farm life

Farm Life in the Philippines – What is It Like? (Part 1)

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I’m now on the 7th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is actually living at the farm.

DISCLAIMER

This is going to be a long blog post, hence the two parts. So prepare some popcorn and enjoy the first one… ^_^

BACKGROUND

What I’m going to blog about with you today is my life here at the farm to give you all a glimpse of what farming is like here in the Philippines, at least in these parts of Northern Mindanao. I used to vacation at my grandfather’s farm in Bukidnon when I was younger but of course, it’s not the same. My grandfather is a typical haciendero with all his drivers and helpers; has 2 nice farm houses complete with all the amenities of modern living and he doesn’t farm… he just orders around people to do the job and collects money from all his harvests while here, at Mahal’s farm, it’s really back to basics – no running water, no proper toilet, no proper housing and we also do the planting ourselves. There goes my expectation of being a typical haciendera down the drain. Hahaha! Work and sacrifices first before enjoying our harvests. Continue reading →

How to Let Go of Toxic People in Your Life

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I’m now on the 6th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is being able to focus on my work and not be bombarded with so many distractions. I have an 11AM Skype meeting with a client and I want my blog post task to be done so I can focus on my work at hand. So suffice it to say that this post will be short and sweet… just something to help you like it helped me when the going got tough in some of my relationships.

I’m sure many of you have experienced in one form or degree letting go of people you once held dear in your heart simply because they have been toxic and unhealthy for you. It doesn’t matter if they were friends or family members or people of authority in your life. You just had to let them go.

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Mushroom Chili Paste

Tuscany Highlands Organic Farm Mushroom Chili Paste – How It Came to Be

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I’m now on the 5th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is helping out Mahal in our agribiz venture.

Mahal and I are always thinking of ways to preserve our mushroom harvest. The only ways we can do that for now are either to freeze them (which can be costly since our own personal fridge at home is small and can’t accommodate a lot of harvests), to dry it which is good because that’s very easy to do and you only need the sun to make it possible,  or to process our harvest which is the best alternative. We chose to do the last 2 alternatives since they fit very well into our current lifestyle. 

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farm

Farming is Like Mothering (A Mother’s Day Post)

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It’s Mother’s Day today, Philippine Time (I am perpetually on US Time Zone) and I’d like to greet everyone, especially my mom, a Happy Mother’s Day!

I’m now on the 4th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of those is enjoying our farm and doing farm stuff.

I don’t have any special blog post planned for this. I thought I could think up of something but having been sleepless the past week due to work, Tuz’s fussiness, body aches coz I started working out again, and that one small fight I had with Mahal that brought me chest pains and sleeplessness, my body caved in this weekend and I slept for 11 hours straight! It helps that we are at the farm, Mahal and I kissed and made up, the weather is so cold even without air conditioning, the air is so fresh with crickets and frogs singing in the background, it really made me fall into a long slumber. And then I woke up to this beautiful view of a hidden sunrise, who wouldn’t feel so rejuvenated and refreshed? So as the sun continues to rise in the horizon, I figured I will try to make a Happy Mother’s Day blog post.

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Be Clear Why You Are Here

How To Be Clear Why You Are Here

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I’m now on the 3rd day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of those things is reading my books, particularly Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. I bought this book in 2009. I started reading it and finished a few chapters, then life happened and before I know it, years have passed and I haven’t continued reading the book. So I started reading it again from Chapter 1. I remember blogging about it here too: HOW TO TAKE 100% RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE

I am currently in Chapter 26 when I thought to myself, why not continue blogging about it? That way, I get to analyze each chapter, be more conscious of applying the lessons and principles I learned, rather than just trying to finish the book?

So that’s what I’m doing for this post. I am going to share with you Jack Canfield’s Success Principle #2: Be Clear Why You’re Here.

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pondering

Random Thoughts of a 40-Year Old Mom

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So it’s Day 2 of my 30-day blog challenge which I hope to turn into a daily routine for as long as I live. (The first day of this challenge was yesterday) I’ve only slept 4 hours because baby Tuz woke me up to have his diapers changed and I couldn’t anymore sleep after that.

I think one effect of doing this challenge is that I have something I love that I am now looking forward to in my day. It’s not just work-eat-sleep anymore (long version: take care of Tuz-chores-work-feeling a bit empty and lonely coz Mahal is at the farm during weekdays-cook-social media-watch videos-sleep). I am now actually adding a bit of excitement to my day by thinking about what to write next and then actually writing down my thoughts.

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do what you love

How To Do What You Love Each Day

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It’s already May, 5th month of this year and I haven’t even started achieving my new year’s resolution of blogging more and doing more of the things I really love! How do you do what you love each day?

It’s a given that “I do” my mahal every chance I get (which is a couple of times a day if we’re both lucky…lol!) but that’s not the “do” I’m talking about here. Hahaha! TMI! I mean, aside from loving my Mahal and our toddler and traveling together, what else do I love to do? And how do I go about doing what I love to do? Below, I’ll share with you a few things I learned on how to create time for the things you love and if you’re on the same boat as I am, I  hope they help you out as well.

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How to Travel with a Toddler? (A 2017 Travel Recap)

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OMG! OMG! OMG! This blog post has been on draft mode since January! And because I’ve been sooooo busy like never before, it’s only now that I am trying to finish this so I can finally publish it!

This is a two-part blog post, a bit long yes, but I think I owe it to you (and myself) since I haven’t really posted in a  while.

The first part is about tips on how to travel with a toddler. The second part is a photo summary of all our travels in 2017. I want to have a look back at the past year first so I can appreciate more how wonderful 2018 is turning out to be. We’re only in the 3rd month of this year but so many things have already happened and I’m just so grateful for everything!

Just in case you’re new on my blog and you’re wondering how we can do so much traveling, it’s because we don’t work in the corporate world. We’re setting up our farm in Mindanao and I  work online which means we can pretty much travel when we want to as long as everything in our life is in place – our workers at the farm, my online work schedule and our finances.

Anyway, I first drafted this post while we were doing our annual trip to Oslob, Cebu 3rd week of January and I was hoping to not leave without recapping all those wonderful travels we did last year! But then life happened — I hit the ground running at the start of the year with work, Tuz was very needy, we were traveling a lot, I had to rest and sleep… the usual, lol!  — so I’m only able to write about it now. I know I am super behind in sharing here with you my travel posts. What I usually end up writing here are things about my life as a mother and provider in general and all those self-help stuff I’ve learned (I’m a Psychology graduate so I really do like dissecting my thoughts most of the time by writing them down here). As one of my resolutions for 2018, I want to write more travel posts since we’re traveling most of the time and I’m starting it with this one — our 2017 travel recap and how to travel with a toddler (coz Tuz is two years old now…Yep, time really flies fast, I know!) Hopefully, it won’t take me another 2 months or so to write the next one!

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Christmas 2017

Thoughts After a Blessed Christmas – From Having Zero Balance in My Wallet to Having Almost P200K

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It’s the day after Christmas and this month has been such a whirlwind of a ride! I work 16 hours a day now and sometimes even more (as a CFO to our mushroom farm, a full-time business development manager to a new foreign client, a virtual assistant to another foriegn client, and a social media manager to 2 other long-time foreign clients as well); I am surprisingly in a long distance relationship with Mahal and baby Tuz for 4 nights a week (which I never thought was possible) just so I can focus on work and making money and still be able to sleep (they live in the farm during weekdays while I’m left alone in our tiny pad down the mountains where there’s stronger internet signal); I am zombie during weekends coz that’s the time my babies are home. And from U.S. Time Zone, I immediately shift back to Philippine time so we can run errands and be together; In short, I am tired. BUT… I’ve never been as fulfilled. I feel like all the talents that God has given me are being put to good use and not just for the welfare of my family, but to help make the lives of the people around us a little bit better as well. Here’s my story… (More like FB story coz I don’t have the time now to curate photos from the original album so I’m curating them from my FB posts… you can friend request me here: https://web.facebook.com/daenerysmom)

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Licealiz battles head lice infestation in Mindanao with Kilusang Kontra Kuto

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About one-third of elementary public school students in the Philippines suffer from head lice-related problems. Head lice infestation or pediculosis can cause severe itchiness and infection of the scalp, but this could be the least of these children’s worries; the social stigma associated with having kuto can leave lasting psychological damage on both children and their parents.

A survey of communities visited by the Licealiz caravan last year found that 47% of respondents from Visayas and 76% of respondents from Mindanao said that their children were bullied and teased for having head lice, causing some of them to miss school to avoid their peers. The parents, on the other hand, feel incompetent and embarrassed for being unable to prevent head lice from infesting their children. Continue reading →

Jen by Design

Jen By Design – Making an Old Rustic Room Look Cozy and Nice

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Jen by Design… I should have made this official a long time ago — I LOVE INTERIOR DECORATING! It’s one of my natural-born gifts!  Since I was a kid I love making things around me beautiful! My mom and dad would usually be surprised when they wake up each morning coz our living room would have a different design from the previous day. I’d rearrange the sofas and put some potted plants inside, and organize other home decors I had made. Even my regular-sized childhood room has different nooks for all my hobbies (I have a sewing nook, a play nook, a small library, a drawing nook, my bedroom in the corner arranged diagonally, etc.) And it’s off limits to everybody! Hahaha! Because even before I hit puberty, I already slept naked but that’s a different story. 😉

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