The aim of Inner Wheel Club of Uptown Dagupan D379 External Service Officer (ESO) Mervic Catalan-Abesamis was to feed her pre-teen son vegetables without him knowing it. She and her in-laws began planting basil and started making pesto sauce for pasta, bread, and rice. From there, she began to plant other vegetables and herb-citrus plants. When she saw how her family was enjoying the food she cooked with the produce from their backyard, she began to research and create healthy products that would also feed others and the community. This flourished even more during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
After leading the IWCUD Backyard To Kitchen (BTK) Lifestyle Project, which also supports IWC District 379’s sustainable project, “Botika Sa Bakuran”, ESO Mervic has grown her produce into a small and sustainable entrepreneurial business while advocating healthy living in the community. This is seen in the KETO Diet approved products from her backyard’s produce.
The KETO Diet turns one’s fats into fuel while still eating the food one loves. This gives all the flavors that satisfies one’s appetite. These are mostly healthy greens in a bottle, cooked with protein or carbohydrates, and absorbed by the body to grow into a leaner shape. Bottled products include homemade sauces and dips for grilled and pasta dishes, crackers, shortbreads, fried rice, and other healthy meals.
A purchase of a bottle will benefit the IWCUD Project Áro (Love) that helps support LIGHTED LAMPS – a center or home for the stray and abandoned elderly of Pangasinan. The IWCUD BTK Lifestyle Project, in a sense, is a project that partly supports another project – the IWCUD Project Áro – this IWC Season 2020-2021.
The initial goal was to develop organic backyard farming for self-sufficiency, community sharing, and healthy living during the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as an aim to feed vegetables to one’s young son, turned into a journey of a small, sustainable entrepreneurial business while advocating healthy living and supporting the most vulnerable of society. From a simple act of planting green, grew to something healthy and lean, and life that survives beyond COVID-19.