why sunshine chicken?... the decision.

the original plan was to raise native chickens for meat and eggs. and of course for their organic poopoo. =)

i searched for some scientific information regarding the breeding, raising and layering of native chickens but had a hard time. even scientifically classifying native chickens was difficult as most of whom i have talked to, only classified them as plain and simple... "native chicken!"

yes, there were some classifications like macau, bantress, etc. but i met no MR. NATIVECHICKS who could provide expert advise or opinion on "native chicks" (not the type that you find in small cabarets/ videoke bars along the highways up north or down south. =) hehehe.)

so what's the problem with this?...

first, it would be challenging to sell, or even grow, something that i do not know and have a hard time getting scientific facts about. i am sure there are tons of information out there, but based on what i have researched on, our so called "native chicken" is a forest fowl that has been informally or backyard bred with other colored chicken fowls brought here by different settlers through history. it would be impossible for a neophyte like me to identify genetic flaws, much less, improve it.

HONESTLY, ALL I WANT IS ORGANICALLY GROWN, NUTRITIOUS CHICKENS FOR MY BABY ALAINE'S SOUP AND OUR WHOLE FAMILY.

AND, i would be happy if i successfully raise healthy, organic, free range chickens, so please... for the love of god, let us leave the breeding to the breeders!

second, as we all all have tasted, native chicken soup is the one the best tasting and nutritious soup especially for babies where salt is a big NO NO! even for us, adults, nothing beats a hot and steamy "tinola" ( filipino chicken soup with chili leaves, ginger, black pepper, salt to taste and unripe papaya) when we are down with flu or would want to avoid salt (for hypertension)... problem is eating the meat.... or may i say.... chewing the gummy native chicken meat... Wrigley's would make a fortune if they made "native chicken gums" out of it!... =) tinola flavor may i suggest? hehehe

third, before i made the decision, i went to corithian hills, last july 5, 2008, where i first met tita sandy and bought 3 dressed sunshines (around 1.6 kilo each! impressive).

the next day, july 6, 2008, i attended the seminar of dr. sunshine, (dr. rey), on raising sunshines.
back to the 3 dressed chicken... i gave one to my dear mom, made soup from the other one for my dear baby alaine and lovely wife, yvette... and served the last chicken at an intimate dinner with some very close childhood friends at home... i marinated it with lemongrass, onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, black pepper and salt. nothing more, and nothing less.

turbo broiled it...



and wwhhhala...


before it was devoured...

i gave it some competition just to make sure that the taste test would be fair. i cooked biryani rice and curry beef masala. both dishes have strong flavors and a lot of spices.

they came...
they ate...

they were happy... see the smiles?...

you guessed it right... only the sunshine was eaten to the bones... the meat was tasteful, firm but not gummy and the skin was thin, juicy, slightly crispy and very delicious!

we divided what was left of the the beef masala and biryani rice for them to take home, but the sunshine would just remain as a blissful memory that passed them until their next sunshine dinner. =)

of course, i told them after dinner that it was part of my research and i am planning to raise sunshines... they immediately said they will buy sunshines from me... i told them to hold their horses! am still planning for it!... am so happy with their reactions...

and so the decision was made....naturally, or "organically" may i say, it was ...sunshines over native chickens...sunshines... my sunshine.

it all started...

... with my inspiration... our first daughter, alaine and the coming of our second baby. =)
... with the goal of feeding our children the healthiest possible food.
... with a vacant property in baras, rizal that has some issues.
... with the vision of helping the community even when it hurts.
... with some sparetime at the height of the oil crisis when nobody wants to sell and everybody is hedging on oil.
... with being a frustrated farmer since i was a kid.
... with a passion for growing things.
... with the dream of finally developing our own organic farm.
... with a vision of sharing our farm with friends and later on with other people.
... with reading the labels of food items when we buy our grocery stuff... and being scared of what they put into it.
... with knowing that there are profit oriented farms who would do anything to maximize profits regardless of the effects of what they do to the health of the consumers.
... with an itch of starting a new venture that would age gracefully with me and the joy of seeing it flourish.

sunshine chickens... you are my sunshine....

after much research and attending a seminar, consultations and a farm visit (when there was nothing yet on our farm... thank you solraya!) from doc rey and tita sandy (no blood relation... i call her tita sandy for respect and reverence... small world... they are from santiago, isabela where my uncle tony and aunt judy gokioco hails...and they get their tires from my uncle and aunt... JT auto supply, santiago, isabela...hehehe)

we started building the test range and brooder for our sunshines last July 21, 2008...

my ever dependable and loyal resident farmer... mang william... built the brooder and ranging area in 2 days!!!

here are the pics...

WHY SUNSHINE?... future blogs... hehehe...

mahogany trees...

we cleared the weeded area across the dry creek that passes along our farm to make way for our mahogany trees.



we sourced our seedlings from Mr. Marasigan. his place is located along the winding road in antipolo... somewhere there...=) we got it for Php 10/ seedling. this includes, clearing of the planting area, planting of the seedlings and a 2 month verbal guarantee from the straight faced old man who i fondly call... tatay or tatang... of course his farm stories are for free. =)



the mahogany seedlings... 2,000 of them... and more to come.





what used to be weeds and wild grasses....

after the clearing operations....





we will be planting it in a 2 x 2 m grid. but the option of making it 1 x 2 m or 1 x 1 m is still open... because i am thinking that just incase we harvest it next time for our own consumption or to generate some cash (i hope it does not get to this)....we could harvest the interplanted 1 m grid trees only and still have a thriving 2 x 2 m mahogany forest. =)

i also plan to interplant some eucalytus trees. and plant nymph and mangium trees along the perimeter. the leaves of the last two types of trees would be harvested as insect repelant and feed for goats respectively.

any suggestions?

mic testing 1...2...3...

last June, 2008 we started some test plots for organic vegetable. we bought some seeds from ramgo and AANI (east-west seeds) and planted it in our farm.





here are some pictures of the test plots.

these pictures were taken a month after we started. as you can see the soil in baras is reddish and the quality is clayish. i observed that clayish soil is very extreme... super dry when it is summer or even when it does not rain for a few days and super dense (malagkit) when it is wet or watered.

my own conclusion is... it does not hold water (which means it does not hold nutrients as well) and when it is wet or watered, it is super dense (malagkit) which suffocates the roots of the plants.

EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME FRESH AIR DONTCHA THINK SO?!!! =)

MAY I PLEASE CLARIFY THAT I AM A NEOPHYTE FARMER, A NEWBIE, A BEGINNER, A FRUSTRATED FARMER, A DREAMER AND AT MOST... A CONCERNED FATHER... so please do not take my conclusions as expert opinion.

i post my blogs to share my experiments, my research, my journey and observations through organic farming and also to solicit advise and suggestions from fellow hobbyist, experts and industry gurus.

ang ampalaya.... (bitter gourd)

ang sitaw... (string beans)

we were not that successful in these test plots. we need to fertilize the soil before continuing this experiment.

which brings us to raising free range sunshine chickens... why?... because rice hull or saw dust plus organic chicken dung should be mixed with the soil to fertilize it... farm integration 101 huh? =)

why sunshines?... you will find out from future blogs. =)