Practical Composting (SVWorld Series)

Pul-oy (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP to the World Series

Practical Composting

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Composting is Nature's recycling, organic to inorganic matter,

breaking compounds back into elements, for the use of the new set of living things." - avr 

Converting dead parts of living things like leaves, into soil is the key to composting.  All you have to do is help Nature do the process.  Don't interfere by burning, or throwing them as waste.  Rather, provide the necessary conditions. Take the case of composting mango leaves as shown in these photos. 

Rake the leaves into a pile under the trees, and keep the file damp. The rainy season favors composting.  This is pile composting, in situ, which keeps the nutrients in place.  Do not ever build fire on the pile.  Meantime, prepare a pit nearby.  Dump the undecomposed leaves after harvesting the mature compost pile. Continually replace the pile every time you rake the surroundings. Your pit compost will soon be ready for harvesting.  See photos. 

Composting is a continuous process.  Include other compostable materials like stems, fruits, weeds, stalks, but never plastics and glass.  Composting continues in the sacks.  Partially decomposed leaves will soon catch up in time.  Avoid exposing harvested compost to direct sunlight.  Don't allow compost to dry up in the sacks.  Use soonest you can.  Ideal compost has the typical earth smell.  Foul odor and signs of heat mean the compost is not mature, or done by installment.  There is a saying, "garbage in, garbage out."  Composting is an art, it is a virtue to convert potential waste into a valuable product - more so, in helping Mother Nature keep the environment clean, healthy and balance.  This is a  key to sustainability, which in the long term is called homeostasis. ~   

 

 

Compost commonly contains 2 percent nitrogen, 0.5–1 percent phosphorus, and about 2 percent potassium. It promotes healthier growth of plants, and balances soil density, increases retention of soil moisture, and discourages pests, diseases, and weeds.

Compost is cheap and can be made at home from farm and home wastes, as compared to chemical fertilizer which is expensive, and a poor farmer can barely afford it. Compost is environment friendly. Chemical fertilizer on the other hand, is harmful to the environment. It pollutes waterways and increases acidity in soil which is harmful to most crops. Compost harbors beneficial soil organisms like nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and earthworm. On the contrary, chemical fertilizer, which is often used with chemical pesticide, destroys these organisms. ~

Practical Composting helps in reducing pollution and global warming, and their attendant ill-consequences.  It is also a personal and collective means in contributing to food production, and keeping our environment balance, healthy and clean.  

Observe Some Effects of Global Warming

Some Effects of Global Warming

These are some effects of climate change, particularly global warming, a man-induced phenomenon occurring in our postmodern times. The examples cited in this article, are either the direct or indirect effects, of our ever continuing "modernization" in practically all aspects of our lives - at home, on the farm, in our community, more so in urban and industrial centers. I invite teachers and students to undertake researches on this growing ecological problem gripping the whole world today. It is a big challenge to scholars to give priority to this topic in their undergraduate and graduate studies.  Likewise, it is a challenge to our leaders in government, as well as in the private sector, in the formulation and implementation of policies and programs to deal with this worsening problem.  This is a continuing compilation of observations at the Living with Nature Center.   

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

 Premature ripening and infestation of Guyabano fruits

  

Damaged honeycomb abandoned by the bees. 

Uneven maturity and sizes of mango fruits

 

Infestation - caterpillar of Papilio butterfly  on citrus 

Poor and slow development of chicken

Poor gemination of seedlings

Heating of pondwater and acid rain are detrimental to fish. 

 

Ducks abandon their eggs.

Flowering may be induced but fruit setting is poor 

Slow growth of new  buds and crown 

 

Proliferation of fungi such as shelf mushroom 

 

Fruits fall off before they are ready for harvesting

Stimulates formation of mutants and variants in plants and 

lower organisms, such as this colorful gabi moth caterpillar 

Intensifies deciduousness of trees like talisay. Prolonged 

leafless condition may lead to the demise of the tree.

 

Intensifies spread of diseases in plants such as ringspot virus of papaya.

 

Stunted and damaged growth of sweet potato 

 

Growth of wild plants such as palomaria, mulberry 

and tawa-tawa.~ 

Natural way to ripen fruits (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP World Series

Natural way to ripen fruits

When harvesting the rule is, "Pick only the ripe fruits."

Or pick those that are fully mature. They will soon ripen. 

Never pick those that are not ready. they'll just shrivel away.

Dr Abe V. Rotor

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

Madre de Cacao or kakawate

Photography with Dr. Ernie.: Trees: Madre de cacao, 

gliricidia sepium dr-ernie-photography.blogspot.com

There are however, fruits that are harvested either green or ripe, or at a particular stage. Take mango and tamarind, for instance. And there are fruits that are harvested in their juvenile stage (kamias), or early maturity (breadfruit). Grapes and strawberries ripen on the tree or vine and stay a little longer to attain uniform ripening and maximum sweetness.

Then there are fruits that fall off the tree when ripe. Guyabano is one. Avocado is another. There are plenty of guava, chico, papaya, kasoy and other fruits in season that go to waste if you don't harvest them on time.

Leaves of madre de cacao or kakawate hasten the ripening of fruits.
Old folks use fresh leaves of Gliricida sepium to ripen banana, papaya, mango, chico, guyabano, atis, avocado, and others. The fruits are placed in an earthen jar lined with kakawate leaves. The jar is closed or inverted in order to trap the ethylene gas that catalyzes the softening of pectin and the conversion of complex sugar to simple sugar that resulting in ripening which takes around three days. Unlike the commercial method of using carbide (carburo), kakawate ripened fruits, as long as they were picked at proper maturity, develop natural taste, color and aroma as if they were ripened on the tree.

Rub table salt on the cut stem of newly harvested fruits to hasten their ripening.  Sodium chloride seals the base of the peduncle (fruit stem) and protects the fruit from fungi and bacteria that may cause rotting during ripening. Not all fruits though respond to this treatment, but this is a common practice of old folks on chico, nangka, atis, guyabano, papaya, mango, and the like. It is usually effective. Try it. ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Karimbuaya or Soro-soro is best stuff of lechon baboy and manok (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP World Series

Karimbuaya or Soro-soro is best stuff of lechon baboy and manok 

To Ilocanos, no lechon is complete without karimbuaya. When combined with herbs and spices, karimbuaya lends the lechon a distinct taste and aroma. The milky sap of the plant has medicinal properties and helps remove the unpleasant odor of meat and fish.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Cebuanos and Manileños stuff lechon with tanglad or lemongrass, 

the Ilocano style is to put in a native plant, karimbuaya.

Not so many people know that karimbuaya or sorosoro (Euphorbia neriifolia) makes an excellent stuff for lechon and relyenong bangos. The mature leaves are chopped tangential and stuffed into the prepared pig to be roasted, so with dressed chicken - and bangus for broiling. It has high oil content in its milky sap. It leaves a pleasant taste and it serves as a salad itself. It has a slight sour taste. Like tanglad, sorosoro removes the characteristic flesh and fishy odor. Add chopped ginger, onion and garlic as may be desired.

One word of caution: The fresh sap of sorosoro may cause irritation of the eye and skin. Wash hands immediately. Better still, use kitchen gloves.

Relyenong bangos with karimbuaya

Adobo with karimbuaya (inquirer.net)

Facts about Karimbuaya or Sorosoro

Philippine Medicinal Plants (Internet)This information is helpful to medicine, pharmacology, botanical research, and to the public in general. It is the intention of this program, Paaralan Bayan sa Himpapawid to encourage the use of natural medicine and food, and to potential scientists to direct their attention to our own indigenous resources as the subject of their study.

Botany
Soro-soro is an erect, shrubby, branched, fleshy, cactus-like plant growing to 2 to 4 meters. Trunk and older branches are grayish and cylindric; medium branches slightly twisted and stout, fleshy, 4- or 5-angled or winged, the younger ones usually 3-winged, the wings lobulate, with a pair of stout, sharp, 2- to 4-millimeter long spines rising from the thickened bases of each leaf or petiole-scar. Leaves, arising from the sides of wings towards the end of the branches, are fleshy, oblong-obovate, 5 to 15 centimeters long; in young plants, longer pointed or blunt at the tip. Cymes are short, solitary in the sinuses, and usually of 3 involucres. Involucres are green or pale yellow, about 6 millimeters in diameter, with the lobes fimbriate.

Distribution
- Cultivated in gardens as a hedge plant.
- Nowhere spontaneous.
- Also occurs in India to Malaya.

Constituents
- Studies have yielded euphorbon, resin, gun caoutchouc, malate of calcium, among others.
- Phytochemical studies have yielded triterpenes like nerifolione, cycloartenol, euphol, euphorbiol, nerifoliene, taraxerol, ß-amyrin among others.
- Fresh latex yields 10.95% solid with 18.32% total resinous matter, and 24.50% and 16.23% of total diterpene and triterpene respectively.
- Phytochemicals yielded steroidal saponin, reducing sugar, tannins, flavonoids in the crude extract.
- Phytochemically analysis of leaves yielded flavonoids, phlobatannins, saponin, tannins, cardenoloids, phenol, and terpenoids. (see study below) (18)
- Study of an ethanol leaf extract isolated a new flavonoid: 2-(3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-phenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxychromen-4-one. (see study below) (21)
- Study isolated eighteen new diterpenoids, names eurifoloids A-R (1-18) including ingenane (1 and 2), abietane (3-7), isopimarane (8-12) and ent-atisane (13-18) types, along with four known analogues. (see study below) (22)

Properties
- Considered purgative, rubefacient, expectorant.
- Leaves considered diuretic.
- Root is considered antiseptic.
- Latex considered purgative, diuretic, vermifuge and antiasthma.
- Studies have reported cytotoxic, antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and immunomodulatory properties.

Folkloric Uses
- Roots have been used for snake bites.
- Fluid from roasted leaves used for earache.
- The milky juice used for asthma, cough, earache. Also, used as an insecticide.
- Mixed with Margosa oil and applied to limbs in rheumatism.
- Tumeric powder mixed with the juice applied to piles. Thread steeped in the same mixture used for ligaturing external hemorrhoids.
- Milky juice used internally as purgative; rubefacient, externally. Applied to glandular swellings to prevent suppuration.
- Externally, applied to sores, cysts, warts, and calluses.
- Used as a drastic purgative.
- For internal use: decoction or infusion of 10 grams for 1 liter of water, 2-3 cups daily.
- Juice of leaves used for spasmodic asthma.
- Leaves used as diuretic.
- In India, used for bronchitis, tumors, leukoderma, piles, inflammation, fever, earaches, anemia and ulcers.
- In Malaya, used for earache.
- In French Guiana, leaves are heated, squeezed, and the salted sap used for wheezing in babies, colds and stomach upsets. Also used for infected nails, fevers, coughs and diabetes in NW Guyana.
- In Ayurveda, whole plant, leaf and roots used for abdominal complaints, bronchitis, tumors, splenic enlargement, coughs and colds.

Acknowledgement: Philippine Medicinal Plants
Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Posted by Abe V. Rotor at 3:26 PM


1 comment:
Rob Kjelle Gabrielle Mabilangan said...
San po makakakuha ng pananim na soro soro...July 24, 2021 at 8:09 AM

Post a Comment: Soro-soro grows in the wild, particularly on uplands and along field borders as long as the soil is well-drained. Farmers, gardeners and old folks readily know this fleshy shrub in the area and may help explain its uses, including its propagation by cutting.  It may be cultivated as ornamental plant, and can be potted as well.  - avr  

Corals - Nature's Architectural and Engineering Wonder

Corals - Nature's Architectural 

and Engineering Wonder

Corals keep our islands and coast lines from being swallowed by the sea.

                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

Skeleton of staghorn Coral. SPUQC Museum; children selling corals;

corals in natural formation (coral reef)

With the unabated destruction of our coral reef it is not common to see undisturbed coral fields. Corals are animals in colonies belonging to Phylum Coelenterata, which is often associated with Cnidaria, of the Class Anthozoa.

Coral reefs make the forest of the sea, the counterpart of our terrestrial forest. With their association with microscopic algae and seaweeds, they constitute the abode of fishes and countless kinds of marine life, without which our seas would not be as productive as they are today.

However, the destruction of coral reefs through illegal fishing like muro-ami and dynamite fishing, as well as the conversion of shores into resorts and fishponds have greatly reduced fish catch and the diversity of marine species.

Today our laws prohibit coral gathering, more so in exporting them. Coral reefs conservation is a priority program of many countries. Without corals our islands would fall back to the depth of the sea and our continents would be greatly reduced through cutbank erosion.

Thus, corals are nature’s architectural and engineering wonder for they serve as riprap and barrier against the restless sea, while making the underwater world a truly beautiful scape that is beyond compare with any kind.

Let's all give a hand to the conservation of corals. Let's join the campaign. No to the following:

1. Dynamite fishing, muro-ami and paaling, and bottom trawl fishing.

2. Reclamation of coral reef areas.

3. Conversion of shorelines to resorts and fishponds

4. Pollution of rivers and seas.

5. Settlements on coral reefs and seashores.

6. Goods and commodities made of corals.

7. Coral decors and jewelry

8. Deforestation - it causes erosion and siltation, forms mudflats over coral reefs.

9. Collection of shells, rocks, and the like, within coral zone

10. Quarrying of coral deposits.

Let's remember that corals are virtually a non-renewable natural resource because they grow very, very slow. It takes fifty years to grow to the size of a man's head. We have but very little time to witness and be part of a noble task of keeping our islands and continents from being swallowed down into the depth of the sea. Our foothold is but skin deep to the enormous sea. ~

                                  Coral reefs, painting by AVRotor

Cry of the Philippine Hawk LAWIN

Cry of the Lawin

Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generation.

                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

We, in Greater Lagro are blessed with having a rare bird called Philippine hawk or LAWIN in our language. It is a close relative of the Philippine eagle, which is considered a symbol of our culture.

Painting of a lawin on a backboard by the author

On a clear day we may see the lawin* hovering over our subdivision, alone or with a partner in dalliance, simply gliding and circling up in the sky, in a spectacular kind of show that this bird now categorized as threatened is still around. Its home is the La Mesa watershed, just across our subdivision. It is in deference to this bird that our association has adopted it as our symbol and acronym - LAWIN.

We thank our gazette editor Mr Fil Galimba who brought the idea of the organization, and Atty Riz Quiaoit for adopting Lawin as our symbol.

But what really does the lawin symbolize?

One early morning my granddaughter pointed at the bird in the sky. I explained what I know about the bird. Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generations. It gives our children a break from iPads and TV. .

One time children in the neighborhood in our place could not play their favorite game basketball. Somebody rebuilt their backboard, and games resumed. There one difference: the other player on the back bard is a big lawin with outstretched wings seemingly playing with the kids.

Nearby a garbage dump began to transform into a vegetable and herbal garden. The children called it Lawin Garden. It is a local version of the Phoenix bird rising from the garbage ashes.

The lawin has a peculiar cry while in flight - clear and loud whistle of two notes. But most often, it is a silent flyer with panoramic and telescopic vision.

It can see like a satellite monitor what is happening over its broad area of vision, yet able to focus on the slightest movement - a prey or an enemy.

Writers and artists to a great degree are like the lawin. Like the lawin, true writers and artists are a vanishing breed, they are an endangered species victim of instant and unguided social media, and worst assassination of journalists. The Philippines is compared to worn-torn countries like Syria and Afghanistan for having the highest number of killings in mass media.

The lawin writers and artists have "eyes for news and the arts," Their aerial perspective is holistic and contiguous. They see the multiplicity and unity of space and time, people and events. And they never veer away from their community which they watch over.

At the onset of organizing LAWIN, we did some research on our trust and functions, and on the long run - our projected goal.

Our reference is the our own Gazette. Lawin is DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION. DevCom recognizes the power of communication as a catalyst for social development. It utilizes the tools and principles applicable in the community they serve for the advancement of society.
In an outline DevCom is

• Information disemination and education
• Social Marketing - ideas, knowledge and wisdom
• Purposive communication - it sets targets
• Social mobilization - involvement and militancy
• Community improvement mainly on felt needs
• Positive change (social, political, economic, moral, environmental, etc)
• Participatory development - bottom-up approach
• Humanities development - applied aesthetics
• Sentinel and vanguard of code of media
• Pathfinder - pioneering and visionary

Development Communication as the INTEGRATION OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, based on a clear understanding of real and down-to-earth situations, with people's participation and shared equitable benefits.

What then would be our guiding principle in our program? It can be summarized as follows, for an anonymous source:

"If it is of high quality, people will respect you;

 If it is relevant, people ill need you;

 If it is measurable, people will trust you;

 If it is innovative, people will follow you."

If you were the lawin up in the sky over Greater Lagro, you are likely to see these -

1. the need to train students in our schools in the field of mass media and applied art to run their school paper.

2. the need to take care of the trees, and plants more tree, to make Lagro an extension of the shrinking wildlife.

3. the need to expand outdoor activities, participate in wholesome games and sports, creative activities.

4. the need to guard Greater Lagro from the incursion of bad elements, vices, violations of human rights, peace and order.

5. bringing in honors and prestige to the community through the talents of its citizens, particularly the young.

6. unifying relationships of families, strengthening bonding, making the community senior citizen friendly, grandchildren friendly as well.

There are one-thousand-and-one other visions that challenge the organization LAWIN and its members giving meaning to their membership, above all leaving their legacy for the next generations.~

Neighborhood projects of LAWIN 

(Lagro Association of Writers and Artists, Inc)

  

      Sports development: Lawin Backboard; Green Revolution: Lawin Garden

About the Philippine Hawk Lawin

by Naomi Millburn

Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines. "Lawin" translates to "hawk" in the Tagalog tongue. Philippine hawk-eagles survive in very low numbers, so their population is considered vulnerable.

Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines.

Physical Appearance

Philippine hawk lawins are typically about 26 or 27 inches long. The top portions of their plumage are deep brown, and their lower portions are reddish-brown and adorned in black markings. Philippine hawk-eagles have pale throats, yellow limbs, deep gray beaks and dark crests. Their crests are made up of four to five feathers, some of which can reach 2.75 inches long. It takes about four years to develop their mature feathers. Fully grown Philippine hawk-eagles tend to have lithe physiques.

Living Environment

Philippine hawk lawins inhabit numerous islands throughout the Philippines, including Mindoro and Luzon. They haven't been confirmed as migratory, though they might occasionally travel between islands. They are prevalent around outer portions of forests, sometimes even in airy settings. Philippine hawk-eagles spend a lot of time hidden in the top layers of forests. They do a lot of high flying within their habitats.

Population

The number of Philippine hawk lawins in the wild is dropping swiftly. Their total population is thought to be 1,000 and 2,499 specimens, two-thirds of which are adults, according to BirdLife International. Key factors in their decline are the clearing of trees for logging, farm animals, and farming expansion in general. People also sometimes hunt Philippine hawk-eagles. Efforts to conserve this species include captive reproductive programs and protected locations such as Bataan National Park.

Vocalization

The signature call of the Philippine hawk lawin is a clear, loud whistle of two notes. These birds call out over and over again, sometimes in intervals of three seconds.~

*Inaugural speech of the author upon assuming the position as first president of LAWIN (Lagro witers (and artists) Association Inc, June 20 2016 Barangay Greater Lagro QC