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| Museo Sa Ilog Booking Invoice 2007 | Download |
| Please download our current Booking Invoice. |
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| Frequently Asked Questions updated feb 2007 | Download |
| We have updated our FAQs section, please download our Feb 2007 update. |
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| Save the Bees and Secure Our Food Supply | Download |
| Save the Bees to Secure Our Food Supply
(Our Stand on Predation)
Ilog Maria Honeybee Farm
Around the world nature is out of whack. We have lost the balance. Our food supply is in danger.
We have been losing our bees to Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD, a worldwide phenomenon, since 2006. Since the experts are not agreed on CCD’s causes, we went full blast to erase our carbon footprint.
We planted thousands of rare, indigenous fruit and timber trees. We are planting wild flowers continuously to host thousands of wild pollinators that have made Ilog Maria their home. We planted a hundreds of mulberry and “tagisi” trees for the increasing bird population that seeks sanctuary in our farm. We are planting thousands more. We now run our farm on 85% renewable fuels and energy: biodiesel from used frying oil, E10, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, windmill water pump, wind turbines & and piko-hydro water turbines.
We threw 30+ years of beekeeping experience in the wastebasket and started from scratch. Apparently the newer, more natural methods worked. We were able to multiply our bees once more after 3 ½ hard years. Needless to say, our livelihood survived only by the grace of God.
Vicious Bird Predation
Then, the birds came by the thousands – Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. Each bird eats up to several hundred bees daily. These birds are carnivorous predators and not on any endangered list.
We have experimented with everything to control bird predation: fireworks, shiny tin foil, shiny tape, balloons with gigantic eyes printed on them, nets, even a plastic owl with glowing eyes – to no avail. In previous years, we let these birds eat our bees for a few weeks. Having tried everything and failed, we quietly regarded this as our contribution to mother nature.
We needed to save our bees fast. In a few days, there were no foraging bees; our colonies were starting to starve. In a few more days, colonies started absconding, a sure sign of starvation. Before we knew it, our queens stopped laying. This meant that with no new baby bees, bee populations would start to decline until not one bee was left. The speed and severity of this year’s vicious predatory attacks forced us to take emergency action.
For the fourth straight year, we are losing our honeybees. We have lost dozens of bee colonies. The other half of our colonies that is left is struggling to survive. A bird watchers paradise has turned our bee yard into a graveyard.
Fellow beekeepers have observed that this year’s bird attacks have been the worst ever. The birds have come earlier, they are more numerous and they are staying longer. Many smaller beekeepers have been wiped out, all their foraging bees eaten by these birds; millions of eggs, larvae and baby bees dying of starvation – their queens rendered sterile due to lack of nutrition.
This may mean that the birds’ natural prey, wild flying insects – mostly pollinators, has been depleted. They will stay and continue to eat our bees until the rains come. The soft wet ground will enable cicadas to rise out of their 17-year dormancy to mate. The birds favor these slower flying, larger preys.
Our honeybees, together with what remains of all the world’s honeybees are the endangered species.
The Birds and the Bees
Herbivorous birds are natural plant propagators, distributing seeds they have eaten across wide areas.
Bees help by making sure the seeds are viable or that they sprout easily. Seeds from under-pollinated flowers do not readily sprout and when they do, oftentimes the plants are stunted, deformed and do not bear fruit. Flowers that are not pollinated have no seeds at all.
When bees are over 21 days of age, they become foragers, looking for nectar, pollen, propolis and water. They forage over a radius of 3 to 5 kilometers, pollinating all the flowers they visit. They bring all this food into the beehive to nourish future generations of bees.
Bee pollination increases fruit, nut and seed production in neighboring farms about 2,800 to 7,800 hectares around us. This means that the production of coffee, coconuts, mangoes, citrus, fruits, vegetables, timber trees and perfume trees increases. This also means that wild vines, bushes, grasses and trees also increase in number.
Native grains also benefit from bee pollination. Native corn, monggo, upland rice and other grains experience increases in production and seed viability.
Conversely, when our bees are eaten while flying and pollination of neighboring farms ceases, food production in 2,800 to 7,800 hectares around us suffers.
When herbivorous birds eat bee-pollinated seeds, they propagate plants over very wide areas. This ensures the diversity and robustness of our ecosystems.
North America has better data. The scientists there have concluded that their nation is facing a food shortage. Because pesticides have decimated wild pollinating insects, Americans have relied more on domesticated honeybees for fruit, nut and vegetable pollination. CCD is decreasing colony numbers at an alarming rate: of the 1,000,000+ beehives migrated to the 2009 almond bloom, only about 200,000 survived. Increases in food production due to bee pollination, eclipses the income derived from honey production.
Bee Pollination of Food Crops
People in China and Japan are now hand pollinating pears and apples at prohibitive cost. They have lost both native and domesticated pollinators. North American agriculture is now spending millions of dollars to import package bees from Australia to save their US$ 2 billion almond industry. Dutch and Israeli companies now supply greenhouses with bumblebees to pollinate tomatoes, strawberries and other high value greenhouse crops. Cultured mason and leafcutter bees have joined the fore pollinating cherries, blueberries and alfalfa.
Bees increase harvests of fruits, vegetables and wild grains. Some plants will not even produce crops without pollination. It is estimated that 50% of the food we eat relies on bee pollination.
Indiscriminate and prevalent herbicide and pesticide use has also wreaked havoc on the Philippines’ wild pollinator population. This may be the reason behind the more vicious bird attacks. In the preceding 4 years, Davao had small harvests of mangosteen; Camiguin had almost no lanzones harvests; Silang had no coffee; Calatagan no mangoes. We may very soon have to rely on domesticated honeybees for pollination of our basic and high value crops.
We are thankful that this issue brings to the limelight the pivotal role honeybees play in producing our food.
What is critical is food production for human beings. Seen in this larger light, WE are the endangered species. If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, we are in danger of losing our food supply. This is especially true for those who live far from food producing areas.
Attacks on our Integrity
We will not dignify any attacks on our integrity. People who have visited our farm see ample proof of our commitment to our natural lifestyle.
Observant and sensitive souls can actually feel and smell the love and care with which we have conserved our farm. Butterflies and other winged insects abound on our wildflowers and flowering trees. Snakes, monitor lizards and the occasional turtle emerge from our bamboo forests if one is still enough. Cicadas, toads and frogs herald the onset of the rains.
Each time land around us is sold, trees are cut down for lumber and the remaining vegetation decimated by firewood gatherers. All that land’s wildlife runs to Ilog Maria for sanctuary.
Every so often, we hear a new song of another bird that has made Ilog Maria its home. Birdcalls now fill the air the entire day, not only during sunrise or sunset. We have pairs of civet and bobcats roaming our farm. Hawks have nested in our tall trees. We were requested to extract wild pukyutan from nearby resorts and schools and brought their nests here. We are also conserving stingless bees and “laywan” from rampant honey hunting. Several owls feast on field rats and baby snakes here. Numerous “tibig” or wild fig trees feed our growing bat population.
For those who have never visited us, I attach a short document on “Natural Living” that documents what we have done. We have not done all these things to increase our profits. We invest whatever we earn on improving the biodiversity of our farm and ecological sustainability of our chosen lifestyle. We enjoy doing this. This is who we are.
We think this is a right way to live, but we do not impose this on anyone.
We have become very private, having lived in isolation for about 30 years. We have written this narrative with an air of hesitation. However, we feel that we owe our friends a clear understanding of our position just this once.
We will defend our farm from any un-balanced and under-informed predation, especially from those who do not know what it is like to live and eke out a living on a farm in the Philippines.
So future generations can also enjoy Ilog Maria - our sanctuary.
What We Can Do
We can do simple things to save the honeybees and secure our food supply:
• We can learn more about nature and natural systems and how they interact to develop a clearer perception of why, how and when we can intervene.
• We can work with sober and well-informed people to start practical efforts to discover and develop newer, less harmful bird control techniques.
• We can start planting wild flowers at the onset of the rainy season. Cosmos is a very hardy flowering plant. Seeds will be available one month after the rains start. Cosmos is an excellent host for all kinds of pollinators.
• We can discover beekeeping and the wonderful world of honeybees. Why they are essential to the survival of the human race.
• We can spend more time in the countryside getting to know the people who grow our food who provide natural habitats for homeless wildlife and show them the modicum of respect and gratitude we owe them.
PS. The birds left as swiftly as they came. It may, again, take us some years to
get back on our feet.
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| Natural Living | Download |
| NATURAL LIVING
Ilog Maria Honeybee Farm
NATURAL LIFESTYLE
We live a natural lifestyle. As much as possible, we plant what we eat and use.
What we do not plant, we source from our neighbours.
We get the rest of our food from nearby provinces. We get our rice from Laguna; our beef from Tagaytay; our fish from nearby shores and fish pens; our pork from an organic pig raiser; our eggs from a duck farm. As much as possible, from fellow farmers who are also committed to natural lifestyles and livelihoods.
Our business uses natural ingredients. What we cannot produce from natural ingredients, we do not make. We sell only those products which we have been using ourselves in our household.
We are quite amused that our lifestyle has now come into vogue, after having lived it for more than 30 years.
OUR OBJECTIVE
From the start, we recognized that our farm was our host. We knew that, the land has owned us; rather than us owning the land. We have been very careful about any of our “interventions” to settle and live in this place; aware of our impact on our environment.
We have been acutely aware that whatever we contrive to do to allow us to live here pales beneath the complexity and majesty of God’s creation. We have adopted our role as stewards of this place, even as we feel that she has begun to grudgingly accept us.
Ilog Maria Honeybee Farms sits on 10 hectares in Barangay Lalaan 1st, Silang, Cavite. We are bounded on the East by the “Malaking Ilog” which drains the largest river basin in Silang. We also have a small stream that flows from 7 natural springs within our land – the Ilog Maria. Both the big river and the small stream meet here.
Whatever exists here now is a work in progress; a correction of past mistakes; a fine tuning of present living; a painstakingly careful planning for future generations. We are always designing, redesigning and fine tuning our operating systems to be more naturally sustainable.
Our objective is to integrate how we live into the natural systems around us. When faced with choices, we always decide towards simplicity in everything we do. We prefer simple but robust action. We are here for the long haul. We intervene only to re establish balance in favour of beneficial species.
PLANTING
This is our primordial role and responsibility. After clearing the land, about 30 years ago, we planted hectares of kakawate (a leguminous hardwood with many uses), black pepper and coffee. We also planted narra, mahogany, bamboo and gmelina.
We have planted over two thousand “kawayan tinik” (thorny) bamboo plants to make a living fence around Ilog Maria. We are also planting over three thousand indigenous hardwood trees in 2 hectares above our springs to further increase the output of water from them. We have planted indigenous and endangered hardwood trees such as: aliwasiw, binukaw, balitbitan, basiad, botong, balitbitan, bitaog, dao, dungon, kamagong, kupang, molave, supa, red lauaan, alawihaw, rain tree, talisay, etc.
To increase our production of food, we are planting fruit trees, bananas, cassava, sweet potato, gabi and other root crops. We have recently planted a vegetable garden with all the veggies mentioned in the song “bahay kubo” and more.
To promote biodiversity & conservation, we have started our collection of about 500 indigenous, rare, endangered and selected fruit trees like: bignay, katmon, lipote, lovi-lovi, kamansi, mamoncillo, acerola, araza, berba, biasing, jaboti caba, pitanga, apali, binukaw, pulasan, bago, batuan, kamansi, etc.
CONSERVING AND BUILDING SOIL
We practice no tillage soil building and have planted leguminous trees over a large part of our farm. We plant leguminous ground creepers over the open areas of our farm. We keep earthworms and use their castings to enrich and inoculate our soil. When our vermi-compost production is not enough, we buy truckloads of organic compost.
CONSERVING WATER
In addition to our original deep well, we harvest rainwater. We recycle our grey water for watering our plants. We impound our springs to allow water to percolate back into our aquifer. We are finalizing plans to dam a large portion of the Ilog Maria allow more water to percolate back into our aquifer to recharge our springs. We are learning how we can install a piko-hydro electric generation system after this dam.
We also built a windmill, which supplies all our water. The windmill draws about ¼ litre of water per stroke; easily recovered by the natural recharge of our aquifer. Our original well powered by an electrical pump will be relegated to backup duty only. We constructed a fishpond at its base. We use pond water to irrigate our vegetable garden.
We are learning how to make a biogas blackwater biodigester to safely and naturally process our sewage before allowing it to seep back into our aquifer.
CONSERVING NATIVE POLLINATORS
We continually plant wild flowers & wild vines to provide additional pollen and nectar for our honeybees. These wild flowers also provide forage for a variety of insects: butterflies, moths, mantises, ladybugs, spiders and many other beneficial insects.
We keep native bees: trigona or stingless bees, apis cerana indica and apis dorsata. These native bees coexist happily with our European honeybees.
Our honeybees and many other native pollinators increase fruit, nut, grain and seed production of our neighbouring farms and the areas near our migratory bee yards.
CONSERVING WILDLIFE AND PROVIDING SANCTUARY
We live in a natural insect, bird, bat and wildlife sanctuary.
We have afforested part of our land. This year we have completed the afforestation of 80% of our farm. We intend to plant more native fruit trees in the next three years to completely afforest our farm.
We have been noticing that the birds that inhabit our farm are increasing in number and a portion of their population changes with the seasons. For this reason, we are planting many fruit trees that provide food for birds and bats: mulberries, palo maria, tagisi (a tree native to Bikol whose fruit birds eat; it can also be used as a live fence and for timber) & several species of durian which are bat pollinated.
We have several pairs of wildcats roaming the farm: civet or “alamid” or bobcats or “musang”. These wildcats forage on palm kernels: kaong and betel nut. During the coffee season, they feast on ripe coffee beans. We are also increasing plantings of kaong (sugar palm), betel nut and coffee. The numerous wild fig trees here feed our growing bat population. Several owls now reside here and prey on rodents and baby snakes.
Our farm is also a natural habitat for snakes and monitor lizards.
We have never allowed hunting or trapping here.
FREE RANGE LIVESTOCK
We take care of native and Sasso chickens, turkeys and geese. We allow them to roam free to graze on a variety of grasses and leguminous (high protein) creepers.
Even our German Shepherds are tied to very long cables that allow them free movement over large areas.
We will expand our fowl population.
We are considering goats for meat and milk production. We will stock our small fishpond with tilapia. This pond drains to our vegetable garden.
COMPOST & NATURAL FERTILIZER
We practice green manuring of the entire farm. We compost a lot of our farm refuse with African night crawler worms. We use this vermicompost liberally throughout our farm to increase soil fertility and beneficial organisms.
We use tons of commercial organic fertilizer to augment our vermi-compost production. We also inoculate all our plants with mychorriza, nitrogenous bacteria and many naturally occurring enzymes and hormones.
NO CHEMICALS, NO WASTE
We have used no chemicals or pesticides for the last thirty years. This enabled beneficial insects and organisms to flourish. We are very pleased to report that our burgeoning spider population has sustained a native population of spider wasps, their natural predator. This, in turn provides additional food for numerous bird species that make Ilog Maria their home.
We have been recycling everything we use several times over. We sell whatever we cannot recycle. We bury whatever we cannot sell.
ALTERNATIVE FUELS AND ENERGY
We have limited the negative impact we have on our environment or our carbon footprint by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels and by converting to alternative fuels and sources of energy. Our old cars run on E10 and LPG. Our older cars and genset run on biodiesel made from used cooking oil.
We have built a windmill to supply us with water. It pumps up about a glassful of water per stroke – so our aquifer can naturally recover from this very small depletion. We have installed solar panels on our Museo roof that provide us with 20% of our power needs. We await the arrival of a wind turbine to complement our photovoltaic array. We already have a very small water turbine that we will eventually install at the Ilog Maria to generate electricity.
HOMEWORK
We admit that we still have a long way to go to make our operations 100% friendly to our biosphere and ecologically sustainable.
We receive many suggestions from our visitors. We have taken all these suggestions to heart. The more we study, the more we find things to do. We still have a lot of homework to do.
We are doing more homework on: cheaper wind turbine generators, piko-hydro power generation, solar power generation, better rainwater collection systems, better processing & use of greywater through constructed wetlands, how to properly construct a dam or weir, commercial biodiesel production, petroleum trees, indigenous fruit & hardwood trees, micro-irrigation and how we can eventually sell our excess power back to the power company.
We are implementing these technologies as they feasibly fit into our existing ecological systems. We rarely intervene and only do so to maintain a natural balance.
CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
People ask us if our tiny efforts are making a difference.
We say, “If we are not part of A solution, we are definitely part of THE problem.”
We believe we can show Filipinos that we can make a difference thru available technologies. We will continue to search for and implement new technologies to enhance our alternative lifestyle.
We believe that by continuing to live here in Ilog Maria, as we have done for more than three decades; we can make a difference.
WHAT HAVE WE ACCOMPLISHED?
When we take stock of the impact of what we have done, we console ourselves with these facts:
• Our plantings and water impounding have increased the flow of water from our natural springs, despite the encroaching development around us in Silang and above us in Tagaytay that continue to deplete our aquifer.
• Our planting of leguminous trees has added about 18 to 21 inches to our topsoil.
• Wildlife has increased. Ground crawlers, snakes, flying insects, beneficial insects, rodents, bats, wildcats, reptiles and birds are now thriving here.
• We now have an abundant source of timber and fuel wood.
• We now have an abundant source of bamboo that we are putting to use in thousands of ways on the farm. We no longer buy timber; this discourages depletion of our forests.
• We hardly ever go to gas stations. If ever, just for a little LPG and unleaded E10. We dream that the little foreign exchange this saves hopefully keeps a Filipino father home with his family.
• We are not only carbon neutral; we are oxygen positive.
• It is always a few degrees cooler here than other places in Silang or Tagaytay.
• There is always a lingering fragrance around us; from the many herbs and aromatic grasses, the many perfume plants and trees; from the products in our store; from Mrs. Magsaysay’s lab…as evidence of the care with which we live in harmony with nature.
• We are providing livelihood for more than 20 people and dozens of suppliers in Silang and around the country.
• We run a small business selling natural products, using many raw materials sourced from our farm.
• Through our many patrons, our business sustains our efforts to continue to preserve and enhance our sanctuary – Ilog Maria.
BEE MUSEUM
We have been running the Ilog Maria Bee Museum for about 5 years and show children “Natural Living through the World of Honeybees”. How everybody can do their part to mitigate “Global Warming” and climate change and make our Earth a better place to live in.
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