A Walk Through Sister Alice's Garden

Sister Alice educates us on garden biodiversity

The Traditional Knowledge Network in Baguio city had its quarterly meeting yesterday, and we were fortunate to be hosted by Sister Alice in Sta. Scholastica Convent in Wagner Road, Baguio City.

For me, a high point of the day was the pre-lunch walk through Sister Alice's gardens, which is called the Seven Healing Gardens of Eden.

The seven gardens are arranged in circles, and each has a theme, like medicinal herbs, fruit trees, flowers, vegetables, cactus, salad, and the centerpiece is a spirulina pond. Sister Alice, like a proud parent, introduced us to her brood of healthy, thriving plants, each with their own name, (like citronella, lady's fingers); character (aromatic, spiky); use (mosquito repellant, to counteract the radiation of computers); and interesting stories which made the one hour walk pass so quickly.

I personally was taken with the herbal medicine garden, which had wonderful scents coming from the lemongrass, citronella, mint, menthos, and parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. There were many others names which now escape me, and made me resolve to bring my notebook on my next walk through this garden. I bought one of each, which I will plant in our backyard, hoping to have a similar aromatic and medicinal garden.

We convinced Sister to display some of her herbs in Balatinaw Store, where they will be available for sale at affordable prices, once the background for each herb is written. Watch out for this.#