Nobal Glomad

The Organic Farm & Stay in Bali is the result of a magical sea change for Amsterdam born Marjan van Ravenzwaaij who, back in 2003, packed her bags for far greener pastures than she could ever have imagined.

Consider my next Physiotherapy session cancelled. The bargain Bali transport option of a $15/day Suzuki tin-box slammed my L4 /L5 back into alignment as we bounced along a rice paddy-hugging volcanic road, on-route to meet the relatively new to soil Organic Farm & Stay in Munduk Lumbang, central Bali.

Every so often a hand-carved wooden sign protrudes from the Jurassic roadside indicating that even without GPS you’re destination-bound. The road continues to deconstruct as it ascends the mountainous lush lunar landscape. Street side villagers’ inquisitively watch as the designer sunglass’d tourists traverse their high street. Sure they stare, but there’s never a sense of unwelcome… think beautiful white-teethed smiles, waves, “Ha-lo’s”, laughter and a magical sense of welcome from kids to grandpa.

In the off-season, minus the convoy of bus happy snappers this is the quieter less-villa’d side of the Island. It’s also the most serene. Paddies cascade down hillsides like Google Earth marking out gradients in rich flushes of over-saturated green. Occasional Warungs with Indo staples and Bintang signage set-up for passing tourists (it’s not a part of Balinese culture to eat out), wafts of freshly purged cow dung and a constant reminder of ad-hoc bandage repairs to the decaying path.

One more pothole and I almost rip the handbrake off the floor… we’re here. At the functional street entrance there’s no concierge, infinity cascading karp pools, US priced day spa or Sushi-Thai-Burger themed restaurant to be found. Instead, just a simple car space and the back of a traditional style bamboo hut with a hint of black and white Euro inspired tile… and more importantly a warm welcome from one of the local girls employed on the Farm.

Beyond the hut appears a yellow brick road of never ending a to z garden bed. My senses are on full alert with virgo compliant grid of sprouted offerings including Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Chilli, Mint, Spinach, Papaya, Rhubarb, Wasabi Lettuce, Figs, Potatoes, Beans, Pinapples, Artichokes, Radishes, Carrots, Beans and a Chook pen… Eve would have yawned at the tempt of a mere Apple in this verdant oasis.

Walking up the path to greet us is owner Marjan van Ravenzwaaij, the co-founder and magic-mind behind this organic botanical encyclopedia sporting an eye-grabbing hibiscus pink ‘Buddhalicious’ t-shirt. There’s a sparkle of discovery in her stride as she welcomes us and introduces the well trained team who, as she is engrossed in bookkeeping, continue on her behalf the tour of her organic enterprise.

The track descends to a spring-fed stream alive with locals lathering bodies and clothing. Crossing the bamboo makeshift bridge leads to Marjan’s mountain with panoramic views of the vast southern shores below. Continuing up the slope there sits a visual cluster of individually marked out ‘will it grow here?’ experimental plots. Each of these is assigned to a select number of the Islands leading international chefs de jour, trialing local growing conditions in hope of cultivating their next season’s winning ingredient.

This secretive behaviour Marian finds peculiar. The chefs all love her vision. They’ve requested accommodation be built for their stay… and so it was. Then came the appeal for an onsite kitchen to explore new recipes… it was built. But all this continues to be done on a strictly individual visit basis. These professionals have no interest in collaboration. Surely it makes more sense if these masterchefs opt to pool resources rather than waste time discovering their Kenyan Cactus fruit will never grow to love a tropical climate.

Returning back to headquarters we joined Marjan at a rustic oversized dining/office/everything table. Behind her in the cucina a superb 3 course dinner is being prepared by her kitchen crew head hunted from former local farmers and families. They’re super quick on the skill and language uptake, with an enthusiasm for more. She recalls early lessons of ‘This is a table’, ‘This is dinner time’ and ‘The fork goes on the left’. Fast forward 2 years and fresh spinach fettuccine is being fed through an Italian pasta maker, spinach chips battered and lightly fried, cashews freshly toasted, creamy pestos pestle’d and of course the icy cold Bintang cracked open.

Having experienced many countries and cultures across the world in her jet-set addicted life, nine years ago Marjan finally kissed goodbye her former self-made life in Amsterdam to arrive at her chosen destination, Bali. In the earlier years she achieved the quintessential island dream of building a beach-side abode. Since then she has found a handsome local partner in crime, dived into local language and culture, learnt to surf, explored her gardener’s local village, and finally with zero green-thumb’d credibility, just over two years ago staked out a lease on a plot to be here now… planting, learning, growing and building a soil to table to sleepover organic/bed n’ brekkie lunch and dinner dream (what a mouthful!).

The surrounding hills are alive with traditional land knowledge to produce abundant crops of rice, bananas, coffee and cocoa. With the added injection of her Western marketing background, her partner’s desire to re-connect with his father’s rice roots, and the unexpected latch-on from the culinary mafia she has been able to give the local community a new sense of possibility and income. The key difference to Marjan’s ex-pat escapade? Her focus is on integrating with an already rich history of local wisdom, rather than cashing in land for Western developed (and culture destroying) 10-bedroom villas… a fast buck and a fast remover of generations’ way of life.

After hours of gas-bag and sensory overload we accepted an invitation for three courses of the freshest delicious dinner. Entrée was a just picked salad featuring wasabi lettuce, nasturtium flowers and other leaf variants, radish, toasted cashews, ginger and a Euro-inspired vinaigrette. The main event followed, an al dente spinach fettuccine coated in creamy smoked salmon saucing (the Salmon compliments of Marjan’s addiction to all things ex-pat deli-fied). A somewhat experimental dessert soup followed with aromatic flavours of coconut milk and palm sugar.

Tummies suitably stuffed, we said good-bye and pot-holed it back down the mountainside in our Suzuki sardine can. It’s always incredibly inspiring to meet someone who has taken a sea-changing leap into the unknown. This one’s far from a stroll in the park, however the personal reward of making a mark has brought Marjan nothing but a blossoming ‘to the table’ loyal following for her hard work. I’m already looking forward my future visit to devour the deliciousness that unfolds.

Enjoy. Live. Love.