Recently, my heart's been inclined to a Camp and farm tours/visit. Just last month I visited a Coffee farm, a farm which I learned and appreciated a lot more about the value of our farmers and how the food is prepared from farm to table, and a week ago I visited a campsite where I was able to indulge myself in nature, and just this week, I never thought I could get both "the camp and farm experience" as soon as I set foot to this Organic farm, the Arapal Camp.
Arapal Camp Bogo Cebu is not someone's typical camping site where one just enjoys the bonfire burning in the evening, stargazing at night, staying overnight, and lingers with nature the next day. No, it isn't just like that. Arapal Camp offers more than that!
Arapal Camp is an organic farm of livestock housing, different vegetables, a dragon fruit plantation, and a processing facility for goat milking. Yes, they offer hiking, caving, and other outdoor activities but on top of that, they also offer retreats, seminars, and even weddings, in which guests can take and eat all-organic food grown on the farm.
Of all these activities and services, the farm is best known for its goat milking production and the seminars and training it brought to the locals and the farmers.
What's with the name?
Arapal is a kind of cactus that has round leaves but is thornless.
When the owner of Arapal Farm first saw the land, there were no other edible plants except the Arapal plants. No vegetable plants would survive in the area because it is directly exposed to the sun as it is situated on top of a hill, no water supply, and the land is rocky, in short, the land is barren. Only the Arapal plants and heat-resistant trees survive on the land. Thus the name Arapal is adapted. Arapal Camp
Now let's take a virtual tour of what's inside! Taraaaa!
Greeted with plants, the friendly staff of the farm, and a small patio, at the entrance, you'd also see the farm's Mission, Vision, and Values, but what caught my eyes was the farm's motto "TRADE NOT AID". The farm's advocacy is to teach everyone that there is money in farming, instead of giving people food, Arapal farm educates farmers on planting using organic means and sells the produce or their harvest to the market. It's teaching people "how to fish instead of giving them fish" philosophy.
"Da Ruins"
Five to seven minutes hike from the entrance going up, you'll get to see the 'Da Ruins'. Da Ruins is situated on top, this is the "Camp and Grill" area of the farm.
Behind this, beautifully piled rocks are the camping ground of Arapal Farm. The ground is wide and is surrounded by different plants. It is scenic and refreshing. This is where campers sit in their tents and enjoy the night.
A few distances from the camp's ground is the set of bamboo benches, chairs, and wooden hammocks. As compared to a house, this part of the farm is the living room. This is where guests and campers take time to sit, relax and exchange good conversations with other campers, or sip some tea (the camp also offers tea from their grown veggies and fruits).
It's best to chill there at night together with friends and family with bonfire lit and simply enjoy the cold night.
The nipa hut | "payag"
On top of the farm, beside the camping ground is the three-story nipa hut standing tall. The hut has an overlooking view of the ocean and the low hills.
This photo is downloaded from Arapal Farm's Facebook Page.
The balcony also serves as their showroom. In there, you will see the different livelihood products that the farm produces and sells.
Some of the products that I saw there were:
A. The Goats milk - the farm has been producing One Million Bottles of fresh goat milk a month! In partnership with the Department of Education, Cebu Province, Arapal Farm is the supplier of fresh milk to Kindergarten pupils. This is a project of the government to address malnutrition.
B. Soap Making - the farm also produces soap made from goat's milk. It is healthy and fragrant and is sold cheaply. They also conduct seminars and training for soap making.
C. The seeds - the farm has prepared a lot of seeds to give to the farmers and locals who want to plant. They give the seeds for free to anyone on the condition that, they should plant the seeds, and once it bears fruits, they must come back and bring other seeds with them. The farm then will distribute and give these new seeds to another person for them to plant and do the same. It's giving forward, so everyone can have seeds grown and harvest them in the future. In this way, the Philippines might become a seed-producing country. This is the goal. This is the farm's mission.
Tanglad Hydrosol
Arapal farm is now processing Tanglad Hydrosol, an all-in-one juice from lemon grass. This Tanglad Hydrosol serves as mosquito and bug repellant, medicine for high blood pressure, adds extra flavor to your juice and 'tinola', and it can also use as a breath freshener! Amazing right? This is healthy, safe and cheap, and pure organic!
It takes 100kilos of Lemon Grass to get 1liter of Tanglad juice. I had taken a few shots on how the whole process of extracting juice is done.
Viewing Deck
Any farm or campsite is incomplete without the Viewing deck. This is true for the campsites I have gone to so far.
The viewing deck of Arapal Farm is plain and simple. Anyway, it's not the beauty of the viewing deck that matters but the view it shows on top.
As I stood there, I have witnessed again how wonderful God's creation is, from flowers and trees to hills and the ocean, the wind's breeze, and the mighty skies.
PL-480 Goat Project
Next on our stop are the hybrid goats, these goats are the source of milk production on the farm. Each goat's worth is 60-80thousand (1,069 -1425 USD).
This goat-raising production is a project that benefited ten locals in the neighborhood.
The locals are the ones working in goat milk production. Instead of letting the goats roam around the farm freely, they house the goat in the barn and farmers take the grass to the barn during feeding time. This is to secure the goat's safety and health.
This Goat Project of Arapal is in partnership with National Dairy Authority Philippines. As I roam around I saw how polite and happy the farmers were doing their jobs. This project of the farm is really for a good cause.
The Retreat House
Arapal has a Retreat house located in the quiet and secluded part of the farm. This house is the best place for everyone who wants to get away or withdraw from their stressed and busy life.
One can rent the whole house for exclusivity or just rent a room.
Refreshment area
The last part of our tour was the Refreshment area. This is where they serve their fresh fruit shakes and the cookies made out of the farm's produce such as Dragon fruit cookies, Moringa cookies, and Table cookies.
Their fruit shake is super tasty and you can tell that it's almost pure fruit with no artificial ingredients being added (well maybe, they added a little sugar on it, but nothing more) and it's cheaper compared to the fruit shakes sold outside the farm. We drink the shakes right away because we were so thirsty.!
A tour under the hot weather ended with a cold, organic, and healthy fruit shake is a bang!. What a wonderful day!
You know what's good?
Arapal farm adopted the locals living near the camp and give them work and training in organic farming. So every time one buys a product from the farm or even takes a tour (50.00/hour), it's already helping the locals/farmer to earn income.
They also have a Saturday market, wherein farmers sell the produce of the farm.
This initiative of the farm touches my heart. ๐
How to get here?
Arapal is located in the hills of Anonang Bogo Cebu, Philippines. From Cebu City, ride a bus and ask the driver to drop you at Brgy. Anonang Sur, from there, ride a habal2x driver going to Arapal Farm, it's just 10-15 mins ride from the National Road.
For private cars or any private vehicles just navigate Waze
๐During my tour, I learned this valuable lesson,
" There is no 'infertile land', to a fertile mind". And there is no 'fertile land', in an infertile mind".
May Arapal Farm boom and achieve its Mission of helping the farmers and the country!.๐ฟ๐จโ๐พ๐ฉโ๐พ
Thanks for taking the time to read!.
Have a blast Hivers! ๐ฅฐ
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Wow, Cebu never fails to impress me even if I haven't been able to visit. I wish I could go to Cebu soon!
Yeah! You must include this on your bucket list @afterglow. ๐ค
I will (^_^)
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Hello @callmesmile, what a beautiful place, it shows the ecological diversity that may exist in nature and the most important of all is that it is in balance for the activities they carry out based on organic practices and preservation of their local resources.
Thank you for sharing with us this beautiful place, have a great week.
Hi sir @amestyj, the place is indeed beautiful, there are so many things that I haven't mention on my blog, just like their agriculture and animal husbandry (aside from goats). The farm has really taken care of it's ecosystem that provides a huge benefits to the locals.
Living in the farm where everything is organic is healthy and tranquil.๐
I think you also love farming.๐ฟ
Thanks @amestyj for taking time to read my blog. Have a great day!๐ค
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