Baktin (Piglets)

Baktin (Piglets)

On 11/11/2016 after our sow's evening feeding, about 5:00, I headed back to the house. As I was doing that, the sow gave a terrible squeal. I went back to the pig pen where the sow was laying down and had just given birth to a piglet.  Flor came out from the house, she too heard the squeal and thought something terrible had happened to momma pig.

A litter of piglets do not come all at once, they come for some time. About midnight, the sow had given birth to 6 piglets and finally the afterbirth. She did not appear to have any more piglets coming. Throughout the birthing process, the newly born piglets had been nursing. A little after midnight we separated the piglets into another pen and into a big cardboard box. This was to keep the sow from stepping on them or laying on them. Sows are not the most graceful animals.

About 3:00 am we went to the pen, fed the sow, and let the piglets nurse. After the piglets were done we put them back in the box.

About 6:00 am I went back to the pen for another feeding, and - surprise!- there was piglet number 7. Numbers 1 – 6 are pink piglets. Number 7 is a brown with black spot piglet.

Junie, the owner of the Unifeeds feed store where we buy pig feed came out to help us with the piglets. Cutting needle teeth and docking the tails. He also gave us information on how to make the feeding easier. Flor said because there is so much competition in the feed business, the feed companies provide this service to entice you to buy their feed.  The owners of these feed stores are trained by the feed companies before they earn their "technician" status.

Our feeding schedule is 5:00 am then every 3 – 4 hours until 9:00 pm. The sow and piglets sleep through to 5:00 am where we start again.

When feeding, there is a lot of motion by the piglets. They keep pushing, shoving, moving and climbing over each other to find the best teat to suck.

After feeding for awhile, the piglets will start to wander off and explore. They will also climb on the sow.

JJ likes getting in the pen with the piglets and playing with them.

JJ also helps in the feeding by handing the piglets over the railing so they can get to the sow. He then sits on the rail until it is time to return the piglets to the box.

After 28 days, the piglets will be weaned. The owner of the stud that bred with the sow gets one piglet as payment, he gets first pick. We then will start selling the piglets for 2000 pesos each (about $45). At the weight of 22 kilos (about 44 pounds) we will start selling the piglets for 100 pesos (about $2) per kilo. We will keep one to raise for butchering when it reaches 120 - 150 kilos (about 240 - 300 pounds).

Five days after the piglets are weaned the momma pig normally is ready to be inseminated and the process starts again.

I hope you enjoy reading this little information about pigs. Thank you for following and since this is Thanksgiving week, we wish you all a happy Thanksgiving gathering with family and friends.

Coconuts

Coconuts

When we arrived in the Philippines we needed cash flow. Flor said a lot of people buy and sell Copra (coconut meat). With the coconuts on our own land, Flor started buying coconuts and copra.

The process starts with hiring someone to climb the tree and cut out the ripe coconuts. The pay for this is 8 pesos per tree (about 20 cents).  This is a young man's job.

The coconuts are in a thick husk that has to be removed. I have tried doing this, but it is the hardest part of the process (not counting climbing the tree) and we hire it out at 30 pesos per 100 coconut (about 70 cents).

This leaves a pile of husks and, in our case, since we have been sun drying the coconut meat, we have been burning these husks.  Actually, the husks can be converted into a lot of things, like coco coir, coco fiber, coco mat, etc..

Then the coconuts are split open. Some coconut are starting to sprout and there is a “blossom” in some of the coconuts called botbot  (pronounced boatboat). They are semi sweet and eaten on the spot. The neighborhood kids come around because they want the botbot. The halves are either put in the sun to cook, or cooked over a slow fire. They are cooked to loosen the meat from the shell so the meat can be shucked out. Also, if they are not immediately cooked mold will develop on the meat. We have just finished building a coconut cooker and have our next batch of coconuts stacked next to it for processing. Everybody that we have talked to said the mold is not a problem, but looking at moldy copra you can see how it would effect the weight. Copra is bought and sold by weight.

Sometimes the coco water gets splashed into your arms and legs when you split them.  I found out that coconut water makes your skin very soft and supple that's why I like to help split the husked coconuts :). 

The neighbor kids wanting to have some of the botbot.  It is a nice and refreshing snack.

 Then you load the halved coconuts on top of the cooker.  You slowly smoke them for 24 hours using the husks.

Our newly built cooker with coconuts ready to be processed.  This pile is between 5 to 6 hundred coconuts.

The neighborhood dogs also love to chew on the coconut meat.  Here's our dog Yawny who helped himself with a half of the split coconut.

After it is cooked the copra is shucked out of the shell. A heavy spoon-like tool is used. Either hand held or attached to a seat. I can shuck 2 – 3 coconuts a minute using the seat. I have used a Buck knife to shuck, but the spoon tool is easier.  This can be hired out, but we do it ourselves. If it is hired out, the pay for this is the shells themselves. They will make charcoal out of the shells and sell it.

After shucking there will be a pile of shells left over. We bag them and then will make them into charcoal later. There is a street vendor in town who buys our charcoal.

At this time we store the copra on our front porch. We plan on building a shed to store it in. The copra does require more drying at this time. The best way to finish drying it is in the sun for a day or two. Our subjective moisture check is how crispy it is when broken.

Once shucked the copra can be sold at market. We bag it, load it in the Revo and haul it to San Juan, about 45 minutes south of us.  There are a couple of markets in San Juan. The first one we we went to, San Miquel Oil, appeared to be more subjective on the moisture content. We then started going to Talcoban Oil and they are more objective on the moisture content. It takes a considerable more time to be processed at Talcoban Oil, but it is worth it for the objective moisture content.  People bring the copra by car, jeepney, truck, trike and motorcycles.  It is dropped off and workers carry it into the warehouse to be weighted.  Then they dump the bags and pile it high in the warehouse.

They come in trucks.....

.....passenger jeepneys....

...tricycles.

 Most people who buy and sell copra do not worry about moisture content and so the first time we took it to market we did not worry about the moisture content. That first time we were docked 14% weight for moisture content. After talking to the market owner and some research, we now dry the copra. When first cooked and shucked, the moisture content is somewhere around 40%. We now dry the copra down to about 5%.

The moisture content led to another problem. Coconut is bought in two forms, Lubi, where it is still in the husk and shell. And Lugi, where the copra has been shucked from the shell and cooked. Currently the buy price is about 30 pesos (about 75 cents) a kilo. The sell price is about 40 pesos (about $1). Since moisture content is not a concern we were buying the lugi at about 40% moisture and were either being docked, or us drying the copra and losing weight, we were not making much money. We have talked about docking the people we buy from, but we do not have an objective way to determine moisture content. So, we are now mostly buying Lubi. Lubi is more work but we make a little more money. We buy the Lubi at 8 pesos (about 20 cents) each. It takes about 4 lubi to make a kilo of copra. We process about 600 lubi at a time. People like selling to us because they do not have to pay anyone to haul it to another buyer.

All the copra brought to market in this area is loaded on ships and hauled to processing facilities in Tacloban. It is processed into coconut oil and sold worldwide. It is said that 90% of the world's coconut production is from the Philippines. Driving around the country there is not much land that does not have coconut tress on it. Even the resorts we stayed at lately had coconut trees on it.

Thank you for following.  Now it's back to work on the next batch of copra, tehehe.  We love y'all.

Vacation in Paradise - Epilogue

Vacation in Paradise – Epilogue

On the way home on Tuesday, we decided to visit the Agas-Agas Bridge north of Sogod, Southern Leyte. It is the tallest column bridge in the Philippines.

It has a zip line and cable car that goes across the bridge.   It was a great tourist attraction and to think of the economic benefit it would have offered for the locals in the area with restaurants and gift shops and other services.

However, and from what we hear, the zip line and cable car are not in operation due to politics. The zip line and cable car are owned by a person of one political party and the mayor of Sogod is of another political party. When the license and permit was up for renewal a couple of years ago, the mayor did not allow it to be renewed. I wonder if it is a power thing, money kick-back thing, or the inability of the mayor to see the economic impact that this enterprise would have given the locals of his municipality. But from my perspective, the mayor of Sogod, Southern Leyte is being petty and is hurting the economy of the locals in the area. There is a nice looking building on the hilltop overlooking the bridge, apparently designed for restaurants and gift shops that the local tourism office of Sogod had put up the capital to build it.  It is not being used for its intended purpose - what a waste of tax money and resources - all because of politics. There are no restaurants now to cater to travelers. There are three small gift shops so you can still get t-shirts and mugs if that's any consolation.

I wish the zip line was in operation, we would have enjoyed it and would go back for more excitement, but until that happens, we'll explore other places some other days.

Thank you for following.

Wandering Tourist - Vacation in Paradise

Vacation in Paradise

We keep very busy with the work on the house and property and the buying and selling of coconuts and coconut meat. So, even though we are living in paradise, a vacation is needed. JJ went on October break on 10/20/16 and Flor had an appointment in Maasin (about 3 hours from where we live) on 10/21/16, we decided to make a vacation out of it. We brought along a neighbor kid, ToyToy, for a companion for JJ.

On Thursday, 10/20/2016, we took the scenic route from Hinunangan to Maasin  along the coast of Sogod Bay around Padre Burgos and then up to Maasin.

It's beautiful drive all the way . There are several dive resorts in the area. We will probably go back some day and stay at one of them.

     Peters Dive Resort                http://whaleofadive.com/
     Sogod Bay Scuba Resort      http://www.sogodbayscubaresort.com/
     Southern Leyte Divers          http://www.leyte-divers.com/en/
     Tangkaan Beach Resort        https://www.facebook.com/tangkaan/    

     Kuting Reef Resort               http://kutingreef.ph/        

We ended up at the Cacao (pronunced Ca-cow) Mountain Resort in Maasin.  
      https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cacao-Mountain-Resort/222967067728210

Cacao is Coco bean, yes, chocolate. There are numerous Cacao trees on the property at the resort (and we have one Cacao tree at our property as well).

The resort looks like it had been there for some time and they keep making additions. The room we had was in the older part of the resort and was good for sleeping. The overall resort is nice and scenic. Room rate was 600 pesos (about $15) a night.

There are 2 swimming pools, one with a water slide and the other was being used by school kids for swimming practice. JJ and ToyToy spent a lot of time in the pool and JJ really like the water slide.

 Here's Judson doing his silly dive.

And here's another of his diving ninja kick.

There is normally a water fall at the resort with a bridge going over the stream. However, since it is at the end of the dry season, there is just a trickle in the fall. It was a nice short walk to the falls stepping over the roots of a big tree and the sight of the sagingsaging flower.

Biggest drawback of the resort is the lack of a restaurant at or near the resort. We had to drive back into town and ate at Jolie Bees. Jolie Bees does have blizzards.

We left Cacao Mountain Resort on Friday and headed north along the coast. We were headed to Hindang Cave and Wild Monkey Nature Park. We decided to find another hotel along the way. In Hindang Leyte we saw a sign for Tessla Beach Resort and decided to give it a try.

     https://www.facebook.com/TesslaBeachResort/

Nice facility with nice rooms. JJ immediately loved the place, it has 2 swimming pools, one with a water slide. JJ and ToyToy immediately went swimming.

 The place is full of kids on week-ends and of course, JJ who doesn't know a stranger made friends with everybody there.

Flor and I joined in the swimming.

There were students from Leyte Baptist Seminary at the resort who entertained JJ, played basketball with ToyToy and talked with Flor.

Even though Tessla Beach Resort has beach in its name, and there is a beach, it is not a beach I would not want to hang out on the beach or swim in the water there. A drainage ditch from the town empties out there and the water is trashy.

As with the Cacao Resort, Tessla Resort did not have an open restaurant. We walked to town and found Dunkz Pizza. Ordered a couple of pizzas and headed back to the resort. Not worth the walk or the money. But, they sustained us to the next day.

About 7:00 pm the resort had swimming disco. JJ and ToyToy went.  Disco lights and disco music ruled the night and JJ had a good time. (Sorry no pictures.)

On Saturday, we headed to Hindang Caves and Wild Monkeys.
      https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hindang-Caves-and-Wild-Monkeys/146426625491210

Flor and I had seen the sign on the highway on previous trips so we had an idea of its location. After driving for more than what we thought we should have, we asked around, and turned around and headed back. Almost drove by it a 2^nd time when I caught a glimpse of the sign out of the corner of my eye. The sign was on the ground on the side of the highway.

About a block from the highway we found another sign on a tree.

Parking was 15 pesos (about 30 cents). Entry fee was 20 pesos (about 50 cents). It is not a polished tourist attraction, but it is a neat place to visit. The cave is up a steep stairway with benches you can rest on. As you go up the stairway there are wild monkeys. We were told not to bring any food or the monkeys would try to get it. However, as we went up the stair, a worker was there giving the monkeys bananas. We got to feed the monkeys as well. The monkeys are well behaved from what I could see.

Michael noticed the benches were designed to look like giant bananas. 

There is some smaller caves along the path that we did not explore. Would have to get down on all 4 to get into them. As you get to the bigger cave, there are interesting limestone formations along the canyon wall.

We got to the big cave, but did not go in. It is not like in the states where there would have been stairs, paths, handrails and lights, there was nothing. I would have gone in if I would have had my hiking boots, long paints, long sleeve shirt and wide brim hat. The cave was filled with bats and bat droppings. The bats were flying around the entrance of the cave.

Also at the park, there is a zip line. It was a walk about ½ way down from the cave then up another steep set of stairs. The zip line is about 640 meters (about 2000 feet) with about a 100 meter (about 300 feet) drop. It cost 180 pesos (about $4) to ride the zip line. ToyToy went first.

Then fearless JJ went.

After the boys went down the zip line, Flor and I walked back down the stairs. Our time at the park was good and we returned to the hotel were the boys spent the rest of the afternoon swimming.

On Sunday we decided to go to Citi Hardware (think Home Depot) in Ormoc for some materials for the house. Ormoc is about 1 ½ hours north of the Tessla Resort.

     http://www.citihardware.com/

We returned to Tessla resort were the boys swam more. JJ was in his element. There was a group of kids in the pool his age. He was in the pool all afternoon.

The lounge chairs was also a good place to work on the blog.

On Monday, we started back home via Padre Burgos. We saw on the internet pictures of Tangkaan Beach and decided to spend the night in the area. We arrived in the area about 11:00 and followed the road to the beach.  No way you'd get lost here, you just keep on driving until you can't go any further. We passed by several resorts and hotels in the area and we stayed at Padre Burgos Castle Resort which is the end of the road.

 www.padreburgoscastle.com    

It is a 5 star resort that sits on a cliff overlooking the beach and ocean. Cost express the 5 star rating. We justified the cost by staying one night and rolling it in as our 29th wedding anniversary splurge.

Pristine, crystal clear water awaits us.

There is a steep stair case to the scenic beach, a paradise.

Swimming out from the beach provides a panoramic view of the beach. (The orange cola bottle in some of the pictures is my high dollar float for our water camera.)

The water is crystal clear, the bottom is coral and it provides some fine swimming and snorkeling.

After swimming for a while, we had lunch on the beach. We had ordered lunch prior to going to the beach and staff brought it to the beach when it was ready. It was a nice change after several days of resorts without restaurants. And as with everything with Padre Burgos Castle Resort, the food was 5 star.

After lunch was a rest in a beach lounger and enjoying the view.

The view from the beach lounger.  With the waves and the breeze - you sure have a nice nap with occasional noise from motor boats that passes by.

And to JJ's enjoyment, the resort has a swimming pool. It was hard to get him to the beach to swim, but after some beach swimming, we went to the pool where he swam for the rest of the afternoon.

The patio was a good place to sit and finish out this blog.

Dinner was served al fresco and wow - I mean WOW!  The food was deliciously prepared by the wife's owner who came to talk to us.  I will give this place and the food a 5-star rating.  What a nice and relaxing place to stay.

Tuesday morning we will take a morning swim in the ocean (or at least I will). We will then head to Sogod for a few final errands and back home.

We should be working on a few more blog entries in the coming weeks.

Thank you for following.