I'm off to the Farm Again with my Worm Friends. To my 5 daily readers. See You Next Week!
Day 54: The Missing Days of My Life - What I Did, Three Weeks Ago
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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What are you doing?
I'm a building administrator, blogger, father, writer and I'm an aspiring farmer.
My father was a lawyer.
A farmer, "magsasaka"?
Not really. Our family owns a small piece of land somewhere in Lipa, Batangas and as de facto President of the Family Corporation I decided that it's high time that it should live up to its name of "Agricultural Corporation".
I'm learning the ropes so to speak.
My plans have become broader, from free range chicken poultry, I decided that we should also start focusing on vermiculture and vermicomposting.
It's not easy, but it's a step forward for the company.
1. Free Range Chicken Farm
A. Construction of Brooding Area
I. Purchase and Inventory of Raw Materials
1. Bamboo to be used as frames for brooding area
2. 100 pcs Concrete Hollow Blocks and 1/2 Elf of Sand
3. My hands. I couldn't afford extra labor, so I pitched in and carriedabout 100 meters back and forth in soft, and wet soil. Now I can say that I built it with my bare hands.
II. Site Selection and Preparation
1. This is where it will all start. (Well, not really I'll explain later on)
2. Digging the Perimeter With Chiquito Mansion and Jason Mansion
3. Lesson Number 1: Never Dig Wet Loamy Soil (Picture of Borken Shovel - Dang! That shovel was just 2 years old and barely used - I purchased it at Wilcon Home Depot.... Must have been made in China...)
4. After digging the perimeter, we had to lay the bamboo frames.
5. Putting the hollow blocks on the perimeter and then cementing the floor.
6. Andak "Ka Roger" helping out. He's camera shy... I guess a lot of people in Brgy. Tangway would probably have lung cancer.
What a waste, one thing I learned in construction was that most of the time, a lot of planning can go awry. Really, really awry. I selected the site previously for its distance to the main areas of the farm. My criteria was to put the free ranging chickens far away from tourist oriented sectors.
All of these has come to waste because I ran out of funds sometime in between September and October. I lacked 1 bag of cement.
Furthermore, the distance of the location from the main house poses a concern as Andak was apt to show that he can come in and out of the resort/farm as he pleased. The rules of engagement in our farm has been subverted with the expulsion/abandonment of Lando Astrologio and family. Now I have to contend with all sorts of security concerns primarily stemming from the desperation of people for land to exploit.
In a sense, my plans for a guerilla business operation has failed and now I am thrust in the main battle.
How do you secure a luxury location with minimal funds? Moreover, how do you secure a luxury location surrounded by a hungry, 90% unemployed, armed and desperate population?
I had no choice but to let some people in to partake of some of the vegetables. Maybe it's PR, maybe it's a sign of weakness on my part, maybe it is benevolence, but in the long run it looks stupid.
Now that I started that, how do I change that policy to be able to start commercial operations. It won't be easy.
MOVING FORWARD
Labor, security, funding, and weather concerns aside. I managed to get the chicks on the ground. With nothing but sheer determination and patience, I have managed to bring 40 chicks and brood them to an alternate location. They are now on their second week and we are making preparations for their imminent ranging.
I had to let go of Chiquito for his ummm, personal and professional concerns.
I retained his rugby sniffing kid in the hopes that the kid would do well, so far he isn't doing well at all.
We lost 1 chick last week due to purported "colds". No evidence of the death occurred and I noticed evidence of drinking in the premises.
The puppy that was given by my mother-in-law also showed signs of parasitic infection in the form of blood in its faeces. Symptoms of a possible worm infestation in its body. Pot pot is its name.
Water consumption, reached 4420 and the bill arrived showing a 300% increase of our water bill from 500 a month to 1,700 pesos. Holy crap!
Electric consumption likewise increased by 50% from 1,000 pesos a month to 1,400 pesos a month.
Security Concerns
1. Kalakal
Because of the retention of Jason Mansion, our farm has been constantly visited by people to partake of the blessings of the land. This is what is called as kalakal. My original intention was to let people have a few vegetables here and there for their personal use only.
Because of unemployment, hunger and greed. Some people exploited this system and began harvesting with the collusion of the said employee for profit. They are giving my people a 50% share on the vegetables harvested in our farm to be sold to a vegetable dealer who owns a jeep.
2. Mr NA
This is the first time in my life when someone came up to me and boasted, "You know Danny - I have killed three people in my life because I went "baltik" (probably similar to "have gone ballistic") and you know what Danny - I haven't even stepped inside a jail because I know people up there.
The said person also pimped his own daughter to an acquaintance I know.
Mr. NA
Mr. NA is a well known personality in the area because he used to have the power to use our land for his personal benefit. For 7 years my father has let this corruption go unabated probably because the figures concerned were minimal relative to my father's earning capacity. Mr. NA let Martin, reside in our farm to be able to harvest the produce of the land. Mr. NA gets a percentage from this which he probably spends on his favorite pastime - cockfighting.
The influence of Mr. NA on Chiquito has also served as the reason why I let go of Mansion Sr.
I would see them whispering among themselves and then later on Mansion Sr. would "suggest" something to me to the extent of trying to influence me to go cockfighting too.
I find no use for such an endeavor and hence ignored it. Mansion Sr. has constantly lied to me and as such I had to terminate him subtly.
One day, as the replacement for Mansion Sr., and I were cleaning the verandah, Mr. NA showed up and said "Whoo!" I was surprised to see him knowing that the main gate was locked. He sat down without being invited to sit down and told me the following things:
1. He was a temperamental person
2. Someone was killed that day
3. That someone who got killed was our next door neighbor, didn't you hear the gunshots?
4. That someone who got killed was killed by his own father
5. That someone who got killed was killed with 6 shots using a carbine rifle.
6. He told me that the returns I got from the mahogany trees were substantial. (I already gave him his 10% commission)
7. He also told me that nobody would come inside the farm. (like he did)
This is my new life. From dannybuntu the geek wannabe content with sitting in front of the computer, to Danny the Chicken Farmer.
I am at a crossroad as my father had written. I now have to decide whether I should bring my wife and three daughters to that place.
I don't know, I honestly don't know.
I only know that I have to make that decision and pray for the best.
If you are a Christian please pray for me and my family that we make the right decision to live in Barangay Tangway, Lipa City, Batangas - a land where guns, goons and gold are king.
When my dad died, one of his friends often told me that I lived a sheltered life. "That was because he didn't want you to experience the hardships that he experienced."
I always countered with, "I don't believe that. If I really lived a sheltered life, then I would not have learned or would not learn anything."
My experience in Batangas has taught me something. I did live a sheltered life.
At 6 AM, Thursday, Oct 1, 2009, last week, 6 gunshots rang out. A father killed his drunkard son. Our next door neighbor. Male. Age 17. 2 shots in the neck, 2 which shattered his rib cage, 2 at the chest. The gun that was used was a carbine.
Since I started my project in Batangas it seemed to me that death was hanging over that place. 6 people died nearby since August 16, 2009.
It was somewhere where you heard gun shots as if they were common fare.
The nearest police sub station was about 7 kilometers away.
The nearest church/chapel holds mass once a month.
Unemployment rate stands at 90%
Income is derived from "kalakal", or stealing fruits and vegetables from other people's lands.
Entertainment is cockfighting, jueteng, stl, lotto, and drinking.
Hunger is widespread.
I always had the wrong perception that life in the provinces was simpler, prices of basic commodities were lower, people were more honest -wrong, wrong and wrong.
I am now seriously contemplating on packing some heat to protect myself.
Oh, yeah the chicken project?
I used to have 40, now I have 39. Caretaker said it was the cold. Who knows... Maybe they ate it.
I don't quite recall what my latest post was about. But everything became a whirlwind of disaster and mitigation in a span of 14 days.
The handover of the management of the farm became a hostile takeover.
The hostile takeover became a defensive maneuver.
Now, I am just tired.
So many has to be written but I can't find the time.
To be sure, it was a whirlwind of anger, doubt, confusion, manipulation, intrigue and fear.
Well, what did I say? I got what I wished for.
I told my mom to lay her burdens on me. Unload she did and I feel as if instead of passing the sack of rice to me, she threw it from the 15th floor.
Now, I have to pay the salary of my people.
Now, I have to pay utilities.
Now, I have to pay maintenance.
Now, I have to be the Chief Security Officer with a 16 hour shift.
Now, I have to manage my finances.
Now, I have to find a way to market my goods.
Now, I have to protect the investment I made.
I need a business partner.
Call me stupid, but I just realized today that starting a business with No Capital is practically and theoretically IMPOSSIBLE.
Capital is not simply PERA or money, it can be anything. Did you read that?
I said "Capital can be anything"
It can be yourself, your knowledge, your experience, your personality, your strength, your reputation or your intelligence. There is no limit.
Starting a business with no capital is like starting a computer game with no character, with no traits, no gender, no abilities, no skills, no XP - it's impossible.
Everybody starts out with something. For starters, you have a life. A sound body, a mind and a soul are another. Education, upbringing, knowledge, wisdom, character, ability, talent, skill, friends, personality, and so on and so forth.
Every time somebody says that you can start a business with No Capital or Minimum Capital - say this: "STOP". What about time, effort, presence, thought, concentration, ability? You need to have all of those.
You cannot get something out of nothing. That is a law of physics and that is a law of life.
Aside from an aspiring poultry manager, I am also an advocate of Free Software. Free Software is Free in the sense of Freedom/Kalayaan, and sometimes but not always, Free as in libre.
The Operating System I am using now is called Ubuntu, it's Free. I got the CD which has the Operating System and I could also get the Source Code and be able to freely modify it however way I want to.
It didn't cost me a thing to acquire it. I merely filled up some forms in their website. After two weeks they sent me the CD. No postage cost to me, no payments to them, nothing. Just my time, effort and an internet connection so that I could log on to their website and make the free order. No obligation.
But that also costs something. It cost Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, postage costs, web site maintenance costs, labor for the programmers who constantly updates the software, packaging, etc. etc. So there is cost here. There is capital. It just so happens that another person, is shouldering it all. In Ubuntu's case, it's Mark Shuttleworth, a technology billionaire.
Now, in saying that I tried to start this poultry business with no capital, I was wrong. I have the location (though it is very far), I have the man power (I got it as a favor), I have the partial knowledge, thanks to Solraya, I also have the chicks, thanks again to Solraya. In construction materials, I would have to use my personal funds to buy the required equipment, nails, netting, possibly roofing, light bulbs, wiring, cement, hollow blocks and sand.
Come to think of it, I have lots of resources. I am thankful to God that I can start this.
I'm encountering some setbacks on my Project: Chicken.
My funds have dried up and I have to wait for the second income rotation. Most of my money was spent on travel expenses. Logistics is going to be a really tough problem.
I was not able to sell the Mahogany trees. Ginugulangan pa nga ako gusto nila P12 per board feet when my uncle who used to own a furniture shop in the 1990s said that during that time Mahogany fetched a price of P25-P30 per board feet. I might as well use the wood myself rather than sell it.
I was also not able to sell one of my inaasahan na fund source: our LCD projector and the office tables and chairs.
No Sale = No Fund = No Project Chicken
Yesterday was the first time I ever saw SM Fairview in Quezon City, Philippines. It took us 1 hour and 30 minutes to go there. From Sucat Rd exit, we rode a bus going to SM Fairview. The regular fare costs 80 pesos per person. I was with my wife, Chiquito and his son to attend Solraya Enterprises' Sunshine Chicken Seminar.
We arrived there exactly 2:00 pm. Whew. I didn't know that SM Fairview was so far. I also didn't know that Quezon City was sooo big.
If there was a seminar that should be emulated - it should be this. They kept their promise true:
"There will be no frills, no treats, no meals...but you will get what you came for....How To Raise Sunshine Chickens."
Doc Rey knows the business like the back of his hand. They used multimedia presentations to get the point across. It was very well prepared. I've attended many business seminars and I must say that so far this is one of the best.
Considering that the cost is very low - it was almost free since they gave us 10 free chicks (which I will get once I prepare the chicken place). It was straight to the point and power packed with information. They also gave us a CD with a presentation of their product. It was surely worth more than its value of P450.00.
To anyone who want to start a poultry business this is the ideal way to start.
Start with knowledge gathering.
You'll find that the best seminars are the seminars held by the ones who are managing the same field in business. Don't attend those seminars with a varied field of interest. Look at their ads, if they are advertising seminars for accounting, goat raising, financial management, food processing, web design, graphics arts - in short, different fields - stay away from those since that's what they are selling - the seminar itself.
This seminar with Solraya is ideal, because they know about chickens. They sell, grow, and breed chickens.
Anyway, after the seminar, we went home.
Today, I am hoping to consult with a person my mom recommended. But, before that, I have to raise capital to start with the houses of the chicken.
Day 2 of Project Chicken: Looking for Opportunities and Training
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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Yesterday, I went to Lipa, Batangas to survey the place and to canvass for buyers of the only resource we have right now - plants and trees. Unfortunately my camera's battery was drained so I was not able to take a picture of the destruction / mis management that happened there.
Nevertheless, I realized the value of waiting where time seems to be aplenty. The surrounding community there has an unemployment rate of almost 80%. There are plenty of standbys, drunkards, and jueteng bet collectors.
The value in waiting is you get to talk with the people there. When I was there, most of the people were attending a burial ceremony. Most of the people were not there. Still I managed to speak with some locals. They seem friendly enough and offered to spread the word about what I am planning to do. At times I felt slightly nervous because the impression that they gave was that they were adverserial in character.
There is an element in truth to that. As I regularly receive reports from our people of the abuses that some of our neighbors are doing to the garden. They were stealing our metals, they were diverting their water waste to our property, they were throwing stones at our people, they were damaging the property.
I feel a little bit daunted but I am hopeful that this could be resolved through amicable means like providing livelihood, engaging in dialogue. It's going to be hard specially with the knowledge that Jueteng collectors are operating in the area. Remember that Batangas used to be is the Province of a Jueteng Lord/Governor who got almost got assassinated.
Today, I am looking for learning opportunities. I stumbled upon this video:
I appreciate the efforts of Gerry Geronimo, and I hope that they respond to my email. I've been trying to reach them for hours now, and so far I cannot contact anyone.
UPDATED: I will attend Doc Rey's of Solraya Seminar on raising Sunshine Chickens. I'll bring along my wife, Chiquito and his son (who will take care of the Chickens).
For the those of you who are interested here is a link to the schedule of the seminar.
Hello my name is Danny, I am a blogger, young Filipino, business man, and soon to be a chicken farm poultry manager. If I don't sell these chickens I am going to eat them and post it here.
I have a project: to turn a non-functioning resort into a chicken farm.
To start my project, I need to raise funds for the chicken pen, feeds and chicks.
I am willing to swap our orchids and mahogany trees for chicks and feeds for a poultry farm. Or if you own a lumber shop, you could outright buy our 3 largest mahogany trees. Pictures below.
*I was not able to take a picture of our 3 largest mahogany trees.
*Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, I have a tight schedule.
Inquiries:
Danny Garcia
dannybuntu@gmail.com
0926-736-9483
02-807-5941
