Farming BGF Style

The problem: finding herbs and spices that are not available in Bali or cannot be imported in a quality suitable enough for serving. The Solution: Grow them yourself. I recently took a visit to the 7-acre plot of land deep in the hills of central Bali to find BGF’s small farming operation. After putting on clogging boots and a long sleeves we ventured deep into the jungle that also was cleared in small areas to plant herbs, spices, and various other edible plants. We were greeted by the land’s only Farmer, Ketut Sadeg, who was known as the “man cow” of the village. His job was to plant all of the plants and care for the land—he only ate leaves and plants that came from the farm and ran around the hillside planting the vegetables. Everyone else in the village said that they have never seen him sit down to eat a real meal because he lives solely off of the wild fauna. He carried a sickle and wore a traditional Balinese sarong, a grey Henley, rubber boots, and a 1980s era Santa hat (see picture, it was quite the sight).





The farm was not the typical western farm; it was more of a ménage of dense jungle and edible plants living together in flat areas of the hill slope. The primary crops were Thai Basil, yams, rice, and other assorted herbs and spices. The farmer was also working on growing cocoa trees that also had vines growing around them that happened (not coincidentally) to be vanilla beans. Right across the cocoa/vanilla forest were the cinnamon trees that were also being grown for consumption. Karen and I joked that the area was known as bakery forest. They were also growing trees (such as palm and mahogany) to be used for their future restaurants and hotels.

We continued to walk down the hillside to reach the bottom of the mountain that turned out to be a natural spring. I was very impressed the by how lush the forest was and the richness of the volcanic soil. I also liked the vision of growing your own produce in order to ensure the highest quality of ingredients available for your restaurants. See the pictures, my writing does not do the area justice for how beautiful it was.

I have now been in Bali for a whole week. Giri leaves for school in 5 days and then I am going to be scheduled in the kitchen full time to start formally training.