Brains & Beauty Agriculture

So you think you know how to grow tomatoes! I don’t know where our friend Carly Yee picked up the image above shared on Facebook, but I have just checked and Heeman’s is in Ontario, Canada and not anywhere near the Philippines. But never mind; I was intrigued by all that instruction: Wrong Way, Right Way . Heeman’s must be talking about planting tomatoes by hand, wherever you have your garden, up there or down here. The instruction is that planting your tomato vertically is wrong, that planting it horizontally is right. “If you plant your tomato sideways to start, you can double or triple your root system PLUS prevent your tomato from getting blown around in the wind!” But suppose you start your tomato garden, or farm, sowing the seeds and not growing them first in a nursery? You will have to deal with tomato plants that are growing upright, right? Now, can you double or triple your root system just like Heeman’s is saying, by planting them upright? My pure Ilocano father Lakay Disiong...

So why is the whole world going crazy locking down cities and villages, preventing the proper growing, harvesting, processing, and distribution of naturally healthful foods?  Because the whole world is looking at only how to prevent the spread of a disease, not how to prevent the occurrence of a disease in the first place – or how to stop the progression of the disease in the human body once it is already there. Really, how important is Food in relation to Disease ? Here is a good measure of it: I googled for “food and disease” – those 3 words without the double quotes, and Google Search gave me “about 998,000,000 results (0.96 seconds).” Meaning, today almost 1 billion webpages talk importantly about food and disease! Superimposed image: This is how one American doctor puts it: “Healthy Eating Prevents Disease [1] ” – Chelsea Hollander, DO | Internal Medicine, CareMount Medical. Main image: Titled “Oriental Mindoro To Become Philippines’ Food Production Capital – DA [2] ” i...

Jean Loyola shares on Facebook the article “Do You Think Agriculture Should Be Included In School Curricula?” from Agriculture.com.ph (16 July 2019), actually a reprint of the American “Should Agriculture Be Compulsory In Our Schools? [1] ” by Georgia Hoolihan (08 July 2019, Barossaherald.com.au ), who says: Agriculture is arguably one of the most important industries to the human population, as it feeds and clothes us. ¶ Whether you are a vegan, a fast food junkie, a paleo dieter or anything in between, your diet has been provided by agriculture. ¶ It seems only logical that agriculture should be included in school curricula regardless of the school's (location). In fact, Ms Georgia, Agriculture is the most important of the industries to us humans! You have to find food and can’t do anything else if you are hungry! “Agriculture… feeds and clothes us” – yes, what would you do without clothes! Yes, let’s teach agriculture in high school. To make it exciting, the primordial thing is...

First, I have a personal announcement to make; finally, I have discovered the word that describes exactly what I have been doing in the last 57 years: werk which is acronym for my wanderlust exploring..... reaching into knowledge. Which explains this new blog of mine: werkaholic. Ever since my Tagalog teacher in high school discovered my talent for writing, in Tagalog while I am an Ilocano, I have been loving what I’m doing, so it’s not work – it’s werk! The words I have just invented, werk, werkaholic, actually apply to what I have been doing in my off-and-on blogging since I started sometime in 2005, then beginning to blog earnestly in January 2007 when Director General William Dar of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, recruited me as international consulting writer for ICRISAT, which was/is based in India. I was based in Manila; that was my first work-from-home assignment, WFH. Above, the image “The Importance Of Being Unexpected” isn’t mi...

Why is Angel Locsin, Filipina movie superstar, looking up? Let’s see what she sees! Lily Grace Tabanera writes in Cosmo.ph 19 May 2020, “Angel Locsin Is Raising Funds To Help With Mass Testing In The PH [1] :” Real-life (Wonder Woman) Angel Locsin is going non-stop! In April, Angel set up the #UniTentWeStandPH campaign to provide more than 28 hospitals with specialized tents for their Covid-19 patients, raising almost P 11 million. This time, she has a new goal: to purchase test kits and help poorer sectors get tested. Ms Angel is “pushing the TEST-TRACE-ISOLATE/TREAT formula… the only proven way to defeat the virus.” Let us grant, Ms Angel, using the 4T Formula, in the Philippines, you are talking of 109,500,000 warm bodies [2]  – as of midnight today, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 – so, how are you going to apply 4T to the millions?! It’s crazy! If you targeted only 20%, that would still be 21,900,000 (million), so I can see you will never finish. It’s insane! Earlier, 18 May 2020, Presid...

Here is the latest news from the Official Portal of the Department of Agriculture , DA: “Balik Probinsya” Paves Way To Agri Industrialization – DA Chief.” Great! Yes, I have read the BusinessMirror news of 06 May 2020 by Samuel P Medenilla: “Duterte Issues EO To Institutionalize Balik Probinsya Bagong Pag-asa Program. ” BP 2 , which I translate freely as Return to Country Return to Hope. Yes, I support the DA supporting the BP 2  program of President Duterte. For BP2, I am willing to relocate to my hometown of Asingan in Eastern Pangasinan. It will be easy for me, even at 79 years old – all I have to bring with me is my backpack where I have my Lenovo Core i7 14-inch touchscreen laptop, external hard disk, Lumix FZ100 digital camera superzoom, some clothes – and wife Ampy. With just those, I can work anywhere for you: All I would need is a fast WiFi connection. And what could I offer the DA under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie? The same things I have been offe...

The press release from the Department of Agriculture, DA, was titled “DA Proposes Measures To Revive, Reboot PHL Agri Sector [1] .” Now:  Revive – to restore to life physically ; Reboot – to restore to life virtually . 2 different worlds contained in 1 linear titular sentence. Did someone in the DA mix metaphors? Looking at the above image, my “global sunset” giving life to a dull scene, taken 08-Dec-16 with my Lumix FZ100 digital camera: The mixed metaphor is welcome – it gives light to a sleeping giant! Yes. The title “DA Proposes Measures To Revive, Reboot PHL Agri Sector” is excellent! It: (1)  realistically refers to the resuscitation of physical measures needed for PH agriculture to spring back to its feet; as well as    (2)  digitally refers to the renewing & revitalizing of virtual measures necessary to bring PH agriculture from inaccessible science to knowledge at your fingertips . And so Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has form...