Watercolour Sketch of a Teapot

Years ago when I practised sketching, I began with simple thing. I chose a teapot. It was made of green plastic and very thin glass. I used watercolour to make the still life sketch. In around 30 minutes, I could finish it. First, I made a quick sketch of the teapot and then applied some colours in it.

Sketch of A Green Teapot

Now I don't practice that often. But I still male some sketches every month. I also try to use Autodesk Sketchbook to create sketches in places where bringing watercolour is not convenient. Well, the drawings are good but I still miss the natural look of watercolour paintings.

Aren tree is the highest among other bio-mass in terms of bio-ethanol production

Aren tree (arenga pinnata) is the highest in terms of bio-ethanol production compared to other plants such as sugarcane, wheat, rice, cassava, and banana. Aren is also called Saguer tree in Minahasa, the Province of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is a kind of palm which is similar to Sawit and Coconut trees. While I was travelling around Sonder village, I could take a picture of Aren tree between two coconut trees. Aren or Saguer has more leaves. Its color is also darker than coconut. There are approximately two million Aren trees in Minahasa. If all of them are productive, their sap can produce 876,000 kilo litres of bio-ethanol. Traditionally, the sap from Aren has been used in the production of alcoholic drinks by the villagers in Minahasa; Borneo; Java, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Fiji, and other islands in the Pacific. The sapping method is significantly different among tribes.

The sap is tapped from male inflourescence spadix twice a day, usually in the morning and in the afternoon before dark. The highest tapping is obtained during the full-moon period. Villagers don't tap the sap from female spadix due to its inferior quality.

One Aren tree can produce between 1 and 20 liters of sap/day. Ten percent of it, after fermentation and distillation, will be converted into bio-ethanol. According to Indonesian Science Agency - LIPI, one hectare of land can accomodate from 75 to 100 trees. On the average, one hectare of Aren trees produces 1,000 liters of sap a day which is equivalent to 100 liters of bio-ethanol. It means that the amount of bio-ethanol produced from one hectace of land is 36,000 liters/ year. This figure is higher than sugarcane.
A number of companies have constructed bio-ethanol distillaries in Indonesia. One of them is located in Motoling, South Minahasa, Indonesia. Its production capacity is 1.5 metric ton of 99.5% bio-ethanol/day. Indonesia is seriously developing its bio-fuel and renewable energy resources after becoming net-importer of oil. This year alone, Indonesia has quit from its membership in OPEC. The soaring oil price in the world market creates more burden to national budget due to the fuel subsidy. This unfavorable situation forced the government to reduce the subsidy by raising the fuel price. Such policy creates massive street protests nationwide, food price hikes and instability in the country.
It is hoped that the production of bio-ethanol from Aren or Saguer trees, sugarcane, cassava will help poor farmers in getting higher income thus improving their economy.

Bendi, a traditional transport vehicle

Before the invention of internal combustion engine and car, people travelled everywhere by riding horse, donkey, camel and even elephant. Although they do not emit toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, and chlorine, these "transport vehicles" are not interesting in a fast moving world anymore. In some third world countries, people still use horse or donkey drawn cart as transport vehicle. In Europe and the United States, horse-drawn cart are used for tourists travelling around a city or town. They do not function as the main transport vehicles.

We have seen that the soaring fossil fuel price triggers the rapid development of alternative fuel such as bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. Such development needs technology to implement. Most villagers in third world countries do not have the technological capacity to develop bio-fuel. They cannot afford to buy cars or trucks either. So, the easiest way to get a transport vehicle is by utilising their livestock as car or taxi.

If we travel to Minahasa highland in North Sulawesi, we can see bendi roaming around the towns. Bendi is a horse drawn cart. Thousands of bendi could be found in Minahasa region between 1980s and 1990s when most of the town dwellers could not afford to buy motorcycles or cars. Their number was decreasing in the past few years as the public transport vehicles such bus and taxi that consumed low cost fuel offered cheaper fare. The above picture shows how a bendi is used as commercial taxi in Sonder village of Minahasa region, the province of North Sulawesi.

Now, when the soaring price of fossil fuel has become everyday reality, the number of bendi is expected to rise again. Bendi will be more competitive because it only needs grazing for re-fueling.

To attract people to ride this traditional vehicle, bendi owners decorate their cart with glittering ornaments and colorful paintings. The only annoying problem people face when riding bendi is its speed which is far lower than taxi or bus.. This was written by Charles Roring

The effect of Soaring Fossil Fuel on the price of agricultural produce

Price hikes in agricultural produce is relatively caused by the soaring fuel price. Farmers have to pay more for the same amount of fuel which they used in tractors and other farming machines. In addition, synthetic fertilizer is made of by products of crude oil.

Rice-field in North Sulawesi

In countries like the United States, million tons of corn and soy bean are used as raw material for making bio-diesel. This kind of practice reduces the amount of those food material in the world market. High price food in the market can cause economic instability. This situation can trigger political problems. People launched massive street protests against their government. They blame the government for not being able to stabilise food price.

In certain cases, the soaring food price is considered positive by traditional farmers who do not use tractors or machines. I saw this case in Sonder, and other Minahasan villages in North Sulawesi. They do not use tractors to plow their field. Instead they use cow. They also use organic fertilizer made of manure. Farmers get higher profit from higher agricultural produce. Unfortunately, such situation cannot be used as an excuse to the the food price keeps going up. The price of food has to be within the reach of customers.

We cannot blame the government alone for this crisis. Bio-fuel industries should take the responsibility for this problem. Actually they have to use raw material other than food commodity so that their business will run without causing food scarcity in the market. Experts recommend algae, grass, jatropha curcas and other plants as base material for making bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. These plants will not always effective as some plants can only grow in tropical regions. To solve this problem, bio-fuel industry can still use food base material such as coconut, sawit palm, cassava or soy bean, and corn but they must grow new plantations. They must not convert the available plantations, which had previously been dedicated to supplying food to the market, to bio-fuel production.

Bio-fuel importers in Europe and the North America must set standards which can be used to prevent the conversion of food farmland into bio-fuel plantation. by Charles R.

Canna Flower, an additional edible tuber for people

While I was walking around Sonder village, in Minahasa, the Province of North Sulawesi, I saw many kinds of flowers. One of them is Canna. Varieties of Canna have bright colours such as red, yellow, pink, and white. These flower plants are grown in the front yard of most of the villagers houses.

Because of these attractive colours, city dwellers who visit mountainous villages of Minahasa like to buy Canna flowers. Canna can be grown between 0 and 2,225 meters above sea level where the average rain is 1,120 mm per annum. The flowers bloom all year.

Actually, Canna is originally from tropical American continent but they are found in most tropical regions too.

I never see people eat tubers of Canna flower. I read a book entitled, "Hutan dan Kebun" on page 56 that young tuber of Canna is very good for babies and ill people. The starch can be digested easily.

In todays situation where the price of food is going up, Canna tuber may be considered as additional alternative staple food for people. Its leaves can also be given to livestock.

Tuber from Canna can be harvested when it has reached 6 - 10 months. The tuber may be eaten directly after boiling. If the starch is to be taken, it has to reach 15 - 18 months. For mass production purposes, a milling machine has to be used. In Kendal of Java island, Indonesia, Perhutani, a state owned timber company, grows Canna as insertion plants among the Jati trees. By doing this, the company has helped his employees (who are the local farmers) to get additional food resources from the forest without having to cut the trees. This was written by Charles Roring