Everytime I visit Costales Nature Farms (CNF) in Majayjay, Laguna, I continue to be amazed with how the farm continue to grow and be an inspiration to others. In the many instances that I visited the farm, busloads of visitors are already there before us. The last time I was there, I was told that the visitors from the two buses parked outside the farm are from the Department of Tourism.

Entice. Mr Webster defines it as to draw on artfully. Its synonyms are lure, charm, attract and persuade. To do it, one must have a unique selling point. This is what many of our Magsasaka Siyentista (MS) do. They innovate to attract and influence.

Listening to our MSs who passionately shared what they did and are doing makes my work more fulfilling. Theirs were stories of greatness, of "plea to praise", of "hurt to heart" and of the common "rags to riches". There were others who were then in the corporate world, now in the farm. They said, "from corporate to cultivate".

I was speechless when I was told by the Teacher-In-Charge of a school where we (together with the National 4H Club Federation) are partnering a feeding program that the recipients of the feeding program are children who are classified as ‘severely wasted”. I was like what???? Sir, why call them that? It is as if they have no more value in society! He told me that it is the correct term used.

In the very early part of the previous decade, our entourage from the ATI Regional Training Center in Bicol visited emerging and established agricultural hubs in other parts of Luzon as a staff development activity.

The Master's Garden was one of the completely unexpected yet singularly memorable sites that the ATI in the Cordillera Autonomous Region led us to. Organic farming was then barely mentioned as an intervention in agriculture.

He combs his still damp hair. Unsatisfied with his looks, he poured additional gel to his palm and applied from front to back. He combed again. Better now. He heard his wife, humming their favourite Maranao song while preparing the table for breakfast. He smells the aroma of a freshly roasted native coffee being brewed. His stomach growled. He buttoned his shirt and walked to the table. He smiled.

My latest travel on the road with Ben along with Sir Olan and Ms. Gigi to Quezon Province and Marinduque allowed me to experience firsthand what it means to be an extension worker.