An organic farm that’s just an hour’s drive away from Cebu City offers a welcome respite for those tired from the stress of work and life in the urban jungle.
The Healing Present Nature and Wellness Farm in barangay Cansomoroy, Balamban town in western Cebu is the brainchild of Eleanor A. Rivera, a Cebuana registered nurse.
“In my (conventional) practice I realized it was always about chemical treatment. I did a lot of researched and found out that our body was created perfect by God. It is capable of healing itself if only we go back to what He has provided for us in nature,” said Rivera, who receives guests with varied health concerns from cancer to hypertension and obesity.
Having lived the fast life in New York, Rivera said she made a 360-degree turn and embraced health and wellness, in a lifestyle that prioritizes what is organic and natural.
Rivera said she bought a 2.3 hectare property in Cansomoroy to help a friend of a friend in 1989.
Conduit
¨I bought it but only got to actually see it in 1996. We started planting here in 2001 but only started the foundation (Healing Present) in 2010.¨
Rivera first named the property the San Gimignano Farm. The name was inspired by a school in Italy where children learn arts through nature.
Eleonor Rivera greets guests in a pavillon overlooking Balamban mountains. (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
¨After I sold my house in New York, I wanted to live in Italy. There is this school there where children are taught arts and I fell in love with that concept.¨
But she said God had a different plan and she found herself setting up the farm in Balamban instead.
Everything fell into place, said Rivera who considers the farm a ¨conduit of God’s healing and love.¨
The 17-hectare wellness farm was officially established in Sept. 26, 2011 and is managed in collaboration with 20 farmers who embraced organic farming by growing a wide range of vegetables and herbs around its health and spa facilities.
Health benefits
The area has four buildings including villas and cabanas for families.
It also has an area for therapies for detoxification and colon cleansing, a sauna room, a yoga area, and a natural spring with an alkalinity of 8.7.
It also has a bistro in her home in Lahug, Cebu City which offers organic pesto, gazpacho, green smoothies, detox juice, sorbet, hot sauce and their signature herbal tonic.
¨Our herbal tonic is a blend of eight carefully selected organic herbs, vegetables and fruits that give a good combination of health benefits like anti-cancer and anti-oxidant,¨ she said.
Wellness retreat
Rivera said the farmcaters to people who seek a healthy lifestyle and alternative remedies to their chronic illnesses by offering a four-day wellness retreat.
The P39,000 retreat package starts with a medical assessment including a blood analysis that is used as a basis for a personalized detox therapy for every guest.
Foot massage with herbal water. (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
The retreat includes organic vegan food programs, juicing sessions, graduated fasting, sunbathing, brisk walking, swimming, ultra baths, mud therapy, infrared sauna, dry brushing and oil pulling.
Other activities include yoga and meditation sessions, colon cleansing or liver detoxification, stone and herbal massage, herbal rub scrub and natural facial skin treatment for wrinkles, acne, pigmentation and age spots.
Rivera said each guest will have two therapies daily to jumpstart the guest’s healthier lifestyle.
Organic gourmet
For those who only want to relax with nature, there’s a P1,800-package for a welcome drink of the herbal tonic, a tour of the farm animal areas and herbal and vegetables nurseries and a showcase of organic and natural farming in the farm.
An organic gourmet lunch at the bistro is served to guests who get to see a demonstration of how organic smoothies and snacks are prepared.
¨They can also go swimming at the natural cold spring pool where we serve organic snacks and drinks.¨
An overnight stay rate of P9,750 is charged per guest which includes food and two therapeutic sessions like a herbelicious mud therapy and a herbal rub scrub with facials.
Rivera also offers her organic juicing blends which customers can order and pick up from her home in Lahug, Cebu City.
Purely organic
A seven-day juicing package includes six bottles of juice blends from pure organic herbs, fruits and vegetables that the customer should drink daily for seven days. The cost: P17,800.
¨These are carefully developed juices from our produce here and I can assure you that it is organic. Unlike other juicing products offered in Cebu, ours doesn’t have apples which are dipped in formalin. I think we are the only one offering purely organic juicing products here,” she said.
Customers can order and pick up all 42 bottles at her home in 7 Calle Plata, BC Homes Subdivision in Lahug, where Rivera also holds a weekend organic market.
Rivera said more people are aware of the benefits of consuming all natural products in food and personal care toiletries but the problem is how and where to start.
“We want to teach people that healing is within your reach and it always starts with changing your paradigm. When you come and spend even a little time here, I believe that something inside you is awakened and touched – that longing to go back to nature and realize that the answer is in everything provided to us by God,” she said.
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