**here are my tita's pictures, each statement made by her. am so proud of her...for what she is, for everything about her...no matter what***
 |
| amongst my container plants: tomatoes, coriander, celery, alugbati, garlic. behind me are my ginger, kalamansi, malunggay, and taro plants. |
In my household, my family is so blessed to have lived with a couple we simply call manoy and manay. They both have green thumbs; in fact the vacant lot that we utilize as a pocket vegetable garden is cultivated by manoy. It yields produce so healthy and vibrant that it is a feast both to the stomach and the eyes.
 |
| nagbabayubo... |
In our clan, I have a loving aunt whose hale
and hearty disposition in life inspires me so much that everything I see around
her seems to be blanketed in genuine warmth and love. Not so many see as I see
it. Part of it may be because my aunt and I have synchronizing brain-waves; our
thoughts are aligned, our viewpoints and ideals are in so much harmony that
many relatives would be amazed by how much we get along well together.
 |
ladang sambalas... |
When we talk about dreams and goals, we have
a common thread: that of building an organic farm filled with a green goodness
planted by my aunt, nurtured by her staff, crops harvested and brought straight
to the kitchen for her jams, preserves, pickles, dips and dressings. My
wonderful aunt is also a celebrated baker and upcoming chef; she’s got the
Midas touch when it comes to food. Everything she cooks turns to gold. Golden
flavor, that is. So in this dream organic farm, she bakes healthy breads with
perhaps malunggay, ampalaya and kalabasa in it and concocts splendid spreads
and dips like hummus, pesto and eggplant-garlic duo.
 |
| camote, eggplants, peppers, alugbati, tanglad, and okra... |
In this dream organic farm, I do the
mega-marketing for her: networking with companies, communities, families and
individuals, overseas and local. This way I have promoted not only our beloved
Bicolandia but our verdant Philippines in totality. My other participation is
fusing environmental love with her lush ranch….reduce-reuse-recycle facility
creation. In there, the organic wastes we collect are turned into fertilizers
for her plants; the plastics and bottles are turned into works of art like
potting medium for a container garden. This is another story I’d gladly share
for the next read…..
 |
| my eggplants in containers... |
I am the lucky taster of her creations so I
could vouch for her talents. Where life hits her hard, I am there to comfort
her. Where my tummy is so growling with hunger, she’s there to feed me. Not
only do we nurture each other but we also encourage each others’ dreams.
 |
| this was a landscaped garden , i transformed it into a vegetable organic garden... |
We are an omnivorous lot so to counteract the
not-so-healthy effects of eating a lot of meat or any other animal food source;
we make sure to incorporate a lot of greens into the family diet. Nutrition is
all about a balance of the food pyramid, I believe so. There’s a reason why the
fruits and vegetable area is wider than the rest: it’s for a purpose of
providing the much needed nutrients and fiber our bodies need to sustain us
healthily.
 |
| ampalaya, di naipakita yung mga pechay... |
Blessings these people are to us. They came
into our lives for a reason; the purpose is to sustain that glow of health
within and without…to make us holistic persons so that in turn, we could be a
blessing to others as well.
 |
| sitaw and pepino in containers... |
To inspire the greater many who are
home-gardening enthusiasts like my aunt, I have attached herewith photos
courtesy of her. These are taken in her lovely abode in Manila with her
permission to be published in your magazine. In her web account, she entitled
her photo entries as>>>>** The things I did this summer 2012
 |
| MALUNGGAY... and plenty of it!!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment