Benefits of Growing Local Plants During the Pandemic

Diplazium esculentum is the Latin name of Pakis/Paku Sayur (vegetable fern). In Minahasa it is commonly called sayor paku. This type of fern plant is very delicious when cooked in coconut milk with salted fish. This sayor paku usually grows wild in swampy areas or places with water. Here, it can be found on the edges of kobong pece (rice fields) or rice field gardens.

Recently, I have been intensively gardening, managing again the kobong pece that has long been unproductive.

Our family’s kobong pece is located quite far from the house. If traveled on foot, it can take about one hour.

This rice field garden has not been cultivated for a long time—around 15 years. This is because my parents could no longer divide their time with their work as cap tikus (traditional palm spirit) farmers. The distance between the kobong where cap tikus is made and this rice field garden is quite far. At certain times, when saguer (palm sap) production is high and many trees need tapping, this rice field garden becomes neglected. So my parents decided not to manage it. The rice field became unproductive.

One year since the pandemic, everyone was tested and pushed to use all their strength and effort to survive. Not only people living in cities, but also those living in villages. The pandemic became a kind of wake-up call for many people to return to managing their sources of life. Ensuring food needs are fulfilled and being sure that the food consumed is healthy and nourishing. The way to know what we consume is by planting, caring for, and processing ourselves what will enter our body. In my opinion, that is one way to stay healthy during a time like this. The pandemic made many people hesitant to go to markets or crowded places to buy daily needs. So returning to the garden and striving to meet daily needs became the safest and most effective way. Planting short-term crops such as vegetables, spices for the kitchen, and raising livestock became the most concrete steps to take.

Recently, consciously, I chose to stay in the village and bakobong (to work in the garden) to reconnect with nature. The pandemic became an entry point for many people to do the same—reconnecting themselves with the soil.

During this time, many gardens that had been abandoned were opened and managed again. Both kobong katanaan (dry fields) and kobong pece. People became enthusiastic about working their gardens. Although, of course, some only did it temporarily—going to the garden just to take photos and not doing anything. But that is also a choice.

I returned to manage this kobong pece by raising local fish instead of planting rice. On the edges of the garden, I plant daily needs—vegetables, various kitchen spices, and local chili.

About two or three months ago, I managed to find several local plant seedlings. One of them is a local chili called rica kokowak. This type of rica (chili) is a typical Minahasan variety. It usually grows by itself when a garden is opened. It is called rica kokowak because it becomes food for the kokowak bird (crow), which also helps spread its seeds. So it can grow when a garden or forest is opened. This chili is small in size but has an extraordinary level of spiciness, compared to imported chilies commonly found in the market. Nine rica kokowak that I planted earlier finally survived. The seedlings were then moved and planted in the garden.

In the past few months, I have been searching for many local plants. Various types of vegetables, spice plants, and local livestock, I try to raise. I choose to plant local plants because they are more resistant to pests and do not depend on the use of chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.

The search for local food plants is still ongoing. There are still many types of plants that I have not found, including several types of local freshwater fish such as carp.

Local plants have become the main choice for consumption during this time. Because they can be planted and cultivated without depending on chemicals that can damage both the body and nature.

Living in the village is part of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty can only be realized when we have full control over our land—our ancestral territories—by protecting, nurturing, and managing them with care. Planting is one way to assert sovereignty over our food. Caring for the land and treating it as a living companion that sustains us in return.

Returning home, building, and protecting the village is one way to reclaim sovereignty over the space where we live.