Permaculture on Bali - Flowers and plants

Join us for a virtual tour through Jiwa Damai's huge permacultue organic garden. Check out the beautiful tropical flowers and plants we have:

Balinese water lilly

Balinese water lilly

Black water lilly from karangasen provence

Black water lilly from karangasen provence

Hibiscus flower

Hibiscus flower

Orange flower

Orange flower

Caterpillar and Praying Mantis in the permaculture garden

This is a fantastic shot of a green caterpillar, crawling away in the permaculture garden. Cool spikes !

Caterpillar

Caterpillar

Look at this beautiful praying Mantis. And she is actually praying - look at her 'hands'.

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis

Fruit from the organic garden

Cacao fruit

Cacao fruit

Here at Jiwa Damai we grow various fruit in the extensive permaculture garden.

And this is how the ripe cacao fruit looks inside.

Inside of ripe cacao fruit

Inside of ripe cacao fruit

We also have several papaya trees.

Homegrown, organic papaya

Homegrown, organic papaya

Creating Indigenous Microorganisms (IMOs)

At Jiwa Damai we practice biological organic gardening. We clearly do not use any type of chemicals to fertilize our lands. We use effective microorganisms for fertilization. Here we show you the Balinese way how to produce indiginous microorganisms. This is a fantastic technique !

Using cane sugar and cooked rice closed in a hollow bambu stick which is burried in the compost produces a flavourful yeast type fungus which is then mixed with the earth.

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New coconut house

coconut house with tree

coconut house with tree

A new addition to our Permaculture Garden and Retreat Centre is a building which is going to be used to produce our own Bali Virgin Coconut Oil and honey, as well as any other products from our permaculture garden we may develop in the future.

Coconut house being built

Coconut house being built

coconut house inside

coconut house inside

Our Balinese Hand-Crafted Virgin Coconut Oil - How To: Step 3

Read step 1 here and step 2 here. Once the coconut flakes have been produced, we Fresh spring water is added to the flakes and the liquid then extracted by hand. It is then filtered thru a fine piece of  fabric and the water is allowed to settle on the bottom of the container. This process of filtering is done 12 times to produce the delicious virgin coconut oil, a health food and natural medicine.

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Unlike the cooking coconut oil, which is extracted by heat, the virgin oil never exceeds the temperature of 30 degrees.

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Now that you've made it to step 3, we'd love to hear about your experience in using this method. Please comment below and share - we'd love to connect with you!

Back to the real roots

Singkong roots

Singkong roots

Our garden harbours  very powerful roots in the earth. Tapioca the large root you see is used in many Indonesian and Balinese dishes. It can be made into dumplings and chips. The leaves are used as spinach on Bali .

Singkong_Keladi_plants

Singkong_Keladi_plants

The Taro, the small red roots can be used like potatoes. They are quite starchy.

Both, Tapioca and Taro, carry many nutrients and are delicious to eat.

chopping the roots

chopping the roots

Our Balinese Hand-Crafted Virgin Coconut Oil - How To: Step 1

To produce virgin Balinese coconut oil, the coconuts must first be totally ripe.

Tip: The young green coconut is full of delicious water. The dark brown one has ripened and is full of rich white coconut meat. From this meat the oil will be produced.

1_coconut

1_coconut

The outer shell is opened and its small, tan colored fibers become visible. This shell can be used for many different purposes. For example, you could get crafty and make your own floor mat or use the shells simply as firewood.

2_open coconut

2_open coconut

Once the outer shell has been opened, you'll find a smaller shell where the coconut meat is located.

3_open coconut

3_open coconut

The inner harder shell needs to be split open with a large, heavy knife to reach the rich meat. This shell is very hard, so a sturdy knife is necessary.

4_coconut half

4_coconut half

The meat can be used for coconut flakes, added to smoothies, dehydrated coconut chips, or oil production for a wonderful boost in essential vitamins and nutrients.

Be sure to read step 2 here and step 3 here!

Have you ever felt inspired to produce your own coconut oil? Have you tried this method? If so, how did it work out? If not, what other methods have you used?

Comment below and let us know!

Permaculture on Bali - Our plant nursery

My name is Ketut and I am the head gardener here at Jiwa Damai. I am responsible for the huge organic permaculture garden with all the variety of tropical flowers, plants and trees.

Today I want to show you my nursery, where we grow the small plants out of seeds.  Once the plants are well nurtured and big enough, we put them out in the open field.

The nursery

The nursery

The nursery has a roof, to shelter the small plants from the heavy rains. Without a roof they would regularly be destroyed by the down-pouring rains.

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Nursery3

We organize guided tours through the extensive organic permaculture garden - stop by and have a look for yourself.

See you soon at Jiwa Damai !

Ketut

Ketut