The organic food movement, like many places around the world, has caught on big time in Lombok. The close connection between the natural environment, food and people is something we should also respect and seek to maintain for generations to come. Lombok is well placed to be at the forefront of the fertiliser-free sustainable food chain thanks to very little urbanization outside the Mataram area. We all like to do our bit and embrace the healthy lifestyle be it buying organic produce where available or eating in organic restaurants. But how do those organic greens get from farm to plate, and what exactly does it mean to live the organic lifestyle?

An organic farming collective set in the Mount Rinjani foothills has the answer. Lombok Organic was established near Jeruk Manis waterfall four years ago with a mission to introduce ethical, chemical-free farming techniques to the area, employing a diversified farming model which allows up to twenty kinds of vegetable crops and herbs to be grown at the same time. It is a business but also offers an innovative blueprint for local farmers to adopt.

The aim is to produce fresh and high quality vegetables using completely natural methods. It may at first sound easy, but there are very distinct procedures necessary to ensure successful, unpolluted crops. In simple terms, the soil must have the right nutrient rich organic matter, including mulch, and relay cropping practices make full use of time and space, enabling better crop rotation and crop variation. It’s all about making the most of, and sustaining, Mother Nature’s gifts.

Lombok Organic provides a weekly harvest of fresh organic vegetables to customers across Lombok year round through these ethical methods. It aims to be a pioneer in sustainable farming by empowering other local farmers to adopt these practices, and in doing so serving as a platform for rural job creation.

Lombok Organicis has a vision of being more than just an organic food producer. It is a fully fledged agri-tourism business too. As well as changing mindsets and expanding horizons of the local farming community, it welcomes the general public to experience and learn more about the concept for themselves. The setting in itself is inspirational and can be fully experienced with a rustic farm stay.

Just a short drive from Tetebatu, the landscape surrounding Lombok Organic is as green and bucolic as Lombok gets. Forests, waterfalls and rice paddies dot the horizon alongside an ever-present vista of Mount Rinjani. The mountain air is refreshingly cool here and wildlife abounds from black leaf monkeys to rusa deer and abundant birdlife. Accommodation comes in the form of the sleek ‘Rumah Tipis’  a wood built A-frame cabin with an impressive soaring roof. It is the ideal escape to simpler lifestyle that really can be transformational whether seeking a specific back to basics nature experience, trekking, or even spiritual rediscovery in the countryside.

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