I’ve just gathered about 100 brazilian spinach cuttings, 200 sweet potato cuttings (purple and green) and a huge variety of flowers, sorghum and wild bayam (amaranths) seeds to be prepared for planting. All these will be a mix of food for humans and animal systems. More importantly, they will be used to establish multi-functional elements at the farm.
A multi-function element is an “active node” that has many dependents. For example, sweet potato plants serve as food for humans via its leaves and tubers. They can also be used as ground cover for green manure as well. Ducks or rabbits feed on its leaves. While sorghum is edible for humans, I intend to grow it for its biomass (to be composted) and use the grains as feedstock. Flowers may not be edible (some) but they’re grown to attract bees with a touch of aesthetic reasons to uplift the environment at the farm. More importantly, they also serve as pest repellants.
All the above are very easy to grow with very low maintenance. Since I do not have workers at the farm, they will do for now. They propagate pretty fast on their own and that’s my intention. I need them to multiply really fast, which would allow me to introduce animal systems sooner. Of course before I bring in the animals, I need to ensure that there will be ample supply of food.
I managed to plant all 200 cuttings of sweet potatoes on a mound specifically made for housing the tubers. I’ve also planted them into the 2 banana circles I have. Fortunately this was done while raining which helped make pushing the cuttings into the soil so much more easier.
I was like a little kid all lost and engrossed with my work, all the while being pelted with the rain. Priceless experience! It was especially timely as well, since it hasn’t been raining for awhile. With the Movement Control Order (MCO) in view of the COVID-19 being implemented tomorrow, this quick drink for the plants would be much needed.
Unfortunately, I did not have time to sow the amaranth seeds; they have to wait till post-MCO. The plans would be to sow some in proper vege beds while the rest to be systematically sown in designated forage areas (for free ranging chickens and ducks), by the pond and mostly randomly along paths.
