Ethnic Biology Poisonous plants and animals found in nature.

 Ethnic Biology

Poisonous plants and animals found in nature.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)

Also open Naturalism -the Eighth Sense

There are poisonous plants and animals found in nature. But there are those, which ethnic societies learned to deal with the poison they contain, and having removed it, eat them without any apparent harm.

 

One example is nami (Dioscorea hispida) (PHOTOS) a relative of ubi and tugui'. Hispidine is the poisonous principle that can be extracted by means of repeated washing. Like doubtful mushrooms, natives use dogs to test the safety of the product.

The field of ethnobotany and ethnozoology covers interesting studies on how the natives deal with poisonous plants and animals as food, from snakes and puffer fish to wild gabi and cassava. I learned in Ilocos for example, the way cassava is cooked in order to minimize its cyanide content. The tuber is cleaned and cut into pieces, then boiled with the pot cover removed to allow the deadly cyanogas to escape with the steam. By the way storing cassava tuber should be avoided because the cyanide that is concentrated in the bark spreads into the tuber. This is noticeable by the yellowish spots on the tuber. However, this is difficult to notice in the case of the yellow or glutinous varieties of cassava.

The blood of the tangingi is first drained before it is cut and cooked. There are people who are allergic to this kind of fish. The case of my youngest son, Leo Carlo 11, is a classical example of acute allergy to seafood. In the summer of 1998 while my family was vacationing in our hometown, Carlo ate a lot of Talakitok fish eggs. By midnight, four hours after eating, we had to rush him to the hospital. He could hardly breathe, his eyes were virtually shut, and his body was covered with reddish spots. He was immediately given an antihistamine injection. It took him one week to fully recover.

Symptoms of food poisoning from natural toxins appear to have similar patterns, but mortality rates vary depending on the kind and amount of poison. When Red Tide (PHOTO) first appeared in the early eighties in Maqueda Bay in Western Samar, there was very little knowledge about PSP (Paralytic Shellfish Poison). This poison accumulates in tahong or green mussel and talaba or oyster without apparent harming them. There were reported deaths due to eating tahong during the red tide season. The effect is on the nerves and muscles, and probably the brain.

Farm Chemicals

The other kind of food poisons is man-made or man-induced. The most prevalent is farm chemicals.

Beware of fake news and product promotions! 

Modern pest­icides are designed to cope up with the increasing resistance of insects and pathogens. As a result their residues on food and in the environment have likewise increased tremendously. This is even worst in the case of systemic pesticides that penetrate into the innermost part of the plant as they are absorbed and carried throughout the plant's body via its sap. Any insect that feeds on the sap is killed. This property is also present in some phosphatic pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Among the first chlorinated hydrocarbon is DDT that was introduced in the forties as the final answer to the malaria problem, controlling mosquitoes, which spread the disease. It is true that DDT is highly effective not only against mosquitoes but other insects as well that its inventor received the Nobel Prize. It was however, discovered years later that it has a residue that is both persistent and cumulative, and transferred through the food chain. Thus, from the mosquito, the DDT is passed on to the fish, to animals that feed on the fish, and ultimately to man. In spite of the fact that it has long been banned there are still traces of DDT residues found in many places, showing either its persistence, or its illegal manufacture and distribution.

Food Poisoning

There was a case of cheesedog poisoning in Rizal. Scores of children, teenagers and adults attending a party were rushed to the nearest clinics and hospitals. Fortunately all of the victims fully recovered.

Cases of typhoid, hepatitis and gastrointestinal diseases have been on the rise because of unsafe water. In Tokyo and nearby cities Escherichia coli, a common gastrointestinal pathogen spread into an epidemic level. It was controlled after banning the suspected source - hamburger.

There is always a cardinal rule in observing food safety, and that is sanitation. Cleanliness speaks of an establishment's image, and has become an important basis in issuing government permits in the operation of food manufacturing plants, hotels and restaurants.

But how clean is clean? The scientist Lister discovered the prin­ciple of aseptic cleanliness. Listerine, a mouthwash brand was named after him. Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession applied Lister's principle in hospital manage­ment. But we often exaggerate cleanliness. We use a variety of clean­ing agents such as detergents, pesticides, deodorants, air fresh­eners, and cosmetics. My father used to warn us in the family, "We are unwittingly introducing into our bodies materials which may be more harmful than the germs we are trying to control." Rub-on mosquito repellant is carcinogenic. So with Chlorine, which is added to drinking water and swimming pool. Greenpeace, a vocal environment vanguard organization once raised a "Chlorine Kills" campaign against the excessive use of the chemical. Sodium fluoride mistaken for baking powder or wheat flour is extremely harmful, yet fluoride used in small amount in toothpaste helps keep our teeth strong and healthy.

I remember a story of a boy whose anemic condition had for so long remained a puzzle, until one morning his doctor dropped by, and while having coffee with the family, exclaimed, "Why, I know now why your son is sick!" He observed that the gold lining of the coffee cup was being worn out. The boy, or whoever was using the cup, was slowly being poisoned. The fine gold rim was actually painted with lead as paint medium. (PHOTO)

How many of our utensils at home contain harmful metals? Do not cook food with vinegar in aluminum pots. Do not use Antimony- or Cadmium-plated utensils. Remember that plastic containers react with food, specially the acidic ones. The microwave oven is not as safe as the conventional oven. There are scientists who believe that microwave triggers radiation, which may be harmful to the body in the long run. In spite of this warning the use of microwave, because of its convenience, has increased.

Radiation

Radiation is an invisible risk. We do not know when, where, and what level we are getting - and when it becomes harmful to the body. In the early eighties the Chernobyl nuclear plant incident in Russia that is located not far from Western Europe, caused worldwide concern and protests. 

After the meltdown incident, Birch Tree milk from Holland tainted with the fallout found its way to the Philippines. The government upon finding its level of radiation to be higher than the limit set by DOH issued a ban against its use, especially to children. But where did whole shipment go? Pulvoron, anyone?

Food Adulteration

Here is an outline of other food contaminants and additives, which are reported to be the cause of many ailments and death cases.

1. Seeds of ipil-ipil (PHOTO) ground with coffee cause falling hair. It is also a growth retardant due to its mimosin content.

2. Seeds of papaya when dried can pass for black pepper. Papaya fruit contains healthful papain. I do not know the effects of the seed content to the body.

3. Vetsin or mono-sodium glutamate retards mental and skeletal growth specially in children. Vetsin may cause drowsiness after eating. To some people the effect is palpitation and irritability. Burglars silence dogs with pandesal containing vetsin. An overdose may lead to death.

4. Formalin is used to extend the shelf life of fish. The malpractice is to inject it in large fishes, or mixed it with the ice water for small ones. Formalin is a strong poison. It is used in embalming. Formalin was detected in buko juice, which led to the decline of the once flourishing local industry.

5. Cyanide in vegetables was first detected in Benguet when the farmers discovered that the water coming from mine tailings had insecticide property. It was later traced to cyanide compounds used in the mining industry. Cyanide is a very strong poison. It is used in gas chamber in the US.

6. Nitrate or salitre is the chief preservative and food color used. in tocino, longaniza and corned beef. One can easily detect in the urine by analysis and smell. Salitre is known to be carcinogenic.

7. Food dyes make food colorful, but be careful. One time I was shocked to discover my urine crimson red. As I prepared to go to the hospital I examined all the food that I had taken that morning. There, innocently wrapped in cellophane, kneaded into balls, as we know sampaloc (tamarind) candy is made, was the culprit. I took one candy ball and immersed it in a glass of water and stirred. Like ink the glassful of water turned red like the Nile. Jubos - shoe dye, was used as food dye!

8. Aspartame has taken the place of saccharine, the original diet sugar. There has been a decline in the intake of diet soft drinks in the US due to unexplained side effects, ranging from high blood pressure to allergic reactions. Why is decaffeinated coffee no longer as popular as before? Will fatless fat ever get FDA's nod? This is a kind of fat that will not make us fat.

Modern living indeed has many drawbacks. Artificial food, additives and preservatives are common in our food, which we take everyday. Those tempting preparations may be dyed. The cheap kind of vinegar is diluted glacial acetic acid, the same kind of acid used in photography and other industrial processing. 

Cancer-causing aflatoxin is high in peanut butter. It is just being practical to sell the good seeds as whole peanut, while those of inferior quality are ground into butter. And why is cirrhosis of the liver higher in the south than in the rice-eating regions? It is because corn is more predisposed to the aflatoxin fungus than other cereals. ~

Acknowledgment: Internet photos and illustrations

HOME TECHNOLOGY SERIES: Home Gardening in 4 Sets

Usapang Bayan Radio Program

HOME TECHNOLOGY SERIES

Home Gardening

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Set 1 - 12 Points in Successful and Enjoyable Gardening 

Gardening at home, in school and community

1. Water regularly but never during hot hours of the day. It is best to water them early in the morning. Avoid excessive watering.

2. Don't train hose directly on plants, not to their base either.  Sprinkle like gentle rain. Use tabo or dipper for potted plants. Over watering washes soil nutrients.

3. Group plants like they form a natural community, keeping them at proper distances according to type of growth for equitable sunlight exposure and space. 

4. Hanging or elevated potted plants may pose danger.  Be sure to secure them properly. 

5. Replace soil of potted plants regularly to maintain proper soil nutrients. Replant as necessary. Use compost to prevent "caking."

6.  Group plants that require same water regime for uniform growth and development, and to save on water.

7. Group potted plants specially in summer for convenience in watering, and to protect them from too much exposure to heat and dehydration.

8. Unless necessary don't use pots, plant directly as much as possible.  It is hard to maintain potted plants.

9. Trim shrubs and trees regularly for safety and good appearance. Pruning may induce flowering and fruiting. It helps control pests.

10. Keep pest away by keeping surroundings clean.  Insect repelling plants like oregano, pandan mabango, garlic and onion sprouts ward off pests. 
 
11. Learn basic horticulture.  Read, research, experiment, practice. Tap your Green Thumb talent.  

12. Make your garden a natural sanctuary for birds, butterflies, fireflies, even frogs.  Make it a living laboratory and a place for respite and reflection. ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio, 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class Mon to Fri

Set 2 - Kitchen Garden: Grow onion leek, kamote tops, garlic sprouts, talinum, alugbati

Part 1 - Onion Leek

 

Native onion grown in pot provides ready fresh onion leek for a number of recipes like fried eggs, soup, omelet, kilawin, porridge (lugaw), arroz caldo.

This is one way to encourage kids to have a daily supplement of vegetables. Vary the use of leek in their diet. Onion leek is rich in vitamin K, A, C and B6, manganese, folate, iron, fiber, magnesium, molybdenum, copper, calcium, and potassium. It also contains thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin, and antibiotic substances like Allicin and Alliin - from Allium, the genus of onion (A. cepa), garlic (A. sativum), kutchay (A tuberosum), and the original leek (A. ampeloprasum). Leeks generally have also high calorie value, and fair amounts of protein and fat. It is no wonder onion is the most important vegetable in the world.

 

Spouting bulb of shallot or bulb variety (Red Creole). Gather only what you need for the moment using scissor. Don't cut the entire stem - only mature leaves.

Grow leek where there is sufficient sunlight, preferably on an elevated place. It's easy to grow leek from shallot (Sibuyas Tagalog) and from bulb onions (Granex or Creole). Staggered planting assures continuous supply of leek for the family - and for neighbors too.

A pot of onion leek makes a unique gift to friends who love to cook, those in their senior years, and those convalescing. Don't forget to add a little ribbon and a personal message. Make this as project in school and community. ~

Part 2 - Practical Hydroponics 

Three-week old kitchen garden of sweet potato (kamote) tops

You can grow kamote or sweet potato tops* in the kitchen. It also serves as a greenery of sort on the window sill.

Fill to three-fourth a convenient glass jar with tap water. Place a healthy tuber on the mouth of the jar. To keep it steady, stick three pieces of toothpick like a tripod. Add water daily as roots develop. Be sure to replace water weekly to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the jar.

In a week's time or two you can start harvesting. At first allow the tops to extend. Just clip the leaves you need in your cooking. Rotate the position of the tuber towards the source of light, so that you will have more shoots, and greener and bigger leaves.

Now you have a dish garden for a whole month or longer. You can grow fresh onion leaves with this technique. Try it on garlic.

You see, this is simple hydroponics - soil-less gardening. It is introduction to the science of hydroponics and aeroponics. For school children, why don't you try this as your project?

Read more about hydroponics and aeroponics. Happy gardening! 

(Model: Miss Gelyn S Gabao, 19 Filipina)

Kamote (Ipomea batatas) tops contain more minerals and vitamins than any other vegetables, or its equivalent weight in meat and poultry. It is a glow food that enhances natural beauty and health, and gives that gait, poise and stride that many beauties display. It is the secret to acquiring and maintaining natural immunity and high resistance against diseases and other ailments. It contains substances that sharpen the brain and quicken responses to situations and the environment. 

It is a vegetable all year round. In summer kamote is grown in the fields and gardens for its enlarged roots or tubers which are rich in carbohydrates (go food) and rich in protein (grow food). In the habagat, it grows wild and luxuriant on hilltops, on levees and dikes, on the uplands, covering wide areas, keeping weeds down and protecting the soil from erosion. 

Kamote tops make an excellent dish with mungo and pork, bulanglang with shrimp or fish, and mushroom, or cooked in other recipes, or served as salad, blanched with red, ripe tomatoes and sliced onions, with a dash of salt, or a dip of fish sauce - bagoong or patis. Or cooked in tinola in place of pepper leaves, and green papaya. Why not blanch the tops on rice in its final stage of cooking? Add bagoong squeezed with calamansi or lemon. 

Kamote tops, maligned for being a poor man's food, rise to the apex of the food pyramid, top the list health programs, and doctors' prescription. Kamote tops occupies the rank of malunggay, alugbati, talinum, and spinach, relegating lettuce and other crucifers - cabbage and cauliflower and pechay - to the backseat.

Kamote tops are safe to health and the environment because they don't carry residues of pesticides applied on the field on many crops, and also those of toxic metals like lead, mercury and cadmium. Damaged parts are simply discarded, harvesting only the succulent and healthy leaves for further safety and better presentation.

Kamote tops come in green and purple, characteristic of the plant varieties, but in both cases, the same nutritive values are derived, with some advantage from the purple variety which contains xanthophyll in addition to chlorophyll. Both are recommended for anemic persons for their high iron content, and to those suffering from poor bone development, poor eyesight, and poor metabolism.

Kamote tops are used as planting materials, a case of cloning in the plant world, each stem becoming a new plant rejuvenated and true to type genetically - and younger than the parent source.  The new plant is capable of carrying all processes that constitute the plant's cycle.  It is a phenomenon known in variable observations in the living world, which heretofore remains unsolved by science.

Beauties come naturally with good food, simple and active lifestyle, in the rural areas where sunshine, clean air and surrounding, make a perfect combination from which spring the true beauty of man and woman, as compared to the makeup beauty from cosmetics, expensive salons, and by the so-called wonders of science and technology like liposuction and surgery. Why can't we simply eat kamote tops more often?

Part 3 - Garlic Sprouts, Anyone?

 Husked cloves of garlic sprouted in a refrigerator, 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (vegetables shelf), for a period of two weeks.  

Sprouted garlic has higher anti-oxidant properties. This process is cleaner than directly sprouting garlic exposed to sunlight.  Ref-sprouted garlic sprouts develop chlorophyll and turn green just after a few hours of indirect sunlight. Conventional garlic sprouts are green, harvested from  germinating bulbs. or bulbs raised in the garden or pots. These are popularly called garlic shoots. Ideally, their flavor is best appreciated eaten fresh.  Garlic sprouts are excellent on top of baked potatoes, green salads, vegetable salads, or stirred into egg salads, pasta salads, dips, and garnish. (Photos taken from actual result of home experiment in the author's residence. Model is Miss Resabel "Isang" Dimalanta, 18.) 

Part 4 - Talinum in Pots

(Talinum fruticosum = T. tiangulare). 

Other names: Ceylon spinach, Fame flower, Surinam Purslane.  While it is cultivated as a leafy vegetable in Africa and South and Southeast Asia, it generally grows as an annual weed in fields and gardens during the monsoon season.  .   

Potted talinum at home 

Talinum is propagated by cutting. Plant in pots if you have no space in the garden. Use the lower half of one-gallon PET bottles. (Or any convenient improvised pot.)  Punch 3 or 4 holes on the side, an inch above the bottom to drain excess water, but to store water as well. 

You may buy ready made garden pots (photos). Be sure they fit into the place like window sill, fence, patio, and other locations where the plant receives adequate sunlight, and is safe from animals, sudden changes of weather, and pollution. 

On reaching 4 to 6 inches, harvest the succulent shoots, wait for new shoots to develop for the next harvest, at two weeks interval.  Replace spent soil with new garden soil, preferably with compost, after 4 or 5 harvests. Staggered planting schedule in different pots will assure a continuous supply of fresh talinum year round.  

Author with talinum harvest. Pick only the leaves and let the shoots to grow new leaves. If you wish to have more shoots, harvest the succulent tops, like kamote tops.

 ~

Part 5 - Alugbati - Versatile Leafy Vegetable 

There are three common types of alugbati: Basella alba with green stem and oval to almost round leaves; Basella rubra with red stems and green, oval to round leaves; and a third type, which is a hybrid of the two.

Angie Tobias, author's niece, gathers alubati tops 

 from climbing vine.  

 

 

Ginisang alugbati with pork is a popular dish among Filipinos. The easiest preparation is steamed salad with tomato, onions and a dash of salt.

At home, we cook alugbati with ground mungo, with pork or fish (roasted tilapia or hito).  "Ulam na, sabaw pa."  When conditions are pressing, ginisang alugbati with sardinas is a good alternative. There are other culinary preparations found in the cookbook, local and foreign. 

Alugbati (Basella rubra), is rich in Calories 19, Carbohydrate 3.4 gr, Fat 0.3 gr, Protein 1.8 gr, Vitamin A 160%, Magnesium 16%, Vitamin C 170%, Iron 6%, Vitamin B6 10%, Sodium 24 mg, Potassium 510 mg, and Calcium 10%. ~

Set 3 - Home Gardening - Green Patch at Home

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Community gardening, QC

By size, my home farm is a Liliputian version of a corporate farm. Intensive cultivation-wise however, it dwarfs the monoculture of a plantation. It is only when your area is small that you can attend to the requirements of an integrated farm with basic features of a garden.

When I moved to the city, I set aside a corner lot equivalent to a space of a two-bedroom bungalow. Here, after two years of experimentation and redesigning a city home garden evolved - a miniature version of tri-commodity farming where I have vegetables and fruits, chicken and hito.

My wife, who is an accountant, estimates that presently, the garden could save up to 20 percent of our family’s expense for food, in exchange for twenty family man-hours every week. Labor makes up to 50 percent of production costs, she says. Since gardening is a hobby in lieu of outdoor games, we agreed not to include labor as cost. This gives a positive sign to the garden’s financial picture.

We do not also consider in the book the aesthetic value of weekends when the garden becomes a family workshop to prove green thumbs, and gainful influence my family has made on the community, such as giving free seeds and seedlings, and know-how tips. When my children celebrate their birthdays, the kids in the neighborhood enjoy harvesting tomatoes, string beans and leafy vegetables - a rare experience for boys and girls in the city.

What makes a garden? Frankly, I have no formula for it. I first learned farming from my father who was a gentleman farmer before I became an agriculturist. But you do not have to go for formal training to be able to farm well. All that one needs is sixth sense or down-to-earth sense, the main ingredient of a green thumb. Here are valuable tips.

1. Get the most sunlight
A maximum of five hours of sunlight should be available - geographically speaking that is. Morning and direct sunlight is ideal for photosynthesis. But you need longer exposure for fruit vegetables, corn and viny plants like, ampalaya. So with crucifers like mustard and pechay because these are long-day plants.

Well, to get more sunlight, I prune the surrounding talisay or umbrella trees at least once a year. I use the branches for trellis and poles. Then, I paint the surrounding walls with white to enhance reflected and diffused light to increase photosynthesis.

Plot the sun’s course and align the rows on an East-West direction. Plants do not directly over-shadow each other this way. This is very important during wet season when days are cloudy and plants grow luxuriantly. Other than maximizing solar radiation you also get rid of soil borne plant diseases. Sunlight that gets in between the plants helps liminate pest and pathogens. And in summer, you can increase your seeding rate, and therefore potential yield. Try planting in triangular formation or quincunx. Outline that part of the garden that receives the longest sunlight exposure. Plant this area with sun-loving plants like okra and ampalaya.

Lastly, remember that plants which grow on trellises and poles “reach out for the sun,” thus require less ground space. Put up trellises at blind corners and train viny plants to climb early and form a canopy. For string beans, use poles on which they climb. You wouldn’t believe it but as long as your rows are aligned with the sun’s movement, and that trellises and poles are used, you can plant more hills in a given area, and you can have dwarf and tall plants growing side by side. Try alternate rows of sitao, tomato and cabbage.

2. Try Mixed Garden or Storey Cropping
What is the composition of an ideal garden? Again, there’s no standard design for it. The most practical type is a mixed garden. A mixed garden is like a multi-storey building. Plants are grouped according to height. That is why you have to analyze their growing habits.

Are they tall or dwarf? Are they seasonal, biennial or permanent? What part of the year do they thrive best? Refer to the planting calendar or consult your nearest agriculturist.

Look for proper cropping combinations through intercropping or crop rotation. Malunggay, papaya, kamias, banana and the like, make good border plants. Just be sure they do not shade smaller plants. Cassava and viny plants trained on trellis are next in height. 

 Our children grew up with a garden at home.

The group of pepper, tomato and eggplant follows, while the shortest in height hierarchy are sweet potato, ginger and other root crops. Imagine how these crops are grouped and built like a tall building. We call this storey cropping.             

A friend commented, “Why streamline your garden the American way?” I agree with him. Plant the Filipino way.         

At any rate there are crops “we plant and forget.” Before the pot starts to shimmer, you realize you need some malunggay leaves, a dozen tops of kamote, a handful of fresh onion leaves, etc. All you need is to dash to the backyard and pick these green ingredients.

3. Practice Organic Farming

Traditional farming is back with modern relevance. Organic farming is waste recycling - not by getting rid of the waste itself but by utilizing it as production input. “This system is an alternative to conventional chemical farming”, says Domingo C. Abadilla in his book, Organic Farming.

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Practice organic farming for two reasons. Crops grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides are safer and more nutritious.

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What would you do with poultry droppings and Azolla from the fishpond? Kitchen refuse and weeds? Make valuable compost out of them. For potash, sieve ash from a garbage-dumping site. Just be sure it is not used for industrial waste.

Can we grow crops without insecticides? Generally, no. But there are ways to protect plants in a safe way, such as the following:

Alugbati, tops gathered for diningding and salad

• Use mild detergent, preferably coconut-based soap, to control aphids and other plant lice.

• Plant tomatoes around pest prone plants. They exude repellant odor on a wide variety of pests.

• Keep a vigil light above the garden pond to attract nocturnal insects that may lay eggs on your plants at daytime. Tilapia and hito relish on insects.

• A makeshift greenhouse made of plastic and mosquito net will eliminate most insects.

If you find stubborn insect pest like caterpillars and crickets, make a nicotine solution and spray. Crush one or two sticks of cigarette, irrespective of its brand, dissolve it in a bucket of water. The solution is ready for application with sprinkler or sprayer. But be sure not to use the solution on tomato, pepper and eggplant. It is possible that tobacco mosaic virus can be transmitted to these crops.

A friend who is a heavy smoker, came to visit our garden. When he touched the tomato plants, he was unknowingly inoculating mosaic virus. Tobacco virus can remain dormant in cigars and cigarette for as long as twenty years. Then it springs to life in the living system of the host plant that belongs to Solanaceae or tobacco family.

4. Raise Fish in the Garden Pond

Water from the pond is rich with algae, plant nutrients and detritus. While you water your plants, you are also fertilizing them. The pond should be designed for growing tilapia, hito or dalag, or a combination of these. For tilapia, keep its population low to avoid overcrowding and competition. Stock fingerlings of the same size and age. 

Catfish (hito) fattened in our garden pond have become pets; the biggest measures 2 ft long.  

Try growing hito, native or African. When you buy live hito from the market, separate the small ones (juveniles), which will serve as your growers. They are ready to harvest in 3 to 6 months with 3 pieces making a kilo. Hito is easier to raise than any other freshwater fish. One thing is that you do not change water often because the fish prefers to have a muddy bottom to stay.  

Feed the fish with chicken and fish entrails, vegetable trimmings, dog food, etc. Just avoid accumulation of feed that may decompose and cause foul odor, an indication that Oxygen is being replaced with Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide.

Azolla, a floating fern, is good fish and animal feeds because it contains 20 to 25 percent protein,. It is also an excellent organic fertilizer because it is rich in nitrate, a product of nitrogen fixation by Anabaena, a microscopic blue-green algae living in the fronds of Azolla. Nitrate is important for plant growth. Grow Azolla in a separate pond, or in floating cage, so as to maintain a regular biomass supply.

5. Integrate Backyard Poultry

Raise some broilers and layers in separate cages. Have other cages to rear chicks and growers to replenish your stock. Formulate your feed. If not, mix commercial broiler feed and yellow corn in equal proportion. This is more economical and you may get better results than by using commercial broiler feeds alone.

Construct a fence around the cages and have some turkey on the loose. Similarly you may rear a few native chickens to get rid of feed waste. Clip their wings regularly to prevent them from escaping and destroying your garden. I don’t recommend piggery unless the neighborhood does not object to it.

6. Plant Fruit Trees

Do not forget to have some native fruit bearing trees such as guava, atis, guyabano, kamias, kalamansi and other citrus species. If your area is big you can include coconut, mango, kaimito, bananas. Rambutan? Why not? There are fruit bearing rambutan trees in some residences in Quezon City.

Atis, ripe in the tree

Just like annual plants, adopt the East-West planting method for trees so that you can have seasonal crops in between their rows. Use compost for the fruit trees, just like in vegetables. You can plant orchard trees like mango, guyabano, coconut and cashew along the sidewalk fronting your residence.

7. Make Your Own Compost, and Grow Mushrooms, Too
In one corner, build a compost pile with poles and mesh wire, 1m x 2m, and 2m in height. Dump leaves, kitchen refuse, chicken droppings and allow them to decompose to become valuable organic fertilizer. Turn the pile once a month until it is ready for use.

In another place you can have a mushroom pile made of rice straw, or water hyacinth. After harvesting the mushrooms, the spent material is a good compost material and composting will take a shorter time. To learn more about mushroom growing and composting, refer to the technology tips of DOST-PCARRD, or see your agriculturist in your area.

8. Plant Herbals - Nature’s First Aid

It is good to have the following plants as alternative medicine. Lagundi for flu and fever, guava for skin diseases and body odor, romatic pandan and tanglad for deodorant and air freshener, oregano for cough and sore throat, mayana for boils and mumps, ikmo for toothache, pandakaki for cuts. There are other medicinal plants you can grow in your backyard. Remember, herbals are nature’s first-aid.

 Pansit-pansitan (Piperomia felucida) for arthritis; Oregano for colds and sore throat, also for food flavoring (dinuguan, pizza)

 Pandan mabango for rice flavoring; soro soro for lechon

Coconut provides  the family young (buko) and mature nuts every two months. 

. 

 Tanglad for food flavoring, also as deodorant  

 

 Saluyot and squash flowers grow with very little attention. 

 Malunggay is a must in every backyard. It grows along fences and in dead corners into a moderate size tree that remains productive up to 20 years or even more. Our malunggay tree at home is around 35 years now. Both leaves and young pods are rich in vitamins and minerals.  

These things and many others are the reasons you should have a home garden. One thing is sure in the offing: it is a source of safe and fresh vegetables and fruits, fish and meat, and natural medicine. Most important of all, the garden is a re-creation of nature itself, a patch of the lost Eden. ~

    Set 4 - Make your own organic fertilizer for home gardening. 

Composting is an ancient practice; chemical fertilizer is a recent invention.

Composting is a traditional farm practice passed on to us 

since the start of agriculture.

Urban Home Composting 

Composting is a nature-friendly activity, a key to successful gardening and farming. It is both hobby and business. It is art and science. It supports sanitation and beautification programs. It is a small, but noble contribution, to help our environment maintain its balance. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

avrotor.blogspot.com

  

Compost is the best soil conditioner. Mix compost with soil medium in equal amounts for potted ornamental and herbal plants.

But it's complicated, what with little scientific background - can one produce compost? Many people ask.  Will it not invite pests and vermin to breed?   No, in fact you get rid of garbage that may just accumulate, and not picked up regularly. Have compost and garbage bins separately: The part that is not compostable is picked up by the garbage collector. 

Keep those that are raw materials for composting. Everyday you collect the following: dead leaves you sweep on the backyard and sidewalk, wastes and droppings of pets, peelings of fruits, overipe fruits and spent vegetables, ash from the stove, and top  or surface soil.  

What do these materials contribute? 

• Leaves and stems make up the bulk, they provide the main materials and "bed"

• Animal and poultry wastes and droppings, food leftovers, provide high nutriernts in the compost..

• Fruit peelings, overripe fruits, vegetable wastes, provide enzymes that hasten composting. Papain in papaya is the best enzymatic digester.

• Top soil contains microorganisms such as Trichoderma, Acetobacter, Bacillus, . that serve as inoculants, in lieu of commercial inoculants.

• Ash contains Potassium, serves as filler for easier tilth.

• For the bin, a 50- to 100-gal unserviceable plastic bin with holes and cracks for aeration and drainage. 

• Avoid putting plastics, cellophanes, broken glass, cloth and the like.

Please follow this procedure we adopt at home in Quezon City. The photos hereunder were taken from our home project. 

• Place plastic bin in a shady corner, check drainage to keep the place clean. Cover properly but must not be airtight.

• Make it a routine to put into the bin the materials mentioned, by layer with this sequence: 1) leaves (compress to 2 or 3 inches), 2) kitchen wastes and droppings, 3) soil (scatter liberally, about one liter). Water regularly and moderately (sprinkle, 1 liter)

• Repeat layering. Notice content subsides naturally. Don't disturb. Don't overwater. Probe to test slight rise of temperature. This is good sign. Composting is going on.

• Sometimes you forget feeding the bin regularly. That's all right. Nature is not in a hurry. You can have your compost after six months. But you'll be surprised to find the compost at bottom of the bin ready for harvesting earlier.

• You can either invert the whole bin and harvest from the bottom while the top is yet to mature. Or, cut a convenient hole on the side near the bottom and harvest, allowing the content to subside.

• There is such term as tempering (or seasoning), or in the case of wine, aging. Composting follows this natural process. Look for indicators:

1. Earthworms start building their nest, occasional presence of centipede, sowbug, millipede, beetles. 

2. There is no odor of decomposition, absolutely - just the musky smell of earth. 

3. There is no increase in temperature. It means heat generation by decomposition has completely stopped. 

4. Original materials, specially leaves, have totally lost their structure, which means cells including their cellulose walls have been broken down. 

5. Spongy consistency. Have a handful sample, pressed in your palm, then open. The sample simply crumble softly. 

7. Use compose soonest possible, Mix with ordinary soil as medium for potted plants. When using solely, don't apply directly at the base of plant. Apply in furrow and cover with soil to prevent direct exposure to sun and air. Water properly. 

8. Don't expect plants to respond immediately. Unlike commercial Urea which releases nutrients immediately and one-time, compost releases nutrients slowly with the rhythm of the plant's development. In fact compost delivers trace elements (eg, Bo, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn) which are very usefulness for the plants, and health of consumers -  environmental  balance as well.

9. Compost builds a sub-ecosystem within the root zone where beneficial organisms from earthworm to Rhizobium form a self-sustaining community.  Such community is enhance by good aeration, tilth, moisture absorption and retention, capillarity (rise of water between soil particles), adsorption as well as polarity of ions, etc. No commercial fertilizer can provide these benefits. 

10. Compost moderates sudden temperature change, acidity and alkalinity levels, ion exchange (eg, Free Nitrogen and Nitrate (NO3), 
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Composting is a natural, biological process in which microorganisms use organic materials as food and leave a residue of digested organic matter that is nearly completely decomposed. Composting is the same as the decomposition that happens to all living things when they die, except that you control composting in order to provide optimum conditions for the microbes, and the process takes place in a specific location so that you can collect the product.                                             - Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Composting in the Back Yard or on a Small Farm
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Spread compost on lawn. Put more on balding and yellowing areas. Don't expose compost under the sun without watering the lawn. The earthworm is the most reliable bio-indicator of a mature compost (or a part of it). Compost may lose its nutrients specially Nitrogen if it is not harvested and used in time. 

Compost bins for the backyard and small farm. The most practical compost bin for the home is an unserviceable plastic baldi. Below, raw materials (leaves, pet and kitchen waste, soil), and finished product after 3 to 6 months. 

What's the key to making compost? It's nature's process, we call it microbial decomposition. The agents of decomposition are countless from insects to bacteria, fungi, and porotozoans. The act on the organic materials as their food, releasing digestive enzymes that break the organic compounds (protein, carbohydrates, cellulose, fats, etc.) into inorganic compounds and elements. These are reassembled to become nutrients for the next generation of living things - which include the vegetables, herbal and ornamental plants we grow in our gardens and fields. ~ 

Nature's Way of Composting

 

Rosette arrangement of leaves of Fortune Plant (Dracaena fragrans) works like a funnel, trapping dead leaves, droppings of birds, reptiles, bats and insects. It serves also as a watershed, collecting water from rain and dewdrops that condense from fog and mist. All these are ingredients in making compost at varying levels and stages at the axils of the leaves. The final product is humus, which fertilizes the plant itself, epiphytes and lianas, and generally the surrounding environment.

Aerial composting holds the secret of self-sustaining ecosystems where epiphytes and lianas, orchids and bromeliads grow on trees and rocks. The final and stable product which is humus, is carried down by rain and gravity to fertilize yet another community of organisms on the ground and understorey levels. Which explains the high population density and rich diversity of organisms in rainforests.

This tree-borne bomeliad has a crown that collects water to form a pool that spills down to the lower leaf axils forming a series of pools where insects, frogs and even fish breed. So with a host of protist organisms. It is a compost tank, where the final products of composting are absorbed as plant nutrients by the plant and the host tree and its symbionts. The organic matter ultimates becomes a part of the forest floor.

 

Organic matter is a product of composting leaves and other plant debris. It is harvested as natural fertilizer for growing vegetables, ornamentals and various crops in gardens and farms. Commercial organic matter is increasing in demand as natural or organic food is becoming popular in lieu of chemically grown crops.
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Increasing consciousness of the public on the dangers posed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to the fast growing popularity of natural farming. Actually the key to natural farming is the use of organic fertilizer derived from composting farm wastes such as animal manure and plant residues after harvest. Although comparatively low in nutrient value, organic fertilizer improves soil structure and tilth, enhances biological and nutrient balance, and supplies trace elements absent in commercial fertilizers, thus improves farm’s productivity in the long run.
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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid Dr Abe V Rotor and Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

                                         

Composting is a traditional farm practice, passed on to us since the start of agriculture on the Fertile Crescent, and most likely in other places like ancient China, many centuries BC. The principle involved is the same, although the technique has been improved a lot.   

There are three components to produce ideal compost: 

• animal manure (and chicken droppings), 
• crop residues (hay and stalks, weeds, fruit peelings, etc), and 
• loamy soil.  

All you need to do is to make several layers of these materials one on top of another, either in the form of a pile (preferred during the rainy season), or in a shallow pit (for the dry season), of any dimension that is suitable. Install some bamboo tubes to serve as posts and  “breathers” to allow air circulation in the pile or pit. The breathers work like chimney.  Punch the nodes to make a continuous tube, and make several holes staggered along its length. Moisten the pile as needed.  Too much water is not advisable.

Composting also uses seaweeds (like Sargassum) that litter coastlines; scums and algae growing on lakes and rivers; rinds and peelings of cacao, coffee, pineapple, and the like; corn cobs and husk, rice stalk and rice hull ash in rice and corn lands.  Then we have a lot of coconut husk and leaves, and copra meal wastes in coconut areas; guano (bat droppings) in caves; and a long list of materials from wastes in fishery, slaughterhouses, food manufacturing.  Lest we forget, the biodegradable materials by tons and tons which urban centers are turning out every day. The biggest bulk is domestic waste which the Chinese have developed a technique to converting it into humanure for their farms and gardens. A recent composting technique is with the use of biological agents like the earthworm (vermiculture). 

To hasten composting, farmers practice microbial inoculation with Trichoderma (fungus), Rhizobia (bacterium), Anabaena, (Blue Green Alga),   Nostoc (also a BGA), Saccharomyces (yeast, an Ascomycetes fungus), and many other microorganisms ubiquitously occurring in nature.        

What really is the secret of compost in enriching the soil?  Here are the benefits.

1.  It contains both major and minor elements (chemical fertilizers are specific only to the elements they supply). 

2. The release of nutrients is slow but continuous, allowing both crop and soil to adjust properly. 

3. The organic content of compost improves tilth (ease in cultivation), as well as the physical structure of the soil. 

4. Compost enhances favorable microbiological condition of the soil.  Fifth, it improves retention of soil moisture. 

5. It makes working on the soil a lot easier because of its porous nature.   

6. It stabilizes soil acidity (pH). 

7. It is not only a good source of income; it is a dollar save.

8. Composting, sanitation and beautification complement one another. ~

With spiraling cost of chemical fertilizer and its cumulative residues that pollute the rivers down to the sea, and destroy the ecosystem, it is time to go back to this ancient practice of composting.  It is the solution to many of our problems in meeting our need for enough and healthy food, and in helping keep the balance of nature.~ 

 

            Newly harvested compost ready for use; composting of kitchen wastes.

                               Practical Composting of Old Leaves

 

 

Harvesting compost from leaves of mango.  Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

(Acknowledgement: References; Living with Nature by AVR;  Internet, Wikipedia