Farm Findings before the rains

Before getting the rains in June, many events happen in the property.  By the way, I am always calling our place as property because calling it a "farm" might be misunderstood by others. A farm normally has many agrcultrual activities going on. But in our case, we don't have agricultural production because we have just the land, some plants which are not properly tended, but just left alon on their own. I guess this is the real "organic farming", as everything being left on their own. We just get fruits as that we need, the rest are left for the birds and whoever wants to get there. Sometimes, we cannot get even a few fruits because the insects were there ahead of us. Last year we were not able to eat even a single santol fruit, or just got a few avocados because of the insects. This year, we had  feast, I wonder where the insects go this time. maybe the long dry season affected their reproduction, that is nature working on its own, unaltered by human activities. So we are happy, and they are happy too, I suppose!

But before you think I am coming up with a new idea of organic farming, I have to warn you. This is just my defensive argument for our unproductive property. If only we can sell our produce, we will be happier. But we cannot, and we lack labor to do the job, so at the moment i have to be content with my explanation of "organic farming", suits my case.

 This is the first time for me to see this structure, i guess it is a comb of a bee, but not a honeybee! But we know the owner of this house stings well and we are scared of it.

 It is already abandoned when the cycas leaf was cut, so i opened the cover revealing this comb.

 The tomato seedling has been feasted on by leafminers. And i suddenly saw that larva of an unknown insect. Till now i still don't know what type of moth or butterfly is responsible for this catterpillar. Is anybody among you familiar with it. It has a yellowish headband extending to both sides of the head.

 I also found a nest inside the thick portion of the golden Duranta plant. Apparently, the nestlings already left. They always timed egg laying that they are ready to fly before the rains come. Maybe the adult birds can predict the time when the rains or the typhoons will arrive. They are better than the Dopler radars that costs millions of dollars. This is the nest of the yellow crested bulbuls, which we have a lot in the property.

Unlike the sunbirds, the bulbuls don't use the old nest for their next egglaying. I wish they will again use it, because it looks still good and durable for maybe a few nestlings to come.

 New tree seedlings starting to grow luxuriantly in the property. At this stage, they are still easy to pull out. In a little more weeks they will be very well settled and a bolo is needed to cut them at the base. We try to lessen these volunteer trees every year, or else we will have a forest soonest than we want it. This is a Macaranga species with red petioles.

 We have a lot of this tree also, but it is not a hardwood. It grows fast to a bushy growth, easily produce seeds and scatter them everywhere, making it more difficult for us to uproot each and every one.

These are the mature fruits and seeds of the above seedling, which we call Alim. This is an endemic species. The birds also eat those ripe seeds, helping distribution of the species.