Amid the continuing threat of COVID-19 pandemic, Maynard Ronquillo sees an opportune occasion to turn things around in an old but bountiful and green way through what he aptly terms ‘quarantanim.’
‘Quarantanim’ is a contraction from the words quarantine and “tanim” (to plant).
Weeks into the implementation of the stringent lockdown in Luzon that limited movement of people to stem the spread of the infectious virus, Maynard flung himself into putting up a vegetables garden, without him realizing that he has gone urban farming.
Maynard worked the soil and started planting a variety of vegetables seeds on a 3,000 sq. meters land that he shares with his sister.
Maynard, who is an employee of Nepomuceno Realty Group, is a resident of Barangay Siñura, one of the 29 villages in Porac considered to be biggest town in Pampanga, that still exudes a pastoral allure.
He said that he bought the seeds at a local store supplying agricultural products in Angeles city before his town was put on lockdown.
The month of April, he added, is the right time to start planting vegetables and other root crops, just before the rainy season begins.
Fast forward to two months, he said that he is now harvesting basketful of fresh and healthy vegetables such as kalabasa, sitaw, upo, talong, ampalaya, okra and patola.
He said he shares his yield with his siblings and neighbors and some of his friends.
Now, he not only saves money from his harvest, but he also gets to practice the proverbial Filipino truism ‘Pag may itinanim, may aanihin’.
Maynard said that he tends the vegetables farm with his wife Michelle and two children.
“Nakakapag bonding pa kami ng pamilya ko habang namimitas kami ng mga gulay,” Maynard enthused.
Last May 26, the Department of Agriculture Sec. William Dar had launched ‘Plant, Plant, Plant’ Program under its urban agriculture initiative during the celebration of Farmers’ and Fisherfolk’s Month, encouraging Filipinos living in cities and highly populated areas to go into urban agriculture to promote food production in the household level, thereby ensuring food security.
Indeed, Maynard is relatively food-secure and self-sufficient despite the quarantine.
Adjusting to the new phase of quarantine may still be a challenge to some, but the Ronquillo family is up for it in terms of food security.
Quoting his wife Michelle who waxed lyricial on her Facebook post, she wrote that she is always thanking to the Lord for the bountiful harvest that they do almost every two weeks, adding ‘umagang kay ganda’ and ‘sulit ang quarantine’.