GREEN ROOTS

Growing up in our ancestral home along Tilik Bay in Lubang Island gave me the rare opportunity to experience  nature on a daily basis - something which children from the city would only see and read in books and magazines or watch on television.

What was it like to live and grow up by the sea?

The sea was my classroom and playground where different species of marine life like starfishes, sea cucumbers, crustaceans, fishes, sea urchins,sea weeds among others abound. 

During high tide, the shore turns into a gigantic swimming pool where I learned to swim using a dry bamboo pole or two dry coconuts tied together for my life saver. At low tide, the sea dries up into a vast expanse of land where we gathered sea shells called ‘Sihi’ for our dinner soup matched with the slippery sea anemone which we broiled in bamboo sticks. 

My best friend and I loved to walk up to Angggan - the coral reef that marked the boundary between the dry land and the deep, blue sea - to gather  clams and watch an endless variety of colorful fishes swimming around beautiful corals. 

Sadly, most of these are all gone now for the current and future generations of children to enjoy. Dynamite fishing, commercial harvest of corals for button production and fishes for ornamental purposes, the port expansion and breakwater structures appear to have damaged the bio-diversity in the area.

Sunrise, Sunset and Stormy Nights by the Sea

As little children, our mother taught us that girls should be out of bed before sunrise. So with my two other siblings, I would wake up early and practiced my counting skills in our balcony until the morning sun appeared from behind the mountain across the bay. 

In the afternoon, we ran after swarms of dragonflies on the beach - an indication that we can soon bathe in the rain.  At sunset, we watched the school of black crows fly back in a row from the west site of the island to the east behind the mountain. 

In the evenings, we chased fireflies and put them inside our mosquito net, or roasted cashew seeds by the hundreds under the moonlight on the beach. 

On stormy nights, we cuddled up to our parents’ bed and listened to the whistling sound of the wind getting through our wooden jalousie windows as the roaring waves smashed against our bamboo fence. 

The day after a storm, we would rush to the beach to discover crates of imported fruits and vegetables which we only saw in books, thrown into the sea to lighten the load of ships caught up in the storm.

My Mother's Beautiful Garden Beside Salty Waters

For a house by the sea to have a garden of healthy plants all year round is attributable to my mother who loved to plant ornamentals despite her tight schedule as a mother and public school teacher. Being the youngest of three girls  before two other sisters came along, I used to tag along with her wherever she went and observed whatever she did. 

Fresh potable water was scarce and had to be fetched from the river  at least two kilometers away in containers called balagwit - two kerosene cans tied to the end of a bamboo pole and carried by balancing them  on the shoulders. 

To this day, it still amazes me how she managed to cook, wash dishes, clean the house and keep her plants growing healthy with very limited supply of water. Indeed, that was austerity and productivity in action, within very limited resources.

My Father's Green Thumb, Fishing Rod and Stethoscope

My father who was a doctor loved farming as much as fishing.

During his spare time, he planted fruit trees and vegetables and always had a bountiful harvest. He was one of those who started the propagation of garlic in our barrio which later on became a staple produce of many farmers in the island. Corn planting season was an exciting time for us to throw seeds into small holes which he dug on the ground with his crowbar to the tune of our favorite children's songs. 

Oftentimes, we had an abundance of fresh farm produce given by patients who had no means to pay for medical consultation but this did not stop him from going to the farm to grow his own plants. 

When the sea is calm between a new moon and a full moon, he would set sail with his fishing buddies and come home with his catch of the day which we threw straight into the fire threaded in bamboo skewers.

Nurture and Nature

I have since loved plants and gardening, and for this reason, parks, botanical gardens and flower festivals have always been part of my travel itinerary both here and abroad. 

Those I had been blessed to visit include the New York Botanical Gardens, the Rose Festival and Botanical Gardens in Auckland, New Zealand, the Keukenhoff Tulip Festival in the Netherlands, the Singapore Botanical Gardens, the Girona Flower Festival in Spain, the beautiful Gardens in Tokyo and Kyoto, the Doi Thanon Park in Chiang Mai-Thailand, the Biospharen Reservation in Spreenwald, Germany, the Sanssouci Palace Gardens in Potsdam, Germany, the Knaller Apple Plantation in Lower Austria, the Marian Orchard in Balite, Batangas, the Vienna Public Cemetery, Mount Costa in La Trinidad, Benguet, the Mirabelle Palace and Gardens in  Salzburg, Austria, and the Schoenbrunn Palace Gardens in Vienna Austria - some of which I will be sharing with you in my future blogs.

Indeed, if I were to live my life once again, you can guess what I would most probably choose to do.

Keep safe and be healthy!

Apple Bleza-Morales

About the Author:
Apple (or Maybelle in the corporate setting) is an HR Professional who is passionately immersed in home and community gardening as well as related arts and crafts. She completed post baccalaureate studies in Human Resources and Organization Development at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde and holds a Master's Degree in Industrial Relations from the University of the Philippines with focus in Human Resources Development. 

Photos By Gemma Teresa Bleza