W E L C O M E

Once upon a time, in some God-awful place, Lady Luxuria uttered in disgust..."It's so hard to find men here. Most of them think MONOGAMY is some kind of WOOD!" But here in the land of hearts-optimistique, THAT statement's only but a footnote categorized under the heading "The Jaded Lady's Futile Attempts at Settling Down."

W E L C O M E to The Mango Farm, our little verdant patch of wedding eden, where monogamy is de rigeur, and for Lady Luxuria's frustratingly vacuous admirers, a veritable garden of real wood! From time to time, interesting snapshots from recent Farm treks and events (not necessarily weddings) will be posted to the delight of the virtual Farm paparazzi. Have fun! - your fruity farmer

our foolish hearts

There's always a song wafting in Fruity's head as he studies a picture album. Maybe, because we are innately musical, always associating an experience with a tune (at least, that's how it works with the stuck-in-the-60s people here at the Farm). For the couple of the moment, it's My Foolish Heart... (try hearing Stacey Kent or Julie London's version :)

The night is like a lovely tune, beware my foolish heart
How white the ever constant moon, take care, my foolish heart



There's a line between love and fascination,
That's hard to see on an evening such as this,
For they give the very same sensation.
When you are lost in the passion of a kiss.





Your lips are much too close to mine, beware my foolish heart
But should our eager lips combine, then let the fire start.



For this time it isn't fascination, or a dream that will fade and fall apart,
It's love this time, it's love, my foolish heart



Congrats A and I! Too bad, Fruity can only mime a song, not sing it :)

Dog MTV - Back to the Sun

Donatelo is just almost 8 months (he turns 8 months next week!), and he's already showing the makings of le star. Howz about giving it up for le dog fantastique! Oh, the music is by Celilo - "Back to the Sun." Enjoy the view!

dreaming of sun

Turnip takes a nappy, whiling the time away on the airy solehia. The rain continues pattering, as winds frisk the wet foliage.



In the meantime, amidst serious discussions, some minds are wandering off, like rain-fed rivulets, in a cacophony of incoherence. - A well-travelled seminar participant :)

How green can a farm get? Google Map Maker will show.

When a place calls itself a "garden," the very least it can BE is a place with grass. And with today's compilation of satellite images, it is quite EASY to spot a "garden" or "farm" or "forest" or "nature preserve" or (insert something eco-friendly here) that is true to its claim. So, when the Mango Farm called itself The Mango Farm, it was actually just being up front about what it is, a mango farm! Let's google map the place ... (try this website: http://www.google.com/mapmaker and search for "Mango Farm")

Here's the actual map.



And here's the map, overlaid on top of the satellite image. The Mango Farm (highlighted in blue) and its neighbors, AANI and Orchard, literally form a contiguous green oasis in a field of concrete and tin roof! Pretty sad, but that's the reality - thanks to the twin evils of overpopulation and overdevelopment, with very little urban planning to begin with!



And here's a close-up of the Mango Farm, bound by yellow lines. So how green is Mango Farm's green? As green as nature intended it to be, a glaring reminder of how everyone should treat the environment - with respect and with foresight, always thinking of how we can preserve it for the unborn generations to enjoy.

Happy Dog Day

Sun-crazy Donatelo gives a tour of the Farm.

Limewire Wednesday

Fruity is tuning in, tuning out .... while there's Limewire music filling the office ether....

Cake, straight out of cartoonville.



The Farm in Lomo. This (!!) captures the happy-but-hushed effect of the recent typhoons on almost-postponed weddings.



Congrats D & C! May your ever-after be less eventful than the last week of September 2009.

regardez: red dots

20091027blog01dots
Originally uploaded by RCMUmike

There's poetry in chaos, as well as poetry in order. But in weddings, we have a preference for the latter. We draw inspiration from seemingly disconnected experiences and try to achieve a cohesive, orderly, "art" : the banquet. Take for instance, this featured event. We can break it down to its components that make it successful -
A - spotless glassware and cutlery, crisp linen
B - non-obtrusive flowers. Guests from across the table can actually talk to each other. Imagine that!
C - table details that mark the event uniquely yours - you are invited to the event because, you, of all people, has an appreciation of the hosts' history, and the history they are making
D - of course, an exquisite caterer who loves her trade
E - a beautiful, unpretentious environment that continues to live green even in this age of urban over-development



Even shadows lend delicacy to the design.



Instead of ribbons, the couple chose to bag-tag the banquet chairs. Nice :)



All the pictures here were taken by Dylan Gozum. This banquet will be featured in a glossy mag, and thus Fruity has to hold back whatever else he wants to gab about regarding it.

..while the coffeemaker descales...

Family night out
Originally uploaded by RCMUmike

why not post something family? hmmm... Ok, so here's my first attempt to use flickr's blog template for making photo blogs. Last October 23, the Mango Farm family had multiple reasons to celebrate - birthday, birthday, send-off and send-off. We had three baby cakes, five sumptuous entrees, candles x12, and a cool evening zephyr that wove its way through quaking branches. And here, Donatelo and Turnip were generally behaved!

Four Weddings and a Typhoon Ondoy

One typhoon lingered over Manila, and four weddings got unceremoniously bumped to other dates, with hardly a wee whimper of complaint from fastidious sponsors who understood completely the gravity of this year's headline calamity.

The Mango Farm, being on significantly higher ground, was not affected by flood waters. And on that fateful day, September 26, it even became an impromptu shelter for 11 Tamayo waiters and 9 venue staffers as 80% of Manila was already submerged by the time the rain subsided. Thus, the office became the camp for venue staffers, while the Pavilion became the Tamayo's slumber hall - where the waiters spent the time listening to the only news source the Farm had that night, an AM radio blaring out of a stranded truck. There was no choice. The Farm became Noah's ark overnight.

The day after the typhoon, under shrouded skies, the Farm looked somber. The water-laden canopy of slouching trees was dripping tears, not for itself, but for flooded neighbors downhill. The Farm is exceptionally lucky, as it suffered no damage. But it cannot remain in isolation behind village gates while others are mired in new uncertainty. Just like the wedding sponsors, we completely understand the gravity of Typhoon Ondoy's aftermath, and as such, are willing to do more than just postpone wedding events to new dates. We will be active in community efforts to rebuild.



The Mango Farm opened its Pavilion for relief work. Shown here are Rotarians and friends who have collated and repacked donations from a hodge podge of generous donors from Hong Kong, Germany, the US, and of course, Philippines.