cropsreview.com. this website was conceptualized primarily to serve as an e-library for reference purposes on the principles and practices in crop science, including basic botany.ben bareja, owner-author-webmaster of cropsreview.comthe fondest memories of my childhood and younger days were molded in rivers, rockies, seashores, forests, cliffs, my mother’s garden, our playground in general santos city with those coconut trees that were tapped daily for toddy and with mixed varieties of mango trees, and in my grandparents’ coconut-based farm in the province of south cotabato, now sarangani, philippines.part of my life i spent in the farm where the only means of transportation were carabao and horse “power” and travelling on foot was a natural thing. sometimes we had to walk a distance of about 12 km and back nonstop, without even drinking water, just to go to the market or to socialize. i cherished the experience.i learned to ride a carabao bareback and had several experiences of separating from its back as sometimes it suddenly dashes forward when whipped from behind by childhood friends, scared, or enticed by the smell of a mate. we just laugh it off. it naturally happens…i played dangerously with children of my age, leaping from one branch of a mango tree to another in imitation of tarzan. i learned to climb a full-grown coconut tree (botanically a palm) with a bolo in one hand, occasionally racing upward against playmates and eating young coconut while straddled on a leafstalk at the top of the tree. but that was a long time ago. how i wish i could still do that!bgb used to spend plenty of time with his bonsai collectionwhile drying split coconut under the sun for copra, i was bitten by a centipede. i remember how painful it was, but the pain was gone after a few hours; i got stinged by wasps many times; i learned to identify wild plants which are edible and those which we used to treat scratches, wounds and various body ailment. some plants we just avoided because they either slice or pierce the skin, cause itch, or are poisonous.i caught a few cobra snakes barehanded and every time i regretted doing it. the last time i did, the snake squirted a saliva-like substance (it’s venom!) on my bare chest as i held it by the neck and tail. i promised with more resolve right there and then that i wouldn’t do such a foolish thing anymore, … only to fail, again. the actual confrontation with this beautiful but dangerous creature works in mysterious ways, numbing the nerves.telling about me is like going back to the wild…i agree that an educated man is one who knows that he has plenty more to learn.