In Italy, agriturismo is travel to the things that feed us, mostly to artisanal food producers.

Patrick Symmes who wrote about agriturismo in the Pacific Northwest of the United states, in the March issue of Condé Nast Traveler noted there are too many agriturismo for Italy to count. France has 5000, England 7200 and the United States has less than 1000.

Italian agriturismo, according to Martha Bakerjian usually serves foods to guests prepared from raw materials produced on the farm or at least locally. Some will allow the guests to actually participate in the activities surrounding the farm.

When we signed up for an orientation with Javara Urban Farming Action, little did we know that Jakarta’s Mini Agriturismo was waiting for us.

Urban Farming at Home, our post a few months ago detailed the earthy stages of training with Javara. This time, however, we had a different experience, or perhaps saw it from a different angle.

We traveled to Kebagusan area, the residence of Helianti Hilman, the Executive Director of PT. Kampung Kearifan Indonesia. Jakarta is usually hot but Kebagusan, not far from Ragunan Zoo in the southern part of Jakarta, is a lush and airy part of town.

Just recovering from the flu, Helianti welcomed us with a cup of warm Rosella tea and gluten free brownies. She grows Rosella in the garden and just dried the flowers a few days ago for the tea. Apparently in addition to preventing hypertension and urinary tract infection, Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is good for loosening up stuffy nose.

A training module prepared by Helianti Hilman, Dwipoyono, Andi Noercahyo and Sutrisno would be our handbook for the day.

Another plate came out, warm rissoles with bird’s eye chili, rissoles companion in Indonesia, freshly picked not far from our table.

We began with a tour around the small garden in front of Helianti’s house to see all kinds of plants, shrubs, herbs and spices.

Passion fruit (Passiflora flavicarva) stood next to bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi), commonly used to flavor soup or fish and sometimes to cure cough.

It was captivating to see how the sea of green illustrates the variety of lowland plants. Guided by seasoned gardeners, we identified spinach, kale, collards, eggplant, tomato, cucumber, lemongrass, spring onion, pandan leaf, celery, banana, papaya, corn, rice, medicinal herbs, and many others.

The tour around was also a good chance to observe all kinds of containers available for gardening. Recycled materials known as endless containers are as useful as polybags, sacs, cans and pots.

Among the trainees were Jakarta yuppies, exploring the benefits of urban gardening. Greening the residential and office areas; healthy activities and consumption of organic foods; reusing and recycling of urban waste are just some of the possibilities.

While we were sitting under the trees ready to learn from Helianti Hilman and Andi Noercahyo, Rohma one of Heli’s staff was cutting a bunch of large leaves from a tree spinach (Amaranthus hybridus).

Ten minutes later Rohma came out with a jar of Rosella iced tea and a plate of spinach chips. The spinach leaves were dipped in sago batch, rather than wheat flour and fried in coconut oil. We had to restrain ourselves as the chips, crispy with a hint of garlic salt were really addictive.

Our makeshift classroom had a white screen hanging from a tree with a projector for Helianti and Andi to show the stages of organic urban gardening. They expertly briefed us on how to schedule planting, prepare natural fertilizers, plan pest control, and most importantly to enjoy gardening.

The hands-on planting action led by Dwipoyono was the highlight of the day. By mixing and watering the media and sowing our own vegetable seeds and seedlings we felt like being transported back to carefree childhood days.

Finishing and happily inhaling a breath of fresh air we washed our hands and heard the rustle of leaves and fruits falling from the tree above. Dwipoyono was using a long stick to get passion fruits and caught them before reaching the ground. He went to the kitchen and soon after a jar of iced passion fruit juice was ready for us.

Just when we thought we had all the delicious foods and drinks imaginable for the day, lunch came out. The Javara team had prepared a big meal wrapped in banana leaves and presented on a wicker plate.

Savory turmeric rice, spicy fried chicken, sautéed green vegetables and hot chili sauce, all organic and sourced locally, surely beat Italy’s agriturismo.

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Images: Condé Nast Traveler, Omar Niode Foundation