After four years of preaching and softly promoting about going green, and after almost four years of writing in this space about the wonderful people I have met and continue to meet on this journey,

I pause this season to think of the ones who I keep in constant communication with and who have formed my close circle of friends since ECHOstore started in 2008.

A cancer survivor. He has shifted to an all-natural diet since the Big C scared him out of his wits. He now dehydrates his own fruits and vegetables. He grows hanging plants in his patio and harvests his own “urban” eggplants, tomatoes and patola, among many other hanging vegetables. He does yoga for stretching, walks his dog everyday for his exercise and grows rare orchids in his retirement.

An alternative doctor. She taught me how to sleep on a Nuga mat (heated mat), taught me how to relieve people of dengue symptoms and how to avert the disease using natural Tawa-tawa tincture, and how to use old-fashioned Silver Cure for many minor infections.

The beekeepers. From him, I learned the value and real meaning of natural. He built a solar panel, a windmill and now produces his own electricity in his farmhouse cum store/kitchen and natural laboratory. From her, I learned how to use liquid natural soap, natural bug sprays like citronella and even leather wax using bee products.

The natural farmer. She is my “go-to” person when it comes to vermicompost, where to find a water well driller in Cavite, where to find seeds for Romaine, where to find arugula and lettuce for ECHOmarket on a rainy day. She taught me about happy free-range chickens and pigs and where to get real organic chicken eggs for our omelets.

The vegetarian doctor. His mineral salts have cured me at one point when my body needed a rest from all the eating at a food show. He has given us good advice about why we should not eat too much meat or chicken. He has taught me the “Cleansing Diet” for meat eaters, which is 20 calamansi, 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses and 1.8 tsp cayenne in one liter of purified water.

The organic retailers. This husband and wife team introduced organic products to the Southern market in Negros. They make their own fertilizer, make their own machinery for recycling paper, glass and plastic, etc. They also grow and harvest coffee from the mountains. They operate a shop like ours in Bacolod and supply most of our rice, jams and coffee.

The civet coffee expert. She has inspired me with her entrepreneurial ways and her dedication to helping her people find gainful employment or alternative incomes. In just one year, she has increased her beneficiaries from 120 to over 700 Muslim farmers who now pick the ripest coffee fruits/cherries for our coffee blends in the Women in Coffee program. She has extended her advocacy to help young Muslim women make baskets through the use of indigenous materials, and to preserve age-old traditions of weaving and basket-making.

The NGO worker turned entrepreneur. This active NGO worker now operates a sustainable retail store and has tweaked and turned the store around to serve only slow food, organic vegetables while helping many Cordillera communities get regular incomes from coffee, muscovado and heirloom rice.

The grass-fed beef experts. I met them just late this year but got to know their deep involvement in grass-fed beef, micro greens and pastured pork. They helped me understand why grass-fed beef is alkaline and that you can “have your beef and eat it, too.” They painstakingly look for heirloom seeds from around the world to make sure we preserve real natural and healthy sources for vegetables and micro greens.

The cheesemaker and more. I have met her goats and cows and have seen how she makes the milk into farmhouse cheese. I have seen how they make good cocoa (tablea) and even BIgnay wine. After meeting this woman and her family, I gained a better appreciation of local cheese sources and chocolate, as well.

The chocolate man and woman. She coached him on chocolate-making and guided him on where to find good sources of cocoa. He went to work and started his chocolate business and found outlets in ECHOstore and ECHOmarket. He continues to make chocolate with passion, fueled by the quick market acceptance of his artisanal chocolates flavored with Philippine fruits, cheese and nuts.

Together with my partners Reena Francisco and Jeannie Javelosa, we discovered these people who make our lives more liveable in a natural way. We met them through common friends, through our connections of yesteryears, through twitter and facebook and through Divine intervention.

If you have followed this column regularly, you may already know who they are. It is because of people like them that we continue our advocacy to promote a sustainable lifestyle for everyone.

I will continue to write about people like them in my future columns. And I hope the work never ends.

Chit Juan is a founder and owner of ECHOStore sustainable lifestyle, ECHOmarket sustainable farms and ECHOcafe in Serendra and Podium malls. She also heads the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines and the Philippine Coffee Board Inc., two non-profits close to her heart. She often speaks to corporates, youth and NGOs on social entrepreneurship, women empowerment, and coffee. You can follow her on twitter.com/chitjuan or find her on facebook:Pacita “Chit” Juan. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .