Welcome to Erna's Farm!

Between rice fields and mountains, Erna's beautiful farm is situated in the middle of the greenery.

Erna lives with her husband and two adorable children in a cozy little house on the edge of the farm. The farm is a picturesque place, with a view stretching from medicinal herbs, spices, and the most colorful flowers to vast rice fields and various trees and palm trees. Besides pineapples, avocados, and pepper, everything that Indonesia has to offer grows here. What is particularly important to Erna is that she shares her knowledge with other people because she is aware of the great danger of palm oil and its destructive power. Her wish is that future generations also know about the beauty of nature, protect it, use it, and treat it with care. That's why we visit her farm with the children. Erna shows us what types of plants she grows and why diversity is so important, in contrast to monocultures like palm oil. The children learn how compost works and how an ecosystem is structured. They also get to taste various medicinal plants, and Erna explains their effects on the body. She encourages the children to come back again and again, to build, dig, and let things grow together. She does all of this with a very maternal, loving nature, while also being physically grounded, and it makes you want to stay with her right away and dive into the rice harvest.
As an absolute highlight, we build scarecrows with the kids afterwards! Using old clothes, remnants of fences, and all sorts of knick-knacks, we get creative together, so that no crow will dare to come near the fields anymore.

We want to spend more time with Erna! That's why we help her on the farm.

In the blazing sun, wearing straw hats, we go to the field with Erna. Today, chili plants need to be planted, Erna's absolute favorite plant. She wants to let the chili plants grow all around the edge of the farm because the macaque monkeys don't like chili, and so the chances increase that her lovingly grown bananas won't be stolen by the monkeys. She also has a plan to give away the chili plants in exchange for her neighbors simply giving her the collected compost. This way, it doesn't end up on the street and can be further processed by Erna, great idea!

Working in the field in what feels like 50 degrees Celsius is pure madness. When we see other people working in the fields for hours on end every day, it's simply incredible. After about 10 minutes, sweat is dripping on the ground, but the feeling of planting the little seedlings in the soil, covering them with earth, and watering them is something so beautiful! Afterwards, we plant moringa trees. What has long been a superfood at home is growing peacefully here.

Now it's time to harvest for the later communal cooking! First, Daddy retrieves coconuts from the palm tree with a machete, then a pineapple is harvested. We continue with lemongrass, limes, ginger, turmeric, banana trees, chilis, beautiful blue flowers for dyeing rice, tomatoes, okra (looks like bell peppers), and tapioca leaves (green leaves that make you super tired after consumption, so always plan time to rest :D ) and much more!

Now it's time to hop on the scooter with all the delicious goodies and head to Erna's beautiful house in the greenery, right next to the rice field. Cooking is done outside, many hands are busy chopping. It's particularly tricky with the branches of the banana tree because each slice is surrounded by a kind of spiderweb (Who would have thought that you eat the branches and not just the bananas?). Erna gives instructions and explains everything about the ingredients.
For each dish, a separate sambal is prepared, the basis of which is always onions, garlic, and chili, and then depending on the dish, more or less spices, tomatoes, or even more chili. The fresh fish is seasoned, wrapped in banana leaves, and grilled, the rice is dyed blue with flowers, a curry is cooked, tempeh (fried soybeans, sooo delicious!) is stacked, side dishes are arranged, and in the end: probably the best food in the world! Freshly harvested, lovingly prepared, and each dish contains a touch of Erna's love and wisdom. Delicious!

During the communal meal, Erna talks about her ideas for the future: she wants to build a village out of plastic, is looking for partners and donations for this, wants to expand her farm, pass on her sustainable rice farming techniques, increase compost production, and inspire the surrounding villages to work together! It's impressive how much energy this woman has.

After the meal, the tapioca leaves take effect, we sink further and further into our chairs, and eventually, we blissfully fall asleep after a beautiful day with Erna! Thank you!