Pug let loose at the Orchard

Six month old Burrito (a male pug) normally spends most of his time inside an enclosure at his hooman's home. 

When let loose in a mango orchard, he goes crazy and runs around like there's no tomorrow.

 

 

Farmhouse is now fully walled

In this July 8, 2021 update on the progress of building the farmhouse at Maambal Orchard, we dug the foundation of the landing outside the kitchen door using T-Rex, our 1-tonner mini-excavator. We also started scraping earth in front of the house to control the water runoff along the sloping terrain. 

A hearty lunch of pork adobo, hard-boiled egg and rice wrapped in banana leaves somehow made the job easier.

 

 

Giant Catimon Mango at Maambal Orchard

There are two Giant Catimon mango trees at the Orchard, and both bore a lot of fruits this season. The fruit of this mango variety is very large, about three times the size of manggang kalabaw. We particularly like its sweetish taste when it's just about to ripen (manibalang). When fully ripe, it still tastes good, but if forced to choose only one, we'd still opt for the ripe manggang kalabaw.

This season, we saw for the first time the fruits of each individual mango tree in the Orchard, allowing us to ascertain which variety each tree belongs to.

Among the over two dozen mango trees in the Orchard, we counted six different varieties. The vast majority are manggang kalabaw, our preferred variety because of its unbelievable sweetness when ripe, and various stages of sourness when unripe. The rest are two types of piko (not good tasting when ripe), manggang supsupin, Giant Catimon and Indian mangoes.

An unpicked Giant Catimon mango fruit - with no familiarly sized object in the photo, the huge dimensions are not readily discernable.

The huge size of the fruit becomes apparent when we include a ruler in the photograph - the total length is over 7 inches!

This particular fruit tips the scales at 969 grams, and this is not yet the largest one we have harvested. Some of the even larger ones easily exceed 1 kg. 

This last photo shows the relative size of the Giant Catimon and a large specimen (for its variety) of manggang kalabaw from Zambales. It usually takes three pieces of manggang kalabaw to make 1 kg. We traditionally name something after kalabaw (carabao, or Philippine water buffalo) because of that thing's large size. But if manggang kalabaw is dwarfed by the Giant Catimon, which animal would fit the latter - manggang elepante? Or manggang balyena?

New Bahay Kubo at the Orchard

We have cleared the triangular area between the garage and the gate of construction materials and scrap items, then overlaid it with some gravel. This area is shaded by a row of mahogany trees and grass wont grow well in such a condition. The gravel overlay will protect the soil from erosion and keep the patch a nice place to walk on (mud-free) during the rainy season. 

A new bahay kubo was placed in the centroid of the triangular area to serve as our field office as we supervise the construction of the farmhouse.

 

 

Burrito The Pug visits Maambal Orchard

Burrito, our male pug puppy, recently visited the Orchard. He is about 14 weeks old and he now weighs around 3.80 kg. He weighed just 1.50 kg when he arrived about 5 weeks ago. 

The wide, open spaces of the Orchard is a treat to Burrito. He enjoyed running around like crazy, even under the high heat index prevailing in northern Luzon.

 

Sineguelas season at Maambal Orchard

There are six matured sineguelas trees at the Orchard and this is the first season when we are able to taste the small, oblong fruits. 

Sineguelas (aka Spanish Plum, Spondias purpurea) is a deciduous tree introduced from tropical America by the Spaniards. It grows to a height of 5 meters and bears smooth-skinned, oblong fruits that are about an inch long. When ripe, the fleshy skin and pulp of the fruit is eaten, leaving behind a large, stony seed.

Thanks to the Orchard's previous owner who selected and planted the seedlings years ago, the fruits turned out to be good tasting. The pulp is thick and sweetish, with a hint of sourness and that unique sineguelas  taste. The fleshy part easily separates from the seed, making it probably among the best sineguelas varieties I ever come across.

The fleshy part easily separates from the seed, making it probably the best sineguelas variety I ever tasted.

 

 

A cluster of low hanging green fruits - it will take about a week more before these ripen.

 

When ripe, the small fruits turn dark.

Maambal Orchard after nearly 8 months of development

It seems it was only a short time ago when we got hold of this wonderful Orchard, but it has been actually eight months since the property was turned over to us. 

Since August 2020, we have been building structures to make the Orchard a better place to stay in and enjoy the surrounding greenery. The Covid-19 situation somewhat slowed down our pace of development (tough to move around and procure materials), but we are steadily moving forward nonetheless. We hope to complete the major structures before Christmas this year.

(Please click the photos to see the larger versions.)

 

The front portion of the Orchard as it appeared on August 19, 2020. The old storage shed  (also serving as caretaker's quarters) in the center is yet to be be demolished. Sadly, we had no choice but to cut a couple of mango trees to have enough space for the farmhouse.

 

This is from April 10, 2021, from the same general vantage point as the first photo. The old storage shed was already demolished, leaving only the temporary toilet intact (this will be demolished too in a couple of weeks, as a new toilet has been built elsewhere). Our elevated water tank is now up and running, the garage/storage building is finished, construction of the farmhouse is in full swing and a gravel driveway to the garage is completed. Not shown is the new house of our caretaker which is located in the northern tip of the property.

 

The almost completed new quarters of the caretaker photographed on October 10, 2020 - only the jalousie windows and electrical connection were yet to be installed. It has one bedroom, a toilet and bath, as well as a cozy kitchen/dining/living area.

  

The garage/storage building as seen from the rear side - it has parking space for three cars, a toilet and bath, and two storage rooms (with A/C units) that can be alternative guestrooms. Note the gently sloping terrain and the gravel driveway.

We have planted bougainvilleas at the space between the garage and the fence fronting the roadside to serve as privacy hedge. This hedge will replace the old bamboo cladding that is already disintegrating.

A perspective view of the garage/storage building.  Later, a rain-harvesting system will be installed at the gutter downspouts then connected to a concrete cistern downhill. The roofs of the garage and the farmhouse will be both utilized as rain catchment systems. With a combined roof area of about 390 square meters, a mere one inch of rainfall can produce almost 10 cubic meters (50 barrels at 200 liters) of clean water, a very valuable resource in the hilly Maambal area. The concrete cistern will be located near the highest point of the Orchard, and water can flow to the lower parts by gravity via cheap PVC pipes. The elevation drop from the highest part of the property to the lowest part is at least 8 meters, over a horizontal distance of nearly 200 meters.

 

T-Rex (that's its nickname) is a 1-tonner mini excavator that we will use later in developing the garden and in small digging jobs at the Orchard. It is powered by a single cylinder 500 cc diesel engine, and its tiny bucket can scoop 0.025 cubic meter (almost a cubic foot) of materials in one stroke.

Aside from the standard bucket, T-Rex has an assortment of attachments that will be quite useful in various jobs around the Orchard. The five-bladed rake will be excellent for soil cultivation, the auger will make digging holes for fencing posts a breeze, and the hydraulic breaker will make it easier to demolish old concrete structures.

The 3-BR farmhouse is taking shape in this April 10, 2021 photo. Again, the gently sloping terrain of the Orchard is easily noticeable.

This April 10, 2021 photo shows the fruiting mango tree in front of the garage. Construction materials are stored in one parking bay, while the mini excavator (with cover) is parked in the center bay.

A closer view of the low-hanging mangoes in front of the garage.

Mobilizing our mini excavator to the orchard

T-Rex, our 1-ton mini excavator, is mobilized to Maambal Orchard this 16th day of March 2021. This machine will be permanently based at the Orchard, where it will do various digging and gardening jobs. 

We were able to load it safely onto a truck using a pile of sand as a ramp. At the orchard, it was unloaded without issue using a pile of 3/4" gravel as ramp.

 

 

Second try: Learning to operate T-Rex (our mini excavator)

Upon review of my first try this morning, I realized that I didn't use the arm and the inward rotation of the bucket to dig into the material. I tried again in the afternoon, and this time I can scoop bucketfuls of sand easily. 

The motions are still very jerky, but in a few more training sessions, I reckon I'll progress a bit towards becoming a smooth operator. 😉

We plan to use T-Rex in digging drainage canals, doing earthworks in the garden, and other small digging jobs in the orchard.

 

 

How not to operate a mini excavator :)

Before mobilizing T-Rex (our new 1-ton mini excavator) to Maambal Orchard, I have to learn to operate it first. A pea-sized gravel stockpile is a good practice area. 

This is my first time to run such a machine, and I'm surprised at how complicated it is for me to get used to the numerous controls and movements. Although I've over three decades experience in driving cars and motorcycles (I can also operate a forklift quite well), a mini excavator is a different level of ball game. I've to watch out for the balance of the machine given its very light weight. 

I'm confident though that in a few more sessions, I'll become quite familiar with the equipment and I can start using it in the Orchard.