Bahay kubo, kahit munti…
"Bahay kubo, kahit munti, and halaman doon ay sari-sari…" We all know how the song goes. I have been singing this song to my son since he was born, and now, at two years old, he can memorize it by heart already. Together with the other Pinoy songs such as "Dandansoy", "Baleleng", and "Si Filemon", I want him to know this song by heart because its a beautiful way of remembering how blessed we are with the diversity of edible plants in the Philippines. And as the song goes, one doesn’t really need a big house, for as long as one is self-sufficient and well-nourished.
Last month, I decided to plant cucumbers, talong, and kamatis in our yard. We already have kalamunggay (malunggay), and lemongrass, and sili plants. We also have a big chico in the yard (which the fruit bats love to visit every night to the delight of Orrin), and some papaya trees and plenty of bananas in the lot in front of us. On the vacant lot next to us, the neighbors planted corn, squash and camote tops. And as a true-blue Ilongga, I have the requisite batwan growing in the front yard where a papaya tree used to grow. We used to have a golden coconut also, but we uprooted it and planted a fire tree instead (Orrin’s tree).
Now that the rains have come, I can start planting alugbati and basil. The thyme didn’t grow, maybe the seeds were bad,and the dill has long died. And I really hope that the ampalaya we recently planted grows well. The lanzones tree we have in a paint can will have to wait for somebody to adopt it, because we really do not have any space for it in the house. (We had a choice between the batwan and the lanzones, and the batwan tree got the space in the yard or course).
If Papi will give me more space, I would like to plant pechay and potatoes. But I don’t think he will, because his bonsais are crowded enough as it is. We haven’t done an inventory exactly, but I think he has at least 60 species of plants for bonsai, maybe more. One of these days, I will do an exact count of the plant diversity we have in our yard, and I’m sure it will reach at least 150 (including the mosses, weeds, and lichens in the tree. Papi has 13 Ficus species alone (some of them varieties), and underneath the chico tree, I can count 7 plant species outright (3 orchid species, a bromeliad, 2 creepers, and 2 other ornamental species).
We may not have a big house, but we are rich. And the frogs, butterflies, beetles, bees, wasps, and countless spiders, praying mantises and other insects that share the yard with us are our wealth indeed.
