Field Notes: Learning from Our More-Than-Human Partners
Location: [Rice terraces, Bali]
Season: April 2025
In the rice fields, design begins with listening, to the black ants tracing invisible highways across aging leaves, to freshwater mollusk shells telling stories of water quality, to the plants offering their bodies back to the soil.
Who We’re Learning With:
The ant colonies are master engineers, creating underground networks that aerate soil and move nutrients where they’re needed. They’ve formed ancient partnerships with the plants they inhabit—offering pest protection in exchange for shelter. Their foraging patterns map the health of the entire system.
The plant communities teach us about seasonal rhythms. As leaves transition from vibrant green to golden brown, they’re not dying, they’re feeding the next generation, providing essential food for decomposers, closing the nutrient loop that industrial agriculture breaks open.
The freshwater systems, evidenced by healthy mollusk shells, reveal the quality of underground springs that have sustained these terraces for centuries. These waters hold both ecological and sacred significance, their seasonal flows shaping every cycle of growth and harvest.