Worm Paradise

In the Philippines, I met an old friend, Martin (from my visit to the UK), who introduced me to Michael Cagas, known as the “Vermicompost Prince” of the Philippines. While traveling with him, we visited some newly established farms, with manure vermicomposting on-stite. From him I learned about the Filipino government's support (read financial subsidies) for vermicomposting, and for organic farming endeavors generally. I wasn’t able to nail down exactly why they subsidized vermicomposting, but due to Filipino culture and the mountainous, island landscape, the majority of farms are small-scale and family owned. From my observation, this makes it harder to automate agriculture and implement large-scale monoculture techniques so common in the USA. It is also my guess that family-level farming motivates the farmer to think more sustainably about their practices. 

Unfortunately, after two weeks in the Philippines I came down with a bad case of  what must have been the new variant of COVID, probably from one of the many Filipino Christmas parties I attended. Though I have no regrets attending the parties--which were wholesome, filled with party games and lots of food--they also involved a lot of coughing people crowded into a confined space. Unlike the first time I got COVID in January 2023 (I was late to that party) where I recovered in three days, I was unable shake the fatigue and muscle aches that accompanied this bout of COVID. Unfortunately, the majority of my project in the Philippines came to a screeching halt as I focused the little energy I had on making sure I had places to stay where I could isolate, that was in walking distance from a store to buy food and water. Being sick was disheartening, but I've realized on this trip that nothing is more important than being well. If I’m not functioning the project is not happening. This is the blessing and curse of carrying out a project solo. Things could only move forward when I was ready.

Before I left, I was able to meet with Lanie of Bokashi Pinoy. Although I wish I could have explored the connection more, I was glad to meet her at least once. She left a lucrative career in Singapore to care for her aging parents in the Philippines. Upon her return, she sought to do something meaningful with her extra time. She had fallen in love with bokashi as a home compost method. Bokashi employs lactobacillus to ferment your food waste before it breaks down. This speeds up the compost process and reduces odors. She trains people in how to practice bokashi composting at home and provides both a dumping site for people who don’t have the space to bury their fermented food scraps underground (the final stage of bokashi). Throughout the whole meeting, Lanie kept wistfully commenting on “how much time I had to make a difference.” I told her that I appreciated having older mentors to lead the way, but I hoped she was right.