Develop Your NATIVE INTELLIGENCE (A Checklist)

Develop Your NATIVE INTELLIGENCE (A Checklist)

 Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

Native Intelligence list

1. Animals are uneasy before an earthquake. They can sense the preliminary vibration before the final snap (tectonic break).

2.    Don’t gather all the eggs from the nest.  Leave some, otherwise the laying hen will not return to lay more eggs. (Applies in cottage poultry raising)
 Frogs croak for rain. Mating calls are heard at the start of the rainy season (habagat)
3.    Thunder and lightning spawn mushroom. Join the mushroom hunt a day or two after, in banana groves, termite mounds, haystacks.   

4.    Corn silk tea is good for the kidney. So with the pinaglagaan – water left in boiling green corn.

5.    Kapok laden with pods means there’s going to be a poor harvest. Kapok has shallow root system vulnerable to insufficient water.  

6.    Rub table salt on the cut stem of newly harvested fruits to hasten their ripening.
Also prevents rotting.

7.    Choose pakwan (watermelon) with wide, well-spaced “ribs.” It is sweeter and fleshier. Fruit has reached full maturity.  
 
8.    Poultice made of moss heals wounds and relieves pain. Antibiotic property.  

9.    Ring around the moon means a storm is coming. It means very high humidity (suspended water vapor).

    10. Red and gray sunsets are signs it’s going to rain.  Or a storm is coming. Rainclouds are forming.

11. Leaves of madre de cacao or kakawate hasten the ripening of fruits. Enclose green fruits in plastic to trap ethylene gas, ripens in a day or two.

12. Smudging induces flowering of fruit trees and protects fruits from pests. Secret of off-season fruiting.

13. Drosophila flies (mannuka) hasten vinegar making. They carry vinegar-making bacteria.

14. Chopped banana stalk makes a cold pack to reduce fever. Radiator principle.

15. Pruning induces growth and development of plants. A must in grapes.

16. To increase corn yield “decapitate” the standing crop. (detasseling)

17. When the leaves of acacia fold it’s time to go home. 

18. .Pinag-aasawa ang bulaklak ng kalabasa. (Pollination)

19. Sukang Iloko (Ilocos Vinegar) is home remedy for sore throat (gurgle), and fever (wipe gently forehead and body). Dilute with equal amount of water.

20. Old folks use garlic as insecticide. Crush and mix, one clove to a litter of tap water, filter and sprinkle on plants.
  
21. Sugar solution extends the life of cut flowers. At 10% for three hours immersion of freshly cut stem for better absorption.

22. Why mungo seeds won’t soften when cooked is due to a spell cast by deities in the field. Immature seeds are caramelized.  

23. Red or brown sugar is better than white or refined sugar. It’s natural with the original nutrients of cane sugar.  

24. It is a common practice of farmers to cover fruits with ash, sand or sawdust to delay their ripening and minimize losses. Controls atmospheric conditions like temperature, sunlight, humidity, microorganisms.  
  
25. Farmers plant tayum (Indigofera tinctoria) to fertilize their field. It is a legume and can fix Nitrogen into Nitrate.

26. Brown eggs are preferred over white eggs, especially in rural areas. Brown eggs are produced by native chicken raised on the farm without antibiotics and other chemicals.
 
27. Water remains cool in earthen pot (calamba or caramba) even in hot weather. Pores of the pot works on radiator principle.

28. Apply lime or alum on the butt end of cabbage to stay fresh and longer in the shelf.

29. To prevent glass from breaking, first put a metal spoon before pouring hot water.

30. Emergence of the June beetle ushers the start of rainy season.  Sometimes in comes out in May, hence also called May beetle.

31.  Dogs eat grass for self-medication, so with parrots eating clay - a biological instinct for survival.

32. To get better harvest, furrows must be parallel with the sun’s movement. Less overshadowing of plants enhances photosynthesis – and good harvest.

33. Ants on-the-move means a strong rain, if not a typhoon, is coming. Cockroaches come out of their abode and seek for shelter outside. They are Nature’s barometer.

34.  Mosquitoes bite more aggressively before rain - in preparation for egg laying.

Aedes egyptii female mosquito 

35. There are persons who are a favorite of mosquitoes. Please check if you belong to the favored group.

·         You don’t take a bath regularly. 

·         You wear dark clothes, especially black. 

·         Your body temperature is relatively higher.

·         Your rate of breathing is faster.

·         Your skin is relatively thin and tender. 

·         You love to stay in corners and poorly lighted places.

·         You are not protected by clothing, screen or off-lotion. 

NFA's 48th Anniversary Feature: Life Begins at Retirement

 NFA's 48th Anniversary September 26 2020 Feature

Life Begins at Retirement

Retirement is a journey, not a destination. It only means that it is time for a new adventure.  Adventure in the golden years of life. 

 By Ms Cecilia R Rotor, CPA, MBA, CESO VI

  

I believe this is what makes life wonderful after retirement. And on looking back, I found some reasons a person spends her most precious years of life with a boss, who in my case is the National Food Authority.  

Here at NFA , I found the true application of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  I aspired in my own capacity to be a good student of this great thought.  For NFA is the acronym of the principles of Maslow’s Concept:  man’s basic survival Need is Food; man’s basic social need is Family (the NFA family); and man’s highest need is Actualization – actualization of NFA’s vision and mission.

NFA is very important indeed! In fact, I learned that no country - big and small, 

industrialized and developing - is without an NFA, or its equivalence or counterpart. 

 Author with her granddaughter, Mackie.

I say, NFA is a universal organization. It is said in the Universal Prayer as well, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  (Us refers to all, irrespective of race, age, status, belief, ideology; it is the word us with reference to adequacy of food that unites mankind.)

NFA is my alma mater now, and I am proud to be one. It is bigger than my own, in college and in the graduate school, for I am now among thousands who once served the organization, and countless number of people whom it served - and continues to serve. 

It is my alma mater for four decades and two years, subtly saying 42 years of continuous service, the longest “schooling” until I was awarded the “diploma of retirement.”

The concept of alumna of NFA is, “Once an NFAian, always a NFAian.” And every time I happen to meet a co-alumna or co- alumnus, the world spontaneously brightens up, reversing the hands of time, and re-creating many wonderful scenarios that make memories fresh and alive.

Life after NFA is beautiful.  It is another stage of life which I am beginning to enjoy as a grandmother. Retirement is out of the dictionary when you are babysitter, teacher, housekeeper, playmate, rolled into one.

NFA taught many things to prepare me to be a “wonderful and loving Lola,” borrowing the words of Mackie my eldest granddaughter.

Happiness I realize is compensating for the limited time and presence I had with my family while I was with NFA. But it is NFA that made me realize that happiness is not truly your own alone.” It is one commodity that, if you divide and distribute it, will multiply.” It is boundless, it is eternal; it defies any mathematical law.  It is man’s greatest glory on earth. 

  

It is at NFA where I tried to study and understand issues considered to be sensitive and controversial, such as the term “subsidy.” As an accountant I saw a financial picture inclined towards social goals and objectives of stabilizing the industry to prevent hunger and its consequences; to pursue the idea of attaining self-sufficiency, while aiming at sustainable productivity. Meanwhile huge importation is inevitable year in and out. 

Yet, just by substantially reducing postharvest loss alone, we would be less dependent on importation. And, by increasing yield even only on the level of world’s average we would regain our status as rice exporter in the seventies.  Innovative technology, like most rice exporting countries, would entail less cost to produce, and give more income -  beginning on the farm, through postharvest, to product diversification, which generates equitable value added advantage to the industry.  

And these are the very reasons why NFA should and must exist, to lead its various stakeholders. These are the challenges that it must continue to face with greater resolve. It is my urgent wish that this noble task be pursued vigorously and unrelentingly. NFA’s triumph shall also be ours as alumni.  

As an alumna to her alma mater, I shall treasure many valuable memories since its early days as NGA in 1971, just as others who have passed under its arch.

Perhaps NFA may remember its alumni, too. I know of a good number of alumni or former NFAians who have distinctly proven themselves in various fields – in the academe, business, NGOs, and in various careers, here and abroad. Maybe NFA would hold a homecoming-conference with them for two reasons, for them to pay respects, at the same time, share insights, ideas, and experiences. Yes, as I know them, there is a second life after NFA.  And thanks to NFA for making it so.   

There is a saying by John F Kennedy (adopted from original adage by our own national hero Jose Rizal), “Ask not what America can do for you, but what you can do for America.”   

Analogously I ask myself. “What have I done for NFA, and what has NFA done for me?” 

Allow me to count the ways that I know of:

·         It is at NFA where my career blossomed from accountant to director.

·         It is at NFA that I was able to obtain an MBA and CESO, on top of my CPA.

·         It is at NFA where I grew gray hairs old folks say is a sign of wisdom and counsel.

·         It is with NFA I learned to hurdle obstacles generally attendant to public service.

·         It is with NFA I tried my best to set a standard of a role model for my staff and colleagues in government.

·         It is at NFA where I found personal happiness, and comfort in the dark hours.  

·         It is at NFA where I saw action, and fought in the battlefield, so to speak. 

·         It is with NFA I helped steer the boat toward its goal and mission.  

·         It is NFA that has deepened my nationalistic fervor, and respect for our deserving  national leaders and the pioneers who made NFA what it is today – with special mention of the late Administrator Jesus T. Tanchanco.     

Lastly, but not the least, It is at NFA where I found a life partner and together built a happy family, with an outlook as bright as ever. ~

*Response to a tribute given by the members of the Management Committee of the National Food Authority, August 8, 2016

NFA"s 48th Anniversary: Banaue Rice Terraces Mural at the Grains Museum

     Special Feature          

   Banaue Rice Terraces* Mural at the Grains Museum 

"Of the Eight Wonders of the Ancient World, only the Banaue Rice Terraces and the Pyramids of Egypt exist today. The difference between the two however, is that the former continues to sustain a stable civilization as it did in its whole history, while the latter are but colossal empty tombs that speak of an ancient civilization." - avrotor

                                                  Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Ifugao Rice Terraces wall mural (10ft x 11ft) in acrylic at the Grains Museum of the
National Food Authority, NFA Regional Office Building, Cabanatuan City, AVRotor 2017

  

 

Details: Top, clockwise: native huts and mandala (haystacks), precipice typical in the Cordillera region, destruction of the watershed atop the rice terraces by logging and burning; garden like scene on the terraces, a wildlife sanctuary.

The Banaue Rice Terraces - among five clusters of rice terraces in Ifugao in the Cordillera Region, made it to become the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World.  Today only the Banaue Rice Terraces and the Pyramids of Egypt have survived. 

To Filipinos it is a monument of pride as a race, a living proof of indigenous ingenuity, and a legacy of pre-Hispanic culture. Which leads scholars to re-define  civilization and to put it in proper perspective, other than what the Western World thinks. 

The terraces are a stairway to heaven, piercing through the cloud, taller than the pyramids, the Tower of Babel, the Eiffel Tower - tallest of all man- made structures - built by bare hands with the crudest tools as early as three thousand years ago.  

A collective masterpiece of tribes working in cooperation and peace, a  prototype nation where people were governed by common aspirations, beliefs, language, customs, isolated from the outside world like the Aztecs and Mayans. 

Agro-ecology - a modern term to describe harmony of agriculture and ecology - farming and environment - was born incognito and thrived for centuries, until modern man arrived, studied the "secrets of the rice terraces" and proclaimed himself the  discoverer. 

What does he know about the Hudhud, the narrative chants and dance and worship at planting time, harvest time, and other rituals? Would this mean anything to increased production, return of investment, research and development?  

Believe in cloud seeding the natural way, when clouds collect atop the rice terraces, and condense into rain, gathered at the forest watershed, then slowly released terrace after terrace irrigating the rice plant crop, in precise amount and timetable. 

Wonder how the rice varieties of the terraces were developed - varieties jibed with the habagat and amihan, and social life. It was a grave error in introducing 90-day varieties to have two harvests in a year instead of only one, which needed high input and mechanization.    

Modernizing agriculture on the rice terraces by introducing chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, use of tractors and other machines, changed the indigenous cycle of the rice plant, so with the socio-economic and cultural lives of the people.

Floating vegetable culture (heap of organic soil) on the terraces, a version of Mexico's floating garden, and India's Sorjan, is no longer feasible with modern agriculture.  So with fish culture, the source of food and protein of the inhabitants. The whole food chain and web has been disturbed.

Where is the new generation to take over the old folks, now in their past fifties or sixties - or older?  Many terraces are no longer managed the way they were for centuries. They are facing deterioration that may end up to irreversible decline. Erosion, siltation, landslide, gully formation at work need serious and immediate attention.  

The "native ambiance" is giving way to posh hotels, modern homes, well paved road networks, various establishments which cater to tourists.  Lately a 7-storey parking building has sparked controversy; local officials and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts were appalled. 

Banaue Rice Terraces, the tallest and the steepest cluster of terraces in the whole world was granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 1995, the first of its kind, but in 2001 it was placed under the List of World Heritage in Danger because of its deteriorating state. 

Fortunately it was removed from the list of sites in danger in 2012, but the story does not end there. With globalization taking away the young generation away from the terraces, climate change bringing in unexpected consequences, commercialization  changing the face of the area, intrusion of destructive technology, this 8th world of the world may yet meet the sad fate of the other wonders of the ancient world.  ~

Artist Dr AV Rotor poses with museum curator Ms Josephine C Bacungan (3rd and 4th), and members of the Rotor family: Leo Carlo, Ms Cecille Rotor, Dr Charisse and Marlo Rotor.

* The Banaue Rice Terraces are ancient sprawling man-made structures said to date back 2000 to 6000 years, that were carved into the Ifugao in Cordillera Mountains in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. These terraces built largely by hand are considered to be the “Eighth Wonder of the World”.

Do you live a simple life? Take this test. .(Answers posted)

Do you live a simple life? Take this test. 

(Answers posted)

Austerity brings awareness, it gives us time to plan out, to review our goals.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Former Professor, The Graduate School and Faculty of Arts and Letters

University of Santo Tomas

Part 1 - True or False
1. Although asceticism generally promotes living simply and refraining from luxury and indulgence, not all proponents of simple living are ascetics. T2. Home gardening could be the layman’s answer to food shortage affecting millions of people worldwide. T

3. Global Warming is a culprit to projected food shortage because of the erratic behavior of our climate, worsened by increasing frequency and intensity of force majeure. T4. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers have improved productivity of farmlands as well as enhanced sustainable production. F

5. Farmers and their families live on edible wild life species of freshwater fish, crustaceans, mollusk and amphibians. T (to a certain degree)

6. Fear of shortage in food and other needs is amplified and exaggerated. Improved technology coupled with proper management is the answer to allay this fear. F

7. Before buying food in packs, first read the label, and be sure there is no MSG or Vetsin as ingredient. Vetsin has many harmful effects, especially to children. T 

8. Vitamins and minerals are concentrated in the vegetable,  not in its rind or skin. Thus you have to peel kalabasa, pipino, talong, patola and the like. F

9. The sea is nearly 4 km deep, and up to 12 km at its deepest – which means that fishing has barely scratched the surface of the sea, thus there is no felt danger of depletion of resources. F

10. GM rice or golden rice contains yellow pigment of daffodils which is rich in Vit A. Vit A may be needed by the body but an overdose of it may be deleterious to health such as allergy. This is the first local case of “biopharming” – implanting drugs and medicine in food plants to act as food and medicine at the same time. T

11. What economists insist that the road to the good life is a economic development, and any country that remains underdeveloped will never have a taste of it. F

12. There are limits to growth*; it cannot be a perfect progression. Somehow the curve becomes an inverted C, which means that the factors of growth become the antithesis of growth itself. T 

Global Warming in acrylic by the author 

13. Buy only reliable brands of tools, and if your budget allows, invest in lifetime tools such as Rigid, Stanley, Makita, Black and Decker, Bosch, Coleman, Crossman, Dremel, Sandvik, El Toro, to name a few. Be sure these are not imitations. T  (There are reliable brands as well.)

14. Home for the Golden years must be kept as simple as possible, orderly, clean and healthy, removing things that may cause accidents.

15. Austerity brings awareness, it gives us time to plan out, to review our goals. T

16. HiTech is expensive and it is the consumer who ultimately pays it. It is to the people the users of Hi Tech charge its cost. Austerity calls for a moderation in technology. Austerity and innovative technology are compatible. Innotech is people’s technology. T

17. Modeling of successful projects such as coops (farmers multipurpose cops), agro-eco center (Cabiokid), Kabsaka (Sta. Barbara, Iloilo), mangrove farming, seaweed farming, Irrigators’ association. These and others ride on Filipino trait of gaya-gaya. Gaya-gaya put to good use. Peer teaching and learning is effective among the masses, and should be complementary with formal education. Austerity opens a gateway to look into models we can adopt under our local conditions. T

18. “Necessity is the mother of invention," so “crisis is the sphinx of survival.” (Story of the Sphinx.) What is it that walks on all fours in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening?”) Crisis is Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. It rewards the strong, eliminates the weak, humbles the proud, deepens the soul, and elevates the spirit. - of those who can make it.” Crisis is the time to test man’s soul.” Soul is the ultimate of man’s capacity to survive. (Thesis of Victor Frankl in his famous book,  A Search for Meaning) T

19. You practice the 7Rs in Waste Management: Reduce, Recycle, Refurbish, Renovate, Restore, Reserve, Revere (and Rotor – Rotate). These 7Rs are vital tools in living an austere life. T

20. The more closely related supply and demand cycle in a given community, the more self reliant the community is. This means that in that community, people produce what they consume; consumption motivates production and vice versa. This according to Dr. Anselmo Cabigan is a basic tenet of austerity, because the self-reliant community becomes less dependent on external factors and the vagaries of the larger environment. T

Part 2 Test on Simple Living
“Odd-man out” Pick out the unrelated word.
1. Asceticism, simplicity, materialism, austerity (simple living)
2. Tolstoy, Schweitzer, Gandhi, Hemingway (Disciples of simple living)
3. Darwin, Rousseau, Marx, Thoreau (Philosophers of simplicity in living)
4. Pinakbet, karekare, bagnet, bulanglang (vegetable recipe)
5. Bangos, tilapia, dalagang bukid, hito (one is not a freshwater fish)
6. Gabi, kamote, cassava, katuray (root crops)
7. Kalabasa, malunggay, pipino, ampalaya (Family of Cucurbits)
8. Lato, nori, lumot, sea cucumber (edible sea weeds)
9. Kamatis, luya, sibuyas, paminta (sinigang recipe)
10. Luya, tanglad, pandan mabango, gabi (food spices, additive)

TRIVIA: What is Epicureanism?
Based on the teachings of the Athens-based philosopher Epicurus flourished from about the fourth century BC to the third century AD. Epicureanism upheld the untroubled life as the paradigm of happiness, made possible by carefully considered choices. Specifically, Epicurus pointed out that troubles entailed by maintaining an extravagant lifestyle tend to outweigh the pleasure of partaking in it. He therefore concluded that what is necessary for happiness, bodily comfort, and life itself should be maintained at minimal cost, while all things beyond what is necessary for these should either be tempered by moderation or completely avoided.

The Limits to Growth is a 1972 report on the exponential economic and population growth with a finite supply of resources, studied by computer simulation. Commissioned by the Club of Rome, the findings of the study were first presented at international gatherings in Moscow and Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 1971.

The Plus Factors of Life. Yes, you will live long.

 The Plus Factors of Life.  Yes, you will live long. 

Dr Abe V Rotor  

Living with Nature - School on Blog

The Pond - A Place of Happy Thoughts, in acrylic AVRotor

When the sun rises, be there and catch its rays, pristine, golden piercing the fog and mist, turning dewdrops into diamonds cascading to the ground, vanishing into the air, birds chirping  to herald the day - you will live long;

When the sun sets, it is but the parting of day, no tears no regrets, it goes to its bed on the horizon,  and soon, you too shall find rest in comfort and thanksgiving, taking away the rigors of the day - you will live long;

When tired muscles and nerves, before they snag and pull you down, stop and let nature take over, you have a lot of reserve you don't only know - breath deep, relax and dream of the things you love - you will live long;

When in doubt and indecisive, cautious and anxious, these you must respect, they are within your barometer telling you to find the best path to take - and, if ever the risk is well deserve take the less trodden with pride - you will live long;

When lost in the woods or in the concrete jungle, in eerie shadows among trees or the blinding neon lights, stop but briefly for composure, but never stop, your home is just there waiting for you - you will live long;      

When feeling sick you are sick, when angry you are angry, when lonely you are lonely; when happy you are happy, you are the master and captain of your life, steer your ship well having set its course - you will live long; 

When the seasons are changing fast, you must be in love with your work, your life and family, your friends and organization - they make things easy for you, as you make things easy for them too, rejoice, it's a great life - you will live long;  

When your pulse is racing with your heartbeat, temperature sending blood to your head, eyes blurred by tears and anger, your gait and stride now heavy and disturbing, your smiles and laughter leaving dry furrows, take a break, a long break - you will live long;

When sick doctors affirm, don't give up, the good hormones will drive the bad ones away, stem cells in your bone marrow will double up, metabolism slows down, enhance these natural processes, be happy - you will live long;

When you are yourself and not somebody else, when models rise to challenge you, when idealism and reality meet at the hallowed ground of humanity, where goodness prevails, be more than a witness, you have your own role to play - you will live long;

When life advances past your prime, look to the golden years, the best of life yet, believe in wisdom distilled from knowledge, in a book you wrote as your living epitaph, for having bore or sired children the meaning of immortality - you will live long;

When the Angelus bell rings and you hear it not a peal but sweet call, when all around you gather your family and friends, those you found joy in helping - the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the lonely and abandoned - you will live long, and forever live. ~ 

Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario: Builder of beautiful gardens and museums

Dr Romualdo M Del Rosario: 

Builder of beautiful gardens and museums 

"The Garden is a microcosm of the Lost Paradise." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor  

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

 

                              UST Botanical Garden, Manila

Dr Romualdo R del Rosario (second from right, in barong) and author (left), discuss the details of the Grains Industry Museum (Farmers' Museum) in NFA Cabanatuan just before its formal opening to the public in 1984. Dr Del Rosario, then assistant director of the National Museum, served as consultant to the project. He also served as consultant to the former St Paul University QC Museum and Eco Sanctuary (cataloged as having more than 300 plant species before the garden was reduced into a park, and hedged by tall buildings). 

 Doc Del in his younger days at the former NFA Museum in Cabanatuan.  The artifact is an indigenous pinawa (brown rice) hand mill.  With him is a member of the Museum's working group.   
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Among Dr Del Rosario's obra maestra are the internationally famous La Union Botanical Garden (Cadaclan, San Fernando,La Union), the UST Botanical Garden (formerly Pharmacy Garden), and the De La Salle University garden at Dasmariñas, Cavite. And not to mention the satellite museums of the National Museum, two of which I visited in Pangasinan and Palawan.  As a scientist and former assistant director of the National Museum he is keen at giving importance to natural history, and aesthetic and functional beauty of parks and gardens as integral part of homes, establishment, offices, in fact, whole communities. Presently he is acclaimed the foremost ethnobotanist in the Philippines, have guided scores of students at the UST Graduate School as well as other schools to pursue this specialized field of biology and related sciences. As one of his students I researched on the ethnobotany of Maguey (published in the UST Graduate Journal).  I joined him in a number of field research, the most challenging of all was to climb to the summit of Mt Pulag in Benguet, the highest mountain of the Philippines after Mt Apo in Davao.
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Think of a living gene bank.

No, it's not the IRRI's germplasm bank of rice varieties and cultivars. Or CIMMYT 's similar bank for wheat and corn where seeds are kept under strict controlled conditions away from the natural environment. It's not the commercial plant collection of Manila Seedling Bank either.

Dr Romualdo del Rosario's concept is one that is natural - plants of different species living together and arranged into a garden.

Here the plants form a wide range of diversity, and with other organisms, from protist to vertebrate, form a community. And through time, an ecosystem - a microcosm of a forest, grassland, desert, the upland and lowland, in varying combinations and designs. This garden is indeed a living gene bank.

Visit the La Union Botanical Garden perched on a gentle hillside covering several hectares, with the fringe of Cordillera on the east and a panoramic view of the San Fernando Bay on the west.

Here you will find a piece of the biblical Garden, where Nature and man in cooperation and harmony try to restore the beautiful scenarios of that garden imagined in the writings of Milton and Emerson, in the paintings of Rousseau and our own Amorsolo, and the scientific pursuits of Darwin and Linnaeus.

As trail blazer, Doc Del as he is fondly called, pioneered with the support of the local government to set up a garden not so many people appreciate. I am a witness to its tedious step-by-step development until after ten years or so, the garden became a center for field lectures, thesis, hiking, or simply a place of solace and peace. To the creative, arts; the religious, reflection.

The garden is an answer to our dwindling bio-diversity. It is a sanctuary where man's respect for Creation, in Dr Albert Schweitzer's term "reverence for life," becomes the neo-gospel of prayer and faith.

The garden is a workshop with the Creator. It is one roof that shelters the threatened and endangered. It is a sanctuary for recovery before setting foot outside again.

Here is the living quarter of organisms, countless of them, that miss the eye, yet are discreet vital links to our existence and the biological order.

A single acacia tree as shown In this painting is a whole world of millions of organisms - from the Rhizobium bacrteria that live on its roots to birds nesting on its branch. And beetles under the bark, goats feeding on ripe pods, people resting in its shade or promenading.

These make but one small spot in the garden that speaks of the philosophy of naturalism of Schweitzer, EO Wilson, Attenborough, Tabbada, Cabigan, and the late botanist Co. One aspect of the garden opens to the scholar an adventure of a lifetime: Edwin Tadiosa's research of mushrooms earned for him a doctoral degree.

Sunken center of the La Union botanical Garden, on-the-spot painting by the author.

One consideration a garden is a living gene bank is its ethnicity. Doc Del is the leading authority on ethnobotany of the country today. It is a less familiar field although it is among the earliest, tracing back to Aristotle's Natural History as the guiding force in keeping the integrity of Nature-Man relationship, even to the present time.

Ethnobotany is the mother of pharmacology. Medicinal plants are part of Doc Del's formula of a garden. Not that familiarity is his aim, but accessibility - that by being familiar with a particular plant, one can have access to it wherever it may be found growing. Any place then is a potential source of home remedy of common ailments.

Go to the garden and you will find lagundi, sambong, bayabas, makahiya, okra, pitogo, takip-kuhol, oregano, and 101 other medicinal plants, domesticated or wild. It is nature's pharmacy house.

It is E Quisumbing's source of materials for his Medicinal Plants of the Philippines. the rich three-volume Useful Plants of the Philippines by W H Brown. It is this field that Dr Juan M Flavier as senator sponsored a law in promoting Alternative Medicine which now benefits millions of Filipinos particularly at the grassroots.

Go to the garden and you will find flowering and ornamental plants that constitute the main attraction of any garden. Here botany is transformed into the science of flowers, the secret of green thumb, colors and fragrance speak more than words, silence rides on butterflies fluttering, and music is hummed by bees, and fiddled by crickets and cicada.

Go to the garden and relive life on the countryside. The song Bahay Kubo enumerates some two dozen vegetables, and speaks of simple, happy and healthy lifestyle. A residence without a garden is akin to city living condition. With almost fifty percent of the population ensconced in big towns and cities. we can only imagine how much they have lost such a pleasant niche.

Go to the garden with magnifying glass, not with the aim of Sherlock Holmes but with the clinical eye of Leeuwenhoek, father of microscopy. Start with the moss, the lowly earliest plant occupying the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder. They are living fossils in austere existence on rocks and trunks of tree. Doc Del wrote a whole chapter about the Byrophytes - the moss and its relatives in the Flora and Fauna of the Philippines book series.

Have you seen a field of moss under the lens? It's a setting of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie. See the movie if you haven't. Everything is so big you are a pygmy in the like of Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag, a sequel to Gulliver in the Land of Lilliput. Imagine yourself either in one of Jonathan Swift's novels.

You may wonder why primitive plants are so small, you may miss them in the garden. If you were on top of Mt Pulog second highest mountain in the Philippines after Mt Apo where Doc Del, my classmates and I, climbed in the late eighties, you'll be amazed at the giant bryophytes forming beards of gnarled trees and curtains hanging on rocks, and spongy layers cushioning your steps.

Thus, the garden is a representation of much bigger models. The Sequoia or Redwoods of California for example cannot be duplicated anywhere, but at the UST botanical garden where Doc Del is the supervising scientist and curator, you will find yourself dwarfed by the towering dita (Alstonia scholaris) the same way you would feel under the redwoods, or the emergent trees on Mt Makiling.

Go to a garden and feel you are part of creation in Eden's finest time. The garden has a humbling effect, it has the touch of TLC - tender, loving care, it is the womb of Mother Nature, its nursery, in her own life cycle in which each and every thing, living or non-living, undergoes a continuous and unending series of birth and death - and perhaps even
re-incarnation. ~

- An On-the-Spot Painting at the UST Botanical garden by the author, with the tallest tree Alstonia scholaris, locally known as dita. as principal subject.

Morning at the UST Botanical Garden

It is misty, it is foggy, here at the garden,
or it must be smog in the city air;
and the early rays pierce through like spears,
yet this is the best place for a lair.

But the artist must be provoked, challenged;
for peace can't make a masterpiece;
only a troubled soul do rise where others fall,
where ease and good life often miss.

This lair is where the action is, the battlefield,
where pure and polluted air meet,
where a garden in a concrete jungle reigns,
where nature's trail ends in a street.

Art, where is art, when the message is unclear,
colors, colors, what color is blind faith?
what color is rage, what color is change?
colors be humble - black is your fate. ~




A spray of red and pink in the tree top,
either it is autumn's onset,
or the season had just passed us in slumber,
yet too early to hibernate

Catch the sun, borrow its colors and shine
that you may be filled with grace divine;
for your life is short and your flowers ephemeral,
that makes you a mythical vine.

There is no such thing as emptiness, for memories linger;
the bench is warm, whispers hang in the glen;
spirits roam, the past comes around in them to haunt,
to scare a bit to remember them, now and then.


Golden shower at the UST Botanical Garden

In the garden you will find the legendary Pierian Spring  - the secret of long, healthy and happy life.  Visit the beautiful gardens and museums that were shaped by the genius and skill of Dr Romualdo M del Rosario. Many people can make a garden, by few can give life to it as a living gene bank.  Many may think of putting up a grand museum, but only few can make a museum of the people where they identify themselves and the culture to which they are proud of.  Count on a calm and humble man, scientist and naturalist - and friend - Doc Del. ~

Key to a Secret Garden

Key to a Secret Garden 

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." -  Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden

Dr Abe V Rotor 

                          

Key to a Secret Garden, on display at the Living with Nature Center, 

San Vicente Ilocos Sur, artwork by the author 2020

I found an old, old key in my garden,

the key I lost when I was young,

when I left home to seek adventure,

in a far, far away land;

I hold the key and looked around

to find the gate no more,

save a piece of wood, its keyhole

 I used to peep through

the Secret Garden of youth

long, long time ago. ~

Emptiness at Sundown - a Challenge

 Emptiness at Sundown  - a Challenge

"Wonder how Rodin created  from bare rock The Great Thinker." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sunset, Lemery Batangas, 2018

How can I be romantic when the world is sad and lonely, 

the sea in its ebb, the air still, save a passing breeze?
How can I love the classics, the timelessness of their beauty,  
the deafening silence, neither music nor of peace? 

How can I appreciate humanities, man's creativity,
peep into the biblical Garden of his birth?
How can I amend my evil ways, rise from human frailty
with the dying sun, soon to abandon the earth?

I am lesser than those who instead found opportunity
to explore the deep source where love and hope never cease. 
  Monet taming a fiery sunset into a lovely beauty,
and on wasteland Wangari planted a million trees.  

I wonder how Rodin created  from bare rock The Great Thinker;
Fleming by serendipity found from a moldy  culture -
the life-saving Penicillin, a most potent drug ever,
while Thoreau alone wrote a treaty of man and nature.  

Crowning glory, masterpieces were not at all born in bed,
so with man faced with the impossible to solve,
when a tree stands alone leafless, the sea in ebb;    
and I, I wait for darkness envelop my world. ~