Thailand rural farm stay holiday
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We practice sustainable agriculture according to the following principles-
- prudent use of renewable and/or recyclable resources
- protecting the integrity of natural resources so they are regenerated
- improving the lives of individuals and the community
- profitability
All of the materials that we use on the farm are recycled and/or reused. We attempt to produce as much of the materials that we need, such as fertilizers, onsite. We are a leader in the use of aquaponics, a sustainable system of agriculture and aquaculture that closely mimics a natural ecosystem and saves huge amounts of water compared to traditional agriculture and aquaculture. Our land preparation is done mostly with water buffalo and by hand. Our main means of transportation is bicycles. Longer range transportation of people or goods is done using public transportation.
Our farm has almost no waste because everything is used multiple times before ending its days in the compost pit or another useful place.
The main crop of the subsistence farmers in this area is rice. Rice is a semi aquatic grass that needs a lot of water in order to grow properly. Lack of water causes weeds to out compete the rice as we do not use any form of chemical weed controls or killer.
All of our building are constructed of materials sourced and produced in our area and all of the labor was provided by local people. All of the purchases that we make for supplies of any kind are bought from local merchants so that the money involved circulates several times through the community.
Our school is free and helps to educate the local children in things like critical thinking, English skills, computers and swimming. Eduction is one of the key areas that needs to be addressed so that poor communities in emerging nations are more able to look after their futures and develop their local economies.
Community
We educate and support the people in our community so that their lives are improved and their children's future will be improved. We have introduced sustainable farming and gardening methods to our area as well as ecologically friendly practices such as aquaponics.
We are supporter of our local Buddhist temple, the agency that provides all of the social services available to the poor, subsistence farmers in our area. All of the money that we receive from our guests is used for creating employment for local people. There are very few jobs available in our area so many parents have to leave to find work elsewhere. Their children are left in the care of grandparents and they often only see each other for two weeks each year. We are actively attempting to create employment on a year round basis in our area.
We offer our employees a daily wage that is 25 percent higher than the community standard and we feed them and provide free child care as well. We have recently initiated a project to provide looms to local women so that they can weave reed and bamboo mats for sale to augment their families incomes. We provide as much local employment as we can using the money that we receive from our guests. A lot of the work that we can provide consists of gardening and farming chores. The produce and other goods from these activities are eaten by the local families and given to the temple for distribution to those in need.
We are active in teaching sustainable agriculture and are hoping to start an organic co-operative in our village so that people can market organic rice at higher prices than the mill owners will currently pay. It is hoped that a co-op would also be able to invest in a small rice mill in the future as well as a vehicle to take milled rice to large urban markets. This would give the local farmers more control over their harvest as well as a better price. The mill and truck would also provide employment for many villagers.
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