Angelus by the Haystacks

Dr Abe V Rotor
Haystacks, painting by Vincent van Gogh 


The fields are empty now,
The harvesters gone,
The birds settle in their roosts,
As the sun goes down.

The church steeple glows
In the waning sight
As the North wind blows
In the dying light.

The haystacks in the breeze
Glow and whisper;
Cheerful are the trees
In song and prayer. ~

Lesson on former .Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

San Vicente Botanical Garden - Ornamental Plants 1

San Vicente Botanical Garden  

Ornamental Plants 

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente Ilocos Sur 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Anahaw (Livistonia rotundifolia) in verdant green umbrella-shape leaves, 

casts a queer shadow in mid summer 2020

Frangipani or Kalachuchi (Plumeria acuminata) 

 

Bougainvilla (Bougainvilla spectabilis)

"God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."  - Francis Bacon

Two varieties of Mayana (Coleus Blumei) or cultivars

Chichirica (Catharanthus roseus)

Control coconut beetle by broadcasting sand into the leaf axils.

Control coconut beetle by broadcasting sand into the leaf axils. 

Silica penetrates into the delicate tissues of the insect. As a result its injury leads to dehydration and infection, and consequently death.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

 

Rhinocerus beetle (Oryctes rhinocerus) is a scourge of coconut,drastically reducing production, if not killing the tree at any stage. Right, a healthy tree can produce up to 50 nuts every two month.   

Mode of attack by both the larva (grub) and the adult characterized by boring into the very heart of the crown destroying the unopened bud leaves.  Right, damage bud after emergence. Heavy infestation results in the decapitation of the standing tree.  

Noticed that coconut trees growing along or close to sandy shores are seldom attacked by coconut beetle - Oryctes rhinoceros, a scourge of coconut whose larva and adult burrow into the bud and destroy the whole top or crown of the tree.

Farmers broadcast sand into the leaf axils of coconut trees in their early development stage until they have grown too tall to be reached.The scientific explanation to this practice is that sand (or silica, the raw material in making glass) is very sharp. Under the microscope each particle is a glass shard which can penetrate without difficulty the soft joints (conjunctiva) of the insect's armor. This is the insect's "Achilles heel," so to speak.

As the insect moves, the silica penetrates into the delicate tissues of the insect. As a result its injury leads to dehydration and infection, and consequently death.

If you have young coconuts growing at home and you find signs of the pest, scoop some sand and sprinkle it in between the leaf stalks - or axils. This is safer than using chemical insecticide. And you practically spend nothing, except work and patience.~

Palm Sunday is a nemesis to the coconut trees, and to the coconut industry, the mainstay of the Philippine economy in coconut-based areas. Thousands of trees are sacrificed for their young leaves made into paslaspas during Palm Sunday (Holy Week).  Young trees are killed for the bud leaves as well as for the the core or ubod which is made into fresh lumpia, a popular delicacy.

Coconut tree stripped of their young leaves for palaspas are easy target of the coconut beetle. The inflicted wound attracts the fecund female rhinoceros beetle to lay eggs, and the wound serves as entry for the newly hatch grubs which ultimately will bore and destroy the tree. Adult beetles are likewise lured to attack wounded trees.  Analogous to this is that, after a typhoon, infestation rises sharply.  Weakened condition of wounded trees exacerbate the damage which leads to premature death.  Coconut trees are known to live productively for fifty years,and even longer.  

Today there's a serious pest of coconut - Scale Insects (Aspidiotus destructor). Several provinces particularly in Region 4 have been placed under emergency. Harvesting young leaves of coconut for handicraft, culinary, palaspas, and the like, further predisposes infested coconut trees to succumb.  The young leaves are the ultimate defence when the older leaves are heavily infested with the scale insect. 

Take red or muscovado sugar instead of white or refined sugar. You'll live longer and healthier.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

. 

Rural folks would rather eat panocha or muscovado, which is likened to whole grain with the bran intact (e.g. pinawa rice and whole wheat flour).  When sugar is refined, the very vitamins and minerals needed by our body’s metabolism are removed, going with the molasses which we usually use as feeds for animals.  

Healthy snack with muscovado sugar, panocha (twirled muscovado), native chocolate, and sweet potato or kamote.  

Sugar consumed in its natural state (like fruits and grains) are broken down and slowly released into the bloodstream, in a manner our body can program its assimilation.  But refined sugar raises the blood sugar rapidly.  This rush is followed by an equally rapid crash that often leaves us feeling tired, irritable or depressed.  As energy falls, our response is to reach for more sugar to perk us up. 

The sudden rise and fall of our blood sugar causes emotional instability, confusion, dizziness, and headache.  Over-consumption of sugar can trigger a craving similar to the physiological dependence produced by drugs. These symptoms, along with drowsiness, forgetfulness, or general “spaced-out” feeling are typical symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Adrenaline is released during the body’s chemical chain reaction triggered by eating excess refined sugar, creating a stress throughout our body and mind. Sugar also depresses the activity of our white blood cells, lowering our resistance to infection. It may lead to the development of diabetes. For this reason many oriental nutritionists call refined sugar a “white poison.” 

Muscovado is unrefined sugar with the natural flavor, color and aroma of sugarcane juice from which it is made.

The Calorie value of muscovado is 11 per teaspoonful (4 grams). Muscovado retains much of the natural minerals and vitamins present in sugarcane juice. The juice, expressed by traditional means, is slowly heated until it dries into a golden yellow to brown color, retaining 4-5 percent moisture. Mineral and Vitamin content of Muscovado Sugar (mg per 100g):

· Total mineral salts 740
· Phosphorus (P) 3-4
· Calcium (Ca) 75-95
· Magnesium (Mg) 13-23
· Potassium (K) 15-150
· Iron (Fe) 1.3
· Vitamin B1, B2, B6, Niacin and Pantothenic acid.

This product is free from any harmful chemicals such as formic acid, sulfur dioxide, preservatives, any flocculants, surfactants, bleaching agents or viscosity modifiers.

It came from non-genetically modified sugarcane variety (non-GMO), organically grown to full maturity. Shelf life is 6 to 10 months in air-tight container under room temperature.

Next time you take coffee, make suman or bibingka, or simply "sweeten your tooth," say muscovado - instead of just azucar.  It's a little difficult to pronounce, but it's good for your health. ~

Grecian Life

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Young Spartans at play by Edgar Degas 

A healthy mind in a healthy body,
the Spartans showed it all the way,
and you carried on the living torch,
the discipline and all that it may

to instill, to inspire, to build.
What greater Glory that was Greece
were it not for posterity?
Else the Pierian Spring be missed.

The gym, the field, the vast open,
classroom anywhere, even the dungeon;
lessons unwritten, they are performed;
skill and grace rise above hands-on.

Once a teacher always a teacher, they say;
faith and wisdom and age -
trio, the most treasured as you grow,
for old age alone means little to a sage.~

Dedicated to my co-teachers: Prof Babes Lacap and company, on the occasion of the traditional annual Sportfest held at St Paul University QCEdgar Degas (1834 –1917), a French artist, regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist, especially identified with the subject of the dance. His mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes are notable for their psychological complexity and depiction of human isolation. (Google Ad, Wikipedia)

Burying fruits in ash, sand or sawdust delays ripening.

    Dr Abe V Rotor

In the countryside where there are no modern facilities for storage, farmers have devised methods of storage to increase the shelf life of fruits, and allow them to ripen properly. One method is to cover the fruits, such as tomatoes, mango and bananas with ash or sawdust.

Still life in Pastel, by Anna Christina Rotor 

To show the effectiveness of this practice, scientists at UPLB stored tomatoes (Pope variety), for the duration of one to two weeks, in rice hull ash in two preparations – one moist and the other dry.  Tomatoes stored in dry ash ripened faster, while tomatoes stored in moist ash ripened slower and showed a more uniform and deeper red color.  The tomatoes were also heavier and firmer than those stored in dry ash.  Tomatoes that were simply stored by piling suffered significant losses and that ripening was uneven. The colors of the fruits were pale red and predominantly yellow.

It was an old practice I observed among vegetable traders who ship green Pope tomatoes grown in Claveria (Cagayan de Oro) all the way to La Trinidad Valley in Benguet by boat and truck. The tomatoes were laid open in the cool air, until they ripened into bright red color.  They were then individually wiped with waxed cloth, assorted and returned to their crates and marked Baguio Tomatoes. Tomatoes that ripened on the way, which normally takes about a week, turned into yellow to orange color and were priced much lower than those ripened in the cool highland air.

We can only imagine the high cost and difficulty of shipping the fruits all the way from Mindanao via Manila pier to the Benguet, then transporting the commodity back to Manila where they are sold. Now there is a substitute to this practice.  Tomatoes can be delayed in ripening and that they ripen uniformly into red color when stored in moist rice hull ash. ~

San Vicente Botanical Garden Ornamental Plants 2

San Vicente Botanical Garden Ornamental Plants 2 

"Garden as though you will live forever." - William Kent 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

 

 Ornamental pineapple (Ananas sp)

    

Crown-of-thorn (Euphorbia milii var splendens) 

 "Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that 

sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is 

an instrument of grace."  - May Sarton

 

Pandakaki (Tabernamontana pandakaki )

 

Rosary bead plant (Abrus precatorius)

 Gumamela (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) 

" If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. 'Green fingers' are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart." - Russell Page

"My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece." 

- Claude Monet (French Impression painter). 
The artist's Garden at Giverny, 1900 

Country Road in Guimaras Island

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Old asphalt road exudes the ambiance of a typical countryside.

Take me to the country far, far away from the city, 

where sound is music, nature's canvas is the landscape,

where mountains, meadows and the sea are green;

where there are no walls, roofs, and bars to escape.

Take me to the county, far, far away from the crowd,

where I'm not just a part, where I am myself again;

where there is no high rise, where the cottage reigns,

where home is nature as I open the window pane. 

Take me to the country, far, far away from forgetting,

the cheerful child in me many, many years back;

flying kites at harvest time, fishing in the summer,

where school is far, yet learning is not what I lack.

Take me to the country, far, far away from the town,

where cars can't follow, where affluence has no place;

where commerce is simple, where wealth is not gold,

where living is not a show, where every meal a grace.

Take me to the country, far, far away from the race,

where I can compete best with myself, not with others;

where I can learn more the ways of nature, not of men;

where civilization begins once more at its borders. ~ 

         

 

Road expansion gives way to the growing number of vehicles.   

Slow pace of life is still evident; road arch welcomes the visitor to Nueva Valencia, site of an ecological park.

 

Changing landscape:  mansion and nipa hut attest to a growing socio-economic disparity.