Today was spent in the organic rice paddies (sawah) at IDEP farms in Bali. What an amazing experience with mud squishing between my toes as I learned one of the oldest Balinese cultures. The husk and rice in the picture was harvested, from the same sawah we worked today, only a few months ago.
The rituals of the cycle of planting seeds, then transplanting the seedlings, maintaining, irrigating and harvesting rice enrich the cultural life on Bali beyond a single staple can ever hope to do. The water level in each section is perfect; little streams of water effortlessly flow from the highest section to the very bottom section. Traditionally, the head of each subak (Balinese farmer organization) has his sawah at the very bottom of the hill, so that the water has to pass through every other sawah before reaching his own.
Organic (or at least chemical-free) production has a potential double advantage: reducing the cash needed for pesticides and feritlizers, plus producing a high cost product for a premium market. Keep an eye open for more blogs on IDEP and their permaculture projects.
Healthy Facts
Brown rice contains a whole lot of nutrients including magnesium, that are all but lost during milling into white rice. An exception is that in Asian countries, refined rice is only partially milled and therefore contains substantial nutrition compared with ‘white rice’ in the West.
SO what are you waiting for? come on over to Bali, eat some magnesium rich rice that will keep you relaxed before, during and/or after you cleanse …
