Dried organic fruit and vegetables

Our latest project here at Jiwa Damai is to produce dried fruit and vegetables. We only use the organic produce from our permaculture garden, grown without fertilizers and chemicals. For this purpose we invested in a food dryer / raw oven used in the raw food kitchen.

This is the first batch of bananas ! They are air-dried at very low temperature to retain the flavour. What an incredible sweetness !

Dried bananas

We also dried tomatoes and hot red peppers.

Dried tomatoes

Dried peppers

We pack the fruit and veggies in FDR recommended plastic bags to retain the flavour.

These products can be bought at Jiwa Damai.

Come by and taste for yourself!

Organic potatoes from Bali

In August we wrote a post about the potato tower that we built in the permaculture garden. Since it proved impossible to grow potatoes in the wet soil here at Jiwa Damai, we decided to create a tower that is filled with stones, sand and earth, so the water is able to flow through it and that the potatoes are kept dry.

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Now, that some months have passed, we can finally see the results !

The potato plants are growing really well.

Potato tower

We can't wait for the harvest & to taste our homegrown organic potatoes :-)

Christmas Workshop at Jiwa Damai

Around Christmas time, Dr. Margret Rueffler ist holding a workshop at Jiwa Damai: I, We and It - Aligning with the song of the earth

Mo 19 – Su 25 December 2011

Yoga session

The seminar "Aligning with the song of the earth" provides a space where a deep connection with one's own heart and the heart of the earth unfolds. An alignment with the own potential and the potential of the earth in her present process of transformation takes place. A profound acceptance is needed, to see the symptoms of her movements as change. To align deeply with the heart of the earth and welcome the new.

Everyone interested is very welcome to join !

Experience 7 days of yoga and meditation in a very peaceful and relaxing environment, on an organic farm in the heart of Bali.

Included in the package is the following:

• Six nights accommodation
• Balinese breakfast
• Half board or optionally full board
• Welcome drink
• One full-day excursion
• Legong or Kecak dance in Ubud
• One Balinese massage
• Airport/hotel transfers
• Three workshop-sessions 'Aligning with the song of the earth'
• Daily yoga session
• Daily meditation session 'Unfolding the HeartSelfIntelligence'

For detailed information on the workshop please visit Dr. Margret Ruefflers website: www.pppi.net or write us an email: info@jiwadamai.net

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Balinese religious ceremony

Balinese people are very religious and they regularly hold ceremonies and parades in their communities. They bring offerings to the Gods in order to ask for their good will and to appease them. Wira, the general manager at Jiwa Damai,  invited us to join his familiy in one of the bigger ceremonies held in his village.

We, the foreigners, got dressed up in traditional Balinses clothes. Everyone is wearing a sarong. This is really the essential piece of clothing you need during your stay on Bali!

The festivities started with a ceremony in the local temple.

Balinese ceremony

Afterwards all the people of the village set out to march to the next village, to the next temple to hold the religious ceremony there.

Ceremony walk

The whole march took about 6 hours in the hot Balinese midday sun! The group stopped at 4 different temples to hold ceremonies. It was quite a challenge to walk in the boiling heat for that many hours and for so many kilometers. But it was a very special and rewarding experience at the same time.  We, the foreigners, or the "bule" (how the Balinese people call foreigners) were the attraction of the group. Everyone eyed us carefully & curiously... but they welcomed us in the group with warm feelings.

The Balinese women were all dressed in their most beautiful clothes, carrying basket with offerings on their heads.

Balinese women

And the little kids were absolutely adorable !

Balinese kids

All in all this day was a great experience!

At Jiwa Damai we offer our guests the opportunity to get in close contact with the Balinese people and to take part in ceremonies and local festivities.

To inquire about upcoming festivities and the possibility to join, write us an email> info@jiwadamai.net.

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

Black water lilly from karangasen provence

Hibiscus flower

Orange flower

Our own Jiwa Damai pineapples

In the permaculture garden we also grow pineapples. In this tropical weather they grow really well.Once harvested, the green leaves are cut of and replanted.

Ketut with pinapple

single pinapple

2 pinapples

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

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

Praying Mantis

Fruit from the organic garden

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

We also have several papaya trees.

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

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 inside