Nikka Veronni Factolerin Espinili-Restovic, 32, a native of Batangas, spent several years overseas working in different jobs, from being a hotelier to being a seafarer. In 2015, Espinili-Restovic decided to stop sailing and settle with her Serbian national husband. She admitted that...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan In history class, we learn that the Philippines has had a robust trade with China for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. Before the ethnic Chinese who had settled in the Philippines were rounded up by the Spanish and forced to live in enclaves (among other...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Tan A farmer friend posted a meme of a sign on a farm that said in Tagalog: “Visitors are coming! Lock up your plants!” Something a lot of farmers deal with that isn’t talked about a lot is petty theft. We’re not talking about sacks of produce or fertilizer or a bunch...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Natalie Tan We tend to not pay a lot of attention to salt. Perhaps it’s because we’re an archipelago in the tropics, so sun and seawater, the magic combination that creates salt, is easy to come by. And yet, despite being an archipelago with many different salt making...
Avant Gardener Yvette Natalie Tan Many people think that farming is just planting seeds and harvesting crops. They don’t understand that like any business, it entails a whole production process, and that money may need to be spent in different areas along the way. Raf Dioniso of Make a Difference...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Natalie Tan Just what exactly is needed to produce a grain of rice? Quite a lot of labor and capital. Despite rice being a staple of the Pinoy dining table, not many Filipinos understand how the country’s favorite grain goes from binhi (seed) to bigas (milled rice). When...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Natalie Tan I was recently asked to give a lay person's overview on the country’s food security situation for Bahay Kubo Kitchens organized by Mesa ni Misis and FEED (Farmer Enterprise & Economic Development) as part of the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit. Here’s...
It is true that you can save a lot from growing your own food. Don Bustamante, 45, a photographer by profession, can attest to this since he used to be reliant on markets for food, but is now an urban grower himself. Bustamante started growing vegetables after he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Natalie Tan Food security has always been a serious issue for the Philippines, particularly because a nation that calls itself an agricultural country shouldn’t have citizens who go hungry. This was the case before the pandemic, and now it’s only gotten worse. The week has...
“If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener,” says Kenneth Joy Fuentes Gonzales, 43, an employee at the Municipal Planning and Development Office (MPDO) of Norala, South Cotabato. Aside from being employed, part of Gonzales’s daily routine is tending to her garden. ...
It is a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together. It allows people to do what they love and eventually influence others’ lives for the better. Such is the case of Haydee Escobañez, 61, a retired elementary school teacher from Navotas City. When she retired, she began...
AVANT GARDENER Yvette Natalie Tan Before humans had access to science’s ability to explain natural phenomena, they attributed everything they couldn’t understand to supernatural beings and rearranged their lives in such a way so as not to upset these powerful and invisible creatures. According...
