Galungan is one of the most sacred of the Balinese holy days. The large Bamboo pole is erected in front of every home with intricate decorations and sculpting. All is made by hand and our four Jiwa Damai youngsters were very happy and content to produce this beautiful Penjor. They worked together to cut the huge bamboo pole as well as cutting and carving with the knife the intricate decorations.
We are recycling and preparing glass bottles for our future earthship inspired building in the mountains.
Our French volunteers, Camille and Quentin have found the most efficient method to build bottle bricks to be use in the building in a decorative fashion. They cut a line through the bottle and then burn it with a candle and then icecube it. Thus the brick comes out very clean. The two bottle ends are then sealed together with a strong tape.
We are looking now for people interested working with us in a quite remote environment, as experts in earthship building, architect and /or planner and supervisor as well as other volunteers.
The planned beginning is November, this year, all depending on the weather conditions.
Please write to info@jiwadamai.net of you are interested or have someone who might have the knowledge we need. Solar experts are needed as well!
We are using White oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). Both the Latin and common names refer to the shape of the fruiting body. The Latin pleurotus (sideways) refers to the sideways growth of the stem with respect to the cap, while the Latin ostreatus (and the English common name, oyster) refers to the shape of the cap which resembles the bivalve of the same name. Many also believe that the name is fitting due to a flavor resemblance to oysters.
Alex, who is with us now for over 3 months with his project of growing mushrooms. They just came out beautiful. Thanks Alex!
The Oyster mushroom can grow at moderate temperature ranging from 20 to 300 C and humidity 55-70%.
Due to the cultivation method we use, we have to differentiate among two places in Jiwa Damai.
The first place is in the garden storage, where the humidity and light conditions are less strong, just as it is needed for the first phase of the mushroom's cultivation.
Second is under the bridge being the butterfly garden, where humidity and light are higher, just as it is needed for the second false of cultivation, lots of humidity and light enough for reading.
And here are the results!
Jiwa Damai received high officials. We were honored with the visit of the head of the Badung regency police chief. He came with 20 of his staff to visit us, appreciate the work we are doing as well as walking through our gardens and watching our foundation video: Lagu Damai Bali Foundation.
Since it was the month of Ramadan, the all day fasting, we invited the chief and his stuff to break their fast in the evening with a buffet at Jiwa Damai. Our kitchen fairies provided a wonderful healthy buffet for all.
We are now building some new simple accommodation in our garden for interns and volunteers. The walls will be made from Bamboo and the outside will be decorated with recycled bottles. Here are two designs with glass bottles for one of the rooms. There will be four rooms made with natural and recycled materials.
At Jiwa Damai all plants, grow at an extraordinary speed. Kadek, our gardener and Mariano, our Spanish volunteer and Koko our Japanese volunteer are cleaning the area, to be mulched and prepared for ginger, garlic and other plants.
We, here, at Jiwa Damai are very active, even though it is our quiet period after the Balinese new year. Our parking and entrance is being rejuvenated through some lovely landscaping. All bamboo were collected on our land and then placed into the river for a period of 3 weeks to increase the life of the Bamboo without chemical preservation.
At Jiwa Damai we are co-sharing the area with a variety of snakes. This particular one was found sleeping under a plastic cover at the ping pong table...
Read MoreCleaning the plastic from our river in the forest. Every two days, our local team and our volunteers collect the accumulated plastic which is caught in the net we placed across the river. It is then taken to the main road to our garbage container, where a truck picks it up every 2 weeks to take it to the larger landfill.
Jiwa Damai is a hands-on, socially responsible organic garden and retreat center.
We are located amidst lush tropical vegetation in the heart of Bali (20 mins from Ubud).
