Moringa: The Miracle Tree

Have you heard about the miracle tree? The tree that can provide your body with a multitude of vitamins and is great for improving your overall health? The name of this super tree is the Moringa, and quite a few of them are growing in the gardens at Jiwa Damai. The moringa is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India, but widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical areas. With its potent health benefits, it’s quite miraculous that moringa trees grow in subtropical areas, where malnutrition is most prevalent. This tree is one of the world’s most useful plants and can save millions of lives!

The leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant, being a significant source of B vitamins, vitamin C, provitamin A as beta-carotene, vitamin K, manganesium and protein, among other essential nutrients. Moringa leaves have seven times the Vitamin C of oranges, four times the calcium of milk, four times the vitamin A of carrots, three times the potassium of bananas, and two times the protein of yogurt. It really is a miracle tree!

In addition to the rich nutritive value of the leaves, moringa seeds can be used as a quick and simple method for cleaning dirty river water. Studies show that this simple method of filtering not only diminishes water pollution but also harmful bacteria. Powdered moringa seeds adhere to the solids in dirty water and then sink to the bottom, leaving clear, clean water behind. This treatment also removes 90-99% of bacteria.

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Jiwa Damai retreat center will soon utilize this amazing super food by making moringa seed powder from the trees growing in our organic garden. Moringa powder can be used for cooking or simply sprinkled on top of a salad for an extra dose of health. It won’t be long before our guests and volunteers will be able to feel for themselves all the great benefits of the moringa tree. Let’s see how it works!

Composting with Effective Microorganisms

Our volunteer Anthony - happy while making new layer of compost.

In our organic garden you can find a special place next to the river where we are generating our own compost under the shade of a bamboo roof. The compost, a nutritious mix of brown and green was watered with Effective Microorganisms (EM). The resulting compost provides essential nutrition to the plants in our organic garden.Compost provides live nutrition for the earth, and takes care garden waste like leaves, cuttings, and grass. It becomes a living soil that grows healthy plants and keep away pests. The location should be a shady place out of the sun. To build compost, we layer dry, brown organic material, which is full of carbon, and green material which is full of nitrogen. Here at Jiwa Damai we use additional microorganisms to break down the compost: EM – effective microorganisms, developed in Japan. EM is mixed with the water in a 1:10 ratio and applied on each layer .All this is covered with cardboard, banana leaves, or old carpet to keep the temperature high. Keep the pile controlled. You can check heat and moisture by putting your hand inside the compost. It should not be too wet nor too dry, and can reach up to 60 degrees. At Jiwa Damai, in a tropical climate, the compost will be ready in two months. Is there any danger we should be aware of? Getting addicted :) Because when you work with making soil it is a rewarding thing. It makes you very happy when you have your own soil. Turning all this waste product into really fertile good garden soil is like magic. And it gives you gigantic lettuces.

Building a new pond at Jiwa Damai

Our volunteer Shoshi from the US and our intern Andreas from Germany are working close to our parking lot on developing a new pond on our premise. They were digging very hard and now they are preparing the pond lining which should prevent the water from being re-absorbed into the earth.

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For that purpose a lining of newspapers and green banana leaves are left for a few days. Then this is covered with earth  tightly compressed on top. The underlying layer will then create a water resistant lining.

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Building a natural pond by using the old Russian method of 'gleying': 

The different steps:

- Dig the pond and compact the soil really well.

- Clear the pond of stones and rocks.

- Cover the bottom and sides with a thick layer of organic material (fresh grass cuttings and bananas leaves) and waste paper

- Spread out EM all over to add the bacterias which are necessary for the process

- Add a layer of soil and press down firmly all over.

- The soil keeps out the air and allows a biological process known as ‘gleying’ to take place (its an anaerobic process)

We shall see how well that works. Lets hope for the best ;-)

Coconut Shells

At Jiwa Damai we are using a special way to place our coconut shells around the base of our plants. Since we are producing our coconut oil form our own coconut trees , the shells are available and we are using them for several purposes. During the rainy season they can collect some of the water with their inner softer hairy material thus allowing to keep some water away form the plants.

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The second reason is to have them soak up the water we are distributing in the dry season  around the fields. They will hold the water longer for the plants to feed .

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Last but not least when they decompose they will make an excellent nutrition to be added to the soil. On some plants we are just setting them directly around the root of the plants.

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Organic dried fruit from Jiwa Damai

At Jiwa Damai we are producing many different kinds of dried fruit and vegetables. All produce is from our organic farm, harvested and freshly processed in our raw food drying oven.

Dried Bananas

In our

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we grow about 8 different varieties of bananas. Each taste is unique and they are best eaten when not too ripe and the skin is still greenish-yellow. They are gently and slowly air dried in our dehydrator to keep their extraordinary flavor.

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Dried Papaya

Harvested from trees spotting our garden, our papayas are plump and juicy. When dried, the flavor pops and they make a delicious snack for any time of day or a vitamin-packed addition to any meal.

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Dried Jackfruit

The jackfruit grows high up in the trees and can reach a weight of 10 -12 kg. Once the giant fruit is harvested, opened and its inner fruit compartments separated, the fresh fruit is available to be plucked out, its black stone removed, immediately sliced and gently air dried, thus keeping its fresh and aromatic flavor.

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Jiwa Damai tropical forest

Take a stroll around our expansive premise and visit the huge tropical forest.  Enjoy the lush green vegetation and the fresh air. There is a lot to discover... tropical plants and trees, little animals as well as several beautiful spots for meditation and contemplation... A little pathway will lead you around...

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Teak Tree

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Production of our Bali Virgin Coconut Oil

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When I arrived at Jiwa Damai as an intern, I had to organize the production of the Coconut House.  A very interesting and exciting project that I enjoyed doing with the help of Margret and Libby.

The production begins with Nyoman and Ketut opening  the coconuts in the tropical garden.The coconut meat is extracted before being transformed in flakes with a grinder.

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Inside, in a green atmosphere, fruits are drying while the filtering process of oil is done by hand.

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Empty jars and glass bottles are ready to package the delicious virgin coconut oil.

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You can use it on your skin or for cooking. It is a really healthy food with lots of benefits. I had the pleasure to enjoy it in the delicious Balinese meals that are prepared by Made. Finished products are then nicely put together in the small shop of Jiwa Damai and other outlets.

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Colorful flowers

Our organic garden at Jiwa Damai is home to various species of plants and animals. Flowers are blooming in all kinds of colors : purple, yellow, red, white, ...

Purple flowers

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Beautiful red flower

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Helping hands

... from our international friends. Our two wonderful volunteers, Laia from Spain Catalan, and Aitor form Equator are engaging in garden work, using the Balinese sickles to clean an area from Tapioka.

Tapioka is eaten as a vegetable, prepared with grated coconut meat.

Thank you for your contribution to Jiwa Damai!

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Organic Cacao from Bali

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In our organic garden we have several cacao trees. This cacao fruit is not ripe yet...

When ripe, the skin of the fruit turns a more orange color.

This is a fresh cacao fruit, picked right off the tree.

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After harvesting, we dry the fresh beans. The essence of chocolate are contained in these air dried beans, picked fresh from our organic garden. Packed with very important minerals such as magnesium and iron, the health benefits of raw cacao are immense.

Enjoy them on their own or ground with a little brown sugar, they are a perfect addition to any dessert.

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