U.P. LOS BANOS

U.P. Horticultural Society Alumni

Hortus online

Subject: HORTUS ON-LINE, Version 1998.1

RETURN OF THE ROAD WARRIOR!

Yup, we're back! That was some hiatus! I do have a bit of explaining to do why we have been out of cyberspace for quite some time. In October last year, I was given a new posting by Hoechst AgrEvo with Luzon market development as my new responsibility. Since then, I have been living the role of a road warrior, living in a world of hotel rooms and enormous telephone bills. I still got to go home to Davao, free of course, every two weeks, but these weekends were spent paying bills, having the house and the Suzuki Samurai fixed, and generally catching up on family life. Things have tapered off a bit so that's why we're back in C-Space! I now take this as an opportunity to greet everyone a Happy New Year, a Happy Lunar New Year, a Happy Valentine, a Happy HortSoc Anniversary, a Happy Easter and special congratulations to the 26-or so HortSoc resident members who graduated last week! How was that for a bulk greeting? At least, I am on time to greet all HortSoc mother's a happy mother's day!

Today is special for all mothers. Perhaps it has been that special since the spring rites of ancient Greece to celebrate a day with Rhea, in mythology, the Mother of the Gods. In the 1600's when most of England belonged to the working class, "mothering Sundays" were encouraged to allow servants to go home to their mothers (and families) on the 4th Sunday of Lent. Modern Mother's Day celebrations started in 1907 when Ana Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate it on the 2nd Sunday of May. The practice has since then spread to many countries, the Philippines included. I can only imagine the sigh of relief my mother gave out when I came into this world at 5 AM; another when I finally graduated after skirting maximum residency; another when I got married off the calendar at 33! It seems that the major milestones in my life have been marked with corresponding sighs of relief from my mom! To my mom, and to all mothers around, I pay tribute with this circa 1915 work of Howard Johnson: "M" is for the million things she gave me, "O"  means only that she's growing old, "T"  is for the tears she shed to save me,, "H" is for her heart of purest gold; "E" is for her eyes, with love-light shinning, "R" right and right she'll always be, Putt them all together, they spell M-O-T-H-E-R, A word that means the world to me!"

A stop at the USDA Vegetable Laboratory's website produced some interesting vegetable trivia. 1) Thomas Jefferson's fascination with all things French is credited for bringing French fries to America. 2) A potato is mad up of 80% water! No wonder it is not fattening! 3) In 1893, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tomato, botanically a fruit but usually considered a vegetable, should indeed be classified as a vegetable. 4) The potato nickname "spud" is believed to come from the Gaelic word for spade. The Irish brought this word with then when they came to America. 5) Based on typical serving sizes, sweet potatoes are slightly higher in beta-carotene than carrots and spinach. All orange-colored vegetables and dark green leafy vegetables, however, are good sources of beta-carotene, which is an important antioxidant.