-Bohol, December 16 2021
Thursday 06 January 2022:
Egg and dried Chinese Sausage for breakfast again.
Very tired after working in the garden. A late lunch with chicken soup.
Seedlings continue to sprout.
More work in the gate area after lunch. Followed by a quick snack -and then back to work before it gets too dark.
Tonight it is exactly three weeks since the typhoon stuck. We have had no offers of help -and no idea how long we shall be without electricity and other essential services.
Beef stew for dinner.There seem to be a a lot of fireflies around in the evenings. Perhaps more than before. Maybe it's the lack of electric light. Candle light and fireflies: How Romantic!
Friday 07 January 2022:
Eggs and Chinese (dried) sausage for breakfast.
Some seedlings are transplanted.
We go out for (a celebratory?) lunch. Our Driver brings us a water bottle that we had left at a water station for filling. Apparently, it was local government refilling station -and there was no charge. Water is still difficult to find.
The restaurant's generator has been fixed and the restaurant is now open -one week after we last spoke to them. Luckily the ques for the cash machine are now much smaller. Earlier, the queues had been enormous.
We also do some shopping in the BQ supermarket. Some shelves are empty -but most products are still available.
Some parts of Tagbilaran (the Provincial capitol) apparently have electricity -but not many. There are two electricity suppliers on the island -one is much smaller than the other and serves mostly only Tagbilaran, via a local generating plant. The other is a cooperative that is connected to a wider network. The local generating plant seems to be the main supplier at the moment. However, there are also some barges with emergency generators on them that can be used to supply areas outside the capitol city.
Penny says that she heard from her daughter that the national TV news was saying that some families in Northern Bohol had been reconnected to the electricity supply system. Apparently, normally, most of our supply in Bohol comes from Leyte or Cebu -and unfortunately, both these areas were extremely hard hit by the recent typhoon. Indeed, the typhoon passed through Leyte and Northern Bohol on its way to Cebu.
The other water supply station has not been able to refill our bottle -due to problems with their water supply.
In the afternoon, more work on the Southern gate area.
Around 2 PM -our sow Beans started nesting -a sure sign that she was starting to farrow.
We also sold some ducks.
Then a few paprika seedlings were transplanted just before dusk.
Beef stew for Dinner.
Saturday 08 January 2022:
Eggs for breakfast. Our Sow Beans seemed ok -although there were some dead piglets in the pen.
\After breakfast, I planted Eggplant, Tomato and Espada chili Seedlings in the Eastern garden.
Beef stew for lunch!
Bagio Beans and various other seeds were planted in the South Western garden area -among the composting debris -as an experiment. Some eggplant seedlings were also transplanted into the Northern Garden ("Penny's Patch"),
Afterwards, we counted 11 live piglets (and four dead ones).
There were also some newly hatched chicks. Nature was obviously continuing to renew itself.
Corned Beef and Baked Beans for dinner.
Sunday 09 January 2022:
A seven o'clock breakfast with egg and toast:
The situation with the piglets is quite worrying. Beans seems to have lost her maternal instincts. We have started fostering most of her piglets. We too are also extremely tired -and not at our best.
Some Paprika and Espada transplanted.
Rice and Humba for lunch.
After lunch I potted some Wansoy (Cilantro)
Monday 10 January 2022:
At around 11:15, Fatima leaves to go shopping in Tagbilaran -also to pick up some goods, being sent by family in Manila and brought down by a a friend who was traveling in the area.
When I looked at Beans, she was not very active -and I wasn't sure if she was still nursing her piglet. It was a very stressful time for both us and the animals. Without electricity we could not consult our notes on previous farrowings, because the notes were in my computer.
Around 11:15,heated up the Humba (a long lasting fiesta dish, made from pork with lots of oil -so that it doesn't spoil easily) and had lunch with rice.
Around 12:15 watered Pinkie, Brownie and BMW. The weather was hor and sunny. Around 12:30 Fatima returns with some fried chicken, animal feed-stuffs and potting soil. But no groceries, she was too tired to get them.
After a break, I transplant some seedlings
...and night descends upon us
Tuesday 11 January 2022:
Egg and fried rice for breakfast.
Seedlings growing nicely.
Fallen jack-fruit tree transplanted.
Sweet Camias tree fruiting
Humba and rice for lunch.
Damaged Cacao tree trimmed and fed to pigs.
Penny fills five-gallon water containers by a neighbor and uses the wheelbarrow to transport them. We also charge up the newly bought solar lamps. The sound of buzz-saws cutting up trees all around us drowns out all the natural sounds -including birdsong and the sounds our piglets make.
After a short rest, Tomato and Luffa (Patola) seedlings, plus Mulberry cuttings are transplanted.
The neighbours light a huge nighttime bonfire
Humba and rice for dinner.
We try to keep the rescued piglets alive and safe on our balcony
Wednesday 12 January 2022:
Omelette and rice for breakfast.
Recently planted seedlings seem to be acclimatizing well.
It is market day today and Penny brings us the newly sharpened saw and machete (bolo). She says the sharpening service was very busy. She was no 32 in line. Penny also tells us that a slightly distant neighbour of hers died recently of heart failure. The woman was also diabetic. Her daughter in law sometimes buys our piglets.
Mustard and chives from the garden are included in our lunchtime noodle soup. The mustard roots are cut off and replanted in the garden elsewhere.
A fairly restful day -so far.... The weather is overcast -but no rain yet.
Scarlet string beans planted is various locations. Another Cacao tree trimmed and fed to the pigs.
The nursery containing tree cuttings was cleared out -with everything remaining in it being transplanted. Now it can be used to harden and mature young seedlings.
Another red sunset. Cheese on toast with omelette and sardines for dinner.
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-End of Forth Week;
