The Panya Project: home away from home

On October 17th Brant and I pedaled down an overgrown dirt road in the village of Ban Mae Jo. We both were thinking, nothing could possibly be down this road. But just as I thought we were lost, an adobe building emerged out of the lush landscape. We had found The Panya Project, a self reliance, permaculture education center and intentional community.

Both Brant and I didn't quite know what to expect from this two week course or the project itself. What hippy-dippy people were we going to meet? What exactly would we learn? But we were excited, nonetheless, excited to learn more about organic gardening, community building, and sustainable living.

Immediately we were greeted by a bustling kitchen. Both of us know that the kitchen ends up being the epicenter of community and family life, and this community was no different. This open aired kitchen full of smiley industrious cookers welcomed us right in.

We met Brecht almost immediately, a Belgian about our age with a fantastic sense of humor. (I don't think we knew at this point that he and Brant would become best friends for life.) Brecht explained that the rest of the course takers were on a tour of the farm, but that he would gladly give us a tour later. For the meantime, we answered the many questions people usually have about riding bikes in foreign countries.

The rest of the crew came back from the tour, and Leen, the tour guide and volunteer coordinator showed Brant and I to our little adorable adobe room. We showered and cleaned up in the outdoor shower, and sat down for a beautiful meal at a long low table. There is something in me that loves sitting down at a big long table for a meal. Like the feeling you get at Thanksgiving when the mashed potatoes take minutes to get passed down a long line of familial hands before it gets to your plate. House dinners at the Establishment were always my favorite because it made you feel like you belonged to this big gorgeous family with a true food culture. The room was always full of warmth and loudness. Maybe this is how everyone feels in Italy or other places where people truly honor family mealtimes.

And so our first Panya meal was full of delicious food and new conversations. Afterwards we officially met the Panya crew and our fellow course takers.

Let me introduce to you...

The Panya Crew:

Brecht: bio gas king from Brussels. Brant meets another smarty pants.

Leen: amazing all-around lady from Brussels. 

The kind of person that you simply want to be around. She's pretty darn funny too.

Adam: garden guru from Pennsylvania

Zoe: Australian food forrest aficionado. 

The Course Takers:

Caity, Kari, and Chris from Colorado.
Caity and Kari are on a 6 month global trip, traveling between eco-villages and other inspiring projects.
Kim and Michelle from Australia.
These two lovely ladies live on the West Coast of Australia, both work with their local community gardens, and have many inspiring projects ahead.

Toni, who is originally from Australia, but has been traveling for the last 11 years between permaculture ventures. She's a pool of knowledge.

The Instructor Team, The "P's": all of our instructors at one point lived and worked at Panya, but now are off doing other amazing things on various parts of the globe. (in Thai you say "P" before an elder or respectful person's name meaning something similar to brother or sister.)

Pi Om, beautiful Thai woman who works for Next Generation, 

a non profit that works with the youth of Asia, empowering them to come up with their own solutions to climate change issues while also teaching them sustainable living skills. 

 Pi Matt, an englishman who hasn't lived in England for ten years, but works around the world implementing smart garden designs,building earthen homes, and teaching others how to do it.

Pi Marta, a charismatic Catalonian woman who rocks my socks. She was a lawyer for two years after graduating law school, decided she didn't want to do that and moved into big NGO work, and ten years later she is now working to implement eco village design and permaculture design concepts within the non-profit sector. She gets stuff done. (Marta, actually never lived at Panya, she's visited once before, so I lied when I said everyone has lived at Panya.)

Pi Ben, another englishman who doesn't quite associate himself with England anymore. He speaks awesome Thai, and is very proud of his little four year old daughter (whom I really wish I could have met). He is based primarily in Thailand, implementing permaculture design.

Over the following two weeks we fell in love with living at Panya and with all of the aforementioned inspiring individuals. We learned so much too. Both Brant and I got our heads rocked for two weeks. We learned things we knew we already wanted for our lives, it's just that we got to confirm that these dreams were possible. The whole experience simply reminded us to have a beautiful vision for our lives and to run after it.

So here's a little bit of a breakdown of what we learned (among many many other things).

Ecovillage Design:
We learned a lot about the importance of local economies and  community, while also discussing how healthful communities exist and endure.

Deep Ecology:
We have a fundamental need for nature, for time spent in the natural environment. Our environments, from our work offices, our homes, the layout of our streets, to the natural landscapes around us, they all effect us deeply and go to show that we as humans are a part of and interconnected with the ecosystems around us.  We spent a lot of time discussing how we can help reconnect with the land and our natural environments--through education, and through simple living practices.

Permaculture Design: "Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share"
We talked a lot about the importance of smart design. As is surely surely evident, so much modern design, whether it be our homes, our cities, or our conventional agriculture system, is out of whack with regards to natural resources, the future generations, and general health. We discussed design methods that start with observation: watch how nature does it's thing and replicate that in design, in designing homes, gardens, or any other landscape, and make it as efficient as possible. We also discussed how those  same design approaches can help us make personal decisions as well as land based decisions.

As a class we explored all of these topics while also learning basic organic gardening tricks, how to make adobe bricks, how plants and animals in food forest work together, and how to implement these ideas into our personal lives.

We also got to listen to Pi Joe from the neighboring farm, Pun Pun, a very inspiring individual, that shows the power of local grassroots initiatives. 

He and a local woman, Pi Tong Bai (pictured below with Om) were so inspiring to Brant and I, especially as we look at foreign aid projects. Pi Tong Bai lives in the village as well and works with local youth teaching them how to garden, among other life skills.  She wants her village to be rid of chemical pesticides, and so she has an organic garden and has started an organic co-op for farmers to sell their goods. She also has helped start a local hydro-electric operation for the village. All of these things go to show that for real change local people have to be their own movers and shakers. And these two most definitely are.

Basically, Brant and I left reaffirmed in our desire to own land and live as much off the grid as possible, all with awesome family members and friends (they don't know yet). So after this bike trip, we're gonna start working on making some money so we can buy a little bit o' land. I might go to school for a little bit, Brant might work as a real life engineer, but in the end we want some little bungalows on a piece of land surrounded by pasture, gardens, livestock, big red barns, and an outdoor kitchen for good times. We're excited to make it happen.

For now, we're just two kids on a couple of bikes and we're pretty happy to keep it that way for as long as possible.
Laos, here we come! (But don't be surprised if in three months we end up back at Panya)