City exploration and Organic Farming

The past two weeks have been a blur of activity. Three weekends ago I moved out of my host family's house and into dorm-style apartments with the other students. While I was sad to say goodbye to my host family, I relished in the new-found freedom and opportunity to explore downtown Chiang Mai. The downside to living in the dorms is that we speak much more English (which can also be a welcome mental break), the upside is that every night is a party.

After a week of in-class instruction about Agroecology, we headed out into the field. Last week I went with a group of 16 other students to the northern Thai village, Mae Ta. A significant portion of Mae Ta's farmers made a switch from mono-crop farming to organic farming about sixteen years ago. During the week we went on tours of organic farms, spoke with the town youth and women and hiked around the watershed. The greatest part of the experience, however, was getting to stay with a Thai host family.

My host family had an organic farm on the foot of the mountain. They had peanuts, ginger, cabbage, papaya, pineapple, mangoes, green beans, long beans, basil, mint, licorice, and many other leafy greens that I couldn't identify. I found it fascinating that they had little to no pest problems. Their management strategy was to companion plant--grow strong smelling plants next to other plants to deter bugs. I had a lovely time the day I went to help my host family on the farm. As we walked around the farm they explained what each plant was and usually ripped off a leaf for me to smell and eat. Talk about sensory learning!

Because it is still too early to harvest rice, I helped my host family weed. Although, at times I felt more like a hindrance than a help because they were doing the same work three times as fast.

Another highlight was touring an agroforest. It was amazing to see the theories of agroecology put into practice. During our hike through the forest, I would have had no idea that I was walking through a farm without a guide, because it looked just like any other forest. The idea of agroforestry is to left plants grow on their own as if in a natural system, practicing under the assumption that nature knows best.

By far the best experience of the whole week, however, was living with a Thai host family that spoke no English. While sometimes frustrating, this experience let me reflect upon how much Thai I really knew! A triumphant moment was when my host father was explaining how he makes sugar from honey (smokes the bees out of the hive, takes apart the hive, lets honey drip from the combs, leaves the honey in a bottle, untouched and settled for two years and then scrapes out the sugar that has risen to the top of the bottle). A Thai-english dictionary, and many gestures were used to get the point across, but I was still astounded that I had understood. It made my day...my week!