We are trying to polish up our gift to the university in Mati to make it shine in the best light. We are happy to leave the finishing touches to the students.
The boat arrived safely after its journey from Samal Island to Mati. As always, in the Philippines many helpers are ready to help without compensation.
From left: one of 117 Toog trees in our Toog Park in Montevista, where we had planted almost 700 seedlings. The trees are very sensitive in the first three years, but after that they like to grow up to 40 meters high. Middle: Maintenance work around the mahogany trees in Monkayo. Right: In Patag, we replaced incoming mahogany trees with teak seedlings, which grow particularly well here.
The bamboo nursery of bamboo expert Burkhard Kiehne in Mintal. All seedlings are grown from seed on trellis beds. This has the advantage that the growth rate is much higher. Right: The first seedlings are ready for transport to Monkayo.
Reforestation, mahogany and teak farmer partnerships and bamboo activities.
Still in December we will plant another 300 endemic trees in Makilala/Arakan. Not a big action, but every tree counts. Our former forester Pablo (nickname Bboy) and his group will make sure that these will be cared for regularly to make sure that they can stand on their own roots in three years.
Our forestry work for our Farmer Partnership timber project continues tirelessly. Every day, 28 employees (7 in Monkayo and 21 in Patag) care for the well-being of your trees in Monkayo, Montevista and Patag. Our tree inventory was supposed to be completed in December 2022, but now the end of January is the new and final date. Surveying nearly 100,000 tree trunks is just a lot of work. Once all the diameters are known and recorded, we will start cutting the first trees in 2023, those that are over 32 centimeters in diameter at breast height. However, this will require a lot of preparation, because with our small crew in Monkayo, we won’t be able to do significant numbers. We will need additional employees. That’s why we are building five simple wooden rooms in small steps next to our open meeting place. Here, the new employees can live, cook, eat, sleep and relax rent-free. If the Christmas activities in the Philippines had not already started, we would surely already have our contract with the district government in our pocket. The contract is ready to be signed, but the mayor has to do the important tasks first, that is, spending on gifts and setting the dates for the festivities. This contract is a big step for Mama Earth. We get a ten hectare area in Monkayo from the Municipality to plant bamboo, which is called the “little man’s wood” here. Meanwhile, bamboo processing techniques have taken a quantum leap worldwide. Almost every day more ideas are added. More and more different products are being made from bamboo. Of course, bamboo continues to be used to build huts and shelters simply because bamboo is cheap. In exchange for the free space, Mama Earth will hold classes on understanding and processing bamboo in the community, taught by German bamboo expert Burkhard Kiehne. They span from processing and making it durable to making utilitarian items and high-quality flooring.
