gathering in the shade of the bale bengong
Instead of a meeting Beate invited us to the construction site of Villa Manuk in Manuksesa where she and her husband Nyoman planned to set up the wastewater garden. We, this is Beate, Tanja, Gede, Silvia, Brigitta, Sudi, Burgl, Johann and me, met on Sunday, May 24, 8.15 am at Warung Bambu. Beate and Sudi drove us in their cars to the village. Renate and Tilli arrived a little later from the east coast and finally also the newly wed's Yuli and Burkhard joined us.
What a miracle had happened since we have visited Villa Manuk during the Permaculture Workshop in January. Beate first took us on a site tour:
- The fresh springwater swimming pool together with a bale bengong became the new center of the property. Just finished a couple of days ago. A fish pond surrounds the pool and the bale. The water source is abundant enough to fill the pool in one day. The overflow of the pool runs into the fish pond and from there the water can be used to irrigate the garden.
- Behind the kitchen Beate has set up a compost heap and a vegetable and herb garden.
- The concrete structure and the roof of the new Villa Bambu are finished.
- The construction site is busy with female and male workers from the village. The materials for the construction are as much as possible local. The wood for the floor comes from an old mango tree which was growing next door. The walls are made of bamboo, plywood and bedeg. To protect the bamboo from bugs it was cut on a favourable day according to the balinese calender and then soaked in water for one week. The roof is made from alang-alang.
After the site tour Beate explained again the principles of a wastewater garden and how she designed it. Instead of a plastic water tank they built a concrete tank and waterproofed it. We defined the height and position of the inlet and outlet, measured the slope from the outlet of the tank to the leachfield, a 1 by 8 meter wide and more than 1 meter deep trench and calculated the number of holes to drill into the leach pipe. And then we started doing it step by step.
At 1pm everybody was sweating and starving. Beate's lunch packets arrived just in time to bring us back to life.
At 2pm the children of the village arrived for their permaculture teaching. Gede explained them why to mulch the vegetable beds and showed them how to do it. He learned that ants like it underneath the jerami (rice straw) and build long tunnels there and eat the roots of the plants. So he recommends to use other mulch material like lemon grass.
Around 4pm we left Villa Manuk a little tired but full of joyful and satisfying experiences.
On the way home Silvia wanted to stop at Annette's place to find out how many vetiver plants Annette needed to stabilize the sloping border of her property. We took the opportunity to have a look at her almost finished adobe house and were all excited about the progress and the beauty of it.
Another inspiring permaculture day! Thank you, Beate and all, who joined and shared their knowledge!
Next meeting is scheduled for 15.6.2009, 3-5pm, at Warung Bambu, Pemaron, Bali
As soon as we start doing, we learn how to proceed.
Bill Mollison
Bill Mollison
swimming pool and fish pond
Brigitta taking notes
Johann, Sudi and Burgl drilling holes into the leach pipe
Burkhard checking the septic tank
Tanja overlooking the trench
Yuli setting a pole for the trench assisted by Beate and Silvia
Beate and Gede explaining the art of mulching to the village children
Brigitta and Annette having fun in the outdoor bathtube
