![]() “I found praying mantis eggs on a branch. He bought them a transparent bug box where they can observe insects. “They get to see all the bugs,” Jungco says. Jungco’s grandchildren also enjoy spending time in the garden, especially since they haven’t been allowed to leave their residence during the pandemic. This photo is captioned, “from the garden to the table with no traders in between (and) no tag price to worry about.” Jungco poses with a harvest of cherry tomatoes. “You know how you have to pay to harvest strawberries in La Trinidad, Benguet? Here, we let lot owners pick vegetables for free.” “Some were so happy just to be able to harvest their own food,” Jungco shares. No one’s complained about it, especially since anyone who owns a lot in the subdivision is allowed to harvest from the communal garden. Jungco’s plants extend to about 1000 sqm, stretching over lots owned by other people. “I drink sambong and tarragon tea (from our garden) every night. “It’s fun because every morning, my wife and our grandchildren pick what we’re going to cook,” he says. Maintaining a garden filled with vegetables, fruit trees, and herbs has also proven highly beneficial during the pandemic.Īside from having access to food, the greenery has helped their mental wellbeing and has kept the two grandkids who live with them occupied. Jungco and his wife still grow crops around their house, and this is where they get their food on a daily basis. Those areas have since been overrun by cogon. This ended in early 2021, when the subdivision’s management changed hands and the practice was disallowed. ![]() They said yes.įor a short time, he also worked with local farmers who were allowed to plant crops like tomatoes, radish, and string beans on idle land. He knew some of the owners of the lots surrounding his house, so he asked them if he could grow crops on their land. Jungco was one of the first residents in the 18 hectare subdivision, which, as of the interview, only had six homes built. “When I retired, we left the air base but my farming continued.” “My wife seldom needed to go to the market for vegetables,” he says. Their crops read like a grocery list, and included pechay, radish, cabbage, eggplants, tomatoes, okra, squash, and ampalaya. He followed in his father’s footsteps, not just by joining the army, but also by cultivating a garden around his army-issued home. “This has been my interest ever since,” he shares. His mother also planted ornamental plants around their home. ![]() Jungco used to accompany his father every morning to maintain the garden. They raised pigs, chickens, and grew crops like gabi, pechay, and tomatoes for their dinner table. “There was unused land behind the building he worked in, so we cleared that and started cultivating,” Jungco says. His father was a soldier who worked in the Special Intelligence Training School. Jungco was born and raised in Fort Bonifacio, back when it was still an army camp and not the Bonifacio Global City people know today. ![]() Retired general Rolando Jungco plants crops (with permission) in the idle land surrounding his house in Lipa, Batangas. ![]()
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