Investor Insights & News
Because you have expressed interest in Bali investment opportunities, or are one of the many who have already invested; we’ve put together a bunch of really informative articles. Please click on any of the links below to read more about our projects.
September 2024 Report
The big news this month is that we have produced our first product, Vanilla Extract, which is ten times stronger than most extract. We are selling 30ml for Rp 150,000 RRP, which is pretty much the same as ...
August 2024 Report
Some very exciting developments this month, plus some negative developments which need to be turned to our advantage. Our Plantations Director, Dwitra J Ariana, has resigned and we are working on the return...
July 2024 Report
Two years ago, I was informed that this was such a risky business because we didn’t know how to cure the vanilla. This month we are vindicated. We still don’t know how to grow it or to cure it, but we have...
June 2024 Report
This has been a very exciting month, with the harvest coming in fast. Last month we had a little extra investment come in, which has allowed us to buy a ton of green vanilla, now in the curing warehouse. We..
May 2024 Report
The vanilla is doing well. We had a flush of harvesting of poor quality beans that weren’t developing well, but the vast majority are looking very good and maturing nicely. We don’t really expect to start ...
April 2024 Report
April has been a month of much promise.
First, we have opened the Royal Spice Café. We opened it slowly, cautiously, with no marketing, and barely half a dozen covers.
Bit by bit, friends came. Some of them..
March 2024 Report
So much has happened in March that I am going to change the style of this report slightly, for better understanding. Progress has speeded up, I am glad to say.
Plantations
I had been a little concerned that...
February 2024 Report
February has been one of those months that has slipped past unnoticed. The vanilla has grown, but without taking calipers to the fruit you wouldn’t know it! Still another three months at least to the...
January 2024 Report
Well, this has been a hectic month!
Vanilla is so slow growing; it is frustrating to look at it daily. But when you visit a plantation after a longer period, it is exciting! After the rains, all the vines...
December 2023 Report
Let me open by hoping you all had a tremendous Christmas and wishing you all the very best for 2024. The signs are looking fantastic for the company for 2024, but let me come to that in a moment!
November 2023 Report
The rain is here! The older vanilla is responding by putting out more flowers, but the weak vanilla vines aren’t yet putting out shoots. The strong vines however are continuing to grow as well as flower.
October 2023 Report
October has continued to be dry, very little rain, though the clouds are gathering. The vanilla is flowering strongly in Tegalsaat, not so much in Jeruk Mancing. We have 400 flowers a day in Tegalsaat....
September 2023 Report
September has been a dry month, overall, with just a little rain here and there. Nevertheless, the strong vines are sprouting buds right left and centre, but the weaker ones are wilting for want of rain. We..
August 2023 Report
Well, this has been a rip-roaring month. First, we determined just why it has been raining so much, and I’m angry at the lack of reports on this. Second, we were finally visited by a vanilla expert who...
July 2023 Report
We entered into July in a positive mood, with the sun beating down after a dry June and the vanilla growing strongly. We did feel we needed a drop of rain, but weren’t expecting the deluge to come. It ....
2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption and tsunami
We have been forced to redesign our vanilla gardens by unprecedented weather. For three years we have seen extended rain, extreme rain. Indeed, in 2022 it didn’t stop raining. Vanilla likes to be humid, 80% ...
Morning Drama, the tale of a Duel over the Boundary
This morning I was interrupted in my work on a proposal by a call from Dadap, our founder and production director. Somebody has cut down 6 durian trees. I am at the police station. I need back up.
So, I ....
The Darling Buds of … July?
The Darling Buds of … July?
After a beautiful sunny June, July started with a crash of thunder and ten days of almost solid rain, torrential like the wet season. Much to the horror of the tourists.
We were...
June 2023 Report
This month seems to have flown by.
The vanilla continues to grow, though the weather has changed. Very hot during the day, cold at night. No rain, very dry. This is excellent for the vanilla, what we...
May 2023 Report
Another excellent month.
The vanilla is growing very fast at present. A new leaf appearing in 2 days rather than a week when they are young. We are light pruning the shade trees to get much needed light...
Lobsters – the Story Now
Starting
We first explored the lobsters to help out a local fish farmer who had gone bust thanks to covid. We had an escape route if it didn’t work out, but the more we understood the business, the better...
Waterlogging – the big issue
I have just been around Garden 21, a beautiful series of perhaps 6 or 7 rice paddies that we have converted to vanilla production. When we started, even though it was the rainy season, the ground was dry. But..
April 2023 Report
This has been a confidence boosting month.
First, against all odds, the vanilla is continuing to make new flowers. It is really looking like quite a few good quality vanilla beans will be ready by the end of..
March 2023 Report
March has seen higher temperatures and less rain, albeit with a couple of big storms. It really does look like the weather is going back to normal!
Throughout March the vanilla has been busy flowering – we ...
Congratulations, Karyo!
Three years ago, we employed one of Karyo’s wives (he had two, no idea how or why). After 6 months, Karyo asked for a job. We refused, because you could smell the alcohol on his breath and we knew he drank 5...