December 4, 2015
The Strawberry farm is not so far away from our hotel but the drive is slow because the main access point is clogged with jeepneys. From the town market, we turned left going towards Trinidad. Lampas pa ng flyover, Savemore and McDo. We missed the sign Strawberry Farm tarpaulin with a big arrow on the left side, kaya we made a U-turn. We asked for directions, malapit lang naman pala. Once we turned left, a few hundred meters, dun na where the souvenir stalls are.
Strawberry Farm has become one of the favorite places to go while in Baguio.
Both local and foreign tourists come to visit for a unique experience of strawberry picking. This place has become popular and is listed in the “Things To Do in Baguio”. It’s clearly considered a tourist spot AND YET, the local government does not pay attention to this area.
Look at this directional signs:
World class standard.
Look at this entrance way:
The passage is behind the souvenir stalls. Ttambak lang, batu-bato, uneven and narrow passage. Dangerous especially for older tourists. One could slip and fall.
It’s not going to cost a lot to make this passage way more presentable.
Their local government could do some improvements. The returns would be great in terms of happy tourists that would post nice photos on Facebook, would spread the word about how nice and clean the place is.
It’s not yet strawberry season. The strawberries are small and not too red.
This sells for P350 a kilo.
P100 per tray. That’s cheap.
All of this for a hundred. That’s really cheap. I didn’t buy because we’re not going home yet. Malalanta lang.
Freshly picked organic lettuce
This one looks like a Christmas tree.
Bantut canal.
The surrounding mountains are kalbo na. No more pine trees. I could see the portions where several houses disappeared from the landslide.
I marveled at the natural beauty of the surroundings. Sayang, this place is fast deteriorating. One of this days, this strawberry and vegetable garden could disappear to give way to shopping malls.
She’s for Duterte – Marcos.
She is renting this 500 square meter garden patch from Baguio State University for P7,500 a year. She learned how to till the soil from her Ibaloi parents who are also strawberry and vegetable farmers.
Just like her cousin, she too is for Duterte and Marcos.
The owner said P450 a kilo. I told her I only wanted to taste if it’s sweet. She insisted that it’s P450 a kilo.
I couldn’t resist this red fruit. I picked it and gave it to my driver. Maasim daw.
I saw a big one and very red. I picked it.
Yey, it’s so red.
Strawberry picking is fun.
I let my driver pick and eat two pieces. Meron din syang picture on his camera exactly the same poses as mine. Basta lahat ng profile ko ginagaya nya.
Driver—-“Mam, kunan mo ako side view”.
I gave twenty pesos to the owner for 5 pieces that we picked and ate. She didn’t expect that I would give her money, she was hesitant at first to accept it and she was kind of aloof. But ang kulit ko kasi, kaya after a while, close na kami. She started sharing with me about their problems, business challenges, flood, market demand, etc.
Strawberry Farm
La Trinidad Valley, Benguet
