The Meeting in Pictures

opening the grease trap at Gaia Oasis

listening to Beate

wastewater garden at Gaia Oasis hillside

markisa or passionfruit at Gaia Oasis hillside

Aloe Vera growing at Gaia Oasis hillside

Beate and Mank, old team mates

Swimming Pool at Gaia Oasis hillside

Burgel really wants to know how this Pool Chemistry works

herbgarden at Gaia Oasis

view from Gaia Oasis hillside

Burgel, Markus and Burkhard discussing

wastewater garden at the home of Markus and Mank

finally...Rambutan-break

Minutes of the 13th Meeting on Feb 17, 2010

Beate organised again a day fully packed with exciting events:
- at Gaia Oasis, Tejakula and Abasan: waste water garden and organic vegetable gardens
- at the home of Markus and Mank: waste water garden and solar energy system
- at Renate's place: Aqua Fitness

When I arrived at Warung Bambu 15 minutes too early I met her munching homemade bread and cake and joined for a kopi Bali. Soon after Burgel und Burkhard arrived and the cake had to be saved for Beate's kids. At 8.30am the expected transport had not arrived so we mounted our motor bikes and headed eastward along the coast to Gaia Oasis where our host Sabine welcomed us with drinks, lots of fruits and these yummy belinjo chips. As there were some new faces around the table we started with an introductory round: Burgel, Carlos, Jenny, Markus, Beate, Mank, Burkhard, Sabine, Renate, Violetta and me. Welcome everybody! Great to see so many people interested in Permaculture.
For those not so familiar with Permaculture, find a definition here.

1. Soap nuts or krerek in bahasa
Beate told us about her first experiments in using them for washing, as dishwashing liquid and hair shampoo against dandruff. Better don't try to mix them in a blender as you can get explosive results with soap nut liquid splattered all over the kitchen!
Burgel gave us her recipe for using the soap nuts in the washing machine: soak about 12 nuts in water, open them, wrap them in a textile bag and put them into the washing machine. It is not recommended to reuse the nuts because most of the saponine will be rinsed off during the washing cycle. But they still can go to the compost heap.
Here you can find more information about soap nuts or just google soap nuts.


2. Waste water garden
Beate showed and explained us the waste water system at Gaia Oasis with the grease trap and the cleaning plant.
Most of the waste water of restaurants and hotels in Bali still go untreated to rivers and to the sea. Reasons for this might be ignorance and giving low priority to the issue by owners when investing. We all can help to build awareness of the issue by getting interested and curious and asking questions in the hotels and restaurants where we are guests.


3. Garden tour at Gaia Oasis Abasan
Sabine and her gardeners took us on a tour through the vast property. The Lontar palm indicates that the climate here is more dry than around Singaraja. We discussed the local way of composting: just digging a hole and filling it with organic matter and then covering it with earth. Very energy saving, but during the rainy season probably too moist and no oxigen. We opened a hole and found some sticky earth with rotted leaves, not bad smelling, but not as good as this crumbly, black, earthy smelling stuff from a compost heap. We still wonder how anaerobic composting works and why it is less recommended than aerobic composting. This is some homework, guys!
Another subject was the water treatment in swimming pools. How does a chlorinator work? What chemical processes and elements are involved? Some more homework! But even without understanding the pool chemistry the water in the swimming pools of Gaia Oasis looked very clean and refreshing and there was no chlorine to smell.
The garden beds were not mulched. Sabine explained that it is difficult to motivate the gardeners for mulching. They usually just put the cow shit on top of the earth. Does that hurt the plants or can this cause diseases in humans when they eat the plants?
During the tour the gardeners kept feeding us with freshly picked rambutans. The markisas were thriving and we passed beds of beans, corn, basil, aloe vera, salads and other greens and medicinal plants.
The first rain drops and a rolling thunder reminded us to head back to the restaurant. But not before we got that lemon basil plant that Sabine offered us for taking home.
Time to say Good-bye to Sabine and her gardeners, to Jenny, Carlos, Renate and Violetta who had other duties.


4. Visit at the home of Markus and Mank
After a stopover at a Warung down by the beach we went on to the home of Markus and Mank to see their newly installed solar energy system.
There are 2 providers for solar panels in Bali: Contained energy and Solar Power Indonesia. Markus brought some of his equipment like the inverter from germany. He explained us the main elements of his solar energy system: solar panels, car batteries, inverter and control unit. Well done! We all except Burkhard envy Mank for such a technically talented husband.

As it was already 4pm and the clouds looked heavy with rain I passed on Renate's invitation to water therapy.

Thanks a lot to Beate for organizing the day and to Sabine, Markus, Mank and Renate for hosting us.
Next meeting: Beate plans a trip to South Bali to visit the show room of Solar Power Indonesia. She will email the details.

Minutes of the 12th Meeting on Jan 24, 2010

Excursion to Manuksesa on Sunday, 24th January 2010. Beate offered to host the meeting at Villa Manuk in the home village of her husband. Elena arrived already on Saturday at our construction site and we spent some time indulging in her plans going back to Greece and doing permaculture design work at the Tao's Center on the island of Paros. On Sunday morning we all, which means Elena, Burgel, Beate and Nana, Burkhard and me, met at Warung Bambu to drive together to Manuksesa. As it is Rambutan season now we stopped when we saw a man standing by the road with a basket full of the juicy hairy fruits. With a big smile he just gave us a big bundle of fruits as a present.
In the village Beate first showed us the current situation with the grey water from the houses along the village road. From each house a 1.5" or 2" pipe comes out of the foundation wall and goes at right angle down to the gutter along the road. As the road is not very steep and the people don't seem to use much water (maybe there is no running water in the houses), the dirty water is dripping out of the pipe into the open gutter leaving smells and solids there while seeping away. The houses seem to have toilets with septic tanks. All the same some older people still have the habit to shit into the little river which runs through the village. Beate received a generous donation for her Children Project. So the idea is to use that money to improve the waste water situation in the village. A few ideas came up:

• collect the greywater in a pipe system which leads to a common waste water garden in the village
• build a waste water garden for each household
• build a common bath house with waste water garden

The project now needs to be defined more clearly like identifying the needs of the people, identifying all resources, choosing a site, doing a functional analysis of a bath house etc.
Nana led us to the house where he was born and his family still lives. In one room the organic rice which was harvested the traditional way a few month ago was stored in a big heap, the rice corns still on the stalk.
Then we toured Villa Bambu and the garden where our eyes were caught by some monster papayas and a spinach with a stem like a tree. The vetiver grass in the waste water garden is thriving and the Sawo trees are hanging full of fruits. The pool is surrounded with various flowers which attract a variety of butterflies. Beate did a great job furnishing and decorating the rooms.
After a yummy nasih goreng from the organic rice we enjoyed a swim in the refreshing water of the pool.
Beate told us the feedbacks she received for the waste management concept which we discussed during the last 2 meetings and Elena volunteered to do the final editing before it is handed over to Ibu Ambari from the Governor's Office.
Our next subject was health. Who knows a good docter? Which hospitals are recommendable? What to do in case of an accident? Where to get a good treatment or therapy?
Burkhard informed about an initiative to form a fund which guarantees the payment for a helicopter flight in case of emergency. Often here in the north of Bali the problem is how to get somebody who is seriously injured from the accident site to a good hospital or the airport in order to be flown out to a good hospital. Burkhard will research the actual state and conditions of the fund.
Before we left Villa Manuk Beate showed us the simple but very effective grease trap made from 3 plastic buckets connected by pipes. The buckets are close to the compost place. So it is very convenient to clean the buckets often and throw the grease to the compost heap. Hidden in the lids of the buckets and some half cutted bamboo stems we found some standing water with moskito breeding places. So, don't forget to check for any standing water around your house to avoid Dengue Fever.
More informative articles about health issues you can find on the website of Bali4kids.

And last but not least some news and hints from our guru:
Wish I could come this Sunday, but we've haven't got a tutor for this school term, starting next Monday, so I'm it. This means I have to start preparing to teach, so I won't be able to join you... For the wastewater system, just remember the Principles that guide your design.

• For septic tanks and treatment gardens, bigger is better! The longer the wastes are in the system, the more time there is for treatment. Longer time in the system is better.
  
• Watch the slope in piping, always. The absolute minimum is 3%, but 5% is better. Avoid 90' L's in WC piping to the septic tank. Use 45' L's.
  
• Make sure you prevent any solids from getting into the perforated garden piping.You may need something like a grease-trap, to catch solids like hair, soap, plastic etc...
  
• Put a P Trap between the Mandi/Wastafal (all grey water) and the septic tank. DO NOT RELY ON THOSE CHEAP, FLOOR-DRAIN FITTINGS TO STOP SMELLS COMING BACK INTO THE MANDI, FROM THE SEPTIC TANK! Buy P Traps, with a screw-cap on the bottom, so you can drain off any solids that accumulate there.
  
• Short breather pipes mean smells and mosquitoes! Breather pipes should go above the eaves of your roof, if possible.
  

Do please email me, if you need some help, or confirmation, for your design. (Don't forget the Sikaflex..! :)
Same for the waste management program. Stay with the basic Principles, and feel free to email, if I can help. And, at the risk of repeating the same thing too often... The Key is... a Collection Service, which does not (usually) pick up organic wastes. Transporting garbage is expensive. If possible, work with Pemulung, let them collect the recyclables. If you can, build a TPS, and give someone a job managing it.
I seriously can't wait to swim in B & N's natural pool. Enjoy, you guys!

NORM'S CURRENT WORK: I'm currently doing a tree-planting project in the protected forest above our place. We are planting 4,000 fruiting, native trees on 5 hectares, that was cleared illegally, back in the 70's. Locals have made money supplying the bibit, and doing the work. More and more large corporations are willing to sponsor this kind of project. This one is being paid for, by Standard Chartered Bank. We've just erected an information sign (attached) on the road to the rainforest. Including the structure, and the sign itself, the whole project cost Rp4.5mil. We have Indonesian in big letters and English in small letters. In other words, the sign is primarily for locals, not tourists. The sign was sponsored by one of our guests. I've attached pics of the sign and a (water cycle) drawing we used. I have all the graphics in pdf and jpeg formats. You're welcome to use them. Just email me and I'll send them to you. We feel information signs, including rules and regulations, are one more part of what's needed, to protect our natural areas.



I'm currently building, and doing a PC design, for a lovely new family, who are moving from Australia to Bali. They've contracted 1.5h, not far downhill from our Lodge. They're building a very similar place to ours, which in this case, they'll call an 'Eco-Stay' I invite you guys, to come and look at this project sometime. They have a lovely clean stream to swim in, and we're hoping to install a micro-hydro electric system (they have a 12m waterfall) to power the whole property.
For those of you with diesel gen-sets, Chakra is reporting 25% fuel savings with his latest hydrogen set-up. He's busy and hard to get hold of, so it's best to go to him, in Ubud. He also does very simple, biogas digestors, and he teaches SRI (organic) rice farming.

LINDA, Is currently setting up a TK at our local Banjar, and she recently joined a PKK meeting to bring reliable information, about typhus and rabies, to local women. She also put a range of nice vegetable seeds in small packs, and sold them to the ladies. In our village, 1 year ago, Linda started sponsoring a new Silat class, which has been a big hit, especially with the girls. She is about to try soap nuts, to replace expensive, liquid soaps (thanks Silv'), and she continues to manage the Eco Lodge, brilliantly.
It's the wet season, so, If you're getting rains, especially in that tough, North-coast climate, this is definitely the best time for you to be planting your fruit trees!

DISASTER STUFF: There's lots of disaster talk around nowadays. For what it's worth, in my opinion, the most likely threat you face (apart from the obvious threat of earthquakes) on the North coast, is Storm Surge, possibly, combined with storm-water flooding. It's a temporary raising of sea-levels, caused by weather, it can reach heights of several metres, and more if combined with heavy rains. You'll get the picture from Google or Wikapedia... Those of you on the coast, might consider raising important infrastructure up, a couple of metres off the ground - for example, gen-sets & water tanks.
Elena has been doing wonderful things for us, up here in the mountains, but she's looking forward to catching up with all of you. She could probably use a bit of sun too!
Take care everybody, Norm

As date for the next meeting Wednesday, 17th of February 2010, is scheduled. Please let Beate know about sites to visit or subjects to be covered in the meeting. Wishing you all a good time SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI!

Minutes of the 9th Meeting on Oct 25

Excursion to Renate's construction site in Bondalem. Some members were out of order (sakit perut) due to too much babi guling or busy, so it was again Beate, Burgel and myself, who were driven by Pak Ketut Suasa to Bondalem. Burkhard followed us on his motorbike while his wife Yuli took care of their new construction site. After a call for directions we found Renate's place on the beach and - surprise, surprise! - many interested people I haven't met so far, most of them german speaking. To my relief our ceremony mistress Beate guided us skillfully and joyfully through the day.

Renate explaining the plans of the buildings

Although Renate just had moved to the place the day before she was already very well organized and started giving us some information on the path that led her to Bali and on her vision for the project. Have a look at her website for more information. After 4 years of travelling and preparing she had decided to make the property in Bondalem her new base for living and began to draw the plans of a healing place inspired by the clarity and calmness of zen monasteries. As she is not a professional designer she let an architect go over her sketches and draw the final plans to get the permit for construction. To help understanding the plans and communicating them to the workers Renate had made a colorful paper model of the buildings.

paper model of the buildings

The main theme of the place is water: the healing power of the ocean nearby combined with a special water therapy for which a 35 degree Celsius warm pool is built and a regular swimming pool. Xavier, an experienced water therapist and as such very aware of water quality, explained us the challenges a pool designer is faced with. Luckily in Bali we usually can enjoy good water quality. Our skin is not waterproof, there is an exchange of molecules through the skin with the surrounding water. Infinity pools have the advantage that the chlorine gas which usually floats above the water level right in the area where we breathe can drift away while it is trapped by the surrounding wall in skimmer pools. There are various water treatment technologies, many of them not available though in Bali. So it is wise to choose a system that is available and can be maintained locally which are pool ionizers. The swimming pool contractor from Denpasar which was expected for 4pm does not show up. The holiday of Kuningan the day before might be a reason.

swimming pool by the ocean

enjoying the breeze from the ocean

Pak Willis explaining "constructing needs time"

After the introduction Renate guided us through the construction site where her contractor Pak Willis, another sweet Balinese guy, explained how he liked working for Renate and excused himself for any misunderstandings and not progressing faster. Everything needs time. Yes, and then it was time for lunch. The javanese workers had grilled 2 big fresh fish and the kitchen fairies had prepared wonderful salads, fritters and rice for us. What a delight!

grilled fish for lunch

After lunch some of the participants had to leave and the rest of us shared some information:

• Beate told us about her traditional Bali rice project. The rice has already been harvested. As the halms are higher than the fast growing species it is harvested in an upright position, back straight, not bent, with a special knife. After the rice is dry enough it will be gedrescht in the traditional way.
• Beate informed that she received a generous donation for her children project. The children and the people from the village would like to use the money for public toilets and a waste water garden in the village
• Beate talked with members of the environment department in Denpasar about the waste problem. They are really interested in supporting a project. So Beate asks us for help in designing a waste treatment system for Buleleng.
• Evelyn shared some insights from the PDC with Bill Mollison which she attended in Melbourne lately.
  
• Then we talked about solar energy. Renate showed us the brochures of Contained Energy which offers now solutions in Bali. The problem with solar energy very often is storage of the energy for the time when the sun is not shining. Batteries are needed which are expensive and tend to break. Burkhard recommends to bring down the peak energy usage by not using all the power consumers together. Like this a contract for less KW can be agreed on with PLN.
  
• We discussed strategies how to interact with the local communities. Sometimes our good intentions can lead to aversion by the local community if we don't integrate them very carefully into the projects. Watch out for open doors and open minds!
• Nicole distributes an introduction into MET (Meridian Energy Techniques), an easy-to-learn method for dealing with stress and fears.
• Renate told us how the coconut poles were made termite-safe. They split the poles and filled them with cement and iron and put them together again.
• On the way back we stopped at Bali Mandala Resort to return a pair of shoes following the permaculture desing principle: every element, like in our case the ride home, supports more than one function!

Please note the date for the next meeting: Sunday, November 15, 2009. The venue is not yet clear. Maybe Beate's place in Manuksesa. An information will follow by Renate a few days before.

concrete filled coconut poles

Update: Next Permaculture Meeting on 25th of October 2009

Our next meeting will be on Renate's site in Bondalem on Sunday, the 25th of October 2009 at 10 am. I am sure there will be a lot of interesting things to see, i.e. solar energy and other environmental friendly building ideas. Please contact me if you want to join because Renate has to organize the lunch. Thanks and selamat hari Raya Kuningan!

Back from PDC Melbourne

spreading the wings (by Elena)

I would like to start the posting with a few words from Marcel Proust, which characterize pretty much my experiences during my stay in Melbourne:

The real journey of discovery is not to seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes.

That's what Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton did with their stories and teachings: opening our eyes so we can look at the world around us from a new perspective, the permaculture design perspective, which is based on the 3 ethical pillars for any action: caring for the earth, caring for the people including oneself and using any surplus for the latter two. Just imagine if every family grows their own food in a sustainable way. Healthier and more nutritious food, healthier people, less transportation and storage needed, less energy consumption and pollution, healthier environment, less stress, less aggression, less greed, happier people, more peace....Why not try? Why not here and now? Why not you and me? That's what Bill and Geoff made clear on the first day of the course: it is time to act, time to become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. Our planet probably faces the biggest challenges in her history, but at the same time humanity had never such a vast knowledge and so many hearts and hands to heal. In the course we were 84 highly motivated students from all over the world, all age groups, various cultural and social backgrounds, all sharing the same vision and there are many more out there already designing, digging swales and building dams, reafforesting, gardening, composting, teaching etc. These are the good news. The bad news are that we are really in serious trouble with climate change and all its effects about which you hear in the media daily. We are in trouble NOW! So every one of us is important however small or big the contribution is. JUST DO IT!
Today I just want to give you my overall impressions and some highlights from the course. I have a full notebook with details and drawings which I want to study further in the next weeks and put in postings from time to time. I am still very busy on our construction site preparing for the rainy season.
The course covered basically the contents of the Designer's Manual enriched by many stories and project experiences from Bill and Geoff. Here are some websites that might interest and inspire you:
- magic in melbourne by Craig Mackintosh with picture of Bill
- www.homegrownrevolution.com
- www.urbanhomestead.org
- www.freedomgardens.org
- www.happyearth.com.au
- www.spinfarming.com
- www.chirchofdeepecology.org
- Banana Circle Recipe to cut waste

As you can imagine with 84 students from all over the world there was much more to learn than "only" what was taught in the classroom. So actually there were 86 teachers and students. Bill's wife Lisa and some helpers in the back pampered us in the morning and afternoon breaks with delicious snacks which saved me the money to buy lunch, quite expensiv in Melbourne. One banana at the SevenEleven costs 1.20 AUD, 1 kg apples almost 7 AUD, more than a worker at our construction site earns in a day.
The first eight days of the course were filled with lectures and mainly listening. On day 9 in the afternoon we were randomly grouped and each group received a brief from a pretended client to design the empty 4000 m2 area just outside the lecture theatre. Quite challenging for me first to find my place in the group, then to apply the various methods of design, come to a result and then present the result in the class. It was great to have Elena as room mate in these times, relieving my stress in just listening to my worries and telling me that we are here to learn from our mistakes and not to be perfect. After the presentations it was party time which meant performance time. Challenging me again beyond my habitual behaviour so that I was tempted to sneak out and escape. But Julia gave me a warm brazilian hug and talked me into staying. So thanks to her I stepped over another of my limitations and danced the life of a butterfly for my fellow students who all did awesome performances. What do we need TV Shows for when we all have such amazing talents!
The last day of the course was dedicated to receive the Permaculture Design Certificate from Bill and Geoff and then everybody told the group what will be her or his next steps and intentions towards a more sustainable life. May we all find the courage and the energy to realize our beneficial intentions!
Thank you, Norm and Elena, for inspiring me to attend this great course! And my husband Johann, who supported me with his good wishes and love.

receiving certificate from Bill and Geoff (by Elena)

Minutes of the 8th Meeting

Excursion to KEV. Some members were out of country or busy so it was Beate and myself, who met at Burgel's place to drive together to KEV. On the way I was listening to the funny stories of Beate and Burgel about their time-out from their families while enjoying the luxury of an air-conditioned car driven by Pak Suasa Ketut. We are heading towards the end of the dry season now with very hot weather during the day.
We all were curious about the progress of KEV since we last visited in January for setting up the first waste water garden there. Brigitta and Silvia, both tanned and healthy looking from outdoor working, welcomed us together with a refreshing breeze from the sea.

Brigitta's Beach House

Brigitta, Silvia and Evelyn looking at the sludge blanket

septic tank with sludge blanket

Brigitta first took us on a tour through and around her new lovely beach house. The tiles are painted bright to reflect the heat and the windows are designed that the breezes can cool the house. We could not resist to open the septic tank after having heard so much about sludge blankets and never seen one. It is much less smelly than expected and the plants in the leachfield seem to enjoy the nutrients from the tank as do the maggots around the lid. We wondered how they got in there. I fell in love with the bathrooms which Brigitta decorated with jadegreen pebbles and tiles in meandering curves with little mirrors in between. Very playful and serene!
The place for the diving equipment has 2 basins for washing the gear. There is also hot water available. With a switch Brigitta can choose depending on the saltiness of the water if it is drained to the septic tank or the got which leads directly to the sea. At the moment the shed for the generator is in construction. To reduce the noise the walls are built as a sandwich of 2 brick layers with a layer of rice husks and cement in between.
Then Silvia took us to her site. Amazing what she has done since January! The restaurant and the big kitchen are in the finalising phase. It will be very spatious and airy with its big roof made from alang-alang which people from a mountain village have brought. They lived and worked on the construction site until the roof was covered.

Silvia's farm shop with thermal chimney

The store where Silvia will sell fresh vegetables from her garden and other products made from local plants like natural cosmetics is also in the finalising phase. It will be cooled by air which is sucked in through an earth pipe and then circulated into a thermal chimney. And the first guest bungalow is on its way. All buildings are made out of adobe. As the earth for the adobe is always different they do first a sample. Depending on how much clay the earth contains more or less sand has to be added that the adobe does not crack.

mulch on the veggie beds and sawdust on the paths in the mandala garden

seedlings ready to move

The vegetable garden is laid out as a mandala, the plant beds thickly mulched and the paths covered with saw dust. The first seedlings are soon ready to be planted. More than 60 young fruit trees are planted and the pigs look happy and healthy. Sweet potatoes, rosella and maniok are already available for cooking.
As the sun was setting we returned to Brigittas house and enjoyed coffee and cake on her peaceful terrasse. Great excursion with lots of inspiration! Thank you, Silvia and Brigitta.
Elena and I will attend the Permaculture Design Certificate Course with Bill Mollison in Melbourne from Sept. 21 to Oct.3. We will keep you posted here in the blog.

Please note the date for the next meeting: Saturday, October 17, 2009. The venue is not yet clear, maybe Renate's construction site in the east.