I've been living in the Philippines for almost 3 years…
and I thought I was starting to understand how food is grown here.
Then Melvin showed me two crops growing side by side.
Corn.
And cassava.
Same farmer.
Same soil.
But completely different purposes.
He pointed at the corn.
"They plant it not for sale."
"For basic consumption."
"Not for business."
Same piece of land.
Same farmer.
But one is grown for business.
The other is grown for basic consumption.
That honestly surprised me.
From the outside, they just look like two crops growing in the same field.
But I realized they weren't being grown for the same reason.
And this is one of the things I keep exploring after almost 3 years in the Philippines.
I can live here for years and still find things I completely misunderstood.
Food doesn't just start at the market or on the plate.
Sometimes it starts right here.
In the soil.
Still learning.
Still exploring.
One field at a time🙏
I've been in the Philippines for almost three years, and I thought I'd stopped being surprised by farms. Corn and cassava, growing a few steps apart, on the same soil, tended by the same hands — from the road, it just looks like a field. Two crops. Nothing more to see.
Then Melvin pointed at the corn — and, as I understood him, told me it wasn't for sale. It was for eating. The cassava a few steps away, I took to be the one meant for business. Same farmer. Same soil. Two completely different purposes.
It made me stop for a second. Three years here, and I could still walk past something this basic and completely miss it. Not because it was hidden — it was standing right in front of me — but because I hadn't thought to ask why a farmer would plant two different things on the same land in the first place.
What I actually found was a difference in purpose that I hadn't noticed before. Some of what Melvin grows is for basic consumption. Some is for business. And on this field, those two purposes exist side by side.
The real discovery wasn't the crops at all — it was realizing that even after almost three years here, I could still miss something this basic about how Melvin works his own land.
| Date | July 19, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Location | Amancion, Catmon, Cebu |
| Event Type | Farm Visit · Crop Practice Observation |
| Access Method | Invited by a local contact (Melvin) |
| Food Featured | Corn (Consumption) & Cassava (Business) — Same Field |
| Cost to Attend | Free (by arrangement) |
| Rarity | 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ — An everyday farming logic, rarely explained to outsiders |
| Bayanihan Index | 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ — A quiet one-on-one field visit, modest communal element |
Whether this is common across Cebu, or something particular to Melvin's family, I still don't know.