I arrived in Thailand for the first time this past January with the intention of staying for about 4 weeks to take the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) offered at Panya as well as visit my brother, sister-in-law and her family in Bangkok. I did all of this, plus visited many other areas in and around Chiang Mai and in and around Bangkok - most of which were astonishingly beautiful. It was definitely a journey full of new things and first time experiences...tropical climate, animals - plants and insects I'd never seen before, thai architecture, thai urban life, being in a country ruled by a king, rice harvesting in the countryside, thai culture - lifestyle - language and (amazing) food, river markets, overt poverty, stray dogs everywhere, wild dogs howling at night...the list goes on.
The permaculture farm (Panya) is located about an hour north of Chiang Mai, in Mae Taeng, in Northern Thailand. (map) The farm itself occupies roughly 10 acres in a valley, surrounded on all sides by gorgeous, rolling mountains and forest. There are two, like minded, neighboring communities within walking distance of Panya called Pun Pun and You Sabai. There is also a small, thai village about 10 minutes walking distance from the edge of the farm.
When I came to the farm last January, I immediately felt a sense of magic and beauty that I'd never felt anywhere else. The permaculture veggie gardens, food forest, happy chickens, endless coconuts bananas and passion fruit, open-air natural material buildings, vegetarian meals, community living, and focus on successfully creating sustainable, closed systems while doing it all through a genuinely cheerful and optimistic lens were the things that initially grabbed me about this place.
[excerpt from my journal: 10 Feb 09 - This place makes my soul sing.]
In fact, I loved it so much, I decided to extend my stay for an extra 10 days just to be able to soak in a little bit more...(not knowing at the time if I would have the opening in my life or resources to ever come back).
As fate would have it, I was invited back as a long term volunteer to stay through the winter season of classes, workshops and internships. Incredibly lucky and incredibly humbled I am, indeed. I feel as though I only touched the surface of what there is to learn here about living successfully in a community setting, about organic gardening and permaculture, and about myself.
So! In a nutshell, I'm back here now for (at least) the next 4 months...through February! And, I am SO very thrilled to be here.
So very much has happened already in just the few short days I've been back! I intend to keep this blog regularly updated with permaculture related stuffs as well as random thoughts and experiences I have while I'm here. So, bookmark this page and come back often!
Also, I will be updating my flickr account with new photos and videos of things I see and find around here.
If you find that you're interested in this stuff, please feel free to leave comments and questions on the blog and on the photos you see that may require more explanation. I LOVE thinking about and living this life, and my favorite way to stay fresh and engaged is by having conversations about it all!
So...I strongly encourage you to stick around, have a read, and let me know what you think.
Namaste
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