Budidaya Jamur di Tasikhargo

Di desa Tasikhargo terdapat dua tempat budidaya jamur yang keduanya terletak di dusun Juru Tengah. Budidaya Jamur ini merupakan milik Mas Mul, dan Mas Anas. Awalnya mereka mengikuti pelatihan jamur sekitar tahun 2010. Pelatihan jamur ini diprakarsai oleh Pak Teguh dan Pak Purwanto yang bergerak dalam bidang wirausaha. Mereka sudah berpengalaman dalam usaha jamur sehingga mereka memberikan pelatihan kepada warga lain. Kedua orang ini bukan berasal dari Tasikhargo, tetapi mereka peduli akan pengembangan desa tidak hanya desa yang mereka tinggali tetapi juga desa-desa lainnya. Maka dari itu mereka mencoba merangkul orang-orang khususnya pemuda untuk berwirausaha, termasuk Mas Mul dan Mas Anas. Selain mengikuti pelatihan, Mas Mul dan Mas Anas juga berkunjung ke Jejamuran di Yogyakarta. Mereka belajar banyak tentang budidaya jamur dan mencoba berbagai macam olahan jamur di Jejamuran.

Hal tersebut menginspirasi mereka untuk mencoba membuat budidaya jamur sendiri di Tasikhargo. Sebenarnya ada 10 orang yang mengikuti pelatihan tersebut, namun hanya ada dua orang (Mas Mul dan Mas Anas) yang tergerak untuk membuat budidaya jamur. Dengan modal awal kurang lebih dua juta rupiah, mereka membuat rumah jamur sederhana dengan dinding dari bambu. Rumah jamur ini pun tidak terlalu luas, namun bisa menampung banyak baglog. Rumah jamur ini didirikan di samping rumah Mas Anas, sedangkan Mas Mul membuat rumah jamur di belakang rumahnya. Setelah beberapa tahun, usaha mereka pun berkembang sehingga tempat untuk media jamur pun semakin banyak. Di rumah Mas Mul terdapat dua tempat budidaya jamur, yaitu di belakang rumah dan di dalam rumah. Sedangkan di rumah Mas Anas, ada tiga titik yaitu di samping rumah, dan dua titik di dalam rumah. Jamur yang dibudidayakan adalah Jamur Tiram dan Jamur Kuping. Namun, yang paling banyak dibudidayakan adalah Jamur Tiram putih.

Bibit jamur (spora) didapatkan dari Sukoharjo, karena di Tasikhargo tidak ada yang menjual spora jamur. Spora jamur ini berada dalam media botol dan dijual dengan harga Rp. 6000,- per botol. Satu botol spora dapat disebarkan menjadi sekitar 40 baglog. Pembuatan baglog pun masih dilakukan secara tradisional. Mereka memasukkan bahan-bahan untuk baglog (gerajen kayu) ke dalam plastik tebal yang telah dilubangi. Kemudian baglog ini disterilkan dengan cara disteam menggunakan dandang (panci besar) selama enam jam. Proses ini memakan waktu yang sangat lama karena satu panci hanya memuat sekitar dua puluh baglog. Gerajen kayu didapatkan dari Sidoarjo, desa sebelah Tasikhargo, karena gerajen kayu sulit didapatkan di Tasikhargo. Sebenarnya ada satu tempat gerajen kayu di dekat dusun Tunggul, namun karena kualitas gerajen kayu di sana kurang bagus, mereka lebih suka membeli gerajen kayu di Sidoarjo.

Proses perawatan jamur pun tidak terlalu susah. Setelah baglog ditata rapi di rumah jamur, baglog akan disiram dua kali setiap hari (atau sesuai dengan kondisi dan cuci). Penyiraman hanya dilakukan dengan cara dispray. Hal ini bertujuan untuk membuat rumah jamur tetap lembab sehingga jamur dapat tumbuh dengan baik. Jika cuaca sedang sangat panas, Jamur Kuping susah untuk diproduksi. Jika ingin tetap membudidayakan jamur kuping pada saat cuaca panas, sang pemilik harus rajin-rajin menyiram baglog-baglog tersebut. Bahkan dalam waktu satu hari, baglog bisa disiram sampai lima kali.

Setelah baglog siap dan sudah diberi spora, butuh waktu sekitar dua bulan agar jamur-jamur kecil tumbuh. Awalnya, spora akan menyebar membentuk serabut-serabut putih yang akan memenuhi baglog, kemudian akan muncul tunas-tunas jamur di mulut baglog. Setelah empat sampai tujuh hari, jamur ini akan tumbuh besar dan siap untuk dipanen. Sepuluh hari setelah jamur pertama panen, tunas jamur kedua pun tumbuh dan bisa dipanen lagi. Satu baglog bisa dipanen empat sampai lima kali. Namun jamurnya tidak akan sebesar pada saat panen pertama. Biasanya kalau sudah panen keempat atau kelima, baglog akan diganti dengan baglog yang baru. Penggantian baglog ini juga akan dilakukan ketika baglog sudah menjadi keriput dan tidak bisa menjadi media tanam lagi. Jika baglog sudah terserang oleh jamur-jamur liar yang berwarna hijau, baglog akan disingkirkan dari yang lainnya agar jamur liar ini tidak menyerang baglog-baglog lainnya. Maka dari itu, pemeriksaan rutin perlu dilakukan untuk menjaga kualitas jamur.

System pemasaran jamur di Tasikhargo ini masih belum begitu luas. Mas Anas selalu menitipkan jamur tiramnya ke tukang sayur yang kemudian akan dijual di pasar. Harga 1 kg jamur tiram yang ia jual ke tukang sayur adalah Rp 8.000,- , sedangkan kalau dia menjual sendiri di rumah harga jamur adalah Rp 10.000,-. Biasanya hanya warga-warga sekitar yang membeli jamur ke rumahnya. Mas Anas mengakui kalau dia belum membuat produk-produk hasil olahan jamur karena masih susah diterapkan di desa Tasikhargo yang mana banyak orang yang belum terbiasa mengonsumsi jamur. Sedangkan pemasaran jamur milik Mas Mul lebih luas. Mas Anas memasarkan via online seperti di berniaga.com. Dia sangat aktif memasarkannya di social media. Namun, kebanyakan yang ia pasarkan adalah baglog-baglog, atau spora. Sedangkan untuk Jamur Tiram mentah ia pasarkan untuk local. Sebenarnya fokus pemasaran usahanya adalah di luar kota. Dia sering mengirimkan baglog-baglog ataupun spora ke luar kota bahkan luar jawa. Selain itu, dia juga akan mengirimkan kripik jamur ke luar kota. Meskipun begitu Mas Mul tidak membuat kripik jamur setiap hari. Dia hanya membuat jika ada pesanan saja.

Persediaan jamur melimpah di dusun Juru Tengah, namun sayangnya pemasarannya masih belum luas apalagi belum ada sistem pembuatan olahan jamur yang terorganisasi. Jamur hanya dipasarkan mentahan saja padahal jamur merupakan bahan makanan yang gampang rusak. Penyuluhan hasil olahan jamur pun dilakukan namun terkendala oleh beberapa hal. Salah satu kendala yang dihadapi adalah masih belum tersedianya alat-alat yang dibutuhkan untuk memperlancar proses produksi, sehingga proses produksi memakan waktu yang sangat lama. Selain itu, harga alat yang dibutuhkan seperti spinner tidaklah murah.

Selain belum tersedianya alat, pemasaran jamur agak susah karena masyarakat masih belum terbiasa mengonsumsi jamur. Pemasaran harusnya menembus daerah Wonogiri kota, karena jika hanya di wilayah Jatisrono, minat warga masih belum terlalu tinggi untuk mengonsumsi jamur. Selain itu, di Jatisrono terdapat rumah makan jamur milik Pak Teguh dan rumah makan ini masih belum terlalu ramai mengingat kesadaran masyarakat untuk mengonsumsi jamur masih belum tinggi.

Untuk kedepannya, ada kemungkinan untuk mengembangkan budidaya jamur ini. Mereka bisa membuat home industry, hanya saja mereka butuh usaha yang sangat keras dan harus mampu merangkul semua kalangan. Mereka juga mempunyai PR untuk menjalankan kembali koperasi dengan baik dan benar karena koperasi di Tasikhargo terkesan mati dan kurang begitu terlihat kerjanya. Meskipun begitu, hal mendasar yang harus segera dibenahi adalah kesadaran masyarakat untuk berwirausaha dan berpikir kreatif. Mereka harus mampu melihat celah-celah usaha. Untuk itu, perlu adanya seminar motivasi dan kewirausahaan untuk memantik semangat mereka dan memberikan pengetahuan yang lebih dalam akan wirausaha. Sebenarnya ada banyak jalan untuk berwirausaha dan ada banyak link yang bisa ditembus warga. Warga bisa berkonsultasi dengan Pak Teguh atau Pak Purwantoro yang memang sudah bergelut dalam wirausaha. Selain itu warga bisa bekerjasam dengan JPMI (Jaringan Pengusaha Muslim Indonesia), ataupun BMT Mitra Usaha Mandiri. Tentunya semua ini perlu usaha keras dan niat agar tercipta home industry jamur yang terorganisasi.

Learn Deeper »

Sepenggal Cerita untuk Anak-anak SD N II Tasikhargo

“ini dibacanya \’thrē\ bukan \’trē\”

Dan dengan susah payah anak-anak itu mencoba menirukan \’thrē\ dengan baik dan benar. Beberapa dari mereka tetap saja melafalkan three dengan \’trē\ (tree). Namun ada beberapa dari satu dua anak yang berhasil melafalkannya dengan benar.

“ahh mbak alva ki le ngomong ilate ditekuk tekuk” dan tak jarang celetukan seperti ini muncul dari anak-anak yang sudah menyerah untuk melafalkan \’thrē\.

Tak dapat disangkali memang susah untuk melafalkan bahasa inggris dengan benar. Maka dari itu, kita harus membiasakannya sejak kecil. Kalau sejak kecil sudah diajari yang salah, bagaimana kedepannya?

Jadi itu sedikit cuplikan pengalaman mengajar bahasa inggris di SD N II Tasikhargo. Beribu kata mungkin tak dapat menggambarkan betapa campur aduknya perasaan ketika mengajar anak-anak yang “hyperaktif’. Yap, saat itu adalah pertama kalinya saya mengajar bahasa inggris di SD. Awalnya saya tidak tahu harus bagaimana, bahkan saya tidak tahu kemampuan anak-anak dalam berbicara bahasa inggris. Hari pertama masuk sekolah, saya memberanikan diri menemui bapak ibu guru SD N II Tasikhargo. Niat awal saya tidak lain dan tidak bukan untuk menjalin silturahmi serta meminta izin untuk ikut dalam kegiatan sekolah. Senangnya saya ketika mereka menyambut saya dengan baik dan ramah tamah. Mereka sangat senang jika ada yang mau membantu mengajar bahasa inggris. Dan di sinilah rasa percaya diri saya muncul karena saya diberi keleluasaan untuk mengajar bahasa inggris.

Dan tibalah saatnya..

Kelas yang pertama kali saya masuki adalah kelas IV. Ketika saya memasuki pintu kelas, semua anak langsung heboh memanggil nama saya dan berlarian menghampiri saya. Wooooww, sambutan yang sangat mengejutkan. Sebagian besar anak-anak sudah mengenal saya, jadi sudah tak aneh lagi jika mereka heboh ketika melihat saya di sekolah. Mengajar kelas IV merupakan tantangan tersendiri bagi saya. Selain karena anak-anaknya yang super duper “aktif”, mereka belum pernah belajar bahasa inggris sebelumnya. Jadi ini akan menjadi kesan pertama bagi mereka. Woow tugas yang agak berat, tapi saya harus membuat kelas bahasa inggris menyenangkan. Awalnya saya mengajarkan greeting dan introduction. Sedikit demi sedikit saya ajari juga pronouncation dan alhasil mereka masih agak bingung dengan bahasa baru ini. Meskipun begitu, akhirnya mereka mengerti dan ketika saya meminta mereka maju ke depan untuk praktek greetings and introduction, krik krik tak ada satupun yang maju. Saya rasa mereka terlalu takut salah sehingga tidak ada yang maju. Anak-anak yang hyperaktif pun dalam sekejap berubah menjadi anak-anak yang super pendiam. Dan di saat seperti inilah saya membiarkan anak-anak itu untuk santai. Saya ajarkan mereka bernyanyi dalam bahasa inggris seperti ABC’s song. Dan mereka semua bernyanyi bersama-sama, tidak ada lagi anak pendiam karena mereka semua bersenang-senang sambil menyanyikan lagu ini. Ketika mereka suasana sudah cair lagi, saya menawarkan mereka untuk maju mempraktekkan greetings and introduction. Namun, untuk kali ini caranya berbeda. Mereka yang maju adalah mereka yang kalah dalam game. Yap, permainannya sederhana, saya melempar sebuah bola kertas yang kemudian akan dilemparkan terus menerus oleh anak-anak. Dan ketika lagu berhenti, anak yang terakhir memegang kertas harus maju untuk mempraktekkan greetings and introduction. And it works!  Yeaaaahh. Mereka semua senang dan tidak ada yang malu-malu untuk mempraktekkan berbicara bahasa inggris. Bahkan mereka berlomba-lomba untuk berbicara bahasa inggris.

Di SD N II Tasikhargo ini saya mendapatkan kepercayaan untuk mengajar kelas III-VI. Saya menghadapi berbagai macam tingkah anak-anak. Saya sangat bangga dengan mereka semua karena mereka sangat antusias untuk belajar meskipun kadang-kadang mereka membuat saya sebal. Yah tak jarang mereka usil seperti menyembunyikan sepatu saya dalam tong sampah, atau membawa kabur tas saya. Tidak hanya saya yang terkena ulah jail mereka, teman-teman saya yang menemani saya mengajar pun kadang sebal karena anak-anak jail kepada mereka. Tapi di sini saya menyadari, mereka adalah anak-anak yang sangat senang diperhatikan. Jadi saya sebisa mungkin menjadi sosok yang bisa dijadikan teman bagi mereka. Selain itu saya dan teman-teman juga harus bisa menjadi contoh yang baik bagi mereka semua.

Tiga minggu berlalu, dan akhirnya tibalah saat itu, saat di mana kami harus berpisah, saat di mana kami tidak lagi mengajar mereka bahasa inggris. Saya tidak tahu harus berkata apa. Berpisah dengan anak-anak SD N II Tasikhargo bukanlah hal yang mudah. Mereka memberikan cerita sendiri bagi saya dan juga teman-teman. Saya tahu saya akan merindukan teriakan-teriakan mereka memanggil nama saya. Saya juga akan merindukan saat saya datang ke sekolah dan mereka semua berlarian dari kelas untuk memeluk saya atau hanya sekedar menyapa. Saya juga akan merindukan bermain bersama mereka, bercerita dan bercanda. Entah kenapa mereka memberikan kesan mendalam bagi saya, padahal saya bukanlah tipe orang yang menyukai anak-anak. Namun di sini, saya bisa menjadi orang yang sangat bersahabat dengan anak-anak. Saya akan merindukan senyum manis mereka, tawa dan candaan mereka. Dan ketika hari itu datang, saya hanya bisa diam tersenyum dan di dalam hati mengucapkan terima kasih yang sebesar-besarnya kepada anak-anak luar biasa dari SD N II Tasikhargo.

Learn Deeper »

To Watch, To Know more

so, this  is it,, a video (actually slides of photo) of KKN JTG 21.. yeaaah this is us.. 

this is only a little introduction of our group, what we do there.

so enjoy this...

and once more, you can find this video in youtube..

or else you can access erizedkai.com/tasikhargo.

that is website for JTG 21 and you will find some articles there, including mine. 

:D

Learn Deeper »

Another Unique Tradition

How they cut the trees, or should I say how they harvest the trees, is a little bit different.

Too much considerations and rules.

This is how they live, to love nature as a form of respecting God’s blessing.

There, people will not cut trees as free as they want. They have to look on the Javanese days before doing it. Bad days, good days can be determined based on the Javanese days. Mostly people called this system itung-itungan jawa.

WHY?

The answer is simple. Trees are also living organism: they live, they grow, they eat, they breathe in their own ways. That is why human and trees a little bit similar. As a human, we also have to respect them and understand. Taking care of them can be done in many ways. One of them is cutting them in a right condition.

According to Javanese belief, there is a time when a wood will be filled by waters. Therefore the wood will look bigger and fresh. On the contrary, there will be a time when the wood will look thinner because there is only a few water inside. This condition can be predicted using itung-itungan jawa. Yet how they calculate is still a big question answer (this needs further observation).

HOUSE

To build a house, they also have to think of itung-itungan jawa. Indeed they need woods to build a house. Therefore they have to be careful to choose the woods. If they take one wrong step, the house they build will not stand longer as it should be.

WEIRD

No, it is not weird. Though people, especially in modern era, always wonder how it can be, or they don’t believe in such things like that, this happens. It is all about belief. Since people there believe on it, everything can happen. It also happens on how they build a house. Not only a good choice of wood, they also do rites before building a house and after the house built. This aims to thank to God for the blessing giving to people so that people can be safe when they build house. Moreover, they also pray demanding for the house to stand longer and keep bad things away from house.

Javanese belief taught people to love their nature, to be in harmony with nature since they can live without nature, their environment. They have to take care of it all. That is why most of the tradition is related to nature.

This is how they live to keep tradition, to save nature, and to thank to God.

Learn Deeper »

Kondangan

KONDANGAN

Strange word? Haven’t heard it, right?

This is a tradition still be kept by people in Tasikhargo.

It is similar with genduren, Javanese tradition.

WHEN? WHERE? And HOW?

When they get close to Ramadhan, fasting time, they will hold kondangan. When they get close to Idul Fitri, they will also do it. When they have been in the 21^st day of Ramadhan, kondangan will also be held. So, this is the part of their activities.

Kondangan will be held in the house. People will invite their neighborhood to come to their house to hold it. They will pray together, asking for blessing. They will eat together, and they will bring the food back home. This tradition will be done by everyone there. Well, some people will not do it because they think this is a strange tradition in modern era. They will think “what’s the use of this such thing? It’s useless”.

Yet, the elders will think differently. It is still about belief. They believe in their ancestor. They believe in what they taught to them. This is a culture they kept and for some reasons hthey believe if they leave this kind of thing, there will be bad things happen. Since they don’t want bad thing happen, they will hold this tradition.

As the time has changed, the culture has changed too, yet only a little bit. There is an acculturation here. If in the past, they pray by pronounce some spells, magic spell maybe, now they pray in Islamic ways. This is because the syncretism of Javanese culture and Islam. Besides, in past there will be dupa, menyan when they hold kondangan, but now it is rarely found. There will be only food, and food. The food is simple that is rice, noodles, egg, apem (Javanese traditional food) and ingkung (chicken). This food will be placed on a big tray. There will be jati leaves too to wrap the food if they want to bring it home.

This tradition keep the people stay closer each other as they always meet and socialize when they hold this kind of tradition. That is why it is good to keep this tradition, no matter what “new generation” says, each culture always have several aims. Sometimes it cannot be understood, but there is something hidden on it. Bad impact, good impact, it is something ordinary. That is how this life balanced. 

Learn Deeper »

"Sacred Place" between Rice Field

This place is called Mbogo.

It is a famous enough place in Tasikhargo. It is kind of a forest in the middle of rice fields. Most people are coming there to enjoy the sceneries, the old giant trees. Not only teenagers, children and elders also come there for several reasons. Mostly, they come in the morning or evening as they can see sunrise and sunset clearly. Besides, they can breathe fresh air while enjoying the wonderful sceneries.

Sunrise and sunset are such incredible sceneries in this place. Yet when the night comes, this place will be different. Famous place, beautiful sceneries, quiet, and far away from residents house makes this place become “special place” for some people especially for lovers. Well, this place is misused now, and this place is known for a “romantic place”. Moreover, this place is also heaven for drunkard as they can drink “alcoholic drink” without noticed by anybody.

It is so irritating to know that this beautiful place has changed. Back again several years ago when this place was known for the mystic, sacred place. According to the story, Mbogo was a famous place to hold a rite. There were so many rites holding here such as rites to get blessing  from God. There were two giant trees inside mbogo that were beringin and bulu trees. As the myth said, beringin was considered as sacred trees, and having magic power. Therefore, many people looked for enlightenment there. They used to bring offering for the ancestors keeping the place. The offering could be panggang (roasted chicken), flowers (roses, jasmines), bananas, jajanan pasar and other offerings. Sometimes, they slept over in mbogo to get enlightenment. This habit was known as nepi. According to the story, most people came there looking for togel number. Togel was kind of gambit and most people there liked to play togel and they wanted to win. That was why they liked to get shortcut.

Now, in the modern era, this place is not as sacred as used to be. However, there are still some people holding rites in mbogo. They keep the tradition as the ancestor taught them. Keeping the sacred place, some efforts have been done by the villagers. They chase away people who drunk or do something bad. This aims to keep mbogo become a good place for the sacredness and beauty of nature. This is the combination of gods and nature, therefore people have their duties to keep it.

Learn Deeper »

LIFE CYCLE

Born, baby, kid, teenagers, adult, then become older, finally go to heaven. This is life. It will not stick in one condition. It will flow as the time has changed.

people are holding tahlilan for 7days of death

As a Javanese, there will always be a rite in every moment, special moment. Before a baby born seeing the world, people will also do rites. It is called neloni and mitoni. Neloni is held when the unborn baby is 3 months, while mitoni when it is 7 months. This is held to ask for blessing and grace from God. They pray together for the safety of mom and baby. To do the rites, they need to prepare some food, just like the other rites. They need panggang, rice (nasi giling, nasi uduk), bananas and pecel. The rites is simple since they pray together, eat together, and bring the food home. The most important of the rite is the pray. When the baby is born, the baby is 7days, 25 days, rite is also held for the same aims. It is to show thankfulness to God for giving safety to the baby and mom.

When people died, rites will also be held. The rites is quite similar with the baby born rites. People will pray together for 7 days continuously. Then 40 days, 100 days, 1000 days, they will still hold the same rites. This article will only focus on how this rite works.

People will come to the house of people who die at night, usually at 07.30 (after isya’). They will gather in the living room, sitting down together while they bring Al-Quran and tahlil book. They will sit making a circle, therefore there will be no one in the middle of room. Women usually sit down in the back side. In the middle of the room there will be offering. Those are gedhang tangkep, and flowers. Gedhang tangkep is bananas. It can be any kind of bananas. It is places in tray or any container, while it is combined with rice inside. The flowers are inside a container filled with water.

Since the recent tradition is acculturated with Islam, they pray together in Islamic ways. They read Al-quran (surah yasin), and tahlil. They will read it together and loudly, leaded by one of them. After, they finish tahlilan, there will be some snack and drink. People will eat it together. And then there will be also ingkung (chicken) and nasi giling (rice shaped circle). Those two food will be divided to people who come there, and usually they will wrap it using jati leaves. Bananas and rice which are on container will also be divided to people. Special for 7days, 40days, 100days, and 1000days, the food will not only be snack, but it will be rice, vegetable, and meat. After they finish eating, and praying, people will go home while bringing the foods. And this is the end of the rites. One more, the flowers inside container will be spread on the grave the next morning. But some people will also spread it in the nearest intersection.

That is how the tradition acculturated with Islamic ways. It is still kept in this village, not only this village, yet most of Javanese people. Some of them maybe have left this kind of tradition, but still there will always people who keep this tradition because they believe in it, and they want to keep the culture since culture is part of life. 

Learn Deeper »

Another Tradition of Harvesting

     According to Oxford Dictionary, ritual is a series of actions that are always carried out in the same way, especially as a part of religious. A ritual may best be defined, perhaps, as a prescribed way of performing religious acts, that is, of praying, singing sacred songs, dancing to the gods, making sacrifices, or preparing offerings (Beals and Hoijer, 1964).

            Ritual is one of cultural part in a society. In the past, the ritual is closely connected with the community. People usually perform ritual activities to be offered to their ancestors. They believe that the ancestors will give them goodness and blessing. Beside that it also showed their respect to the ancestors. But now only a few people who are still doing ritual activities that are very sacred. Maybe it is because the development of increasingly sophisticated technology.

The Javanese is rich of their cultures. Most of them still keep their tradition. One of the traditions is the rite before harvesting rice. This rite is still held in a village named Tasikhargo, Jatisrono, Wonogiri. This rite is mostly called methik. Methik is a word derived from Javanese meaning to pick something. Methik is held only for harvesting rice since rice is the main food for people there. This rite is not held for harvesting other plants.

This rite is simple because it doesn’t take a long preparation. People only need to cook nasi giling, pecel, and panggang. Nasi giling is kind of rice shaped like a ball, while pecel is like a salad yet it is mixed with nut sauces. Then, panggang is a roasted chicken. Besides them, there will always nasi uduk, seasoned rice. To held this rite, people will invite their neighborhood to come and pray together, then they will eat the food. However, they will not eat all the food since some of the food will be spread in rice field. This shows their thankfulness to the God for the blessing.

Now, the rite is the simple one, and they pray to the God for the safety. But long time ago, this rite is used to respect Dewi Sri or usually known as dewi padi. They believe that she is god who keeps their rice and farm. So, they do the rite to show their thankfulness, and to ask to keep their harvest done well. Most of people still keep this rite because they think this is their culture that should be kept. Besides it, they are afraid if they don’t do it, their harvest will not done well, and there will be something bad happens to the farmers or the people who harvest the rice.

Learn Deeper »

He is "Beautiful"

Gone to Bali for important meeting, Mas Dalih sent Mbak Abmi to teach in his creative writing class for the last two meetings. Being a guest before, last two week she taught us by playing a movie “Bag It” – a movie I reviewed on my previous blog. Then, last week she brought is a beautiful guest with long hair, and  pointed piercing nose. This guest looked like a beautiful woman, yet I felt something unusual about her.

Surprised I am when she came to the front of class and introduced herself kindly. I suddenly I realized that she was a He. That was the first time for me to meet a transgender in class, and I guest most of my friends were surprised too as they started whispering.

Born in Klaten, Mbak Sonya had been living in Jogja since she was in Vocational School. She is a hardworker and extraordinary people as she has many activities and jobs such as online shop seller, and PKBI – an Indonesian organization concerning of marginal society.

Finding his identity is not as easy as the imagination. Her mother still cannot accept her being a transgender. She still has to convince her family about his identity. When she was a child, she prefer played with girl since boys would bully her. This led him to be girly. She began dressing as a girl, and being like a girl. As she was in Junior High School, she used to hang out dressing like a girl at the night. One day, her friends met her in girly dress, and they laughed out loud and made this “accidental meeting” as a joke. She did not like when people made a joke of her just because of his difference.

Coming to Yogyakarta, she found her “new home” where she could be a transgender. She became volunteer in PKBI, helped people, and joined some communities against HIV AIDS. This is a proof that being a transgender doesn’t mean being alienated. It is a proof that transgender also has great contribution to society and world. She is Beautiful for her inspiring idea, and effort to the world.

Learn Deeper »

Painting ; Nature and Style

Kim Yee Seul, an English Department student of UGM, started painting with acrylic at four years old. She was inspired by Van Gogh. Most of her paintings are well combination of fashion, style and nature. This is one of her painting.

Two boys are playing video game. It is a little bit weird since they are playing on green grass. However, that makes this painting excellent and has its own character. The setting of “gardens” giving this painting atmospheres of calm, relax, and free. Moreover, the jackets they worn giving a touch of sporty. 

Learn Deeper »