148 students, one empty plot and a garden that gives a school's waste a second life

Behind SMPN 3 Marga, a junior high school in Banjar Pinge, Desa Tua, in the rice country of Tabanan, there was a stretch of unused land and a place where the school's rubbish was burned. Over four Friday mornings in late August and September, 148 students and our team turned that plot into a school garden in Bali that now works as a perennial garden and a composting system for the school's organic waste. The school sits along one of our trail routes, and what its teachers asked for was simple: help with a garden, a compost system and someone to teach farming.

What we found at SMPN 3 Marga

The school has a principal, 12 teachers, two administrative staff and six classrooms. At our first visit there was no compost area. Waste was not sorted, and the rubbish was still burned behind the school. The students had received some waste education from another organisation, but nobody had ever taught them how food is grown.

The school had its own plan. It had set aside about 30 are of empty land, roughly 3,000 square metres, for a perennial garden, and ran garden activities on Fridays from July to September. What it lacked was a design, plants, a compost bin and someone to teach regenerative farming. Those became our brief.

Why a school garden in Bali starts with waste

A garden and a compost heap solve the same problem from two ends. Food scraps, leaves and garden trimmings are the raw material for compost, and compost is what feeds the plants. Once a school has somewhere useful to put its organic waste, there is less reason to burn it. We chose perennial plants, such as cassava, moringa, turi and papaya, because they stay in the ground for years and do not need replanting every season. A garden that lasts is one the school can keep running without us.

Four Fridays in the field

The first session was on 28 August. All 148 students joined, and we planned to plant cassava, moringa and turi. The heat and tired students meant we planted only cassava, and the school finished the moringa and turi on its own the next day.

A week later we made hot compost, which heats up as microbes break down layers of green and dry material, so it turns waste into soil food much faster than a heap left alone. The students built six compost piles together, and we agreed a simple routine: water them every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and turn them on 18 September. We also checked the cassava from week one, and some plants had already pushed out new shoots.

In the third week the students made a liquid organic fertiliser and a natural pesticide from plant material, working outside each classroom in two big groups. Our facilitators noted how enthusiastic the students were as they mixed and bottled everything in front of their classmates. On 18 September every student planted their own eggplant, one child and one plant. We also sowed cosmos, zinnia and mini sunflowers along the west side of the garden, sprayed the natural pesticide the students had made, and turned the compost again.

The garden also gives the teachers something to build on. The school has its own routine to follow between our visits: watering the compost on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, replanting cassava where it was damaged, and watching how each plant grows. That sense of ownership is what we hope keeps the garden growing when the facilitators are back on the farm.

What did not go to plan

It was not all smooth, and that is part of the learning. We arrived on the first day without a portable speaker, which made it hard to gather and teach 148 students. Some cassava was trampled in week two. During the eggplant session, some students sat out while others worked.

Our facilitators changed how they run the day. Practice comes first, then everyone gathers in the schoolyard for a short reflection and explanation. The students understood far more when they had already got their hands dirty. We now split the group in two, give each team a clear job such as watering, planting or spraying, and bring a speaker.

What it means beyond one school

This is regenerative farming education at its simplest: children learning that soil is alive, that waste can become food, and that plants need care after the planting day. The same ideas shape our work with Balinese rice farmers, where healthy soil comes first and the rest follows. A school garden lets the next generation see it working with their own eyes, season after season, long before they are old enough to make decisions about land.

We will keep visiting, watching how the compost piles and perennials develop, and sharing what we learn. If you walk one of our trails through Tabanan, our pilgrims pass through this village, and the garden is part of the story along the route.

Curious to see this part of Bali for yourself? Explore our Bali trails or read more about the work behind them on our impact page.