Potato Tower at Jiwa Damai

The potato tower is our latest invention in the permaculture garden.Since it proved impossible to grow potatoes in the wet soil here at Jiwa Damai, we had to think a bout a different way how to grow potatoes. We decided to create a tower that is filled with stones, sand and earth, so the water is able to flow through it and thus the potatoes are kept dry.

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Our gardeners , together with a volunteer took on the task to dig the whole in the ground, which was needed to place the potato tower. The tower itsself is made out of woven bamboo sticks.

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Now our experiment of growing potatoes is ready to start!

We will keep you updated on the progress :-)

Slow down - chill out

Do it like the snail. Wouldn't it sometimes be nice to operate  on a slower speed,  leave the hustle and bustle of everyday life behind and live life more consciously and deliberatly?

Jiwa Damai is the ideal place for such a time-out. Here on Bali you can relax in a beautiful tropical setting, enjoy nature and find time for reflection and contemplation.

Snail on tree

to be continued.......

First honey harvest in Jiwa Damai

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It has to be midnight and full moon (purnama) and the bees have to be asleep before the honey can be taken out.

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The beekeeper opens the beehive without any protection. He breathes water onto the outside of the beehives which is full of sleeping bees.

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The bees disperse and some begin to fly around. He then takes two bamboo sticks to remove the honey combs slowly one after another.

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The honeycombs are then broken into small pieces and put on to a filter and steamed from below. When the honey is liquid it is being pressed out.

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Dragonflies and Butterflies

Today we want to introduce you to some of the beautiful animals in our organic garden. This fantastic red dragonfly visited the garden. In fact, there are many dragonflies in many different colors, here at Jiwa Damai. What an amazingly beautiful creature !

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We are lucky here to be blessed by beautiful butterfly visitors as well.

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Come by and enjoy the fauna on Bali at Jiwa Damai!

Organic salad from the permaculture garden

We are lucky enough to enjoy salad from our organic garden on a daily basis. We currently grow two different types of lettuce, arugula, basil, cucumber, tomato, and carrot. All combine for a fantastic mixed greens salad.Astri makes a wonderful salad dressing to go with our fresh greens.

Astri picking salad

Astri’s Salad Dressing:

This dressing recipe is simple, quick, and easy to make at home.

• Juice from 4 to 5 limes.
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons mustard
• 4 tablespoons honey
• A small piece of ginger (to taste)

Combine all ingredients and stir until smooth and well blended. This light and flavorful dressing does not overstep its bounds and mask the many tastes of vegetables. It lends itself softly and combines nicely with any salad. Enjoy!

Organic salad

40 kids explore the nature at Jiwa Damai

School visit kidz

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This Tuesday was busy at Jiwa Damai as 40 students from a local Balinese school visited for a field trip. It was such a pleasure teaching the young children about many of our plants, the importance of organic gardening, and the many different animals and organism we have at Jiwa Damai! The show started with coconut tree climbing, followed by descriptions of different trees and flowers. During the tour the children taste cocao, coconut, and sugarcane while exploring. The children also walked around the Mandala Garden identifying different vegetables, and tasting herbs. We also teach them about the importance of composting and recycling, and end the tour with each child planting a sprout in the earth with their hands!

After the tour the children enjoy lunch made at Jiwa Damai with food from the garden! We served them Taro, a root vegetable, which they see before it’s cooked and also when its in the garden. The children enjoy their lunch by the lake enveloped by nature all around them! Butterflies, fish, frogs, and lizards join the kids at lunchtime!

Bee hives in the permaculture garden

Recently we put up five new bee hives in the permaculture garden. We want to produce organic Balinese honey. Jiwa Damai is a social responsable retreat center. We take great care of our natural environment and constantly try to minimize our ecological footprint. The organic honey being produced in the permaculture garden is an environmentally friendly product.

The bee hives are distributed all over our compound, high up in the trees.

Bee hive up in the tree

These are traditional Balinese bee hives.  They are made out of coconut shells wrapped with palm tree fibre.

Getting attracted by a secret sugar-mixture (we can not tell the ingredients ;-), the bees fly in through the little hole and (hopefully !) start producing honey.

Bee hive

We also painted some signs  - so that our guests can spot them on their tour through the organic garden!

Come by and learn more about organic honey production on Bali! Jiwa Damai is located close to Ubud, just a 20 min drive away.  We offer guided tours through the permaculture garden and explain about biological farming and a sustainable way of living. Enjoy the tropical fauna and flora.

Sign bee hive

Coconut harvest on Bali

Do you know how our coconuts are being harvested? Bringing down the nuts is not an easy task! Only few local men know how to climb the coconut tress and harvest the nuts. I've seen them climbing up the high trees, sometimes up to 30 m, without a rope, without a safety net, just the machete in the back of the pant, .....like a little monkey.

Made Sueca is a real acrobat. He is climbing to the top of coconut tree just with his bare feet and hands. It’s impressive !

Made Sueca climbing a coconut tree

His work is to clean the trees - cut the leaves and harvest the coconuts.

When he finally made it to the top, when he reached the crown of the tree,  he is simply 'sitting' there, supposedly very comfortable, cutting off the nuts with his machete.

For me it is amazing how a person can climb up a tree like this and then, without effort 'sit' there for minutes until all the coconuts and dead leaves are cut off. What an incredible strenght is needed for this kind of work! Respect.

Made Sueca est d’une agilité déconcertante. Il grimpe dans les cocotiers à 30 mètres de haut et à l’aide de ses bras et ses jambes, il se retrouve au sommet en moins de deux minutes. C’est impressionnant !

Son travail consiste à élaguer les arbres, en coupant les feuilles un peu trop encombrantes. Et bien sûr à cueillir les noix de coco.

Tropical fruit in the permaculture garden

In Jiwa Damai's organic garden many different fruit trees are growing. Look at these Papayas high up in the tree. Our gardener Ketut brings them down with a long stick, he created for this purpose only.

Papaya tree

Check out our Banana trees.

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These bananas are not ripe yet, but will be soon. And then our cook Astri will make delicious banana pancakes! yammi....

Here we see some ripe Jackfruit. Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, reaching 80 pounds (36 kg) in weight and up to 36 inches (90 cm) long and 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter. The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy, fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The flavour is similar to a tart banana.

Jack fruit

And of course we have lots and lots of coconut trees at Jiwa Damai.

Coconut tree

Besides that we also have guava trees and we grow avocados.

We'll tell you more in one of our next posts!

Two french wwoofers in Jiwa Damai

Salut, Nous sommes Raphael et Audrey de France. Jiwa Damai est magnifique, tellement relaxant et idéal pour faire du wwoofing. Nous allons y rester un mois.

Deux de nos projets sont :

Le premier consiste à numéroter avec de la peinture tous les cocotiers de la propriété, et ce n’est pas une mince affaire, il y en a  plus de 300.

Le second projet est de venir en aide à Ketut, le jardinier. C’est interessant de travailler avec lui, il nous apprend beaucoup de choses. Ça donne envie d’avoir son propre potager !

Hi,

We are Audrey and Raphael from France. Jiwa Damai is a really wonderful place, very relaxing and ideal to do Wwoofing.  We’re going to stay one month.

Two of our projects are :

First, to paint numbers on all the coconut trees. It’s a big project, in fact, there are more than 300 coconuts trees in Jiwa Damai !

An other project is to help Ketut, the gardener. It’s interesting to work with him because he’s teaching us many new things.

This stimulates us to create our own garden back in France .

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Ketut