Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: The Fruits of Summer in Our Table

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Fruits of Summer in Our Table

Mango Fruit in my Garden This morning, when I woke up, I saw IMMEDIATELY the tray of fresh fruits in our kitchen. I realized then that my wife and I are lucky to have an abundance of fresh fruits that we did not have to buy. How in the heck did this happen?. Let me explain.

Our next door neighbor who is a widow and also our casino buddy, has an orchard in her backyard. She has almost all kinds of fruit trees both in her back, side and even in her front yard. Since she is alone in her 4-bedroom house, she just can not consumed all the fruits that she harvests every summer.

This week she gave us Japanese pears, plums, grapes, apples, figs, prunes and peaches. Last month we enjoyed the blueberries and raspberries from her garden. She has lemons, oranges and kumquats in her garden also. There is no grass in her ½ acre of yard, but only ground covers and fruit trees. The fruit orchard was the project of her late husband.

Speaking of gardening, my fruit orchard in Marinduque has also a varieties of tropical fruits. I have papayas ( several varieties), mangoes ( THREE varieties), avocados, bananas (several varieties), starapples, guayabanos and Cashews trees. I have also guavas, rambutans, santol, duhats, jackfruits and lanzones fruit trees. I have also planted several varieties of citrus trees, pomelo, kalamansi, native oranges and lemon trees. My durian fruit trees( two) was a victim of Typhoon, Reming, a couple of years ago.

I hope you have an enjoyable summer. Keep cool in this 3-digit temperatures here in Northern California and the rest of USA. Oh, before I forget eat plenty of fruits to stay young and healthy!

Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.