Usapang Bayan October 18, 2024 Friday 2-3 pm: Living with Folk Wisdom and Practical Technology (Article in Progress)

Living with Folk Wisdom

and Practical Technology

Usapang Bayan October 18, 2024 Friday 2-3 pm

Part 1 - Chicken Soup is Best for Convalescent;

If Dust Gets into Your Eyes, Blow Your Nose.

Part 2 - Ten (10) Healthy Food Rules

Part 3 - Don't Waste Food! Don't. Recycle leftover food in different presentations.
Part 4 - Fifty (50) Tips to Save Energy

Part 1 - Chicken Soup is Best for Convalescent;

If Dust Gets into Your Eyes, Blow Your Nose.

Published by University of Santo Tomas, launched 2008 Manila International Book Fair, SMX Mall of Asia, 220 pp. "The book is a compendium of indigenous technical knowledge complemented with modern scientific thinking. The narratives offer an exploration into the world of ethno-science covering a wide range of practical interest from climate to agriculture; medicine to food and nutrition..: (Excerpt of Foreword by Dr Lilian J Sison, dean UST Graduate School).

" For the science educator and communicator, here is a handy volume to help you reach the popular consciousness. You will find here more than ample number of examples for making connections between lived experience and scientific information." (Dr Florentino H Hornedo, UNESCO Commissioner)

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Some time ago a good old friend asked me, Abe how can you go back to nature? Are you going back to the farm. Don’t you like to live anymore in the city? Are you selling your car.

Yes, I answered. No not my car, that’s my only car. Yes, I can live with nature. Oo nga naman. We talked and talked, until we were back in our childhood – I mean, childhood. This was when my father got sick. And this is how I came to learn that chicken soup is good for one who is convalescing, yon’ galing sa sakit - nagpapagaling.

True. Totoo. Chicken soup is good for the convalescent. However, there are specifications of the kind of chicken to be served. First, it must be native chicken. Karurayan is the term in Ilocos for a pure white native chicken which does not bear any trace of color on its feathers. It is preferably a female, dumalaga or fryer, meaning it has not yet reached reproductive stage. It is neither fat nor thin. Usually the herbolario chooses one from recommended specimens. He then instructs and supervises the household in the way the karurayan is dressed, cut, cooked into tinola (stew) and served to the convalescent. He does not ask for any fee for his services, but then he takes home one or two of the specimens that did not pass the specifications. (The more affluent the patient is, the more chicken the herbolario takes.)

Chicken soup as a convalescent food is recognized in many parts of the world. Because of its popularity, chicken soup has become associated with healing, not only of the body – but the soul as well. In fact there is a series of books under the common title Chicken Soup - for the Woman’s Soul, Surviving Soul, Mother’s Soul, Unsinkable Soul, Writer’s Soul, etc. Of course, this is exaggeration, but nonetheless it strengthens our faith that this lowly descendant of the dinosaurs that once walked the earth of its panacean magic.

Try chicken soup to perk you up in these trying times - with all the rush, tension, various ailments, and expensive medication. Ika nga, bawal ang magkasakit.

But first, be sure your chicken does not carry antibiotic residues, and should not be one that is genetically engineered (GMO). By the way, I was a participant in the rituals made by this good herbolario. I was then a farmhand and I was tasked to get the karurayan. Our flock failed the test, but I found two dumalaga with few colored feathers. I plucked out the colored feathers and presented the birds to Ka Pepito. They passed the criteria. Three days after I asked my convalescing dad how he was doing. “I’m fine, I’m fine, now.” He assured me with a big smile.

Writing a book such as this needs advice. This time I needed one outside of the farm, and away from the village. There’s no one else to my mind but someone in the academe. I went to Dr. Lilian Sison, dean of the Graduate School of UST.

Winner of National Book Award 2007, Living with Nature in Our Times, a sequel to The Living with Nature Handbook Winner of Gintong Aklat (Golden Book) Award 2003)

Dean Sison went over the manuscript and after a few days, I went to see her again. In the message for the book she said the most beautiful things that encouraged me a lot to continue writing about Nature. She said, and I quote.

“Living with Nature in Our Times can be lumped up into one word - awareness. For today’s trend in progress and development, spurred by science and technology, and spun by globalization cannot undermine the need to answer a basic question, “Quo vadis?” (Where are you going?) To where are we headed as a civilization?”

Dean Sison continued, “Living with Nature in Our Times gives us practical knowledge that elevates our awareness on three levels: that of our perception of the things around us by our senses, that of our perception of the inner stimuli that affect not only our physical being but our psyche and emotion, and the third which occupies the highest level of awareness – that which is beyond mere perception because it requires us to imagine, plan and anticipate the future.

“Living with Nature in Our Times cautions us while walking on the busy lane of change. It reminds us to retrain our senses and to hone our sensitivity to better appreciate the best life can offer. Only when we are close to nature are we able to truly appreciate its exquisitiveness; only when we heed the old folks’ good advice can we truly appreciate the beauty and bounty of nature.”

I could say no more, overwhelmed by Dean Sison’s message. Then I realized. Mataas nga ang expectation ng reader sa libro ko! Did I write enough? Am I understood as much as the listeners to my radio program, Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid do? Baka naman hindi ako maintindihan ni Ka Pepe at si Aling Maria.

It was a weekend and it was the tail end the monsoon – the best time to be on the farm. I did the final editing of the book here – the farm where I grew up, where I got my stories, experiences I still remember, in a small town where I used to listen to old folks. This time I am one of them.

This same old good friend I told you earlier came to visit me. I took him out into the fields. It was harvest time and a time of festivities of sort in the fields. The maya birds came by hordes, A gust of wind blew and my friend winked, apparently napuwing. And he started rubbing his eyes. Huwag, I said. Just blow you nose. He laughed.

“Just do it.” I said. He did once, twice, each for each nose, covering the other. Harder. He looked amazed. The puwing is gone! Success! (You can try it later.)

My friend who grew up in the city complained again. “My tooth aches,” It’s lunchtime. Sayang. We were going to have lunch, picnic style beside a farm pond we call alug.

“Sumasakit din ang aking ngipin,” I said, … “na hindi ko matikman lahat nito,” savoring the aroma of the food being cooked. It’s like the proverbial grandmother’s pie.

“Hindi ako nagbibiro,” He said.

“Okay press the base of your jaw, like this,” and demonstrated how. Open your mouth and feel the attachment of the jaw, it’s the hollow part. Press it long enough until the pain subsides. He did it and held it there.

“Okay ka na?”

“Masakit pa rin.”

“Saan ba ang sumasakit?” Para akong dentista.

“Doktor, nga si Dr. Rotor,” I heard a kindly old woman nearby.

“Dito sa left.” My friend opened his jaw. “Mali ang pinipisil mo, eh. Ang pinipisil mo as ang kanan mong jaw.”

A whole banana leaf was laid before us. We sat on the grass. A tabo of water was passed on to each of us to wash his fingers before eating. Then, like the old faithful Genie had arrived, we were partaking in a banquet no five-star hotel could match.

There were hito, martiniko, broiled medium rare on uling, pesang dalag (mudfish stewed with green saba and a lot of tomato and onion, and kuhol with tanglad. Rice is newly harvested upland Milagrosa! Miracle talaga sa bango at sarap. Everyone was quiet. How could you with your mouth full? Now and then a dog would come from behind begging, licking.

“How you eat this kuhol, my friend asked. Ganito lips-to-lips,” Matunog. It tells your host you like the food very much. “Ayaw, eh” Pukpukin mo muna ang puit.” Paano? Kumain ka lang. Then we had ulang (river crayfish). Hindi ba masakit kumagat yan? He whispered.

“Hindi naman alimango yan, eh. At patay na. Sigue kumain ka lang.”

With or without toothache, we had our fill.

Masakit pa ba ?

Ow.. Ouch.. Ow.. This time tiyan naman niya ang sumasakit.

Oo nga naman. Pag meron kang kaibigan na katulad nito. Either you want to live long or … forget him.

Living with nature is fun, live life best – it’s more than The Good Life. It is Renaissance Part 2. It is Postmodern Renaissance. It is Living with Nature in Our Times.

Fr James Reuter SJ opened a path for me to become as book author. He wrote in his own handwriting the message of my first book, Light in the Woods. That was in 1995, I was 50, quite late to start writing. But I did.

AV Rotor with the late Fr James Reuter SJ, (May 21, 1916 – December 31, 2012), an American Jesuit Catholic priest who lived in the Philippines since he was 22 and taught at Ateneo de Manila University. He introduced Catholic programming to Philippine television and helped set up Radio Veritas. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism in 1989 and was granted honorary Filipino citizenship by the Philippine Congress in 2006. ~

*Response Book Launching August 30, 2007

Part 2 - Ten (10) Healthy Food Rules

Ukoy na kalabasa, with egg and small shrimp.

It is served in patties, or rolled like lumpia

Bulanglang or diningding: young pod of batao, malungay pod, soup

thickened with kamote or sweet potato, topped with sea weed (Gracillaria).

Fresh seaweeds as salad: Gracillaria and Codium (pokpoklo)

Sweet potato paste (suman)

Tamales, fish with onion, tomato black pepper, salt and ginger,

wrapped with banana leaves - steamed.

Sinkamas or yam with natural vinegar and salt.

Buko - direct from the young nut

Health Food Rules

Rule 1 - There is no substitute to freshness. Perishable food must be prepared and served without delay: newly caught fish (better if alive), animals and fowls direct from the slaughter house (better if butchered or dressed at home), newly picked fruits and vegetables (fully mature when harvested).

Rule 2 - The less processed your food is, the better. Reduce if not avoid eating processed food (canned, preserves, dairy, etc), heavily spiced, overcooked, over decorated, culinary loaded - they are unhealthy, They burden body physiology from digestion to circulation to excretion. Besides they are very expensive and unfriendly to the environment.

Rule 3 - Food residues are harmful, if not poisonous. Antibiotics residues in meat and poultry, eggs and dairy; sodium in salted products, instant noodles, sauce; chemical residues in fruits and vegetables from insecticide, herbicide, fungicide, nematocide; and hydrocarbon from fossil fuel and smoke emissions. The miracle insecticide against malaria mosquito - DDT (Dichloro-diphenyl-tetrachloro-ethane) remains banned because it is not degraded even as it passes from one organism to another in the food chain. Thus it accumulates in predators - among them humans. DDT poisoning builds even after years from ingestion.

Rule 4 - Metal poisoning causes permanent impairment, or results to death. Lead is the most common toxic metal around from, china wares to car batteries. It damages the central nervous system and internal organs. Mercury poisoning is more severe. Cadmium is a recent introduction with cell phones and other electronic devices. Other than direct contamination, these metals are absorbed by plants and animals and find their way on the dining table. Kitchen wares made of aluminum, tin, nickel, antimony are being phased out.

Rule 5 - Avoid particulates in food, water and air. Car and factory emissions scatter particulates in the environment which we can only observe in the form of smog, sediments and dusts. Tar from cigarette and asphalt, asbestos from car brakes, unburnt carbon from tires, and old and faulty engines, metal particles in factories, silica from cereal mills.

Rule 6 - Avoid synthetic food and additives, they are harmful, and affect mainly the nervous system and senses. The Number One food additive to avoid is Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) or Vetsin, and many surreptitious names or brands. It is the cause of Chinese Food Syndrome. A friend of mine died of vetsin overdose. It is also used in dognapping by simply throwing a piece of bread saturated with vetsin. Avoid sweeteners - NutraSweet, saccharin, aspartame and other concealed brand names. Another is Olestra - fatless fat. The fat molecules are so large the villi cannot absorb them. So the unbroken fat simply leaks and causes discomfort - and quite often, embarrassment. Go natural, like brewed rather that decaffeinated coffee.

Rule 7 - Beware of the invisible poison: radiation. The worst kind of radiation is from fallout following a nuclear explosion (Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945), and nuclear plant meltdown (Three-Mile Island in the US, Chernobyl in Russia in the seventies, and Fukoshima Japan following a massive tsunami in 2011). Radioactive decay slowly takes hundreds of years, thus it can cause harm to the members of the food chain. (grass to cow to milk to baby, back to the same or similar cycle). Radiation from high voltage lines, transmission towers, electronic gadgets may get into the food we eat. So with hospital waste containing radioisotopes. The innocent looking microwave oven is now being phased out in many countries.

Rule 8 - Beware of Frankenfood from Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). Frankenfood is named after the creator of the monster in Mary Shelley's novel –Frankenstein. Examples are Bacillus thuringiensis Corn (Bt Corn), GM potato, GM soybean, SavrFlavr tomato, and golden rice which contains the yellow pigment gene of daffodil. Pharmed food has built-in medicine or drug. An increasing number of food grown in the laboratory includes in vitro stem cell burger which is dubbed lab meat.

Rule 9 - Drink natural instead of distilled water. Manufacturers call bottled water as mineral water because the process did not take away the naturally occurring minerals which are removed through distillation. But why buy mineral water when you can make your own at home with seeds of malunggay (Moringa oleifera), and through simple water treatment?

Rule 10 - Don't overeat, and eat the right food with the proper nutritional value. Eat more fruits and vegetables and less of meat and meat products. It is best to grow or procure your food, cook at home and serve it yourself to your family. The family that eats together stays together happy and healthy. Food indeed is santa gracia. ~

LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Part 3 - Don't Waste Food! Don't.

Recycle leftover food in different presentations.

I believe in the wisdom of the old folks that reminds us of the value of food. They have experienced hunger during war, drought, flood, crop failure, pestilence - even in normal times.

Part 1 - Don't throw away food left on the table. Please don't.

• Food is Santa Gracia (holy grace) as old folks reverently call it.

• Food waste could otherwise go to millions who have not enough to eat.

• Food waste breeds pest and disease, sickens the air.

Aesthetics of Food Art on the dining table

• Anything that goes to waste draws down the economy.

• Waste widens inequity in resources.

. Wasted food is contrary to thanksgiving and festivities. It offends most Ceres, the goddess of bounty. Food waste can be converted into useful products, such as biogas and compost.

. Wasted food violates universal ethico-morals.

Here are some things to do with food leftovers.

1. Sinagag - fried rice mix with bits of bacon, ham, fried egg, fish, and the like.

2. Torta - tidbits like those mentioned in scramble egg. Include veggies like carrot and onion.

3. Pickle – excess veggies and fruits plus vinegar, sugar and salt, and spices. Good for carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, green papaya, yam (sinkamas), others.

4. Paksiw – if not consumed is fried, makes a new menu.

5. Daing – fish in season is dried, cooked with gata’ (coconut milk).

6. Suka – fruit vinegar from overripe pineapple, banana, others, but not tomato and kamias.

7. Pudding – bread not consumed on time is also made into pizza bread- bread crumbs, garlic bread.

8. Sopas – Grind bones, shrimp head for soup and broth. Bulalo for whole bone.

9. Pastillas – milk powder not consumed on time, also grated hardened cheese.

10. Veggie and fruit peelings – for animal feeds, composting. Include solids from brewing (coffee) and juicing fruits. Ultimately, inevitable food waste is collected for feeds in poultry and piggery.

Food waste also emanates from carelessness in handling, food preparation and serving. Much is also lost due to lack of proper processing, transport and storage facilities. Estimated loss in postharvest alone runs from 10 to 37 percent of actual harvest of crops.

In "Give us this day our daily bread..." in the Lord's Prayer, us here is regarded as thanksgiving, and remembering the millions people around the world who may not have the food they need, especially in this time of pandemic crisis.

I believe in the wisdom of the old folk who reminds us of the value of food. They have experienced hunger during war, drought, flood, crop failure, pestilence - even in normal times. They have not lost sight of the presence of Santa Gracia.

Yes, children there is a Santa Gracia . ~

Complete Fried Rice

How to make fried rice attractive and tasty

"Peep-a-boo" Fried Rice

Oh, surprise your kids on the breakfast table,

or when they seem to have no appetite at all.

a peep-a-boo fried rice to them guessing game.

and there's always variety you can set again.

Serve fried rice as a complete meal

Or simply serve a complete rice meal with decors:
carrot bits, fried egg shreds, minced meat or fish
veggie and leek disguised, why not seaweeds, too?
newly cooked, teeming hot - no leftover, please. ~

Part 4 - Fifty (50) Tips to Save Energy

Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor

List down your views and experiences,
and share them in your school and community.

Switch to renewable energy in your household
Turn off the lights and electrical appliances when not using them
Use energy-efficient LED lightbulbs

Use less water and wash clothes in cold water
Shut doors and close curtains to keep the heat or cold in
Use appliances during off-peak times to lower your electric bills
Move your thermostat to an ideal temperature and avoid over-heating or cooling your home
Compare energy deals and switch to a cheaper or greener provider
Measure your electricity. Strive to reduce your monthly bills.
Shut doors and close curtains. Manage your heating and cooling.
Get the best energy deal.
Insulate your roof.

Save money with solar energy.
Unplug devices.
Replace your air-con's air filters once every three months
Ensure your fridge and freezers are fully closed
Shower with cooler water
Don't leave lights on during the day
Turn off your air-con when you’re not in the room
Recycle whenever possible — most of what we recycle is used to produce more energy
Plant trees for shade
Open windows at warm night to capture the cool breeze
Use shades, blinds, and drapes to block the sun
Avoid opening refrigerator/freezer doors to browse
Let hot foods cool before placing in refrigerator/freezer
Clean the back of refrigerator regularly
Wash and dry only full loads of clothes
Avoid over drying clothes. Hang clothes to air dry
Take shorter showers
Take a shower instead of a bath, uses less hot water
Turn water off while brushing teeth
Check faucets and toilets for leaks
Avoid overwatering with sprinkler system
Water garden and/or yard early morning or late afternoon to avoid high evaporation
Landscape with drought tolerant plants
Mulch around plants to help conserve water
Utilize spring for irrigation on property (if applicable)
Minimize vehicle washing
A properly tuned and oiled vehicle with correct tire pressure will get better mileage per gallon

Trade in gas vehicle for an electric or hybrid vehicle
Ride a bike
Walk instead of driving
Carpool or rideshare
Use public transportation
Shop local and online
Wear season/weather appropriate clothing
Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones
Use cloth towels and napkins instead of disposable ones
Cover bare floors for heat retention
Make use of natural light from windows and skylights