Ecogenesis: A Journey of Rerooting

Just after I graduated from Fordham Rose Hill in 2022, I met someone who would spark a new stage of my life. I was on a Global Outreach project through Fordham in Anchorage, Alaska. This was a formative experience in itself engaging with Native Alaskan communities in the context of the modern world. Each evening, we would host dinner guests to share a meal with our group. We were introduced to a priest from the local church we had visited that morning. I recognized his accent—he was Filipino. 

I approached him to say that I, too, was Filipino. He asked me a series of questions: “From what island is your family from? What language did they speak? I couldn’t answer. He told me “You have a responsibility to learn.” I was taken aback and a little bit embarrassed, but it struck a chord. 

Over dinner that evening, he would tell us all about his retirement project: Ecogenesis, a permaculture farm in the northern Philippines, bringing new life to toiled-over land, feeding the community, and connecting with indigenous knowledge. He opened the invitation for the group of Fordham students to visit this place. I took this offer very seriously, and six months later I was on a plane. 

In January of 2023, I spent eight days with Fr. Fred Bugarin, whose passion for life has brought about Ecogenesis. During our time together, along with my sister, Mary, Fred’s cousin, Percy, and Dr. Elinda Acierto, we traveled north from Manila. We took the long way, driving through Baguio City and up through the Cordilleras, a mountain range full of rice terraces. We reached the highest point in all of the islands at 7,400 feet—Atok Benguet—and descended toward Nueva Vizcaya. 

We shared stories and talked extensively about our collective dreams. He asked me about my art and showed me his hometown of Jones, Isabela. He told me about his vision for Ecogenesis. He let me be a part of the vision for Ecogenesis. All the while I was taking in the new, letting it absorb. After two days in the car, we reached the farm in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya. Fr. Fred turned to me and said, “Welcome home.”

I spent only four days on the farm. I taught an art class to the local children. We sang karaoke, ate food from the farm prepared by new friends, Gremy and Mercy, and drank lemongrass tea. I felt a strong connection to this place. Not just because I was stepping foot on my ancestral homelands for the first time, but because it was a place that sparked so much passion. 

I only have a few family members still living in the Philippines, since the overwhelming majority of my extended family immigrated to the United States post-World War II. Through a couple generations of assimilation, I had little connection to the culture. When I finally came to experience my place of origin, I felt a strong sense of kinship despite being surrounded by strangers. It was partly because of the welcoming spirit of Filipinos and partly because of the context in which I was introduced to this place: I have many thanks to give to Ecogenesis. 

In simple terms, Fr. Fred explains that “Ecogenesis is about environmental care.” The way you do this is raising awareness of ecology and the connectivity of all things. Fr. Fred shared the inspiration for Ecogenesis: Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudate Si’, in which the Pope talks about the Earth as “our common home,” and the United Nations Earth Charter Initiative where it talks about being a “one earth community.” Ecogenesis is about building a One Earth Community.

Fr. Fred explained further Ecogenesis from three perspectives: scientifically, spiritually, and sociologically. 

From a scientific perspective, the farm uses a permaculture method of farming from a 2,500-year-old practice from the Cordillera Mountains. This method of farming is not harmful to both the land and the species dwelling on the land. They avoid chemical fertilizers and care for the earth by composting and using allies. Worms, for example, will nurture the plants if we nurture them. Ecologically speaking, everything is interconnected and thrives off biodiversity. 

There is also a spiritual element in the approach to Ecogenesis. Fr. Fred told me about how the forest was useful to the community he grew up in, Jones, Isabela. The forest is an ally—a sister, a brother, a cousin, a mother. This notion informs indigenous spirituality, Earth spirituality. In other words, there is no such thing as an inanimate object. Everything is connected in the one life we live together. Much of the West has forgotten that the land is not a commodity. The majority of the keepers of Earth spirituality are the indigenous people. Without them, we could lose that. 

Ecogenesis has foundations in Catholic spirituality. Much of the mission is inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. Pope Francis calls upon us all to examine our hearts and social values to act for global solidarity, and we can do this by caring for the plants, animals, and life forms that live among us. Inspiration for this project was also drawn from Thomas Berry, an American Catholic priest who focused on building an Earth community made up of “a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.” In the dynamic life that we live, no life is greater than another. 

It was interesting for me to explore how the religion brought by the West—the religion that informed much of the erasure of indigenous knowledge—would be intertwined with Earth spirituality. Alas, life brings about many contradictions, and healing comes about when we face them. With an open heart, it was easy to see that there are so many similarities between the two. Both Earth spirituality and Catholic spirituality work toward creating a world of more unity, of justice, of peace, of harmony. It is a beautiful thing to see how Ecogenesis has combined the spirituality from both traditions. 

The crux of this can be found with understanding Ecogenesis sociologically through justice. The goal here is to create relationships. We do this through showing compassion and caring for one another, the land, the air, and the animals to create mutuality: we build bridges.

To connect these three perspectives: we are all meant to live harmoniously. Science teaches us we are meant for diversity. The heart of the gospel is all about inclusion and breaking down barriers. It is about creating relationships amongst ourselves and the land and building a One Earth Community. 

It has been about a year and a half since I visited the farm for the first time. A lot has changed. During that visit, there was one building: a ground-floor space with two bedrooms and a kitchen. The second floor was still under construction to become a community space for the local families and for travelers. Fred was fundraising to install solar panels. There were so many plans, and I was eager to be a part of this project. 

Since then, they’ve built a walking bridge over the stream and an overpass for cars (we once drove through the stream itself). They’ve constructed an entire greenhouse! And in the works is a grotto, visitor dorms, campsites, and walking path for reflection and adorned with “stations” (from the Stations of the Cross) called “The Death of the Forest.”

This October, I will return to Ecogenesis to paint murals and teach more art. As an element of connecting with my ancestral homelands and working towards a life centered on indigenous spirituality, this project has allowed me to nurture my art. It will not be my last visit. 

If you have any interest in visiting Ecogenesis Farm and Retreat Center or being involved in the project, please get in touch! It would be my pleasure to create a relationship with you as we continue to build a One Earth Community.