Here’s an endeavor that I’m throwing my full support behind: organic and sustainable farming at Costales Nature Farms!
The Philippines with its more than 7,000 islands is best known for its gorgeous beaches. How many people go there to visit a farm? Not many, I suppose. But I read about Costales Nature Farms and it piqued my curiosity. Sustainable and organic. No pesticides and chemicals. Zero waste. How do they do it? I decided to find out.
The drive from Quezon City to Majayjay, Laguna took three hours straight via C-5 and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). The drive back to Quezon City took four hours. Whew!
Costales Nature Farms offer different tour packages (you can find it here). I managed to do the 3PM Lakbay Aral Tour (PhP260 = US$5.20). It included vegetable snacks and a guided farm tour, plus free WiFi access (which I didn’t get to use during my visit).
Before the tour began, what turned out to be “vegetable snacks” were a vegetable salad and a refreshing glass of fresh cucumber juice! The salad had lettuce, radish, carrots, cucumber and alfalfa sprouts – all grown on the farm.
Here are the photographs I took during the farm tour.
The secret behind Costales Nature Farms is best summarized in four words: Effective Microorganism Activated Solution. You’ll find out more about it when you visit. If you want to experience farm life, they offer cottages that accommodate two to twelve persons. Tip: If you’re going there, wear boots. The farm has muddy areas, of course, so traipsing around in sandals is a no-no.
I was very impressed with their organic animal farm. If you’ve ever been to a regular animal farm, then you know that most of the time, the smell isn’t really quite up to snuff (or sniff). But the piggery at Costales does not smell bad. The pigs also look lean and healthy, and they have ample room to roam. Even the chickens were walking about; one went rogue, roaming outside of its cage, but the tour guide told me that it goes back to the right cage anyway, so I shouldn’t worry.
An interesting discovery for me was magic fruit (or miracle fruit) given to me by my tour guide. She peeled a calamansi for me, told me to eat the magic fruit and then eat the calamansi. The magic fruit made the calamansi taste sweet! Amazing.
After visiting this place, I decided that a longer visit next time is definitely in order, especially since I didn’t get to eat at Apong Damian’s Organic Resto. Have you been to Costales Nature Farms?
Costales Nature Farms
Brgy. Gagalot, Majayjay, Laguna
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