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n just a few seconds, Siti Soraya “Sandra” Cassandra, could list every plant growing in the front yard of Kebun Kumara (Kumara Garden), a gardening-study facility on the outskirts of South Jakarta. The facility, a plantation complex, which she built together with her husband, her sister, and her sister’s boyfriend in July 2016, offers gardening workshops for the general public.

Trying to transmit her love for the plants, Sandra would then enthusiastically tell participants of the workshop about the characteristics of the plants and how to cultivate them.

“This one is a kantung semar [tropical pitcher plant]. It’s insectivorous,” said Sandra, while pointing at several tropical pitcher plants on the wall of her garden. “We install an automatic watering system to maintain the humidity around them.”

Seeing how enthusiastic she was, explaining about projects they are developing in Kebun Kumara, it was obvious that Sandra and her husband, Dhira Narayana, are passionate about what they are doing. From the way they explained all the workshop materials, including methods on permaculture — a holistic and sustainable farming method — applied in Kebun Kumara, and showing the participants how to plant certain vegetables and to produce compost, the couple obviously knew everything worth knowing in their garden.

Kebun Kumara now manages approximately 1.5 hectares of the total 3.5-ha area of Pulau Situ Gintung, a public recreational area in Ciputat, South Tangerang, which borders with South Jakarta. The plantation complex consists of a nursery house, a compost house and a forest garden.

Kebun Kumara was established after Sandra and her fellow founders felt the need to create a place in the Greater Jakarta area where everyone of any age could learn about living sustainable lives.

“If we Google, for example, about how to live sustainable lives, we might get the impression that we have to buy things like a solar panel. That concept is far-fetched for urban residents. We feel that urban society needs to learn a simple way of how to live sustainable lives,” Sandra told The Jakarta Post in an interview recently.

Sandra said the concept of permaculture was chosen for Kebun Kumara not only because it could be applied anywhere in any weather conditions, but also because of the holistic principle of the concept. She received some kind of enlightenment when she and her husband took a permaculture design course in Bumi Langit Institute in Imogiri, Yogyakarta in February 2016. After learning directly from the institute’s founder, Iskandar Waworuntu, Sandra felt the urgency to fill the gap that she felt was missing among urban dwellers.

“Permaculture teaches us to utilize everything that we have. For example, we can filter our wastewater and use it to water our plants,” she said.

The permaculture concept is also applied in the workshop provided by Kebun Kumara. The workshop includes waste management techniques, local waste solution system Ecobrick, composting and farming. The duration of the courses varies from three to seven hours and depends on the type of workshop.

Kebun Kumara has not only benefited Sandra, as one of the founders, but also volunteers and participants taking part in the workshops.

Zacky Irwandi, a 19-year-old college student who has volunteered at Kebun Kumara for about four months, said that the most important thing he got during his time in the garden was an increasing concern for nature preservation.

“By volunteering at Kebun Kumara, I’ve learned that our relationship with nature should benefit each other. Now, I am more aware about the trash I produce,” Zacky said.

Mulya Idznillah, 28, who joined the course last Saturday along with her friends, said she learned many things about gardening, including producing compost.

“My dad likes to grow a lot of plants, but he still uses conventional methods where he buys things like compost and fertilizer from the store. By joining the course, now I’ve learned a new farming method that is more fluid and follows how nature works,” Idzni, a graduate student of University of Indonesia, told the Post. (rdi)