In celebration of World Sleep Day, March 13, 2026: "Bedroom is where we spend a third of our lifetime. Maintain it properly."

World Sleep Day | 13 March 2026

Bedroom is where we spend a third of our lifetime.  Maintain it properly.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

My Dad's bedroom, now part of a family museum, 

Living with Nature, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur
The bedroom is where we spend one third of our life resting and finding recourse from the stressful world outside.

It is where we truly exercise authority over things private and personal, things we are prevented for one reason or another to do in the presence of people.

Typical Bedroom.  Can you identify its features?

The bedroom is a special place, exclusive and intimate, to submit ourselves to two primordial needs of man, which is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, are referred to as biological needs attached to survival of any species - rest and sex. It is therefore the sanctuary of two functions of living things: rejuvenation and reproduction.

But too often, the bedroom is one of the neglected places in the home. If not, it "misused and abused."

The one place we least expect to find dirt in is under our bed.

Here clouds of talc powder settle down, particles slowly crumble from paper, paint, plastic, clothes and foam as they slowly disintegrate. Flakes that fall off daily from our skin and hair attract countless mites that co-habit with us in our room. Wiping and sweeping often miss them stuck in corners and crevices.

We sneeze as if struck by an allergy. Our nostrils clog and we mistake our misery for colds. Our sleep is shallow and disturbed. When humidity is high our room smells musky. Imagine how bad the smell is for those who are bed smokers.

Many of us are living in this kind of room. While we can hide dirt under the rug, we cannot hide the dirt under our bed.

Allergy-proofing of the bedroom

• Keep pets out.
• Encase sleeping place
• Clean sheets with lots of heat
• Run your air through filter
• Banish the blinds
• Steer clear of soft seats
• Filter the vents
• Pluck pillows and comforters wisely
• Stow gewgaws away
• Wash away the pollen
• Debunk the mites
• Give Teddy a bath

Simplify and organize your bedroom

1. Have a general cleaning in your room, say one weekend in March to coincide with springtime. It is best to take the bed out so that you can expose it under the sun for at least two hours. This will drive out all the mites, bedbugs and other vermin. Scrub, beat if it is foam, and vacuum it, if necessary. Clean the room walls and ceiling with warm water and mild detergent. As for the floor, scrub and polish it.

2. Simplify and organize your room. The fewer things we have in our room the better. Take out those books, magazines, and old newspapers. Remove unneeded cosmetics and medicine. Keep no food in the bedroom. Dispose off those racks and shelves that tend to accumulate dust. And keep that computer out of your room. You can have a TV, radio, study table, and a few of your “favorite things”. Try not to make your room into a collector’s showcase of figurines, dolls, posters, mementos, etc.

3. Next, clean the aparador or closet. You are likely to encounter another pest there – the silverfish (Lepisma saccharina).  This is an insect that eats on old clothes and paper. It is a most primitive of all insects, and perhaps the most resistant. If your barong (Filipino formal shirt) bears some poke holes, it is likely the work of this pest. The silverfish likes starchy materials, and natural fiber.

Other tenants in your room are the fungi. Fungi live on old materials, especially under humid conditions. They are the moldy growth on your shoes, bags, at the edge of the mirror, on top of cosmetic cream, on the armchairs. They cause buni, an-an, and athlete’s foot. Because they cannot produce their food by photosynthesis, unlike plants, they have to become saprophytes (nature’s scavengers), subsisting on almost anything, including the lens of the camera.

4. The number one enemy of fungi is sunlight. Allow sunlight to penetrate into your room as much as possible. Do not store moist materials, especially clothes in your room. Expose fungi-prone materials like shoes and bags to the sun by bringing them out, or letting the sunshine in. Open the case and click your camera directly toward the sun if you intend not to use it for sometime.

5. Your room should be clean, cool and dry. Air conditioning is good, but a room that allows natural ventilation and sunlight is best. The ideal kind of room is one integrated with the outdoors where one step leads to the garden and to nature, which is the essence of the American bungalow architecture. Here the confluence is not only defined by aesthetics, but by spiritual communion.

It should be a room where we can find time to meditate. Away from the maddening crowd, we seek refuge from the fast pace of life outside. Here is a poem for meditation.

Dust in My Room
 

Alone in my room, I wrote and wrote:
The door was locked, my meal was cold;
With clumsy hands, my pen dropped,
On all fours I groped in the dark.

There to a curb, it rolled and rolled.
Into a mat of dust and web.
Whence I found, a tale untold
Of my life like the tide in ebb.

Words flowed, like a river on rush,
To be weaned, yearning to be free;
Chronicler, vanguard too, oh dust,  
Like lost jewels in the blue sea. ~

Our health is greatly influenced by our room, the place we rest our tired bodies, where we keep ourselves away from the rigors of work. This is where we spend half of our lifetime. 

It is the very core of Home, Sweet Home. ~

Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles (1889) by Vincent van Gogh Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Van Gogh produced three almost identical paintings on the theme of his bedroom in the later part of his life. ~

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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio  738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

USAPANG BAYAN: 1. Organic Farming - Today's Green Revolution for Health and Environment. 2. Natural Food and Natural Farming

USAPANG BAYAN, 2-3 pm, March 12, 2026

Part 1 - Organic Farming

Today's Green Revolution for Health and Environment

While organic food accounts for 1 to 2 percent of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

 

Senior citizens attend to the barangay garden where most of the vegetables are organically grown.  Lagro QC

Ms Melly C Tenorio, host, and Dr Abe V Rotor, guest

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Above all concerns about organic farming, you gain peace of mind in eating products that are friendly to your health and the environment. Your fears of toxic metals like cadmium, lead and mercury are eliminated. So with residual toxicity from pesticides and chemical fertilizers. There are no antibiotic residues, induced hormones, engineered genes from bacteria and other organisms. You keep fields and waterways free from harmful runoff of chemical substances. Biologically, you keep down chances of pest and disease organisms to mutate and develop resistance.

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Eat more fruits and vegetables, those grown organically – without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotics, and the like, and above all – not genetically modified. You will live a healthier and longer life - and kind to Nature, too.

It is true. The whole world is going green and organic. It is the current Green Revolution that provides the foundation of sustainable agriculture, balanced ecology, and healthier and longer life.

Here is a basic comparison between conventional farming and organic farming:

Conventional farmers vs Organic farmers

• Apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth. /Apply natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost, to feed soil and plants.

• Spray insecticides to reduce pests and disease. /Use beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps to reduce pests and disease.

• Use chemical herbicides to manage weeds. /Rotate crops, till, hand weed or mulch to manage weeds.

• Give animals antibiotics, growth hormones and medications to prevent disease and spur growth. /Give animals organic feed and allow them access to the outdoors. Use preventive measures, such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing, to help minimize disease.

As one who grew up in a farm and practitioner of organic farming, here are other features of organic farming, which I would like to contribute.

1. Minimized wastage. Example: gleaning of grains is done by chicken.

2. Milling of grains practically leaves no waste, even the hull is ground with bran to serve as natural fiber and roughage for animals and fish.

3. Less mess and odor on the farm through efficient recycling. Farm wastes – crop residues and animal waste - immediately go to composting.

4. Organic farming is key to tri-commodity farming – crops, animals and fish farming.

5. Agribusiness is highly profitable through organic farming. Farm produce is immediately processed like natural fruit puree, natural vinegar, natural fish sauce, and the like.

 

Mushroom is a health food, it has anti-cancer properties. It is the only vegetable that 

grows in total absence of sunlight.  

6. Freshness of farm harvest and products is enhanced, hence requires no preservatives.

7. Community-based farming is ideal with organic farming.

8. Direct marketing linkage with outlets and end users.

9. lesser risk to human health.

 

 

Avoid giving commercial formulated food to babies. Prepare it yourself from fresh fruits, squash, sweet potato and other native plants. It is safer and cheaper.  

10. More environment friendly. It enhances ecology, that is, it promotes welfare of the ecosystem.

11. Less dependent on fossil fuel, favors tapping alternative and renewable energy sources.

12. Integrated with farm life, managed by family or by small and medium enterprise.


13. Aesthetics and quaintness of farm life through organic farming.

14. Farm becomes a tourist attraction as model in agriculture, ecology and sanctuary of wildlife.

15. Low technology, affordable and practical, thus less expensive.


Organic food has higher nutritional value and better taste.

 There is no substitute to buko (young coconut) as food and drink. The roots of coconut sieve toxic metals and other harmful substances from getting into the plant system.   

Results from Quality Low Food Input (QLIF), a 5-year integrated study funded by the European Commission, confirmed that the quality of crops and livestock products from organic and conventional farming systems differs considerably. Specifically, results from a QLIF project studying the effects of organic and low-input farming on crop and livestock nutritional quality "showed that organic food production methods resulted in:

(a) Higher levels of nutritionally desirable compounds (e.g., vitamins/antioxidants and poly-unsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3);

(b) Lower levels of nutritionally undesirable compounds such as heavy metals, mycotoxins, pesticide residues and glyco-alkaloids in a range of crops and/or milk;

(c) A lower risk of fecal Salmonella shedding in pigs.

Regarding taste, a 2001 study concluded that organic apples were sweeter by blind taste test. Firmness of the apples was also rated higher than those grown conventionally. In the market, organically grown fruits and vegetables look fresher and more solid.

Organic food may also have potentially higher amounts of natural biotoxins like solanine potatoes, as to compensate for the lack of externally applied fungicides and herbicides.

Organic farming favors community farms where the produce is geographically closer to the consumer. Local food is seen as a way to get fresher food and invest in one's own community.

Facts and statistics about Worldwide Green and Organic Movement.

• While organic food accounts for 1–2% of total food sales worldwide, the organic food market is growing rapidly, far ahead of the rest of the food industry, in both developed and developing nations.

• World organic food sales jumped from US $23 billion in 2002 to $52 billion in 2008.

• The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10%–50% annually depending on the country.

• Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American Food market. Organic food sales have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year for the past few years while sales of conventional food have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year.

• In Canada, organic food sales surpassed $1 billion in 2006, accounting for 0.9% of food sales in Canada. Organic food sales by grocery stores were 28% higher in 2006 than in 2005.

• In the European Union 3.9% of the total utilized agricultural area is used for organic production. The countries with the highest proportion of organic land are Austria (11%) and Italy (8.4), followed by Czech Republic and Greece (both 7.2%). The lowest figures are shown for Malta (0.1%), Poland (0.6%) and Ireland (0.8%)

• In Austria 11.6% of all farmers produced organically in 2007. The government has created incentives to increase the figure to 20% by 2010. Some 4.9% of all food products sold in Austrian supermarkets (including discount stores) in 2006 were organic. There were 8000 different organic products available in the same year.

• In Italy, since 2005 all school lunches must be organic by law.

• In Poland, in 2005 168,000 ha of land were under organic management. 7 percent of Polish consumers buy food that was produced according to the EU-Eco-regulation. The value of the organic market is estimated at 50 million Euros (2006).

• In UK, organic food sales increased from just over £100 million in 1993/94 to £1.21 billion in 2004 (an 11% increase on 2003).

• In Cuba, after the collapse of the USSR in 1990, agricultural inputs that had previously been purchased from Eastern Bloc countries were no longer available in Cuba, and many Cuban farms converted to organic methods out of necessity. Consequently, organic agriculture is a mainstream practice in Cuba, while it remains an alternative practice in most other countries. Cuba exports organic citrus and citrus juices to EU markets. Cuba's forced conversion to organic methods may position the country to be a global supplier of organic products.

Organics Olympiad 2007 awarded gold, silver and bronze medals to countries based on twelve measures of organic leadership. The gold medal winners were:

• Australia with 11.8 million organic hectares.

• Mexico with 83,174 organic farms.

• Romania with 15.9 million certified wild organic hectares.

• China with 135 thousand MT of organic wild harvest produce; and with an increase of 1,998,705 organic hectares.

• Denmark with 1805 organic research publications recorded.

• Germany with 69 members of. International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the worldwide umbrella organization for organic agriculture movement, uniting more than 750 member organizations in 108 countries.

• Liechtenstein with 27.9% of its agricultural land certified organic.

• Mali with an 8488% annual increase in its organic hectares, and with a 10.9% 4-yearly increment of the organic share of its total agriculture.

• Latvia with an annual 3.01% increase in its organic share of agricultural land.

• Switzerland with a per capita annual spend on organic produce of 103 Euros.

Eating the right food enhances happiness, peace of mind, good health and long and active life - and the quality of your environment. This is a primordial Human Right. It is also the best you can contribute in saving the earth. Enjoy the quaintness of Farming with Nature.

      Part 2 - Natural Food and Natural Farming  

"Natural farming is the key in the pursuit of this global trend. It is important in sustaining economic production, above all, the integrity of our ecosystems." - avr

 Home Gardening, author's residence QC

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Good health and good food go together, doctors all over the world tell us. Even our children quite often explain to us the importance of proper nutrition, balanced diet, fortification with vitamins and minerals. They tell us to take high protein food, or ask us if we are taking adequate calories. Lately such terms, beta-carotene and good cholesterol have come into the picture.

Now I hear a new term, probiotics. The way I under-stand these substances is that they keep our body always on the alert to fend off stress as a result of overwork and diseases. They are front liners and act as defense shield, Now if probiotics and antibiotics (substances that directly kill germs) work together, can we then say we can have better health and longer life?

Apparently yes, confirmed a balikbayan United Nations official who is working on a new food source from cyanobacterla or blue green algae. Again, this is a revolution in food and agriculture by the fact itself that we are now taking unconventional food such as Spirulina, an ancient organism probably the first kind of living thing that appeared on earth.

Going back to the main topic, I would like to see the other side of the fence. There are many reported ailments and abnormalities, which are traced to the food we take, and it is not only for the lack of intake. Cancer for instance, is often related to food. So with high uric acid which leads to kidney trouble. High blood pressure, high choles­terol, high sugar level.  Aftatoxin causes cirrhosis of the liver. Ulcers are food related. So with many allergies.

Given these premises, I would like to discuss a new frontier of agriculture which I believe4 is also the concern of other sectors of the food industry. It is not only that we must produce enough food. We must be able to produce quality food, which ensures good health, reduces risks to diseases and ailments, and prolongs life. This is the topic that I would like to take up with you in this special occasion, the 25th year or silver anniversary of NFA that I was once a part. I am going to talk about food, which should contribute to good health, long life, enjoyment, and peace of mind.

Here then are seven postulates to address this challenge to present day agriculture. We reckon the Green Revolution in the sixties which ushered production gains from improved varieties and techniques, followed by another wave in the seventies and eighties which was responsible in opening the fields of mariculture (farming the sea), and conversion of wastelands into farmlands.  We soon realized that there is need  “to go back to basics". Thus ecological farming was born. It is also farming with a moral cause: the enhancement of quality life, good health and long life on one hand, and the maintenance of an ecologically balance environment.

1.   IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO EAT FOOD GROWN UNDER NATURAL CONDITION THAN FOOD GROWN WITH CHEMICALS. This statement can be captured with one term "natural food". All over the world this is a label is found on food grown without chemicals. People are afraid of becoming sick because of the chemicals introduced into food. They know that chemical fertilizers and pesticides go with the crops and are passed on to the body destroying our organs and systems.

 No artificial additives, please. Additives such as food colorings and fillers are looked upon with suspicion.

2.   PEOPLE ARE AVOIDING HARMFUL RESIDUES AND ARTIFICIAL ADDITIVES IN FOOD. A trace of certain farm chemicals is enough to condemn a whole shipment under the rules of the US Food and Drug Administration. One kind of residue that people are avoiding is antibiotics. Poultry and hog farms maintain high antibiotic levels to safeguard the animals from diseases. In so doing the antibiotics is passed on to the consumers. In the first place our body does not need antibiotics. But every time we eat eggs, chicken, pork chop, steak, and the like, we are taking in cumulatively antibiotics. This makes our immune system idle. This punishes certain organs like the kidney and liver. To others, antibiotics cause allergy.

Another culprit is radiation. Traces of radiation can be hazardous. Many countries immediately took drastic action to avoid contamination following the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident ten years ago. Then we have toxic metals emitted from manufacturing and from vehicles. These are mercury, cadmium, and lead, to name the most common pollutants in our waters today.

3.   PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MORE CONSCIOUS OF THE NUTRITION VALUE OF FOOD RATHER THAN ITS PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION. Many people now reject junk foods, even if their packaging is attractive. Softdrinks have taken the backseat, courtesy of fruit juices and mineral water. People have even learned that plant varieties have different levels of food value even if they belong to the same species. To a lesser extent this is also true among the different breeds of an animal species.

4.   FRESHNESS IS THE FIRST CHOICE CRITERION FOR PERISHABLE FOOD. Indeed there is no substitute to fresh-ness, a function of handling and marketing. The farmer has the first and direct hand in enhancing this quality. If he keeps his plant; healthy, their products will 'have longer shelf life. Products free from pest and diseases stay fresh longer.

5. FOOD PROCESSING MUST BE APPROPRIATE AND SAFE.

Processing such as drying, milling and manufacturing, is key to higher profit. The profit that is generated from it is referred to as value-added to production. Economists tell us that there is money in postproduction and marketing.

6.   FOOD MUST BE FREE FROM PEST AND DISEASES.

It is shocking to find certain pest in food. So with the possibility that food is a carrier of disease organisms. Reports about infested NFA rice needs serious attention. Poor rice is an insult to the Filipino whatever is his economic status.

There has been news of food poisoning too, as a result of food deterioration, or contamination. Remember the Seven Eleven Store mass food poisoning? For a reputable establishment, such an accident deserves something to look deeper. What is the truth behind image building and advertisement?

7. FOOD PRESERVATION MUST ENSURE QUALITY, AND ABOVE ALL, SAFETY. Be aware of the fish that is stiff yet looks fresh. Be keen with formalin odor. Salitre is harmful, so with vetsin. Too much salt is not good to the body. I saw a puto maker use lye or sodium hydroxide to help in the coagulation of the starch. Sampaloc or tamarind candies are made bright red with shoe dye. So with ube to look life real ube.

Now I am going to discuss in details each postulate as it applies to the farmer, and the condition of his farm. I will try to relate the issue with actual practices so that we can draw up innovations to improve them, as we explore technologies that would settle certain issues.

8. AVOID AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE FOOD FROM GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS OR GMO.  There is an increasing awareness worldwide on the potential harmful effects of taking GMO products as food.  Bt corn for example carries a gene of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis,  golden rice carries the yellow gene of the daffodil, milk contains recombinant bovine growth hormone.  Other GMO food include soybeans, papaya, squash and zucchini, which carry "foreign" genetic material.  Here is a list of countries that have banned both GMO imports and GMO cultivation: Algeria, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Madagascar, Peru, Russia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.  EU members are selective in banning GMO. Most countries require labeling of GMO products, and are strict in their quarantine laws, and land use policy against GMO. 

NATURAL FARMING

CThe other name of natural farming as we all know is organic farming, that is the use of organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizer such as urea and NPK or complete fertilizer. In the US and Europe, people go for organically grown food. Lately in malls and big groceries, we find rice in package or bag labeled "organically grown rice". Let me point out that the use of organic fertilizer must be complemented by other factors.

                                                   Community gardening, QC 

First, the organic fertilizer must be free from pathogen that causes diseases. 

Second, it must not carry toxic waste or metal as this kind of fertilizer is manufactured from waste materials.

And third, It must go hand in hand with no spraying, or if it can not be helped, at least the spray used is biodegradable, such as substances that are of botanical derivatives like derris, neem and chrysanthemum.

Let me give you scenarios of natural farming.

1.    Payatak method (Samar) - This is a local version of zero tillage. No plowing, no harrowing. A herd of carabaos trample of the soil until it turns puddle, then the one-month old seedlings are transplanted. No spray, no fertilizer. This is natural farming in the marginal sense, a carryover of traditional farming.

2.   Mixed orchard (Zambales) - A mixture of several kinds of trees, orchard, firewood trees, forest trees grow together without any apparent planning. Yet these trees follow a natural pattern of arrangement. They have no common pest, they need soil fertility differentially, they have their own space niche, they make up several storeys. Management is very little. Nature takes care of everything.

 3. Multiple cropping model (Sta. Maria. Bulacan) -  Here the farmer engages in the production of three commodities. For Narciso Santiago, national outstanding farmer,  his 2.5-ha farm produces frults, vegetables and rice. He has several heads of carabao and cattle grown on homelot, pastured between the orchard trees. A pond supplies irrigation, as it produces tilapia and mudfish. Why three commodities? It is because they are closely integrated. This is the key to natural farming where there are a number of products to be desired. First the animals produce, other than meat and milk, manure for the plants, the plants produce food for the family and market, and they together with their residues give feeds to the animals. The pond is source of irrigation for the plants, principally rice and vegetables. It is a waterhole for wildlife for biological control. Because of its integrated structure and management. the farm itself becomes a balanced system. This is the key to sustainable production. This is ecological. farming.

4.  Sloping agricultural land technology or SALT (Bohol) Call this natural farming even if the farm is a logged area. Precisely the idea is for the farmer to return the land to its natural state as much as possible. How does he do it? If one sees the model, the land has a grade of 20 to 40 degrees. The steeper the grade the more difficult it is to apply the system. Over and above 45 degrees the model may not work at all.) Here the contour of the slope is marked and outlined so that the sole of the plow, so to speak, will be level at all times. The contours are spaced uniformly, and the rows which follow the contour are planted at interval of annual and permanent crops.

                          Mushroom growing: Auricularia, Pleurotus,

5.   The idea is for the permanent crops like fruit trees and firewood trees to sandwich the annual crops like peanut, rice, corn vegetable. The herbage of, say ipil-ipil, is used as organic fertilizer. Neem tree is used for pesticide. Lantana is a natural pest repellant, so with Eucalyptus. Legume intercropping and crop rotation replenish the soil of Nitrogen.

6.   Modified models (rice and corn areas).  Rice farming can be modified to suit the conditions of natural farming. There are farms today that rely entirely on homemade or commercial organic fertilizers. These are contracted farms to supply organically grown rice. 

An equally important aspect of successful farming is cleanliness.  This means no weeds, trimmed waterways, properly disposed farm wastes, efficient drainage, well arranged rows, properly scheduled farming activities, and the like.  All this requires but low technology that is also affordable, and contributes to good health to both producer and consumer, and the whole community.  

Genetically resistant varieties are chosen. Proper time of planting and harvesting is needed. We should know that clean farms, healthy plants and good management, are basic. What we are saying is that the use of chemicals is dispensable. To a single farmer, this is easier said than done. There is a need for collective and community effort, in which case farming , especially if it intends to shift to organic, likewise becomes more efficient as cost of production can be brought down.

Coconut farms (Southern Tagalog and Bicol). Seldom do we hear of coconut cultivation that follows the agronomic practices of other major crops like sugar cane or corn. 

Perhaps there is no plant more resistant than coconut. It is because it perfectly fits our soil, climate and latitude. It is indigenous to us. In fact it evolved with our islands and our culture. Evolutionarily and historically what I am saying is that natural farming is not new. And more importantly, it is a product of long years of development. It is not just acclimatization. It is co-evolution.

The message is that let us explore the richness of our biodiversity and our culture as a people to be able to understand the working of nature. Nature shows us the way. Nature, the way our ancestors knew then, is the nature we know today, except that we have embraced many changes in farming as well as in life style. Many of these changes had not passed the test of time.

In Laguna and Quezon, coconut is the dominant species of an ecosystem. The presence of man in the ecosystem has modified it to suit to his needs. For example, he has chosen only the trees and plants that grow between the coconut trees. Unknowingly he raises animals, which reduce the richness of plant species diversity.

We still see around well-established, stable coconut areas where man's intervention is kept low, but my fear is the current practice of logging old coconut trees for lumber.

Natural farming then is important as a way of farming.  It is also important in sustaining economic production, and above all, the continuity of our ecosystems that we have placed in our hands. Given these premises the farmer today faces a new challenge worthy of the title, "the backbone of the nation." ~

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ANNEX -  Edible Plants in Nature 

Wild edible plants (WEPs) are nutrient-dense, naturally occurring species—including leafy greens, roots, berries, and flowers—that have been part of human diets for centuries. Common, easy-to-identify examples for foraging include dandelions, wild garlic, clover, stinging nettles, blackberries, and lamb's quarter. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, serving as excellent, free food sources. - National Institutes of Health 

 

                                   Bagbagkong  (Telosma cordata) flower buds

 

                                  Papait (Mollogo oppositifolia), wild and cultivated

  

       Gulasiman or ngalog (Ilk) Portulaca oleracea;

Edible fern (pako) Diplazium esculentum.

 

Tanglad - Andropogon citratus DC; 

Soro-soro or Karimbuaya (Ilk) - Euphorbia neriifolia 

 

Wild varieties of ampalaya (Momordica charantia), eggplant (Solanum melongena), patani (Phaseolus lunatus), and the male flower of himbaba-o or alukong (Ilk)

References: Living with Nature in Our Times, Food and Fertilizer Technology Center publications, Internet.

LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Nature comes alive with children in mural paintings and verses (60 scenes)

Nature comes alive with children

in mural paintings and verses 

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Mural Paintings and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Imagine hugging a tree, host of butterflies,

a street post made alive by art's sweet lies,
nature's art of camouflage and mimicry,
tools for survival, sharing and living free. 

"There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it." —Charlotte Eriksson

The blue whale, the biggest creature that ever lived,

bigger than the dinosaur, and man a minuscule;

lucky it is to touch, to talk to, to listen to its song,      

plaintive with a message for man to heed its call.

 Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. —Albert Einstein

It's a kugtong, giant lapu-lapu, and it's true,

dweller at the bottom of the sea,

zealously guarding its cave from anyone;

no fisherman dares, but she,

who is learning adventure from images

before dealing with reality.

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter." —Rachel Carson

A twin by the waterfall and stream,

and another twin fishing;

reality and imagery are but one -

parallel worlds we live in.

"Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home 

we’ve ever known." —Carl Sagan

 Never kiss a parrot we are told, 

just listen to it talking;

save in circus, among the bold, 

on picture, toy and painting.  

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." —Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sentry the whole night through, an owl retreats 

at sunrise into  its abode, the hollow of a tree,

and finding a girl playing with butterflies, wonders

if  the garden is always open and  free. 

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."—Frank Lloyd Wright

   

The friendly capybara, the biggest rodent,

never has been  tamed, never a pet; 

but on a wall, earns love and respect

beyond anime other creatures create.

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." — Henry David Thoreau

Touch the rays of the sun through the trees,

be like the butterflies and bees, 

the singing birds and the splashing fish, 

breath the cool morning breeze.

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet 

and the winds long to play with your hair." —Khalil Gibran

 

Do you like to live at the edge of the sea,

where the tides rise and fall and stir,   

the waves in rhyme and rhythm with the wind,

where creatures appear and disappear?  

"Fresh air is as good for the mind as for the body. Nature always seems trying to talk to us as if she had some great secret to tell. And so she has." –John Lubbock

Beach party by imagination, hear the music

of the wind and waves, song of the sea gull, 

the wall comes alive with echoes of lilting 

children, friendship and abandon extol.

  "Leave the road, take the trails." —Pythagoras

 

 Can we live under the sea like the fish

among corals and  seaweeds?

Only fairies in the world of fantasy do,

yet without the sea all dies,

for the sea provides our basic needs.   

 

 

 This is how big a kalaw is, as seen in the wilderness;

its body pitch black, breast bright yellow, beak bright red;

take time, it's now tame on the wall, posing to viewers,

its imagined sonorous call reverberating far and wide. 

 "Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself." –Henry David Thoreau

 Splendor on the grass, the world's still,

minute to hour, year to a lifetime;

 company of a few, we touch and fill

some vacuum, through nature sublime.

 

"Choose only one master—nature." —Rembrandt

 

 A bed of grass takes these children 

to the field and the meadow;

a waterfall and stream in make-believe 

to the ends of the rainbow.~ 

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished." —Lao Tzu

Under the Sea in Greek's mythology, with a touch of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.  

Young Neptune - he rules the sea 

on make-believe scenery;

in a far land of fantasy; 

 it's the power of  imagery. 

Endangered Wildlife represented by the deer and vanishing rainforest, a global challenge to save both the species, more so, the ecological system and biome. 

Philippine Deer - a lost family in our time,

kneels a girl in prayer consoling

in an act of friendship and love sublime,

a distress call for help begging.

"For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." –Wendell Berry

Hornbill or kalaw is now an endangered species.  Attempts to domesticate it as pet 

most often fail, as wild life animals generally resist man's intervention in the guise of "benevolence."  

He hasn't seen the kalaw in its abode,

only in images and stories told;

yet he cares for the creature once bold,

now orphaned, lonely and old.

  

Rising with the creatures of the rainforest, as a steam of light seeps through the trees in a pristine and sacred ambiance.  

In a diorama-like presentation, 

this child acts like he is a part, 

the lead character of a living fable;

wish the scene shall not depart.

"Wish we are part of Nature in diorama; wish it is real and we shall not depart." - AVRotor

 

 

 

 

“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me
happy.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.” ― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

Children and Nature “Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in its flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung? The dance when it's been danced?

It's only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination. We note the haphazard chaos of history by the day, by the hour, but there is something wrong with the picture. Where is the unity, the meaning, of nature's highest creation? Surely those millions of little streams of accident and willfulness have their correction in the vast underground river which, without a doubt, is carrying us to the place where we're expected! But there is no such place, that's why it's called utopia.

The death of a child has no more meaning than the death of armies, of nations. Was the child happy while he lived? That is a proper question, the only question. If we can't arrange our own happiness, it's a conceit beyond vulgarity to arrange the happiness of those who come after us.” ― Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia

"A thing of beauty is a boy forever." wall mural painted by the author at his city residence, Barangay Greater Lagro, QC

Three young musketeers are set to conquer the world

     away from the mall, home and school;

If Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were real and alive today,

     we wouldn't know who's genius, who's fool.

Who is the primitive, who is the civilized, oh brother!

     when we prefer the city over the quaint village,

car for walking distance, processed over fresh food,

     philosophy over instinctive knowledge.

Everything defined in rich vocabulary, but a rose is a rose

     and nothing else, energy to matter and back,

universal cycles no genius will ever truly understand,

     Homo sapiens! it is humility we lack.

Innocence in children, we make up for the falsehood

     of the world of grownups and sages;

Einstein and Darwin never knew the whys of the world,

     children have been asking for ages.

If genius is reborn in the innocence of children,

     and knowledge into wisdom distilled,

treasured in old age for the young ones' sake -

     providence and humanity sealed. ~

Portion of mural fronting Lam-ang St

 

Ecology Wall Mural is a composite painting about nature on a 90-feet long x  7-feet (average) high concrete wall of the author's residence in Lagro QC, facing two streets - Kudyapi on the northeast, and Lam-ang on the southwest. Its obtuse angle perspective gives a general panoramic view of the whole mural. 

Portion of mural fronting Kudyapi St.

The mural consists of representations of ecosystems of the coral reef, mangrove, estuary and the open sea on one side of the wall, while on the other, the ecosystems of the tropical rainforest, stream and river, intertidal zone, mountain and valley. 

The mural depicts the unity and interconnectedness of the ecosystems as one holistic Nature with resident species of organisms in their natural state. The presence of man in the mural exudes his playful character, and adventurous nature in exploring the landscape. Some historical and fictional aspects take the viewer to Ernest Hemingway's prize-winning novel The Old Man and the Sea, and Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, while views of Mt Makiling in Laguna and Mt Pulog in Benguet, are typical of many favorite views on the local setting.  

The author took six months to complete the mural using as medium acrylic paints conventionally applied with paint brushes. Twelve overhanging LED spotlights were installed to light the mural for evening viewers. 

Explore the cave, these kids are challenged,

seeing three of their age emerging;

adventure can never be explained or written;

one must submit to a deep urging. 

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” ― Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

A series of articles about the mural has been published in the barangay newsletter (Greater Lagro Gazette), the Ilocano magazine Bannawag, and on the Internet, Living with Nature [avrotor.blogspot.com].Christmas with Nature is the mural's theme this Season. Camera enthusiasts and children in the neighborhood  frequent the place as  a sort of mini park.  This article, the fifth of a series, is earnestly dedicated to them. ~

                        

                               The Garden Pond - Microcosm of an Ecosystem.  

Garden Pond at the author's residence in  Lagro QC

with surrounding wall mural painted by the author

"Paradise is regained with our children.  Oh! If only man's wisdom 

can bring back Paradise lost a long time ago."

A wall is empty no more, it dissolves into forest and stream

running down soft under the feet, spilling onto the street;

where once a city of steel and concrete, of dust and smog

reigned, where the forces of human frailty and nature meet,

rekindling wonders and adventures of childhood little known

to the city-bred whom the Good Life in disguise would cheat!

The wall is alive in three dimensions in make-believe perspective,

progeny of primary colors - red, blue and yellow, bold and mellow,

azure sky, deep blue-green sea, prism of every dewdrop bead,

sparkle of every star at night, crystalline water Narcissus saw;

if only walls can speak to mirror human longing of a happy world,

if only man's wisdom can bring back Paradise lost a long time ago! ~

 Kim Laurence and Sophia on Christmas Day 2017 at the author's residence,  

in Barangay Greater Lagro QC, MM.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all?

This wall mural tells and warns us before the Fall." - avrotor

Orangutan and her baby perched in a tree their home -

mother and child model in the wild - and for whom?

A pair of gray herons patiently stalks for prey,

no fast food, no detritus even if it takes a day.

Too small a herd, remnant of an endangered kind;

bless he who has seen a deer free, it's a lucky find.

Kakapo, macaw, or parrot talking birds and colorful;

Bird of Paradise the rarest and brighest of them all.

Serene these creatures live in peace and harmony;

wouldn't we humans wish - if only there were many?

Nest atop a tree a mother hawk takes care of her brood;

scenario we wish, rather than living on the busy road.

A pair of love birds "'til death thou us part" bound;

while a third warns of danger stalking the ground.

A boa constrictor poised to strike or just resting,

makes a story symbolic, fearful, interesting.

Butterflies and bees too, have their share of the scene;

fluttering, buzzing in disguise, discreet on the screen.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of all? 

This wall mural tells and warns us before the Fall. ~

Landscape view from a cave

 

Bats emerge from their abode  

Wonder how our ancestors lived

with birds and bats in their abode;

wonder how we live like them today

in two worlds - modern and old. 

 

Wonder why the city never sleeps,

why gregariousness our comfort;

wonder if by design or adaptation,

we crave to move from port to port. 

Wonder what we make of the future,   

caves to high rise, we rule the sky,

time and space, change our earth,

and we look up to heaven and cry. ~  

For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it." —Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Nature on the Wall mural by AV Rotor (30ft x 5ft), at author's residence Lagro QC

An emerging new generation before a wall mural of nature painted by the author at his residence in Barangay Greater Lagro in Metro Manila, 2015

 

 

Wall mural of Nature by the author at his residence in QC is often visited for respite or photo,  for the sake of art to make-believe imagination.  Among the recent visitors is a grandmother and her grand daughter from the neighborhood. May 1, 2017   

Time has changed - and continues to change: 

Mother and Child to Grandmother and Child - 

image at the altar to scenario of  Nature.

prayer to friendly relationship with Creation.

real to the senses, yet only by imagination. ~ 

Where have the father and mother gone, 

the grandfather too, other members as well?

where is this living stream,  this pristine view?

wonder this little child in her youth and power    

to chart change as seen in this I'll corner.  ~  

Markus 1 (in stroller), with friends at home in Lagro QC, 2016

Flow gently, sweetly with the breeze

and sing with the little children;

whisper with the rocks and trees,

make every creature their friend.

Sing the songs of the forest deities,  

the cheerful crickets and birds,

lullaby of Mozart, chorus of Liszt:

“grow and be happy,” they urge. 

Who is afraid of the creatures living in the deep blue sea? 

Who is afraid on a dark island in the middle of the sea? 

Who is afraid of the surging tides and hissing wind at sea? 

“Not I” said little Markus, “as long as I’m with my Daddy! ~

                                                     

A Tropical Rainforest Wall Mural (3.5 ft x 15 ft) in acrylic by Dr Abe V Rotor at his residence in Lagro, Block 61 61, Lot 55 (corner Kudyapi St and Lam-ang St) 2015. The mural is an integral part (3rd panel) of a larger mural (7 ft x 30 ft). The mural is made up of three sections as shown in the above photos: Emergent trees and their tenants (top); Exploring a forest stream (middle), Food web and energy flow (lowermost)

Among the countless creatures of the tropical rainforest that comprise its rich biodiversity are: a rat, giant among its kind in the lowland, lives in a hollow of a tree; boa constrictor adapted to arboreal life, transient gulls adapted to both sea and forest life; tree iguana that branched out of marine iguanas, and those that live in dry conditions; chameleon the master of camouflage and mimicry; sloth, mother and young, clinging on a tree motionless and sleeping most of its life.

 

My grandson, Markus Andrei, 6 months old and his nanny

 - guardians of this rainforest wall mural. 

The Green Gate.  

Where is the closed gate? Open Sesame may be the password to a hidden treasure
in Ali Baba's children's tale. In this case the treasure is Nature's beauty and bounty.
Mural painting by the author 2015.

Side gate of the author's residence at Lagro QC. The gate is contiguous 

with the mural paintings on the walls on both sides.

It's a gate in reverse, going to Nature from the outside
     into a humble residence in the city,
where nature is borrowed in make believe sceneries
     on the screen, picture and study.

It's a gate of a far away place, forgotten or unknown,
     pristine by the laws and rules of nature,
away from the influence of man and his technology,
     the exploit of industry and agriculture.

Welcome to Nature, a representation through the art;
     but it's just a shade to the real thing;
to the senses the waterfall tumbles, the birds sing,
     but to the inner being, alive and serene. ~

  

A wall transformed, emptiness to green scenery,

amidst buildings, noise, and busy feet;

"Would you drop by for a li'l rest?" it seems to say;

a chance passersby for a moment meet. 

"Would you drop by for a li'l rest?" Green Stage on the Sidewalk.

 

To school, but quite early;

there's time to explore 

in make-believe, the wood 

on the wall, with nanny 

in a happy mood.    

The school van can wait idle,

    so with the kindly driver;

let time pass awhile waiting

    for the children to prepare.

Reminisce the youthful years,

     by the stream and forest, 

a tunnel of time and space,

     to go on living afresh.

Wildlife in our home, why not?

In imagery and reflection,

the archival art of Nature

for the future generation,

time to make up for our fault,

a grim reminder for action

Once in a while vary the scenery

     to the depth of the sea;

 bring down the sun to refresh memory

     of man's triumph and folly.    

Capture the rays of the sun,

     white doves flying for fun,

while you're innocent and young,

     and the happy days gone.

Nature is always there as you grow up;

she doesn't grow old in her own way;

only in human hands she tires and cries;  

thus the challenge of true beauty of a lass

to be a deity of Nature in mythology. ~

                         

My Garden Pond at Home, wall mural by AVRotor, 2010 QC.
Closeup of Oscar fish

I'm with Nature reading the morning paper,
     whatever news it brings for the day;
I'm with Nature with brewed coffee piping hot,
     rising in mist, whiling time away. 

I'm with Nature, with a bit of the mountain, sea,
     of rivulets, streams and lake;
I'm with Nature, clouds rising on the horizon,
     white and dark, into rain they make.

I'm with Nature, the ocean spreading out
     in a grasp from shore to its end;
I'm with Nature, in the sky of deep azure
     birds fly free to heaven.

I'm with Nature, confined yet boundless,
     by lianas, the lowly bryophyte;
Dissolving the old prison walls and bars,
    that for years barred my sight.

I'm with Nature, from sunrise to evening,
     writing my life in a poem,
While Midas touches everything to gold,
     save where I brought Nature home. ~