Lesson Series 5: Ilocos Sur Community College (ISCC Vigan City)
People's Green Revolution:
Integrated Home Gardening in 5 Parts.
Cope up with the critical effects of the Ukraine War, Israel-Gaza War, COVID-19 Pandemic, and Environmental Degradation
Also, open this Blog avrotor.blogspot.com 40 Advocacies to Curb Food Crisis
Part 1 - Urban Home Gardening Illustrated Models (People's Green Revolution)
Grow your own vegetables at home to save on high cost of vegetables in the market.
This article includes a plan of a Homesite - an ideal integrated garden around a home in a suburb and rural setting. Compare this with the Bahay Kubo model. You may integrate and modify them according to your situation and needs.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) 738 AM Radyo ng Bayan with Ms Melly C Tenorio
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) 738 AM Radyo ng Bayan with Ms Melly C Tenorio
Lesson: Home garden. It is fun, exercise, and source of food and medicine - and income. Study these models and find out which are applicable in your area. Share your experience with the members of the family, school and your community.
Patola (Luffa acutangula) on trellis. Home garden project at Barangay Valencia, San Juan, MM
These gardening models have been developed from studies and observations of successful projects locally and abroad. They serve as guide to participants and listeners of Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School-on-Air)* to help them in their projects, particularly in times of food scarcity, such as the present situation caused by the El Niño phenomenon.
But even during normal times, these models are useful to gardening enthusiasts, especially children and senior citizens who find this hobby highly rewarding to health and leisure, and as a source of livelihood, notwithstanding. Those who are participating in projects in food production and environmental beautification, such as the Clean and Green Movement, and Green Revolution projects, will find these models similarly valuable.
One however, can modify them according to the peculiarity of his place, and in fact, he can combine those models that are compatible so as to develop and integrate them into a larger and more diversified plan.
One who is familiar with the popular Filipino composition Bahay Kubo, can readily identify the plants mentioned therein with those that are cited in these models. And in his mind would appear an imagery of the scenario in which he can fit these models accordingly.
We invite all followers and readers of this Blog to adopt these models in their own capacities wherever they reside - in the rural or urban area - and whenever they find them feasible, and thus join the movement reminiscent of the Green Revolution in the seventies under the leadership of President Ferdinand Marcos. .
Part 2 - Your Backyard Garden: Food Bank and Living Laboratory
There are crops “we plant and forget.” Before the pot starts to shimmer, you realize you need some malunggay leaves, a dozen tops of kamote, a handful of fresh onion leaves, etc. All you need is to dash to the backyard and pick these green ingredients. Paminta, kamias, tanglad, pandan - they go with your recipe, too. Reserve those pullets and catfish for special occasions.
Living with Nature School on Blog
By size, my home farm is a Liliputian version of a corporate farm. Intensive cultivation-wise however, it dwarfs the monoculture of a plantation. It is only when your area is small that you can attend to the requirements of an integrated farm with basic features of a garden.
Our children grew up with a garden at home.
When I moved to the city, I set aside a corner lot equivalent to a space of a two-bedroom bungalow. Here, after two years of experimentation and redesigning a city home garden evolved - a miniature version of tri-commodity farming where I have vegetables and fruits, chicken and hito.
My wife, who is an accountant, estimates that presently, the garden could save up to 20 percent of our family’s expense for food, in exchange for twenty family man-hours every week. Labor makes up to 50 percent of production costs, she says. Since gardening is a hobby in lieu of outdoor games, we agreed not to include labor as cost. This gives a positive sign to the garden’s financial picture.
We do not also consider in the book the aesthetic value of weekends when the garden becomes a family workshop to prove green thumbs, and gainful influence my family has made on the community, such as giving free seeds and seedlings, and know-how tips. When my children celebrate their birthdays, the kids in the neighborhood enjoy harvesting tomatoes, string beans and leafy vegetables - a rare experience for boys and girls in the city.
What makes a garden? Frankly, I have no formula for it. I first learned farming from my father who was a gentleman farmer before I became an agriculturist. But you do not have to go for formal training to be able to farm well. All that one needs is sixth sense or down-to-earth sense, the main ingredient of a green thumb. Here are valuable tips.
1. Get the most sunlight
A maximum of five hours of sunlight should be available - geographically speaking that is. Morning and direct sunlight is ideal for photosynthesis. But you need longer exposure for fruit vegetables, corn and viny plants like, ampalaya. So with crucifers like mustard and pechay because these are long-day plants.
Well, to get more sunlight, I prune the surrounding talisay or umbrella trees at least once a year. I use the branches for trellis and poles. Then, I paint the surrounding walls with white to enhance reflected and diffused light to increase photosynthesis.
Plot the sun’s course and align the rows on an East-West direction. Plants do not directly over-shadow each other this way. This is very important during wet season when days are cloudy and plants grow luxuriantly. Other than maximizing solar radiation you also get rid of soil borne plant diseases. Sunlight that gets in between the plants helps eliminate pest and pathogens. And in summer, you can increase your seeding rate, and therefore potential yield. Try planting in triangular formation or quincunx. Outline that part of the garden that receives the longest sunlight exposure. Plant this area with sun-loving plants like okra and ampalaya.
Lastly, remember that plants which grow on trellises and poles “reach out for the sun,” thus require less ground space. Put up trellises at blind corners and train viny plants to climb early and form a canopy. For string beans, use poles on which they climb. You wouldn’t believe it but as long as your rows are aligned with the sun’s movement, and that trellises and poles are used, you can plant more hills in a given area, and you can have dwarf and tall plants growing side by side. Try alternate rows of sitao, tomato and cabbage.
2. Try Mixed Garden or Storey Cropping
What is the composition of an ideal garden? Again, there’s no standard design for it. The most practical type is a mixed garden. A mixed garden is like a multi-storey building. Plants are grouped according to height. That is why you have to analyze their growing habits.
Are they tall or dwarf? Are they seasonal, biennial or permanent? What part of the year do they thrive best? Refer to the planting calendar or consult your nearest agriculturist.
Look for proper cropping combinations through intercropping or crop rotation. Malunggay, papaya, kamias, banana and the like, make good border plants. Just be sure they do not shade smaller plants. Cassava and viny plants trained on trellis are next in height.
Community gardening, QC
The group of pepper, tomato and eggplant follows, while the shortest in height hierarchy are sweet potato, ginger and other root crops. Imagine how these crops are grouped and built like a tall building. We call this storey cropping.
A friend commented, “Why streamline your garden the American way?” I agree with him. Plant the Filipino way.
At any rate there are crops “we plant and forget.” Before the pot starts to shimmer, you realize you need some malunggay leaves, a dozen tops of kamote, a handful of fresh onion leaves, etc. All you need is to dash to the backyard and pick these green ingredients.
3. Practice Organic Farming
Traditional farming is back with modern relevance. Organic farming is waste recycling - not by getting rid of the waste itself but by utilizing it as production input. “This system is an alternative to conventional chemical farming”, says Domingo C. Abadilla in his book, Organic Farming.
Practice organic farming for two reasons. Crops grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides are safer and more nutritious.
What would you do with poultry droppings and Azolla from the fishpond? Kitchen refuse and weeds? Make valuable compost out of them. For potash, sieve ash from a garbage-dumping site. Just be sure it is not used for industrial waste. Can we grow crops without insecticides? Generally, no. But there are ways to protect plants in a safe way, such as the following:
.
My wife, who is an accountant, estimates that presently, the garden could save up to 20 percent of our family’s expense for food, in exchange for twenty family man-hours every week. Labor makes up to 50 percent of production costs, she says. Since gardening is a hobby in lieu of outdoor games, we agreed not to include labor as cost. This gives a positive sign to the garden’s financial picture.
We do not also consider in the book the aesthetic value of weekends when the garden becomes a family workshop to prove green thumbs, and gainful influence my family has made on the community, such as giving free seeds and seedlings, and know-how tips. When my children celebrate their birthdays, the kids in the neighborhood enjoy harvesting tomatoes, string beans and leafy vegetables - a rare experience for boys and girls in the city.
What makes a garden? Frankly, I have no formula for it. I first learned farming from my father who was a gentleman farmer before I became an agriculturist. But you do not have to go for formal training to be able to farm well. All that one needs is sixth sense or down-to-earth sense, the main ingredient of a green thumb. Here are valuable tips.
1. Get the most sunlight
A maximum of five hours of sunlight should be available - geographically speaking that is. Morning and direct sunlight is ideal for photosynthesis. But you need longer exposure for fruit vegetables, corn and viny plants like, ampalaya. So with crucifers like mustard and pechay because these are long-day plants.
Well, to get more sunlight, I prune the surrounding talisay or umbrella trees at least once a year. I use the branches for trellis and poles. Then, I paint the surrounding walls with white to enhance reflected and diffused light to increase photosynthesis.
Plot the sun’s course and align the rows on an East-West direction. Plants do not directly over-shadow each other this way. This is very important during wet season when days are cloudy and plants grow luxuriantly. Other than maximizing solar radiation you also get rid of soil borne plant diseases. Sunlight that gets in between the plants helps eliminate pest and pathogens. And in summer, you can increase your seeding rate, and therefore potential yield. Try planting in triangular formation or quincunx. Outline that part of the garden that receives the longest sunlight exposure. Plant this area with sun-loving plants like okra and ampalaya.
Lastly, remember that plants which grow on trellises and poles “reach out for the sun,” thus require less ground space. Put up trellises at blind corners and train viny plants to climb early and form a canopy. For string beans, use poles on which they climb. You wouldn’t believe it but as long as your rows are aligned with the sun’s movement, and that trellises and poles are used, you can plant more hills in a given area, and you can have dwarf and tall plants growing side by side. Try alternate rows of sitao, tomato and cabbage.
2. Try Mixed Garden or Storey Cropping
What is the composition of an ideal garden? Again, there’s no standard design for it. The most practical type is a mixed garden. A mixed garden is like a multi-storey building. Plants are grouped according to height. That is why you have to analyze their growing habits.
Are they tall or dwarf? Are they seasonal, biennial or permanent? What part of the year do they thrive best? Refer to the planting calendar or consult your nearest agriculturist.
Look for proper cropping combinations through intercropping or crop rotation. Malunggay, papaya, kamias, banana and the like, make good border plants. Just be sure they do not shade smaller plants. Cassava and viny plants trained on trellis are next in height.
Community gardening, QC
The group of pepper, tomato and eggplant follows, while the shortest in height hierarchy are sweet potato, ginger and other root crops. Imagine how these crops are grouped and built like a tall building. We call this storey cropping.
A friend commented, “Why streamline your garden the American way?” I agree with him. Plant the Filipino way.
At any rate there are crops “we plant and forget.” Before the pot starts to shimmer, you realize you need some malunggay leaves, a dozen tops of kamote, a handful of fresh onion leaves, etc. All you need is to dash to the backyard and pick these green ingredients.
3. Practice Organic Farming
Traditional farming is back with modern relevance. Organic farming is waste recycling - not by getting rid of the waste itself but by utilizing it as production input. “This system is an alternative to conventional chemical farming”, says Domingo C. Abadilla in his book, Organic Farming.
Practice organic farming for two reasons. Crops grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides are safer and more nutritious.
What would you do with poultry droppings and Azolla from the fishpond? Kitchen refuse and weeds? Make valuable compost out of them. For potash, sieve ash from a garbage-dumping site. Just be sure it is not used for industrial waste. Can we grow crops without insecticides? Generally, no. But there are ways to protect plants in a safe way, such as the following:.
• Use mild detergent, preferably coconut-based soap, to control aphids and other plant lice.
• Plant tomatoes around pest prone plants. They exude repellant odor on a wide variety of pests.
• Keep a vigil light above the garden pond to attract nocturnal insects that may lay eggs on your plants at daytime. Tilapia and hito relish on insects.
Alugbati, tops gathered for diningding and salad; tanglad
If you find stubborn insect pest like caterpillars and crickets, make a nicotine solution and spray. Crush one or two sticks of cigarette, irrespective of its brand, dissolve it in a bucket of water. The solution is ready for application with sprinkler or sprayer. But be sure not to use the solution on tomato, pepper and eggplant. It is possible that tobacco mosaic virus can be transmitted to these crops.
4. Raise Fish in the Garden Pond
Water from the pond is rich with algae, plant nutrients and detritus. While you water your plants, you are also fertilizing them. The pond should be designed for growing tilapia, hito or dalag, or a combination of these. For tilapia, keep its population low to avoid overcrowding and competition. Stock fingerlings of the same size and age.
Try growing hito, native or African. When you buy live hito from the market, separate the small ones (juveniles), which will serve as your growers. They are ready to harvest in 3 to 6 months with 3 pieces making a kilo. Hito is easier to raise than any other freshwater fish. One thing is that you do not change water often because the fish prefers to have a muddy bottom to stay.
Feed the fish with chicken and fish entrails, vegetable trimmings, dog food, etc. Just avoid accumulation of feed that may decompose and cause foul odor, an indication that Oxygen is being replaced with Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide.
Azolla, a floating fern, is good fish and animal feeds because it contains 20 to 25 percent protein,. It is also an excellent organic fertilizer because it is rich in nitrate, a product of nitrogen fixation by Anabaena, a microscopic blue-green algae living in the fronds of Azolla. Nitrate is important for plant growth. Grow Azolla in a separate pond, or in floating cage, so as to maintain a regular biomass supply.
A friend who is a heavy smoker, came to visit our garden. When he touched the tomato plants, he was unknowingly inoculating mosaic virus. Tobacco virus can remain dormant in cigars and cigarette for as long as twenty years. Then it springs to life in the living system of the host plant that belongs to Solanaceae or tobacco family.
4. Raise Fish in the Garden Pond
Catfish (hito) fattened in our garden pond have become pets; the biggest measures 2 ft long.
Water from the pond is rich with algae, plant nutrients and detritus. While you water your plants, you are also fertilizing them. The pond should be designed for growing tilapia, hito or dalag, or a combination of these. For tilapia, keep its population low to avoid overcrowding and competition. Stock fingerlings of the same size and age.
Try growing hito, native or African. When you buy live hito from the market, separate the small ones (juveniles), which will serve as your growers. They are ready to harvest in 3 to 6 months with 3 pieces making a kilo. Hito is easier to raise than any other freshwater fish. One thing is that you do not change water often because the fish prefers to have a muddy bottom to stay.
Feed the fish with chicken and fish entrails, vegetable trimmings, dog food, etc. Just avoid accumulation of feed that may decompose and cause foul odor, an indication that Oxygen is being replaced with Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Sulfide.
Azolla, a floating fern, is good fish and animal feeds because it contains 20 to 25 percent protein,. It is also an excellent organic fertilizer because it is rich in nitrate, a product of nitrogen fixation by Anabaena, a microscopic blue-green algae living in the fronds of Azolla. Nitrate is important for plant growth. Grow Azolla in a separate pond, or in floating cage, so as to maintain a regular biomass supply.
5. Integrate Backyard Poultry
Raise some broilers and layers in separate cages. Have other cages to rear chicks and growers to replenish your stock. Formulate your feed. If not, mix commercial broiler feed and yellow corn in equal proportion. This is more economical and you may get better results than by using commercial broiler feeds alone.
Construct a fence around the cages and have some turkey on the loose. Similarly you may rear a few native chickens to get rid of feed waste. Clip their wings regularly to prevent them from escaping and destroying your garden. I don’t recommend piggery unless the neighborhood does not object to it.
6. Plant Fruit Trees
Raise some broilers and layers in separate cages. Have other cages to rear chicks and growers to replenish your stock. Formulate your feed. If not, mix commercial broiler feed and yellow corn in equal proportion. This is more economical and you may get better results than by using commercial broiler feeds alone.
Construct a fence around the cages and have some turkey on the loose. Similarly you may rear a few native chickens to get rid of feed waste. Clip their wings regularly to prevent them from escaping and destroying your garden. I don’t recommend piggery unless the neighborhood does not object to it.
6. Plant Fruit Trees
Do not forget to have some native fruit bearing trees such as guava, atis, guyabano, kamias, kalamansi and other citrus species. If your area is big you can include coconut, mango, kaimito, bananas. Rambutan? Why not? There are fruit bearing rambutan trees in some residences in Quezon City.
Just like annual plants, adopt the East-West planting method for trees so that you can have seasonal crops in between their rows. Use compost for the fruit trees, just like in vegetables. You can plant orchard trees like mango, guyabano, coconut and cashew along the sidewalk fronting your residence.
7. Make Your Own Compost, and Grow Mushrooms, Too In one corner, build a compost pile with poles and mesh wire, 1m x 2m, and 2m in height. Dump leaves, kitchen refuse, chicken droppings and allow them to decompose to become valuable organic fertilizer. Turn the pile once a month until it is ready for use.
In another place you can have a mushroom pile made of rice straw, or water hyacinth. After harvesting the mushrooms, the spent material is a good compost material and composting will take a shorter time. To learn more about mushroom growing and composting, refer to the technology tips of DOST-PCARRD, or see your agriculturist in your area.
8. Plant Herbals - Nature’s First Aid
It is good to have the following plants as alternative medicine. Lagundi for flu and fever, guava for skin diseases and body odor, aromatic pandan and tanglad for deodorant and air freshener, oregano for cough and sore throat, mayana for boils and mumps, ikmo for toothache, pandakaki for cuts. There are other medicinal plants you can grow in your backyard. Remember, herbals are nature’s first-aid.
Atis, ripe on the tree
Just like annual plants, adopt the East-West planting method for trees so that you can have seasonal crops in between their rows. Use compost for the fruit trees, just like in vegetables. You can plant orchard trees like mango, guyabano, coconut and cashew along the sidewalk fronting your residence.
7. Make Your Own Compost, and Grow Mushrooms, Too In one corner, build a compost pile with poles and mesh wire, 1m x 2m, and 2m in height. Dump leaves, kitchen refuse, chicken droppings and allow them to decompose to become valuable organic fertilizer. Turn the pile once a month until it is ready for use.
In another place you can have a mushroom pile made of rice straw, or water hyacinth. After harvesting the mushrooms, the spent material is a good compost material and composting will take a shorter time. To learn more about mushroom growing and composting, refer to the technology tips of DOST-PCARRD, or see your agriculturist in your area.
8. Plant Herbals - Nature’s First Aid
It is good to have the following plants as alternative medicine. Lagundi for flu and fever, guava for skin diseases and body odor, aromatic pandan and tanglad for deodorant and air freshener, oregano for cough and sore throat, mayana for boils and mumps, ikmo for toothache, pandakaki for cuts. There are other medicinal plants you can grow in your backyard. Remember, herbals are nature’s first-aid.
Pansit-pansitan (Piperomia felucida) for arthritis; Oregano for colds and sore throat, also for food flavoring (dinuguan, pizza)
Pandan mabango for rice flavoring; soro-soro for lechon. Coconut provides the family young (buko) and mature nuts every two months.
Saluyot and squash flowers grow with very little attention; malunggay tree.
Saluyot and squash flowers grow with very little attention; malunggay tree.
Malunggay is a must in every backyard. It grows along fences and in dead corners into a moderate size tree that remains productive up to 20 years or even more. Our malunggay tree at home is around 35 years now. Both leaves and young pods are rich in vitamins and minerals.
These things and many others are the reasons you should have a home garden. One thing is sure in the offing: it is a source of safe and fresh vegetables and fruits, fish and meat, and natural medicine. Most important of all, the garden is a re-creation of nature itself, a patch of the lost Eden.
These things and many others are the reasons you should have a home garden. One thing is sure in the offing: it is a source of safe and fresh vegetables and fruits, fish and meat, and natural medicine. Most important of all, the garden is a re-creation of nature itself, a patch of the lost Eden.
*Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid Dr Abe V Rotor and Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8-9 evening class, Monday to Fridayar
Part 3 - Home Gardening - buffer against spiraling prices of food and other commodities
"When local tomato costs more than that of imported apple, when you can't find papaya in the market, pechay wilted exuding chemicals - there must be something seriously wrong! Go into home gardening."
Plants every home garden must have
A home garden is beneficial for your cooking and dining, home beautification and sanitation, and most important of all, your health. And, why not initiate gardening in your school and community? 
It's gardening time! And gardening is beneficial for your kitchen, home beautification and sanitation, and most important of all, your health. And, why not initiate gardening in your school and community?
Saba banana (Musa sapientum): multipurpose - leaves for food wrapper (suman, tupig, bibingka, kanin), packaging material (baon, live or fresh fish and aquatic products), leaves as floorwax. Fruit, ripe or green, excellent source of energy and nutrients, so with the flowers (puso ng saging). Trunk as source of fiber and packing materials. Mushroom spawn under banana plants.Coconut (Cocos nucifera): It's the most important plant in the world when it comes to productivity and variety of products. The nut is a complete food - young or mature. There is no part of the plant that has no value. Walis tingting, leaves for mat, wall, and sinambong basket. Trunk lumber outlasts most wood. Fiber from husk for cordage and net, coir dust for soil conditioner. Flower spadix for ties and rope. Nectar for beverage and wine. All you need is, two to three trees at some years age interval. A coconut tree can live productively up to fifty years giving you at least a dozen nuts every month.
Malunggay, the miracle vegetable. In the province no home is without this small tree at the backyard or on a vacant lot. The leaves, flowers, juvenile pods and young fruits of Moringa oleifera (Family Moringaceae) go well with fish, meat, shrimp, mushroom, and the like. It is one plant that does not need agronomic attention, not even weeding and fertilization, much less chemical spraying. You simply plant an arms length cutting or two, in some corner or along the fence and there it grows into a tree that can give you a ready supply of vegetables year round. What nutrients do we get from malunggay?Here is a comparison of the food value of the fresh leaves and young fruits, respectively, in percent. (Marañon and Hermano, Useful Plants of the Philippines)
• Proteins 7.30 7.29
• Carbohydrates 11.04 2.61
• Fats 1.10 0.16
• Crude Fiber 1.75 0.76
• Phosphorus (P2 O 5) 0.24 0.19
• Calcium (CaO) 0.72 0.01
• Iron (Fe2O3) 0.108 0.0005
Kamias: Once in a while try sinigang with kamias, specially fish. It takes out the fish smell. Its sourness is distinct from that of vinegar, tamarind, and kalamansi. Just don't indulge too much because the sour taste is oxalic acid which is deficient in calcium. But oxalic acid is best for cleaning tiles and utensils. Its effective in cleaning the drain. Bees often visit its flowers.
Tanglad or lemon grass as food condiment for kuhol and lechon. As deodorizer, it imparts pleasant smell, absorbs or masks unpleasant odor in bathroom and kitchen. 
Alugbati is a climber, and lives for some years providing a continuous supply of shoots or tops cooked as vegetable, best with mungo. It is the cheapest and readily available source of iron for the family.
Pandan mabango: Aromatic, its leaves improve the taste of food. Put a leaf in a pot of old rice (laon) before cooking to take out the moldy taste and smell. Pandan leaves make a refreshing drink with any fruit juice. Try sago, gulaman and pandan. Pandan cake? It breaks the monotony in bread products. First prepare a layer of pandan leaves like mat before cooking fish paksiw will taste. Clean kitchen utensils and tiles with crushed leaves. A unique volatile oil present only in pandan mabango make this plant a favorite of housewives .
These are also a must to have in the garden: - Onion (shallot or bulb)
- Papaya
- Guava
- Sorosoro (karimbuaya Ilk)
- Oregano
- Lagundi
- Sambong
- Lemon or kalamansi
- Luya (ginger)
- Sampaguita
Don't forget to build a garden pond and plant around it water-loving plants. Pond water becomes green with algae. It is the best natural fertilizer, specially if you are raising tilapia or hito or Pangasius catfish.
- Kangkong
- Gabi
- Sugarcane for chewing
Here are some suggested plants to include.
- Kutchai (photo, right)
- Siling labuyo
- Kamote
- Yerba buena (mint)
- Ampalaya
- Tsaang Gubat or wild tea (photo, top)
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NOTE: Don't replace any plant that is useful or have potential value. Allow those that spontaneously grow like saluyot, spinach, alugbati, talinum, gulasiman. They are wild and seasonal. Help them grow for your vegetable supply, herbal medicine, and animal feeds.
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Just don't overload your garden. And give yourself a break. Don't be a slave to your garden, so to speak. By the way even without our knowing it, annual plants simply sprout in the garden. Many of these are seasonal. While most are so-called weeds, there are food plants that grow spontaneously like saluyot, amaranth of kolitis, wild yam, wild ampalaya, talinum, and at least a dozen more if you are living in a fertile and well drained area.
What to plant often poses a problem. Here's what you can do. Go around your community and adjacent places where the environment is typical in your area, (topography, soil type, and the like) and survey the kinds of plants that successfully grow. Interview farmers and gardeners. With this list you can design your garden, or add on to those you already have. If you like to experiment with "foreign" plants, do it on research basis and learn more in the process.
A home garden actually is a miniature representation of a large farm. It is typical in size for a family, as small as 10 square meters to one hectare, or larger. The garden is an integral part of the home. It aims at self-sufficiency, environmental friendliness, and health-promoting, and ultimately, at living in a Home, Sweet Home with Nature.~
Part 4 - In annual observance of World Food Day October 16, 2015. Theme: “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty”, and how this links with the UN theme for Expo 2015, “The Zero Hunger Challenge · United for a sustainable world”.
and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2015. Theme: Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discriminationDr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio
8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
My Nipa Hut, oil painting by AVRotor (2000)In effect, this Homesite model becomes a model farm, a Homestead - one that has economic and ecological attributes that characterize the concept of sustainable productivity cum aesthetics and educational values.
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I invite all followers and readers of this Blog to adopt these models in their own capacities wherever they reside - in the rural or urban area - and whenever they find them feasible, and thus join the movement which PBH has been carrying on in the last twenty years or so.
It is for this nationwide campaign that PBH has earned, among other programs, the Oscar Florendo Award for Developmental Journalism, indeed a tribute to all those who have participated, and are going to participate, in the pursuit of the noble objectives of this campaign.
Draw an aerial view of an ideal Filipino home on the country side (homestead, meaning, the dwelling and homelot), based on the Bahay Kubo concept. Modify it to meet present situation, objectives and goals. Fit the lyrics into your illustration. Label properly. On another bond, "sell" (social marketing) your obra maestra, in an essay or feature.
Bahay kubo, hahit munti, ang halaman doon ay sari-sari. Singkamas at talong, sigidillas at mani, sitao, batao, patani. Kondol, patola, upo, kalabasa, at sa ka mayroon pa, labanos, mustasa. Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya, at ang paligidligid ay linga.
Nipa hut*, even though it is small
The plants it houses are varied
Turnip and eggplant, winged bean and peanut
String bean, hyacinth bean, lima bean.
Wax gourd, luffa**, white squash and pumpkin,
And there is also radish, mustard,
Onion, tomato, garlic, and ginger
And all around are sesame seeds.
Acknowledgment: Mama Zisa’s World
International Music & Culture
Why is the Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut) and its variants in Asia and the Pacific Region (also in other parts of the world) gaining popularity? With eco-tourism and agro-tourism on the rise, economic difficulties notwithstanding, the bahay kubo is at center stage.
Tourists love it, and the bahay kubo bamboo craft industry is gaining popularity abroad. Bahay Kubo for export!
A bahay kubo is easy to make - structurally and aesthetically. It allows modification in size, dimension, design and make, usually with materials that are locally available. It is popularly affordable, a solution to the present housing problem.
No, it is not the shanty that is being pictured. The shanty, in fact, is the anti-thesis of the bahay kubo. It undermines its purpose and beauty, and most importantly, the pride and dignity of this symbol of Filipino heritage.
Evolution of the Bahay Kubo. These models retain the essence of the Bahay Kubo Culture.
Move over American Bungalow. Here is Bahay Kubo revived and evolved.
Tourists love it, and the bahay kubo bamboo craft industry is gaining popularity abroad. Bahay Kubo for export!
A bahay kubo is easy to make - structurally and aesthetically. It allows modification in size, dimension, design and make, usually with materials that are locally available. It is popularly affordable, a solution to the present housing problem.
No, it is not the shanty that is being pictured. The shanty, in fact, is the anti-thesis of the bahay kubo. It undermines its purpose and beauty, and most importantly, the pride and dignity of this symbol of Filipino heritage.
- Today it is common to see city homes having a bahay kubo in their backyard, so with tops of buildings. At a distance one can glimpse a bahay kubo perched on a high rise building.
- Vacation houses and beach cottages, also beer gardens and reception centers, are of the bahay kubo design and make.
- Imagine the tree house of the Swiss Family Robinson, in a novel of the same title by Johann Wyss. Let's not get far. Filipinos like to build houses on trees. There's one in Rosario (La Union) perched on a huge acacia tree.
- So with fancy doghouses and bird cages. Have you observed pig pens, poultry houses or sheds designed after the bahay kubo?
- Going natural? Count the bahay kubo - no plastics, no paints, and the least use of non-biodegradable materials. It is a self-contained system of recycling.
- It is energy saving, in fact independent, save some lighting. Fireplace is designed for firewood, windows allow sunlight and breeze freely. There's no need of vacuum cleaner, polisher, and other amenities of an urban home.
- Nothing beats Going Natural by having fresh fruits and vegetables, clean air and water, adequate exercise from home and garden chores. And having trees and plants around. That's natural air conditioning.
- It's tranquil and cool, no echoing walls and ceiling, in fact it is acoustically efficient to deaden noise. More so with the trees; they absorb sound and dust, and keep humidity and temperature stable. They serve as natural windbreak, and barrier of sudden gusts.
Evolution of the Bahay Kubo. These models retain the essence of the Bahay Kubo Culture.
Bahay kubo is the symbol of bayanihan or cooperativism. It is relocating a whole and intact house from one place to another in the same neighborhood, on bare shoulders, so to speak, in a festive and quaint atmosphere. It is our dream as a people to be strong the bayanihan way. And to live simply, naturally, happy, healthy, and long, with the whole family.
Mabuhay ang Bahay Kubo. ~
Bayanihan, painting by Lito Barcelona
Added reference: SEARCH earlier post, Bahay Kubo;Living with Nature, AVR; acknowledgment, Sheet Music Lisa Yannucci; painting Lito Barcelona, from Internet.
Mabuhay ang Bahay Kubo. ~
Bayanihan, painting by Lito BarcelonaAdded reference: SEARCH earlier post, Bahay Kubo;Living with Nature, AVR; acknowledgment, Sheet Music Lisa Yannucci; painting Lito Barcelona, from Internet.
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