Excursion to Ubud

Lo explains Silvia the ingredients of BioSoap

Finally last Saturday Silvia and me made it to Ubud. Our first stop there was the Organik Market which is held on the verandah of Restaurant Pizza Bagus. I couldn't resist the tempting Cappuccino and so we sat down at a table in the Pizzeria and watched the coming and going on the verandah. On several stands organic products were offered like vegetables, seedlings, home-made jams and nut butters, bread and cakes, colloidal silver, soapnut liquid and others. We were looking for Ibu Sayu from Yayasan IDEP and found her behind a stall with lots of bright green bags with seeds.

shopping bags made from newspapers instead of plastic

I won't forget her bright smile and her name which sounds almost like sayur which means vegetable in bahasa indonesia. She explained us how to find the permaculture demonstration site of IDEP: just 500m down the road, after passing the wairingin tree watch out for the IDEP sign and turn right into the road which takes you to the IDEP site. I was impressed by the strong and healthy looking salads, comfrey leaves and other greenies in the beds thickly mulched with rice straw (jerami).

Gotu Kola at the IDEP site

From there we headed for the Botanic Garden where we spent the heat of the day walking along the little river under the shades of big trees. We were delighted by the Islamic garden with its fountain, fig trees and walls of climbing flowers and passion fruits. We discovered the bright red fruit of Mahkota Dewa and tasted the refreshing fruit of the Roselle Bush, which is related to the Hibiscus family. The dried fruits are used for making tea and are for sale in the shop at the entrance. The strong Taro's in the pond were an eye catcher. Silvia might use them at the ponds in KEV.

Taro in the pond at the Ubud Botanic Garden

Mahkota Dewa Apple in the Ubud Botanic Garden

We ended our Ubud tour with a tasty lunch at Pizza Bagus.
On the way home we stopped at a rice fabric where I filled up the car with bags of rice husks and rice straw thinking of the permaculture principle of making multiple use of resources.