Two pesos a kilo for cabbage. Four pesos for cucumber.

After spending money to bring their produce to the nearest vegetable trading post in the last week of July, Cordilleran farmers were given a cruel rate, crushing their hope of raising cash to buy seeds for the next harvest. 

A Sad Story for New-Gen Farmers

Shereen Umayat and Jessica Dapliyan, two young farmers from Sagada, had a cheaper option for their next maturing vegetables- let the plants rot in the farmland to stop having additional expenses. 

Asked how much she has spent for her cucumber, Umayat computed it to be at least P40, 000.

While there are active programs like Sustainable Sagada and Rural Rising organized to help ease the situation, not all produce in the remote Mountain Province town can be accommodated.

Dapliyan, a former innkeeper who shifted to farming following travel bans, started giving away her cabbage produce for free in September after unsuccessful attempts to sell what her family has been working since community quarantine restrictions were implemented. 

Trying the Metro Manila Market 

For generations, farmers in Sagada and other towns of the Cordilleras have been trading in marketplaces within the mountainous region and going to the lowlands is not part of their regular routine. But as they run out of options, they are forced to seek help outside the highlands.

Tapping Metro Manila-based Cordillerans or Igorots was the first move. Upon learning about the crisis, Christian Aligo, a Marketing Communications practitioner living in Quezon City, started the “The Sagada Harvests Project” on Facebook. 

With the assistance from Umayat, Menchie Buking of the Department of Agrarian Reform Mt. Province (DAR MP) and other concerned locals, The Sagada Harvests Project is able to sell out about three tons of produce in its first two runs.

Alongside Aligo are other Metro Manila-based Igorots including Luisa Gay Pugong, Jenny Lyn Likigan, Bing Podes Laguipen, and Hector Ngales who transformed themselves into vendors after their day job to help address the crisis.

Joining the force is the couple Atty. Pio and Noemie Jeanet Daoas who now spend their weekends on vegetables. With the help of dedicated riders, the couple deliver the goods within Taguig City at only P20. 

A Trade Friendlier to Farmers

As agreed, it is the farmers who set the price of their produce. Currently in marketplaces, it is the multi-level middle-men who dictate the price and get a bigger portion of it.

When the rate at the La Trinidad trading post for cabbage was P2 per kilo, The Sagada Harvests Project purchased the vegetable at P20 per kilo-- as dictated by the farmers.

To further assist the Igorot vendors, DAR’s Sagada Linksfarmers Consolidation Center opened its doors to help screen quality produce prior to shipping. 

Recently, the regional office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) also offered transportation assistance to help lower expenses.

Meanwhile, local food producers Gabay Wines and Food Preserves and Masferre Country Inn & Restaurant have been doing experiments for delicate items like wild blueberry, wheat bread, and goat cheese products to check on the shelf-life of the products when offered in places with a warmer climate.

To know more about The Sagada Harvest Project and a list of Igorot vendors who directly source their goods from farmers, contact Aligo at 0956-174-8464 (Globe) or visit www.facebook.com/sagadaharvests now.

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How to heal that lockdown brain one entry at a time, so you can power through.

2020 was a year of uncertainty and consecutive challenges. We spent most of our days in isolation that we’ve almost lost track of time. As we try to regain some balance and slowly recover from how the lockdown has affected our lives, we turn to building good habits that can help us cope and emerge stronger than before. One of them is through journaling.

Medical experts and psychologists have reminded us that keeping a journal may actually help us boost our mental health by helping us gain control of our emotions and plans. Here, we have listed down five more things that you can do better when you have a journal.

1. It helps you acknowledge and process your feelings better. We are coming from a time of emotional rollercoaster and situations that we are not really built for. Close interactions now scare us. We feel fear the moment we envision what the future holds for us. Some days, we feel grateful and moved by the possibility of caring from a distance. We miss the beach, we long for get-togethers.

It may sound like a lot of feelings, but there’s actually more – and it’s okay to admit that they’re quite difficult to absorb. Wring short notes per day can help you acknowledge and embrace those emotions as they come. Somehow, we don’t get too overwhelmed when we have a personal avenue to express ourselves, giving us more time to reflect and breathe.

We love how the The Belle De Jour Power Planner Earth concept and empowering designs remind us that we’re in the process of being whole again. It’s perfect for those who are still learning more about themselves, and eager to thrive amidst the chaos.

2. It helps you live in the present. A lot of thoughts and experiences from the past consume us, and sometimes they make us feel drained than inspired. Writing about your daily plans or stories allows you to live your life consciously, and Everything Is Possible planner’s breakthrough theme for the coming year goes well with this purpose.

It inspires you to think about what you can do now, instead of what you could have done. It can help lighten the burden on your shoulders and prepare you for what’s ahead. In the process of living in the moment, you can discover new skills, abilities, interests, and goals, too.

3. Journaling helps you keep track of your responsibilities and needs. Majority of our tasks are now done online. Whether your company has decided to extend the work-from-home setup, or you’re attending online classes, this virtual transition is quite hard to deal with. It’s more difficult to keep track of time, projects, and goals, and further envision how they would unfold in real life. But this is the part where planners can make the management of our day-to-day tasks easier.

We can quickly identify significant dates and update our progress from time to time. Our days can be quite full, so it is really nice to have a journal that leaves ample space for you to jot down ideas just like the Focus planner. Its pages are decorated with the sacred geometry of Icosahedron, a three-dimensional figure that is made of 20 triangle-shaped sides, to represent change, movement, and flow. Those on the minimalist side may appreciate the elegance of the Essentials planner’s Art Deco-inspired designs, too.

4. It helps you reconnect with people. Keeping a journal is not just about how you can hustle or manage your own life. It’s personal, and a huge part of our existence depends on people, relationships. Living more consciously means assessing our connections with our loved ones every now and then.

Maybe it’s time to catch-up with your friends or colleagues? Or maybe it’s time to schedule that talk with your boss? If you’re the type of person who keeps on forgetting the exact dates of your friends’ birthdays, then advanced journal entries can serve as your little reminders, too. The minimalist, portable Petit planner is just what we need for this purpose so we can see what matters in one glance. Now that we have fewer physical interactions or brunch dates, it’s important to find new ways to maintain our relationships.

5. Journaling makes you care for yourself even more. What many people don’t realize is that journals help you give yourself the complete care that it needs. Doctors emphasize that it is now more vital to monitor physical conditions on our own. You can maximize those blank pages by writing down how you’re feeling (a symptom tracker, maybe?), so you can also respond to what your body needs.

This also applies to our emotional and mental wellbeing. Expressing your emotions or sharing some experiences can help you identify the kind of self-care that works for you. The lighthouse-themed NAVI journal reminds us that we’re still trying to navigate this life, but eventually we’ll find the path that is meant for us.

Whether you want to keep a journal for growth, self-love, reconnecting with yourself, finding your light, or simply capturing your thoughts and feelings through words, Viviamo offers different styles and formats that could match any undertaking. Choose from their Belle de Jour Power Planner collection, NAVI, Everything Is Possible, Focus, Essentials, and Petit planners. Go to https://go.crazyaboutpaper.com/viviamoplanners to view their products, and power through 2021.

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