abrupt conversion of ricefield into tree farm, my radical decision

Hello everyone, Im Marvin Cahayagan, 28y, from Leyte Island Philippines, marine engineer by profession but very passionate into Organic Farming. Just now, i bumped into this forum and found a lot of interesting threads. Id love to read convos about natural and organic farming, permaculture as a whole I suppose. I have a 1.7 hectars of land, it was a ricefield when I bought in 2015 but is now into the conversion of a forest. Id love to plant trees and hopefully invite wildlife in the future. At the moment, the trees are flourishing since being transplanted last 2015. Im very particular in planting forest trees specially the rare and vulnerable species because they must be saved before its too late soon. I am also very willing to welcome new ideas from different enthusiasts here.

i will be integrating this concept to my farm, i have been very focused into forest making, didnn’t about permaculture until I came
into this forum

Hello Marvin and welcome to the Forum. I'm planning to go to your Island in a couple months. I will be traveling to many places in the southern Philippines, in search of land that I can convert to forest and plantation. How much land are you planting? Are you taking advantage of any government-sponsored programs to create more natural forest?

Edit. Now I see that is 1.7 hectares. Will it just be converted to Natural forest or will you put a small house there or a vacation property?

I suppose you have probably planted some pioneer species, some trees that produce nitrogen. Which ones did you plant and how fast are they growing?

Will you be using bananas as a nurse crop, so that young seedlings don't get burnt in the sun?

Was this degraded land that it was no longer economically viable for planting rice? I am specifically looking at badly eroded land, since I'd like to buy a fairly large piece and I don't want to take farmland out of production. My fiance is from Mindanao, but we don't want to live there. So we are checking out many different possibilities.

We visited a government run tree farm on Bohol, where there were many Native trees available as transplants. They have a few people who are well trained in determining where those trees should go, according to the soil and other factors where they will be planted. So I expect to hire one of those people, no matter where I end up. It's a race, and you have a 4 year head start on me. Let's create lots of space for the wild birds and other creatures. That starts out with reintroducing their natural food supply.

Wow! Great job, Marvin. Looks like you have really thrown yourself into it. I wish I could help you more but I know so little about your climate/ soil/ fauna. I wish you the very best however. Well done!

hau Marvin, great work!  Question; are you using the "weeds" (actually primary succession plants working to rebuild the soil) as a chop and drop mulching solution? If you aren't might I suggest you do so, that way you are preventing erosion and building the soil microecosystem that your new trees will really appreciate.

Rice fields usually need some organic materials reintroduced which is one of the jobs nature uses primary succession plants (weeds) for.

Let me know if you have any questions I can answer for you.

Redhawk

(Marine engineering is cool, I have two friends that do that)

What a great project!  I love the photos!  Are you planting any trees for human food as well?  1.7 hectares would allow for a mix of many high quality human food producing plants along with the natives, though I'm sure in your location that are many natives that are excellent food sources as well.  Incorporating some exotic sources of human food will only enrich the situation for the wildlife you are inviting in.  Growing your own in harmony with wildlife means it doesn't have to be grown in a less harmonious way elsewhere.   You say you are new to permaculture-  here is in my opinion a great resource- a design course taught by the founder of the movement, Bill Mollison, for free on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjLTW5bAmcSBqcj88MxwsALpwaJ4RmVXr

Are you planning to have any economic gains from this project? That could have an important effect on species and management planning of the forest system.

https://permies.com/t/110107/Planting-Trees-Memory-Notre-Dame
You may also consider having a look at this thread.  It provides a pretty nice perception on interrelated topics of wooden building and forestry management.