Sumaday the Herbologist

Last week, I attended a fascinating workshop at Green School on local plants and their medicinal uses.
This is Sumaday, the Balinese woman who led the workshop.  She is an expert on native plants and hosts popular "herb walks" around Ubud.  She had a lively, engaging manner and was eager to share her wisdom.  

Sumaday walked a group of us around the campus.  Some members of the green studies and green camp faculty even joined the tour.  I had no idea how many medicinal plants were lining the paths we walk along every day at school.

She first showed us liligondi, which is a natural mosquito repellent.  All of us immediately rubbed copious amounts of it on our arms and legs!  We joked that this bush would soon disappear now that we know how it can be used.

She pulled up a turmeric root and explained that it is an antiseptic and can be rubbed on cuts.  It is used in a drink called "jamu," which includes honey and lime as well.  I have sampled this juice; it has a pretty intense flavor.  Sumaday described it as an "anticancer drink." 

I was surprised to learn that fresh tomato juice acts as a sunblock.  Pak Noan, one of the green studies teachers, was a good sport about letting us try it out on him.  (Alexa will be studying with him next year.)

This is a papaya tree.  The black seeds, when ripe, can be ground up and used to cure stomach illness. The leaves contain quinine, and can be boiled and used as an anti-malarial, though apparently it is quite weak. 

We strolled the campus and learned about a huge variety of other trees and plants with beneficial properties, such as tapioca, mimosa, gooseberry and alang-alang.  I'm looking forward to Sumaday's follow-up session in which we'll go into the kitchen and try our hand at concocting of her lotions and potions.

Sumaday's talk is part of a series of workshops for parents and faculty.  The school leadership strongly believes in the value of life-long learning, and is backing that up by hosting these seminars.  I enjoy making them part of my routine once a week.  I drop the girls off, grab a coffee at the fantastic F.R.E.A.K. coffee shop (F.R.E.A.K. is an acronym that essentially means "delicious local Arabica coffee" and will be the subject of a TED talk soon), have a chat with some other parents, and then we head into the Mepantigan for one of these interactive sessions.

Post and photos by Lynn