Pine trees from Benguet

Our souvenirs from our recent trip to Baguio included a couple of plants, trees to be exact. I was already eyeing the plant shops along Marcos Highway when we came upon a small one by the roadside in Tuba. This wasn't one of those more commercialized shops but rather a house selling some fruits, vegetables and plants. Another vehicle stopped ahead of us but I got to the shop first to inquire about the pine tree saplings on display. The other guy inquired if the trees could grow in Bulacan. The lady selling them replied that they will with proper care. Bulacan, of course, is in Central Luzon and mostly plains, and therefore was of a much lower elevation than Baguio or Tuba where these trees have thrived. I thought if they can grow in Bulacan then they will definitely survive in Antipolo, us residing in the upper part of the city.

And so I ended up getting a couple of pines to take home. Here they are:

The pine tree saplings the morning after we returned from Baguio.

This is before we transferred them to pots. These are not the actual pots as we bought larger ones. We plan to grow them there and perhaps have them as a sort of bonsai at home.

 

We actually have 3 pine trees in pots near our front door. These have not grown taller than our garage ceiling. I assume that keeping them in pots over 10 years have stunted their growth at least in terms of height. We hope to have similar results with the two we got from Benguet.

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Salad suggestions for lettuce and strawberries

We had enough lettuce and strawberries to have them for salads with our lunches and dinners for several days after we returned from Baguio. Here are some of the salads we enjoyed this first week of January.

Coral lettuce and strawberries from La Trinidad, Benguet

Lettuce and strawberries with cantaloupe melon

Lettuce and strawberries with Fuji apples

I usually eat my salads without any dressing but if I did use dressing, I would usually go for balsamic vinaigrette or sesame soy dressing.

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Salad ingredients from La Trinidad, Benguet

We decided to go to the Strawberry Farms in La Trinidad, Benguet. The last time we've been here was in 2017 when our daughter was 3 years old. She didn't have a good memory of that trip and wanted to go to see for herself the farms. She was also eager to get some strawberries and eat strawberry flavored taho there after we related to her that she like strawberry taho when she first tasted this 7 years ago.

The Strawberry Farms are in La Trinidad, which is the capital of Benguet province and just next to Baguio City. The farmers are assisted by Benguet State University, which is just across the national highway from the farms.

Rows of strawberries and lettuce are planted side by side in La Trinidad.

Newly packed strawberries

Farmers packing the strawberries before selling taking them to stores for selling.

Farmer selling lettuce at the farm

Lettuce soon to be harvested

We ended up getting lettuce and strawberries for us and my parents. We requested the farmers to separate the strawberries that we can already enjoy while in Baguio and packs to bring back to Antipolo. I will post about the salads we've been having the past week that were mostly composed of the lettuce and strawberries from our recent trip.

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