered to host one of the five celebrations of Cordillera Day this year. They mobilized their women, youth, elders, officials, and welcomed some 1000 participants and visitors from Baguio, Benguet, Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines, Germany, Taiwan, Japan and the United States. 

We felt the warmth and vitality of the community folk from our arrival on April 23 until our departure on April 25. They shared their music which ranged from the traditional tallak (musical wooden rods) to original country songs with Kankana-ey lyrics, performed complete with electric guitars and drums. All expressed their love for their high mountains, the vegetable gardens, their small scale mines, and called for Bakun folk to guard their ancestral land. Each piece was outstanding, and earned the lively applause of the audience, some of whom were a bit surprised to find such musical excellence in a remote mountain barangay.

The Bakun women earned special citation from Congresswomen Luz Ilagan of Gabriela Women's Partylist, for their hard work in preparing for the Cordillera Day celebration, and their visibility during the program, on top of their other tasks as gardener, mother, wife.

Cordillera Day is indeed a rare occasion to show solidarity for the Cordillera IPs fighting for their land, life, and rights; a valuable opportunity to link up with community folk, to enjoy their music and dance to gongs, to go back to a simpler lifestyle if only for a few days; to recharge and regain some of that strength, as we continue in a protracted struggle for a better life. 

It is also a good way for city bred children to spend a few learning days during their summer vacation.