The Case of the Empty Chicken Eggs

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Soon as I was big enough to climb the baqui (brooding nest) hanging under the house and trees.  I found out that if I leave as decoy one or two eggs in the basket, the more eggs you gather in the afternoon. Then a new idea came. With a needle, I punctured the egg and sucked the content dry. It tasted good and I made some to substitute the natural eggs for decoy.

Dad, a balikbayan after finishing BS in Commercial Science at De Paul University in Chicago, called us on the table one evening. "First thing tomorrow morning we will find that hen that lays empty eggs.”

It was a family tradition that every Sunday we had tinola - chicken cooked with papaya and pepper (sili) leaves. Dad would point at a cull (the unproductive and least promising member of the flock) and I would set the trap, a baqui with a trap door and some corn for bait. My brother Eugene would slash the neck of the helpless fowl while my sister Veny and I would be holding it. The blood is mixed with glutinous rice (diket), which is cooked ahead of the vegetables.

That evening I could not sleep. What if dad’s choice is one of our pet chicken?  We even call our chickens by name. The empty eggs were the  cause of it all, so I thought.

In the morning after the mass I told dad my secret. He laughed and laughed. I didn't know why. I laughed, too. I was relieved with a tinge of victorious feeling. Thus the case of the empty eggs was laid to rest. It was my first “successful” experiment.

In the years to come I realized you just can’t fool anybody. And by the way, there are times we ask ourselves, “Who is fooling who?”

B&W Photography Revival: Hull and Outrigger

B&W Photography Revival

Hull and Outrigger

Dr Abe V Rotor

Hull and Outrigger

UST Biological Station

Palauig, Zambales

Someone invented your hull. 

Another your outrigger

Which comes one-sided

Or in winglike pair.

Your hull slices the water

While your arm rides on the crest.

In duo you conquer 

The river and the sea,

Linking the islands in chain 

Since the time of the Odyssey.

“Black and white does more to evoke an emotion 

and freeze a moment in time.” – Kyle Anstey

Do fairies visit the garden?

Do fairies visit the garden? 

"Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!" 

- William Butler Yeats

Dr Abe V Rotor

Who is Afraid of the Giant Snail? Sober this pest with beer and eliminate it from your garden.

Who is Afraid of the Giant Snail? 

Sober this pest with beer and eliminate it from your garden.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Mackie, author's grand daughter and her yaya, ponder 

on "Mr Snail" on TV, when in reality it is a garden pest.

A colony of Giant African Snail in different stages of its life cycle.

Pour beer – old or newly opened – into shallow flat can and bury it to the rim in a place where this mollusk pest abounds. Leave the setup overnight. Very early in the morning you will find plenty of them in various sizes grouped around the can like a waterhole - sober. Gather the snails and crush them. Snail meat may be substituted to fish meal as animal feed.~

 Living with Nature - School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

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

Make your own "walis tingting" (coconut midrib broom)

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Coconut trees are thinned every harvest.  The over mature leaves are harvested for fuel, basket for bag (bayong) and mat (banig).  The leaf is also used in making sinambong (rice cake enclosed with woven coconut leaf). It is the midrib that is the subject of this lesson. 
 
The midrib is picked directly from from the frond, first by separating it from the lamina (leaf), then pulled out by hand. The crude midrib is cleaned with knife, air dried and bundled.   

Broom makers proudly display their freshly made walis tingting which will dry up and ready for use in a few days. A broom may cost from P20 to P50 depending  on the size of the bundle and market. 

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 Parade participants from Tahanan Walang Hagdanan, a center for the disabled in Cainta, Rizal, with their coconut midrib brooms, “Walis Tingting” (Internet).

The old kiskisan rice mill lives on

The old kiskisan rice mill lives on

 

A typical village kiskisan rice mill cum bodega still dot the countryside.  Improved types are slowly replacing the original kiskisan which are invented in the late 18th century.

Two components: Mill proper (left) and prime mover. Author (kneeling) explains the working mechanism of a pre-war one-stroke engine donated by miller Bonifacio Tambot of Binalonan (Pangasinan) to the Grains Industry Museum in Cabanatuan (NE) in 1982. The museum, showcase of Philippine Agriculture, was closed down following the EDSA Revolution in 1986.
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Kiskisan continues to dominate local rice milling in spite of its poor recovery rate (about 50 percent), as compared with modern rice mills which deliver as high as 68 percent rice. But why is this late 18^th century machine still popular?

It is because the kiskisan is simple and practical to operate. It leaves no waste, unlike the cono or the rubber roller mills which separate the rice hull (ipa) which constitutes 25 percent of paddy rice or palay. With the kiskisan, the milled rice is simultaneously separated from the by-product which is a rich finely ground mix of bran, rice germ, hull (ipa) and binlid or brokens, a complete animal feed ideal for village use.

This is not the case with modern mills. The rice hull is thrown away, so with partly filled grains.  The binlid is separated and the bran comes in two grades, requiring a complex operation and higher cost of milling.  Besides, these mills rarely operate on small scale.  The kiskisan does. Just feed into the hopper, say one-half cavan of palay, and pronto you get your rice, and you may leave the by-product behind as milling fee.

Visit a kiskisan.  It has become a mini-mall of sort, barangay style, that is. Surrounding it are a parking place of jeeps and tricycle, a flea market (talipapa), barbershop, variety or sari-sari store, and drugstore (botica). It is a meeting place (kita kits sa kiskisan, in modern parlance), where you pick up news and share stories. It is a center you sell, buy or exchange (barter) products and services.  You find your everyday needs, including the naturally rich kiskisan darak for your backyard chicken and pigs.  

Acknowledgement: Internet photos