Our Town's Landmark and Heritage: Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Our Town's Landmark and Heritage

 Living with Nature Center

 San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. 18th Century Basi Wine Cellar

 Late 18th Century Basi wine cellar retains the original brick walls and wooden structure made of hard wood. The jars are original as well, and have been in use through the years in brewing and aging of basi, and lately, different table wines from local fruits.  Students from SVIS are full of awe and wonder at the old trade and technology of basi and vinegar making during their study tour, with the guidance of the author as in-charge of the project.

   

 

Table Wine products from 16 different local fruits growing in the Ilocos region. Table fruit wine making is a continuing project of developing  table wine from local orchard and wild fruits in the region, basically following the old basi wine and vinegar making process. 

 

 

Top photos, products are bottled and labelled, displayed and marketed  on a limited scale.  Lower photos: hermetically sealed jars await 2 to 5 years of aging (10 years on special occasions).  SVIS students delight in examining the specimens, eager in learning  about the indigenous industry.     

2. Art Gallery 

 

 

 

Ethnic and Nature's Art 

 

 

garden

3. Arboretum, Ecosanctuary & Botanical Garden 

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

 – Cicero

Heritage tree of three generations - native mango (Mangifera indica) is host

 to viny plants, ferns, and lianas like Rosary Pea and Philodendron

 

Shrine of national hero, Dr Jose Rizal in exile at Dapitan. Right, coed poses with a Heliconia flower with the bust of Emilio Aguinaldo, first president of the First Republic of the Philippines, at the background.  Both heroes, other than their deeds in liberating the country from foreign colonization, are known for their love and care for the environment.

A garden pond beautifies the surrounding  and keeps it cool.  It serves as catchment of rain and runoff water.  You can raise hito, tilapia, kuhol, and the like, including aquatic vegetables like kangkong and ribbon grass (Vallisneria).

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Arboretum or Miniature Tropical Rainforest

As miniature replica, the Center maintains the three-storey distinct 

structure of a tropical rainforest, namely, underbrushes, canopy layer, 

and emergents, cum epiphytes and lianas, as virtual field laboratory 

in forestry and ecology, and other related fields of study.

An arboretum is an outdoor living tree museum. A garden is a planned plot of land adjoining a house for cultivating plants, flowers and fruits, and other forms of nature.

4. Museum and Library 

"Books last longer than the computer

in mind, heart and spirit." - avr

Students from San Vicente Integrated School pay homage to the icon of 

the Risen Christ, at he LWNC Museum and Library.  

Left, a curious SVIS grader examines a wooden head of a Philippine deer, 

a wildlife species now at the brink of extinction in the Ilocos Region. 

Right, a SVIS coed sits on an antique "Cleopatra" reclining chair made 

by local artisan.

  

First published in 1934, Bannawag is widely regarded as "Bible of the North." It reaches the heart Northern Luzon, as well as Visayas, Mindanao, and Ilocano communities in Hawaii and America's West Coast. Bannawag highlights family values in its stories and articles and through the years, has continued to inspire, entertain, and empower its readers.

"Build a home library where knowledge grows into wisdom." - avr 

5. School-on-Air, Research & Workshop

School-on-Air: avrotor.blogspot.com  

Radio broadcast TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University,

and Usapang Bayan 

 

ANNEXES 

Living with Nature Center (Concept and Thrusts)

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

Linked with Website avrotor.blogspot.com LIVING WITH NATURE; Book Series:  Living With Nature (5 volumes), Bannawag Okeyka Apong Column. TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University 87.9 fm Radyo Katipunan, and Usapang Bayan

   

    San Vicente Integrated School Teachers at Dr Abe V Rotor's Family 

Residence in Poblacion, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

1. 18th Century Basi Wine Cellar

Fruit Wine

Ilocos Vinegar

Livelihood Projects

2. Art Gallery
Nature's Art

Cyptobiology
Ethnic Art
Mural Paintings
Contemporary & modern paintings

3. Arboretum, EcoSanctuary & Garden
Biodiversity
Heritage Trees
Natural Farming
Tri-commodity Farming

Shrines (Jose Rizal, Apo Baket, etc)

4. Museum & Library
Indigenous articles, artefacts
Exhibits, and displays by occasion
Holy Icons (The Risen Christ)
Book Collection 
Journals and Periodicals collection

5. School-on-Air, Research & Workshop
Multi-Intelligence Development
Humanities, Integrated Art
On-site and Hands-on Study

Thesis and Dissertation, Studies
Workshops, by sector/topic