Lesehan Talk with Audria Evelinn

Making and holding a safe space for our food, our farmers, and our land.

Beginning this new year of 2021, we’re reopening, reevaluating, and revisioning our time after the pandemic that hit every corner of the world, including an island I call home for the past one year, Bali, Indonesia. Together with Audria Evelinn, we talked about the future of food security, farming, and what we as eaters and growers can do - on our plate, in our land, and at home.

photo taken Little Spoon Farm’s archive

Since the beginning of covid-19, what has happened to LSF as a farm, especially in the scope of Bali?

Well, since the beginning of Covid-19, we have increased order because a lot of people prefer home delivery. But as time goes by, there’s a changing in the regulation from the government and the expat markets that we were relying upon, they eventually flew out of Indonesia as we don't have well-communicated policy. A lot of hotels that Bali relied upon are closed at the moment and that affect lots of local farmers in Bali. This creates a dynamic change in the economy where farmers have to adapt. However, because we are a hub that connects local farmers with customers through direct boxes, we were able to secure our farmers. Through this way, farmers can sell directly to customers. 

There’s also an issue with leftovers from farms, including ours, but with good farm management, we were able to minimize this food loss by proper harvesting, proper cooling, and fermentation. This way, farmers could keep it longer for them to consume too and they could still donate it as well.

What role do you think a farm can do, food wise and economy wise?

In terms of pandemic time, well so many things that farmers can do. For example by doing regenerative farming and direct boxes. Nowadays, market wise, they’d prefer the produce to be delivered because it’s a good practice during a force majeure situation.  Because whenever you go out, you get exposed. However, when they buy directly from the farms, they can get as close as possible to the information of the food. To add, this service is as direct as transparent as possible. In a way, it’s political. It’s one meal for one vote.

Could you elaborate that?

It’s like by choosing a transparent food system, you’re supporting a farm that you know the integrity and transparency of how the food is grown. When you’re buying the food that you don’t know how it’s grown, then you don’t know what you’re supporting. But, if you know your producers, you know what you’re supporting and the food chain system you’re in. Little did you know, you create the change you want to see in the world.

During this pandemic that has been going on for more than a year, we have seen similar problems - not just in Bali, but also in many places in Indonesia where farmers threw away their vegetables with rage - resulting in independent organizations helping to distribute them. Whether it was shallots like in Yogyakarta and East Java and vegetables in Bali. The distribution of food is as crucial as growing and eating it. How do you see the issue here? What can we do as growers and eaters to help this?

This issue has been prevalent not only during covid time, but also during rainy and transitional seasons (pancaroba seasons) where monoculture farmers are growing the same things as at the same time. By doing this, they’re more at risk of throwing their foods away as they’re at risk at creating more supplies than they harvest. 

So for example, what happened before Lebaran (Idul Fitri celebration) last year, they all grew chillies. But many of us (customers) were not allowed to go home and celebrate it with our family, so there was a drop in chillies price. This is the problem with the monoculture system. One of the ways to mitigate this problem is to educate our farmers how to preserve their harvest. Like, to dry their chillies or to ferment their chillies into chili sauce. The thing is, this hasn’t been done yet, and it’s not only during the pandemic. There's not enough proper management regarding produce harvest.

One of the things that leads to distribution problems is all this time they’ve been growing the same thing over and over again, so it’s resulted in over-supply as there is not enough demand out there. Then, the post-management too is not there yet.

Right. And they’re all growing the same thing so you have tons and tons of chillies, but then what to do with all these chillies? So, having the production management and multiple things to grow and to harvest will help to manage it. This is very much different than the monoculture method that we had before. This multicrop or what we call as Tumpang Sari is what we’re applying into our new regenerative method of farming and that can help the economy of the farmer as they’re harvesting it sustainably, rather than just harvesting every season.

In this way, they can earn every week or every harvest. Instead of having the monoculture and harvest every season which is usually 3 or 4 months.

photo by Anya Lily

So, that’s how the system could help. What about as customers, what can we do?

As a consumer, eating seasonally would be very supportive towards regenerative farming. Because then farmers will not have to grow out of season as it requires a lot of treatments than the ones that are in season. So, like, if you want to grow chillies during rainy seasons, you’d need a greenhouse “to get” the sun, just like in hot seasons. 

So eating and growing seasonally is sustainable and efficient for both consumers and farmers.

For a consumer, you’ll be able to recognize the produce in every season and eat it at the right time. Aside from that, it’s to support local farmers, they’re the one closest to you and that would improve the economy of your local community.

And it’s fresh anyway, what would be the best season to have sambal other than hot season?

Hahaha, ya unless you’re drying or preserving it first, then you can have it too in the rainy season. But a lot of farmers don’t have access to learn about dehydrating, freezing, harvesting, and storing. That’s what makes it hard in Indonesia. It’s one of our biggest challenges.

However, during covid time, actually the farming sector is the sector that grows more compared to others. Because more people want more food security at home and during quarantine in a pandemic. I think this year would be a really good start because right now it is the rainy season and it is a good time to start planting your own food. So let’s say by later this year, even if the vaccine hasn’t come out or this is the new normal we have to live with, we have food security that we can implement for ourselves and loved ones.

We were talking about Tumpang Sari - multiple crops and regenerative farming. How would you define regenerative and sustainable farming?

I would define regenerative farming based on the location. Because we all have different ecosystems, different cultures, different problems, and different ways of farming. For example, when I’m in Bali, even in each village they have their own culture and method of farming inherited from their ancestors. We have to be really aware of what they are going through and what they already know.

So, in Indonesia we have a lot of land and farmers, but we don’t have the education and the right kind of guidance for academia to cultivate regenerative farming. Although it is very possible in many islands which can make our food security more sustainable nation-wide. 

Whereas in Jakarta, in the busier parts of Indonesia, the issue is about the space or the urbanity of the city itself. While in Bali, we have a lot of farmers. So, I believe having a farm-hub could connect all these small farmers. It’ll give them a chance to harvest, manage, and administer their harvest for a bigger market. That’s why Little Spoon is here to be a farm-hub and also a farm itself to help farmers to become regenerative and to not forget the local wisdom that we have practiced in Indonesia for so long. Also, to produce regeneratively and sustainably that Indonesia is commiting to be at first. 

From a grower’s perspective, how does regenerative farming help the environment and the people surrounding it? 

In regenerative farming, the biggest vision is to pull carbon dioxide from the air.

So we are trying to to mitigate climate change through changing the conventional method of farming as it uses a lot of synthetic fertilizer to regenerate the soil or to produce goods from the soil However, in regenerative farming, we use composting method and cultural microbiotics to digest  organic materials back into being a top soil. Through this whole method, we’re basically working together with nature - planting; producing foods, regenerating soil, back to planting - in cycle.

photos by Anya Lily

So this practice will produce foods that we could call healthy and organic. The thing is there are not many farms that produce this yet and that would mean, the healthy food is not that accessible. In your opinion, how can we make healthy food more accessible to people?

I believe healthy food could be accessible to many people, even organic food could be accessible when the management supports it.

When these committed regenerative farmers are working together, I believe co-op would be one of the solutions to educate our harvest and recognize the demand that our market needs, we would be able to question or give pass to each farmer of what they should grow in terms of demand.

Instead of farmers doing price war just because they’re doing word-of-mouth which commodity to grow this season. When the demand and market is identified and the farmers could work collaboratively together, I believe price would be able to be affordable.

Healthy food doesn’t have to be organically certified. However, it has to be coming from whole foods or farmers that you know how they grow their produce. Not just for vegetables, but also animals. If you know how they grow them, you raise them, and you eat them as whole, and appreciate the produce, I think that would be a sustainable way of living and eating healthily. 

What can we do at home as consumers? 

I think as consumers at home, you’d be able to choose which farm you want to support.  Supporting local farmers is very important because they live out of your orders. So you could try finding local farmers around you.

Aside from that, you could also try growing food at home which is also gaining food security at home, in terms of the pandemic. You could grow chillies in 2 months and get them harvested. Also, other vegetables that you’ve never planted before. It’s a ripple effect.

Last question, we’re still not sure what we’re going to face. For Bali, we have no idea when we are going to open again. How do you see the change here and what’s the hope?

So, we have seen the market behaviour before and through covid. Before covid, not many people ordered from home. But once the pandemic started and it’s still going on, more people are starting to order food directly. However, in the next year, if this condition still persists although it’s good for agriculture, it’s not going to benefit a lot of farmers unless there is government’s interference integrated into the grassroots level. Because a lot of farmers here are relying on big businesses, like hotels and restaurants.

At the moment, because of the government’s regulation and hotels, restaurants are closing down, it’s not the best decision for farmers. For me, I’d focus on direct order from customers and also small to medium sized restaurants. Well, although as a farmer, I would not directly secure a big contract bigger business at the moment.

Is there anything you want to say more?

Hmm, I think the biggest message from me is what you eat is what you vote for. Especially right now, Bali is a small island with farmers usually working with big restaurants and hotels. So,when we identify and choose local food instead of imported or transmigrated food, we support our economy to recover from covid. 

Food has always been pivotal. However, what goes before it is served on your plate has rarely been uncovered. It was not until the pandemic that we saw farmers throwing veggies because of oversupply, organizations trying to help them to distribute shallots, garlic, and vegetables, and people lining up for BANSOS (Bantuan Sosial) rice from the government. To unravel these problems, come up with the solution, and make a change, is possible to do starting from small acts - whether as a consumer, farmer, and grower. From recognizing where your food comes from, who grows or raises them, how they do it, how they are treated, how we all work together to make this pivotal thing sustainable, accessible, affordable. In this new beginning, let’s make a space for us, our neighbours, our elders, our children to be safe and hold it strong. 

From one little spoon that feeds you, it feeds others too. 

*Photos in this article are taken by Anya Lily and also, Little Spoon Farm team.

Audria Evelinn is a regenerative farmer and the founder of Little Spoon Farm. She is striving to improve Indonesia’s local food system by reconciling the connection between farmers and consumers. Her work involves empowering community-based agriculture programs and enacting hands-on education programs for individuals and communities. Through Little Spoon Farm, a greenhouse vegetable farm in Bali, and designed an online platform for direct harvest order, she focuses on supporting local farmers to adopt regenerative growing practices. From her farm, she both shares sustainable crop growing methods, and facilitates a connection between local farmers and consumers. In addition to working towards a more cohesive local food system, Audria hopes to increase economic benefits for local farmers whose practices are organic and eco-friendly.

Audria believes that the ecological healing process begins with a mindful connection between the seed and the plate. She sees vegetable and fruit harvests not only as sources of nourishment and medicine, but also as connections between humanity and the natural world.

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