I had the delight of watching kids get totally mud covered yesterday… jumping in puddles of mud and crawling along the rice paddi pathway on all fours like wild things… if only i had a camera 🤪. Anyway, today is another one of those days to get outside and enjoy the cool breeze and moisture under one’s feet (very squelchy out there) and to join in the Astungkara Way Gotong Royong – moving some dry grass/mulch and tie the alang alang pieces onto the archway structure we’ve been building to shelter the stairs to the Rural Farmer’s Learning Centre from sun and rain….
If you haven’t heard of Astungkara way, they’re a great bunch of awesome locals youth who are passionate about regenerating Bali and through making a pilgrimage trail for visitors to walk amid the ricefields and many landscapes of Bali, taking 10 days from start (Canggu) to finish (Lovina)… visitors can support the Regenerative Movement of on-ground practical projects such as a demonstration Agroforestry plot in the Subak Uma Lambing (ricefield area) a short stroll from the RFLC site where we will be today tieing alang alang onto the roof of the archway I first mentioned, Essential oil processing project, Organic Rice Growing support and research project, and several other awesome start-up projects that will help pave the way forward for Regenerative Agricultural Practices to manifest in Bali and help inspire the world hopefully! (Bali is that kind of place). You can see more about Astungkara Way on their website at www.astungkaraway.com
We have been helping build some finishing touches around the Rural Farmers Learning Centre building and will be helping along the trail to build some of the accommodation and sustainable facilities for pilgrims along the trail through our courses and workshops, and we are commencing a Traditional Bamboo Treatment Trial to compare the costs and efficacy and practicality of reviving this tradition which I will be covering in the next post which has very interesting prospects for the possibility of people in developing countries to return to using a sustainable building material which isn’t monopolised/industrialised/corporatised and is actually affordable for this huge percentage of the global population who’ve had the short end of the Capitalism stick for quiiiiiiite some time now. Could even be the renewable material that poor people can use… 50 or 60 years before the “trickle down” effect of it being affordable after bamboo becomes mainstreamed and industrialised (as its still a very high priced building material in its treated form i.e. that won’t get destroyed by insects in 4 or 5 years).
So, come and join us today or another day (see our events schedule on Facebook or Instagram) and find out more about Why bamboo needs to be made affordable for 70+% of the world’s population who are currently living on less than $10/day.
Whatsapp me on +62 812 3790 6885 for directions and if you want to join.
Bamboo Creative Bali 