Former online seller creates a budding farm in the northeast
From a city girl to a farm girl, that's how 27-year-old Monica Salinas, or TikTok's Northeast Farm Girl, happily found herself after years of living in the urban world.
Published Mar 21, 2023 10:25 am
From a city girl to a farm girl, that’s how 27-year-old Monica Salinas, or TikTok’s Northeast Farm Girl, happily found herself after years of living in the urban world.
It all started in 2020, Salinas was asked a favor by MJ, her brother overseas, to trim the grapevines in their farm in Anao, Tarlac. As a graduate of Hospitality and Restaurant Management, she had no idea how to do it.
As an HRM graduate, Salinas had to put in extra effort to learn the best way to farm. (Monica Salinas)
“At first he asked me to try to trim the grapes because we had two planted grapes here in the farm,” Salinas said in Tagalog. “Next, he told me to plant the cuttings and as I slowly learned, I ended up loving it.”
Salinas was encouraged by her brother to explore farming. Salinas readily consumed the farming videos and tips she received from him and tried it out on the crops planted in her farm. As time went on, the farm expanded and Salinas started envisioning what the farm could become in the future. “We decided to name the farm ‘Northeast Farm’ because we wanted to start selling crops,” said Salinas.
Now, the Northeast Farm is a source for a variety of crops and plants for people all over Luzon.
Charmed and curious city girl
Before Salinas explored farming, she was a businesswoman in Pangasinan. “I was an online seller, and I also had a shop space for a clothing line in Binalonan, Pangasinan,” she said. “That was in 2020 and the business was successful for the first three months, but then the pandemic hit.”
Like many business owners, Salinas was forced to accept the defeat caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she didn’t give up. During the lockdown, she used her knowledge as an HRM graduate and started selling baked sushi in Pangasinan.
“I was always sold out,” Salinas said. “But since it was the pandemic, prices of commodities were rising and I had to raise my prices, too. Orders became less frequent so I decided to stop. That’s when I moved here in (sic) Tarlac.”
Salinas was immediately charmed by farming. “When I moved here to Tarlac, I saw the farmers here harvesting corn and rice. They were so happy because their efforts were rewarded,” she said. “I told myself that I wanted to try what they were doing.”
Salinas was alone when she moved to her family’s 3000 sqm land in Tarlac. Her mother and brother were in Europe, while her father stayed in Pangasinan. She sought knowledge from farmers near her on how to care for the land and coupled that with the farming videos her brother was constantly sending her.
For the past two years, Salinas was able to care for and introduce more crops to the farm. The Northeast Farm currently has grapes, mulberries, figs, dragonfruit, vanilla, sugarcane, raspberry and blackberry, macopa, pomelo, lemon and calamansi. She is also trying to propagate lansones, oranges, dalanghita, cacao, lipote, and rambutan.
A basketful of fresh grapes, one of the bestsellers of the Northeast Farm. (Monica Salinas)
Despite the distance, Salinas’s brother takes care of the farm with her. “I talk to [my brother] everyday and I send him pictures of what is happening, on what’s new and what the problems are,” she said. “He also helps me answer inquiries on the Northeast Farm’s Facebook page.”
Salinas also has one helper who helps her monitor the crops, crop propagation, and spray fungicides and insecticides when necessary.
The Northeast Farm’s sole helper, JR, assigned to propagating crops. (Monica Salinas)
The biggest challenge for Salinas is controlling the damage every time the rainy season comes or a typhoon strikes their farm. “Some crops get damaged by the rain so we need to replace them and start from the beginning again,” she said. She also has to combat fungus caused by the rain which hikes up their expenses.
To overcome these challenges, Salinas had a greenhouse built for the crops and drainages improved so rainwater wouldn’t linger. “For the spray’s [expenses], we promote the crops and post a sale price so the profit from these are where we would get the expense for the fungicide,” she said.
The Northeast Farm is still in development, however, they are already able to sell their crops to interested buyers. Besides the farm’s crops, Salinas also sells 153 varieties of bougainvilleas.
The Northeast Farm of Anao, Tarlac is home to a large assortment of fruits and 153 varieties of bougainvilleas. (Monica Salinas)
Her buyers are from people all over Luzon so she delivers their orders through standard delivery couriers or bus shipping.
Northeast farm’s girl
Taking inspiration from the farm, Salinas took on the online persona, Northeast Farm Girl, on TikTok. The content she creates is focused on the charm of a provincial life and her journey as a novice farmer.
Salinas’ TikTok account used to just be for her personal use until she decided to take a short video of her farm. “I uploaded a video about harvesting ube and it went viral,” she said. “Me and my brother were so happy because people were enjoying the video. That’s when I decided to make videos about the different crops of the farm.”
Harvesting ube was the video that jump started Salinas’ popularity on TikTok as the Northeast Farm Girl. (Monica Salinas) By uploading content frequently, Salinas’ TikTok account grew to 47,000 followers. Additionally, her popularity on TikTok was a big help towards marketing their farm. People were fascinated by the variety of fruits on her farm. “I think what the [viewers] like the most is my content about figs and every time I eat it,” she said. “They ask about other varieties’ taste and are surprised that figs can be eaten.”
Salinas’ audience enjoys content where she describes the taste of different figs and other fruits of her farm. (Monica Salinas)
Salinas said she frequently gets comments that are surprised that figs were edible because they thought it was poisonous. Due to this, some of her videos ventured to crop and plant education for her audience’s benefit.
Bringing more people to the northeast
Salinas’ love for farming had inspired her to make big plans for the Northeast Farm. “The main goal of the farm is to build a fruit picking farm,” Salinas said. They want to venture into fruit picking of mulberries, grapes and figs in the future.
The mini-kubo is where Salinas frequently shoots her TikTok videos. (Monica Salinas)
She is also interested in developing the farm to become a venue for weddings, birthdays or other celebrations that want to have an abundant farm as a theme.
But while this is still far into the future, Salinas is determined to continuously promote the farm as Northeast Farm Girl and provide quality crops all over Luzon.
Photos courtesy of Monica Salinas.
[*Read more about farming and gardening at agriculture.com.ph*](https://www.agriculture.com.ph/)
As an HRM graduate, Salinas had to put in extra effort to learn the best way to farm. (Monica Salinas)
“At first he asked me to try to trim the grapes because we had two planted grapes here in the farm,” Salinas said in Tagalog. “Next, he told me to plant the cuttings and as I slowly learned, I ended up loving it.”
Salinas was encouraged by her brother to explore farming. Salinas readily consumed the farming videos and tips she received from him and tried it out on the crops planted in her farm. As time went on, the farm expanded and Salinas started envisioning what the farm could become in the future. “We decided to name the farm ‘Northeast Farm’ because we wanted to start selling crops,” said Salinas.
Now, the Northeast Farm is a source for a variety of crops and plants for people all over Luzon.
Charmed and curious city girl
Before Salinas explored farming, she was a businesswoman in Pangasinan. “I was an online seller, and I also had a shop space for a clothing line in Binalonan, Pangasinan,” she said. “That was in 2020 and the business was successful for the first three months, but then the pandemic hit.”
Like many business owners, Salinas was forced to accept the defeat caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she didn’t give up. During the lockdown, she used her knowledge as an HRM graduate and started selling baked sushi in Pangasinan.
“I was always sold out,” Salinas said. “But since it was the pandemic, prices of commodities were rising and I had to raise my prices, too. Orders became less frequent so I decided to stop. That’s when I moved here in (sic) Tarlac.”
Salinas was immediately charmed by farming. “When I moved here to Tarlac, I saw the farmers here harvesting corn and rice. They were so happy because their efforts were rewarded,” she said. “I told myself that I wanted to try what they were doing.”
Salinas was alone when she moved to her family’s 3000 sqm land in Tarlac. Her mother and brother were in Europe, while her father stayed in Pangasinan. She sought knowledge from farmers near her on how to care for the land and coupled that with the farming videos her brother was constantly sending her.
For the past two years, Salinas was able to care for and introduce more crops to the farm. The Northeast Farm currently has grapes, mulberries, figs, dragonfruit, vanilla, sugarcane, raspberry and blackberry, macopa, pomelo, lemon and calamansi. She is also trying to propagate lansones, oranges, dalanghita, cacao, lipote, and rambutan.
A basketful of fresh grapes, one of the bestsellers of the Northeast Farm. (Monica Salinas)
Despite the distance, Salinas’s brother takes care of the farm with her. “I talk to [my brother] everyday and I send him pictures of what is happening, on what’s new and what the problems are,” she said. “He also helps me answer inquiries on the Northeast Farm’s Facebook page.”
Salinas also has one helper who helps her monitor the crops, crop propagation, and spray fungicides and insecticides when necessary.
The Northeast Farm’s sole helper, JR, assigned to propagating crops. (Monica Salinas)
The biggest challenge for Salinas is controlling the damage every time the rainy season comes or a typhoon strikes their farm. “Some crops get damaged by the rain so we need to replace them and start from the beginning again,” she said. She also has to combat fungus caused by the rain which hikes up their expenses.
To overcome these challenges, Salinas had a greenhouse built for the crops and drainages improved so rainwater wouldn’t linger. “For the spray’s [expenses], we promote the crops and post a sale price so the profit from these are where we would get the expense for the fungicide,” she said.
The Northeast Farm is still in development, however, they are already able to sell their crops to interested buyers. Besides the farm’s crops, Salinas also sells 153 varieties of bougainvilleas.
The Northeast Farm of Anao, Tarlac is home to a large assortment of fruits and 153 varieties of bougainvilleas. (Monica Salinas)
Her buyers are from people all over Luzon so she delivers their orders through standard delivery couriers or bus shipping.
Northeast farm’s girl
Taking inspiration from the farm, Salinas took on the online persona, Northeast Farm Girl, on TikTok. The content she creates is focused on the charm of a provincial life and her journey as a novice farmer.
Salinas’ TikTok account used to just be for her personal use until she decided to take a short video of her farm. “I uploaded a video about harvesting ube and it went viral,” she said. “Me and my brother were so happy because people were enjoying the video. That’s when I decided to make videos about the different crops of the farm.”
Harvesting ube was the video that jump started Salinas’ popularity on TikTok as the Northeast Farm Girl. (Monica Salinas) By uploading content frequently, Salinas’ TikTok account grew to 47,000 followers. Additionally, her popularity on TikTok was a big help towards marketing their farm. People were fascinated by the variety of fruits on her farm. “I think what the [viewers] like the most is my content about figs and every time I eat it,” she said. “They ask about other varieties’ taste and are surprised that figs can be eaten.”
Salinas’ audience enjoys content where she describes the taste of different figs and other fruits of her farm. (Monica Salinas)
Salinas said she frequently gets comments that are surprised that figs were edible because they thought it was poisonous. Due to this, some of her videos ventured to crop and plant education for her audience’s benefit.
Bringing more people to the northeast
Salinas’ love for farming had inspired her to make big plans for the Northeast Farm. “The main goal of the farm is to build a fruit picking farm,” Salinas said. They want to venture into fruit picking of mulberries, grapes and figs in the future.
The mini-kubo is where Salinas frequently shoots her TikTok videos. (Monica Salinas)
She is also interested in developing the farm to become a venue for weddings, birthdays or other celebrations that want to have an abundant farm as a theme.
But while this is still far into the future, Salinas is determined to continuously promote the farm as Northeast Farm Girl and provide quality crops all over Luzon.
Photos courtesy of Monica Salinas.
[*Read more about farming and gardening at agriculture.com.ph*](https://www.agriculture.com.ph/)