Restoring our pond

Here at Jiwa Damai we have a wonderful pond with a variety of aquatic life and beautiful water lily’s.  The pond covers an area of 200 square meters and has been an integral part of the atmosphere here since the very beginning of Jiwa almost 14 years ago. In recent weeks we realized the level of water is going down; first we thought that was due to normal evaporation.  For several days we let water into the pond with a hose, but the water level continued to drop.  After an inspection by local building company we were informed that pond has countless leaks.

Margaret decided that we had to repair the pond even though the project would be quite cumbersome.  First, all the fishes had to be taken out by draining the pool to a lower level and the Balinese staff had to catch them with nets to move them out.  After that the remaining water was pumped out until it was empty.

Our pond before the drain

The pond after the drain

She then hired 12 local women to take all the stones and mud out of the pond.  They worked incredibly hard and at an unseen pace.

Working on the pond

Lifting the stone

Please visit our blog soon to see what the next phase will bring...

Organic jackfruit

Our permaculture garden is home to several jackfruit trees. Jackfruit is a quite exotic fruit with an uncommon flavour, pretty much unknown outside Asia. The jackfruit tree is well suited to tropical lowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 80 pounds (36 kg) in weight and up to 36 inches (90 cm) long and 20 inches (50 cm) in diameter.

This jackfruit was just harvested. Ketut is on his way to the kitchen, so our lovely cook can make dryed jackfruit chips. Yammi..

Ketut Jackfruit_1000px

The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous, and is a source of dietary fibre. The flavour is similar to a tart banana. Varieties are distinguished according to the characteristics of the fruits' flesh.

jackfruit

In the kitchen the fruit is opened, the flesh is extracted and the meat cut into slices.

Jackfruit drying2

Jackfruit drying3

Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet with subtle flavouring. It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards and cakes. Our slices will be dryed in our food drying oven, an special oven that is used in the raw food kitchen.

After the drying process we package the jackfruit chips in bags for sale and further distribution. See our homemade products at Jiwa Damai.

Abundance of nature

We are blessed with fertile grounds at Jiwa Damai. Basically, every time anyone takes a walk around the permaculture garden, there are fruits, herbs and veggies ripe and ready to be harvested.

Basil harvest

Tomato harvest

Storms over Bali

Uprooted tree

We had several very severe storms on Bali lately.  This last one has uprooted 7 of our beautiful trees. The storm caused quite some damage on our premise -  one of the entrances to the coconut house was damaged, and also a small bridge was destroyed when a tree fell on it.

Destroyed bridge 2

Currently we are in the process of cleaning up the mess. Soon we'll start reconstruction.....

Roof cleaning the Balinese way

It is rainy season on Bali. Heavy rains and storms are quite common during this time of the year. One side effect of the rain, in combination with the hot and humid temperature is the fast growth of algae, weeds and fungus. The roof of our green house was completely covered with algae. No sunlight would come through the roof anymore, …which the plants down beneath did not like of course.

Something had to be done. Ketut was very creative in developing a tool, a special brush, with which he could clean the roof.

And see what kind of cool construction Ketut made: A bamboo stick, with hair from a coconut shell attached to it as well as a water hose.

Roof cleaning

This construction worked quite efficiently and not before long, the sunlight would shine through the roof again !

Ketut cleaning roof

Roof cleaning2

A trip to the East of Bali

Here on Bali there are many beautiful places and attractions which our guests can visit during their stay on the island. Many of the sights can be reach within few hours. At Jiwa Damai we organize day-trips and excursions for our guests, according to their wishes. We have a privat driver who will be exclusively at your service.

Today we want to take you to the northeast of the island, to a small village called Amed. This is a very calm place, ideal for relaxing  with beaches of black lava sand.

Ahmed beach

In Amed you can find pretty cheap accommodation. We can book a hotel or guest house for you if you wish. The thing to do there is go snorkling. There is a huge ship wreck lying few meters away from the beach, grown over with beautiful colorful corals and plants. Tropical fish are swimming through the corals - an amazing sight !

Along the way up to the north you will pass the famous sight of Tirta Ganga - the ancient royal water gardens. Tirta Ganga was built by the last Balinese king of Karangasem.

It is definitely worth to stop here and take a walk around. The beauty and serenity of the place is astounding.

Tirta Ganga

Tirta Ganga

Ask us for individual excursions and day trips. We will be glad to arrange a trip for you, exploring the beautiful Balinese nature and/or getting to know Balinese culture.

Organic compost at Jiwa Damai

Our vision at Jiwa Damai is to create a self-sustaining center, integrating biological permaculture with water preservation, waste recycling and application of solar energy. We are constantly working towards this goal, adding new features to achieve more sustainability. :-)

An important part of the recycling process is the composting of organic materials. We use cow dung, leaves, fruit and vegetables left over, wood, dust etc. and add effective microorganisms (EM technology)  in order to produce a healthy fertilizer.

Compost area

The effective microorganisms are produced in this blue container.

Compost

The fertilizer, made from our compost is used for the entire organic garden.

Next to the compost it is our worm factory. The worms like to eat fruit and veggies. They don't like spicy and acidic foods, such as lemons or chilis.

Organic honey from Bali

Bees (3)

Recently we relocated our bee family from the traditional Balinese bee hives hanging up in the trees to a more classical bee stock - square wooden boxes.

Bees (4)

Here you can see the first results of the organic honey production.

Bees (1)

Bees (2)

We already manufactured the first jars of organic honey. The taste is a unique bouquet of aromas of wild flowers. Highly nutritious and is locally also used to put on stings and wounds for healing.

On our website you can see the results:  Our products

Fish ponds at Jiwa Damai

Fish in pond 2

Our ponds at Jiwa Damai are the home of many fish. Among them are some ten year old carps.

They love to eat Jackfruit and Algae. At night they often jump like dolphins out of the water and land back in the water with a great splash. We do not allow fishing. These carps weigh about 3-5 kg each. They have a gold colored fin on the top and a golden mouth.

Fish in pond 3

The guardians at Jiwa Damai

On our wide-spread premise we house several stone statues made by local Balinese stone carvers. It is a Balinses tradition and necessity to put up stone figures as well as special offering statues/ places on the entire grounds. These statues are meant for protection and to keep away the evil spirits.

The lion is facing to the east,  guarding the entrances.

Lion statue

The elephants, female and male are the guardians of the whole place.

elephant

Elephant in the garden

The water goddess is the guardian of the "Home of the Water Angel", our secluded meditation spot in the midst of lush nature.

Water goddess