Chapter 8 (27-May-09)

Spring has sprung, but in an unusual way. While we are accustomed to spring showers in most of America, here they are accustomed to dryness, even droughts. This spring however, was opened up with rain, as much as an inch each day, for several weeks.

One might think that would result in lots of flowers blooming, colors all round. But not so, it appears that flowers are not plentiful here. Vegetation is, but not flowers. I am not sure why.

When my baggage finally appeared from America, 4 months late, we planted some of the seeds within a week or so. I had built a trellis at the front of the property, so we planted sweet peas there. Whether it was because it was already the beginning of April, or maybe the heavy rain, or perhaps the warmer weather than sweet peas like, or perhaps even bugs or chickens enjoying the shoots, the sweet peas are history.

So we have a bare trellis.

I am trying to convince Didith to plant some Blue Hubbard squash there. I first planted Blue Hubbard in Tucson, along the chain link fence at the back of my property. The vines traveled up the 8 foot fence, then 15 feet down one side and 22 feet down the other. While the vines completely blocked the next neighbor's property, I had no squash. One day I decided I should look at the other side to see if the vines needed thinning. Once there I found numerous squash, blue, the size of watermelons, as much as 25 pounds. Seems they preferred the southern side of the fence.

Blue Hubbard is a Dutch squash, and is a winter squash. It is available in the states, but not readily. I found it on the internet by chance. Not bothering to read the back of the seed package, I planted it in late winter. Not familiar with the squash, I picked one far too early and cut it open. Again, not being familiar with the squash, I cut a slice off and tasted it. As close to being a watermelon as a vegetable can be. Cooked? Super!

The following year I decided to plant Blue Hubbard next to my porch. It vined up the porch and on to the roof.

Ah, can't fool you, all the squash ended up on the roof.

At any rate, we have some growing in the back garden, but I truly want to put some at the front trellis. Didith seems to be just as hard-headed as I am, which makes for an interesting combination.

While I am on the subject of vegetables, squash in particular, maybe it is a good time to show you how those Filipinos in the know check for ripeness of squash. This procedure was handed down to us by a veteran vendor at the vegetable market. Maybe this is a well-known procedure to you, but it is a new one to me.

At a point fairly near to the stem, which typically would be the last to ripen, press your thumbnail into the skin. A small amount of juice should appear.
Rub your forefinger across the juice.

Rub the juice at the base of the thumb on the other hand.

If the juice turns white, it is ripe. If not, don't bother to cut into the squash.

Stay tuned for the banana crop in our back yard.

When I arrived in December, people were busy preparing their rice fields. The seeds had already been purchased, and planted in those familiar small black plastic cups we use in America. The seeds are started 20 to 30 days in advance of the intended planting.

While there is evidence of some ancient rototillers on the island, there is few as the cost of purchasing and then maintaining them is beyond most means. Tractors? In your dreams. The usual alternative is as below:

Water is channeled into the fields by a makeshift dam, which is placed in a dike made of mud.

Sea water is the easiest material, although some fields use fresh water from a well close by.

During the season, depending on the rainfall, the farmer will be busy raising or lowering the water to ensure the proper levels for maximum growing.

Shortly after completing the first preparation, and after draining some of the water, the farmer returns to score lines in the mud to be used as a guideline for planting the rice.

That is a rake the masked man (the mask is not required equipment, it is common practice here for many motorbike riders to wear these masks, as well as jackets – even in 85° weather) is using. You may notice the blocks of wood at the bottom of the rake, those are actually the 'tines' that extend into the mud. This is not an easy job, as these 'lines' must be symmetrical to maximize the field, as you can see in the following picture when the seedlings are planted:

In this picture you only see the one direction of lines, there are two. The intersection of these lines create a box roughly 12 inches square. Notice the man in yellow. His feet are firmly planted in boxes with one box in between. His arm spread allows him a further 3 feet on each side, allowing him to plant 9 feet of seedlings in that position. The seedlings are placed at the exact crossing of the 2 lines. Once he has finished the 9 seedlings, he steps backward to the next boxes.

A truly accomplished planter can do two rows of boxes before stepping back.

In the above picture you may notice clumps of seedlings behind the fellows. This is done at the beginning of the morning, across the field, allowing the planters to move continuously backwards, and when running out of seedlings in hand, miraculously finding a new clump of seedlings below his stance.

To watch these folks, you begin to understand that Filipinos, while seemingly unaware of forward planning, actually are accomplished forward planners. Forward planners with those things that count, like food.

Another example. Lanie has been after Ken to plant some trees. These native trees that she wants take about 20 years to mature, and Ken, being 73, does not place the same importance on the need, as he feels he may not be around to see them. Lanie, on the other hand, is based in rural upbringing, and recognizes that it is imperative that trees are planted now. In 20 years the wood holding up the native houses will need to be replaced, hence the pressure to plant trees.

However, while Lanie's upbringing was correct, she actually has no need for trees.

She lives in a concrete block home.

Ah, another aside.

Lanie is 33, her mother is 59 and lives with Ken and Lanie.

Ken, 73, calls Lanie's mother 'Mama'. Mama does not speak English, but after a year she does know how to say 'Good Morning' and when asked about her health, she knows how to say 'Fine'. On the other hand, Ken, after a year, does not speak even one word of Visaya, and does not intend on attempting that task. Ever.

One day Mama was out in the back yard, and on her walk she was taking a small bag of garbage to throw out. It is customary here to just toss the bag onto the ground, preferably 5 feet or more from the house even though that does not always happen. Ken happened to see Mama toss the garbage bag, to which he took immediate action.

He approached Mama and lectured her severely, complete with frowns and grimaces. He said 'Mama, that is not acceptable. By throwing that garbage out you are inviting pests like rats and insects, and breeding bacteria which can sicken us and or our animals. By you throwing that garbage on the ground, I will have to pick it up and deal with it properly.'

Mama, understandably confused as this torrent of English was far beyond her knowledge of good morning and how are you, looked perplexed, then glanced sideways to the left presumably looking for a translator, and then glanced to the right. Not finding any help, Mama then frowned heavily, shrugged her shoulders, and said 'Fine' and walked away.

Ok, back to the rice.

This is the field in month 3, March. Some rices can be harvested at 3 months, others are harvested at 4 months. This particular field was harvested in month 4, April.

At this point after the rice has been cut and bundled, the farmer (the lady above supervising the work) decided to bring in a mechanical thresher, an uncommon approach, again because of cost. However, she has determined that with the fields the size she has, the thresher will capture more rice than the manual machines, therefore will pay for itself. While this lady is the farmer, she does not own the land. She rents the land from Didith's auntie, who lives in Cebu, the capitol city of Central Visaya, and on another island. She is single, and supports her brother and his family with her various businesses. While she will smile freely when she sees you, she is very shy and will not speak.

There is a lot of fellows around this threshing machine, more than what seems necessary, however, there are a couple things for you to know. The thresher is downhill and the bags of rice need to be carried uphill to the wagon, the rice needs to be carried from the fields to the thresher, it is 85°, and, each worker will earn $2.08 TOTAL for the 10 hour day.

The picture below is of one of Didith's brother's field. You will see a line across the picture, this is one means of frightening the birds away from the tender rice. It is a magnetic tape, from an old VHS tape. Effective, but not everyone has a VHS player. Other means are a rope extended across the field, back and forth, and strips of rags attached. On occasion, a scarecrow, but they do not seem to be as effective as the tape or rags. Most of the fields will have a hut, very similar to a deer stand, as you can see in the picture, somewhere on the field. During bird outrages, a person will sit in the hut, and occasionally shake the tape or rope to assist in frightening the birds away.

The final step is the drying of the rice, normally done alongside the road, or even in the road. Most of the land is shaded, which is why the road is used. In this picture, the air movement caused by traffic has wrapped the bottom liner around the rice.

Rice is served at every meal. If you compare this to the American potato usage, it is typical that the amount of rice (volume) per plate per meal is roughly equivalent to 5 large Idahos. A 50 kilo sack of rice at the market costs 1400 pisos ($30) and may last a month for a family of 4 or 5, depending.

Just a final note. These are typical family homes, lodging for anywhere from 4 to 10 people, regardless of the size of the home.

I am sometimes appalled at the poor conditions that these people live under.

While in America, especially during past times, farmers tended to keep their children from school to help with the chores, it is very different here. A farmer in this area is a person that rents a rice field or two, a rice field being roughly an acre. The property a farmer lives on may be as small as 40 by 40 feet. There is not a lot of family farming going on in comparison to the states back in the 30's and 40's.

But children are held back from school here because there is no money to pay for tuition in private schools, or transportation to public schools (no buses here), or for supplies in either private or public schools.

The past few months we have hired Plong Plong to help with the gardening so he could earn some money for his family. Didith gave her share of the copra to his family to help as well. Plong Plong and his sister, as a result, will be able to attend one of the schools because of the money. The family can just barely provide the monthly costs, so Plung Plung will work on the weekends to help out his family. Four months ago they expected neither child would be able to attend school.

As a result, I have made a decision, and have initiated a scholarship fund yesterday for a needy child to attend high school in a private school in town. This child is presently not enrolled in school, and without this scholarship would not be able to continue.

Am I a super hero?

No, absolutely not.

Tuition and registration fees for the 10 month school year is $113 but one can provide a scholarship by paying the registration fee ($8.40) and the tuition on a month by month basis ($11.70). This is a private school, and is actually on the stock market, and therefore my monies might not be deductible.

Jobs are scarce here, and if one decides on the military, one must have a minimum of 6 months college education.

High school graduates are not common, these people are extremely poor.

School starts next week, and I am told there are hundreds of needy students in Ubay, a city of 67,901 (the 1 being me). Elementary, High School and College.

I reckon I can easily find twelve bucks every month. And if there are special projects, I told them go ahead, hit me up.

Deductions be damned.