From Field to Mouth.

After a long (25 hours to be exact) and adventurous (to put it kindly) bus ride, we arrived back in Bali on Thursday morning. It would be an understatement to say that all of us were relieved and thrilled to be back in this paradise. We began our time back in Bali with a wonderful meal that night at Buddha Bali, followed by a full nights rest that we all were really in need of. On Friday we had the opportunity to work in one of the local rice fields and it was actually owned by one of our upcoming home stays. This was something that none of us have ever experienced before, and I felt completely exhilarated to take part in something that is such a core component of the culture here. The fields were muddy, a few of us fell in while walking along the small paths to get to them, and we significantly struggled to plant the customary perfect grid lines, but when it started to rain, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that it is considered a blessing. After we finished assisting with the small plot, we were taken to a much larger rice field that contained the village's temple used for crop blessing. While at this field we were able to walk far into it and observe harvest. We all were even able to sample some of the rice directly from the shell and I can personally say that is the closet I have ever encountered food in its process from the earth to my mouth.





I doubt any of us will ever forget that experience or what we have learned here from local farmers. I certainly have developed a much greater appreciation for the food I consume not only here but every day.

-Meghan