Learning Center
Learn with us
We host courses, workshops, and groups to come and learn with us both in Thai and English on self- reliant living, organic gardening, community living, natural building and natural health throughout the year. Here’s a list of what’s coming up.
Events
Courses in English
Get Grounded
Pun Pun will be hosting two Get Grounded courses at our center in Mae Taeng, Northern Thailand, near Chiang Mai.
Course is taught in English language Our Get Grounded course is a chance for people to learn the basic techniques we use on the farm and will give you a taste for how to do the different things we practice here. This will include an introduction to gardening, making garden beds and composting, introduction to earthen building with adobe including making bricks and laying them, cooking from the garden, and making some basic natural products.It’s a chance to spend some time at the farm in community and see what you like and can take away for use in your home.
Techniques and Topics: The whole workshop will be very hands-on and focus on allowing participants to experience every topic themselves.
- Organic Gardening including how to prepare garden beds, make seedlings and compost, and focus on the practice of seed saving.
- Harvesting and using produce from the garden in the kitchen including cooking , fermenting, and making products from the garden.
- Introduction to natural building techniques. Will cover selecting soil, making adobe bricks, how to lay bricks, making and applying homemade earthen plaster and making and applying clay paints.
- Some simple appropriate technology will be covered as well that we use at the farm for filtering drinking water and reducing our propane consumption in cooking/hot water, etc.
It is an opportunity to learn through doing where participants will learn the techniques we use while actively applying them to projects at the farm in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. It is also a chance to live with other like-minded Thai and international folks and get a taste of community living on the farm.
9,000 baht/person. This fee includes all food during the course, accommodation and instruction.
Please contact punpuncourses@gmail.com to register.
Land Design and Appropriate Technology Course
Pun Pun will be hosting one Land Design and Appropriate Technology Course course at our center in Mae Taeng, Northern Thailand, near Chiang Mai.
Course is taught in English language Our Land Design and Appropriate Technology Course is a unique chance to gain practical and specific knowledge on getting started on a piece of land. Led and taught by Jon Jandai and Nate Reents with extensive experience in land design, this is a wonderful in-depth opportunity for those looking to get a piece of land or get started on a project and deepen their understanding of how to do so. Techniques and Topics:
- Evaluating how to look for what kind of land to buy for different purposes and what to look for in purchasing land.
- Learn how to understand the characteristics of all types of soil, identify their purpose as well as how to transform soil for increasing fertility.
- Learn how to source water, harvest, store and filter water for various needs.
- Learn to understand the characteristics and habits of plants, where and what we might want to grow, and how to design what we plant with these characteristics in mind for optimal growth.
- Understanding the habits and characteristics of pests and how to design to live together to maintain abundance of our gardens.
- Learn the theory of cooling with earthen building and how to use earth to build a natural and climate appropriate home through good design.
- Learn the basics of low-tech water filtration, low-smoke charcoal making for various purposes.
- Learn how to install simple water systems for your garden, home and farm including pump options, irrigation and filtration.
10,000 baht/person. This fee includes all food during the course, accommodation and instruction.
Please contact punpuncourses@gmail.com to register.
“What If…?”
What if we were able to slow down and re-member our lost relations with earth, water, fire and sky? What if our identities were again determined not by what we buy but what we co-create organically with our communities and the lands that tend to us?
This course will be a collaboration between the Pun Pun Community and our P’gakenyoa friends from Hin Lad Nai. It will be hosted at Pun Pun center in Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai and Hin Lad Nai village in Viang Papago, Chiang Rai.
Course is taught in English language
This “What If…” Course offers a unique chance to re-cultivate a deeper understanding as to how our external relationships with Earth impact our relationships with our inner self. A safe space will be held for us to explore and process emotions and feelings of which typical modern life seldom offers space for. In addition to learning the foundational hands-on skills such as seed saving, wildcrafting, organic farming, slow cooking, etc. that Pun Pun is known for, we will explore the human relationship with ancestral indigenous seeds, not only examining their role in the food we eat but also in forming human identity, culture, and myth. We will explore how ritual/traditional farming practices such as rotational farming impact community life and the basic human need to feel belonging. We will learn about wild honey bee keeping and consider the major role bees play in our world. This is a rare opportunity, away from the “daily grind” to experience life more slowly, to examine our interconnectedness, with self, soil, and community. We will reflect over the importance of our ancestors. And we will consider the importance of a more land based, indigenous world view in these modern times.
Hin Lad Nai is a special village of the P’gakenyoa indigenous people of the area who have a unique and interconnected relationship with the land, the forest and their community traditions. They have opened up their space for people to learn these essential skills with them.
Content and topics:
At Pun Pun Organic Farm:
- Seed Stories: We will revisit our timeless relationship with seed throughout the course, including those of myth and culture. We do this with storytelling, song, dance, etc.
- Natural Farming: Participants will learn how to grow and harvest food in a mindful way that develops a deeper relationship with soil, water, ancestral memory, seed lineage, the vast unseen underground mycelia kingdom of microorganisms etc.
- Slow Cooking: We will learn how to respectfully harvest from the garden, cook from scratch and eat in mindful ways, looking particularly at root vegetables and their relationship with the land and people..
- Waking the Wild: We will attempt to wake our wilder, ancient self through shared, embodied exercises that aim to push us out from our comfort zones.
At Hin Lad Nai village:
- Ritual/Rotational Farming: We will revisit our ancient relationship with the forest, learning about indigenous techniques of living harmoniously with land in a way that benefits both land and people. Through ceremony, poetry, song, and story, we will look deeply into natural rhythms, our deep relationship with rice, indigenous seeds and cultural roots.
- Returning the Sacred: We will explore the concept of “rematriation”, exploring modernities increasingly severed relation with land and consider how best we might make efforts to restore again a sacred balance with life, taking specific interest in the “P’gakenyoa” tribe’s view.
- Tree hugging: We will connect with the massive grandmother tree “Khun Yai Lumpoo”, the only tree not felled by a logging company years ago that now serves as a powerful reminder of our roots and resilience.
- Wild Honey Keepers and Ancient Teas: We will learn about the unique role bees and tea have with forging a relationship between humans and earth. And yes, we will taste yummy honey and drink delicious teas!
- Calling Our Soul Home: We will participate in the Baisi ritual of “Connectedness Threads” to seal our time together.
12,000 baht/person. This fee includes all food during the course, accommodation, transportation, and instruction.
To register, English speakers please contact punpuncourses@gmail.com and Thai speakers at punpun.farm@gmail.com
LOGISTICS PERTAINING TO ALL COURSES
General Schedule
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held with an extended break after lunch in the hot part of the day. We will start at lunch on the first day of the course and finish after lunch on the last day.
The Project
All courses (unless otherwise specified) will be hosted at our organic farm, seed center, and sustainable living learning center in Mae Taeng, northern Thailand. We started this center to work to create seed centers to preserve our food biodiversity, grow food organically for ourselves in community and for those who come to stay with us, and host trainings and workshops on ways to convert to more self-reliant, sustainable ways of living.
Teaching team
Various community members from Pun Pun farm
Living situation
We will provide simple accommodation in one of Pun Pun’s earthen or bamboo guesthouses or dorms. A thin futon mat, blanket, sheet, pillow, and mosquito net will be provided. Accommodation is single rooms, shared rooms and dorms. All accommodation is in close proximity to each other. Outdoor toilets and showers are close to the guesthouses. All meals will be shared and eaten in the communal kitchen. Vegetarian and fish options will be available and we will try to use the most organic vegetables as possible from the farm. Food will be simple Thai food with brown rice. We try to use as much of our own produce and other seasonally available produce as possible so we tend to focus on a primarily vegetable and whole grain diet with added protein from eggs, fish, or tofu.
Community living
Evening activities and exchanges will also be included. A large aspect of the course also includes the experience of living in community with other participants as well as entering the community of members living at Pun Pun including children living in our community. We have found this element to be a major contributor in the experience of the course for participants.
Registration
1) Send us an email to register
punpun.farm@gmail.com (Thai)
punpuncourses@gmail.com (For English)
2) Once you have sent your participant application and have been confirmed, a non-refundable deposit is due to secure your spot. Please understand we cannot hold your spot until we receive your deposit. We ask you to transfer this to our Thai account of which we will send you the details. The remainder will be collected on the first day of the course in Thai baht or if you choose, you may transfer the whole amount beforehand.
Bringing Your Group to Pun Pun
As well as offering workshops and courses for individuals to attend, we also offer the opportunity for groups to come and learn and experience the farm together. There are various ways we can facilitate your group, based on their needs. We can either organize a custom course for your group based on the topics we teach or we can offer a laid-back and beautiful space including delicious meals for your group to facilitate your own retreat or workshop.
Facilities include a rounded earthen meeting hall capable of receiving many sizes of groups from 5 to 50 people. Our kitchen can provide delicious, fresh, homemade healthy food and the Pun Pun Cafe serves fresh coffee, fruit shakes and homemade snacks if arranged in advance. We have simple, natural accommodation in the farm for various needs.
In the past our laid-back simple atmosphere at Pun Pun has been used to conduct group trainings of various sorts including NGO youth trainings, company volunteer trips, groups from Burma, regional organic farming network trainings, school field trips, exposure trips for villager groups as well as hosted meditation, yoga, dance, and massage workshops. We are happy to talk with you about how you may want to use our space for your group.
We facilitate both day-trip and overnight or multiple-day groups and are available to facilitate activities for your group based on the self-reliant living techniques we practice at the farm including organic gardening, healthy cooking, introduction to natural building, making your own soaps/shampoos/body products, natural health care, etc. This can be set up depending on the needs of the group and we can talk about what your group might be most interested in.
Pricing
Day trips
1,000/day for a full day’s activities (morning and afternoon session, includes lunch)
600 baht/person for a half-day activities (includes lunch)
Overnight and multiple-day groups:
1,800 baht/person/day includes a full day of activities led by Pun Pun for the group (morning and afternoon session), 3 meals, and simple accommodation, and transportation to and from Chiang Mai city.
1,500 baht/person/day is the pricing for groups that want to host their own activities at Pun Pun and use the facilities here. We include 3 meals, simple accommodation, and use of the meeting hall and dining area. Please note transportation is not included in this price but we can help you to arrange it.
If you would like a combination of your own activities and those led by us, feel free to email us and we can create a schedule together.
If you are from a grassroots or villager group with limited funds, reach out and let us know what budget you are able to contribute and we can work together to make a program based on your abilities.
Contact us to host your next workshop at Pun Pun at
punpun.farm@gmail.com (Thai)
punpuncourses@gmail.com (For English)
Visitors & Volunteering
Day visitors
Day visitors are welcome between 9am and 5pm. We have a coffee shop with drinks and local products for sale as well as seeds from the farm we have propagated and give away for free. Please understand we don’t always have people available to give you a tour or guide you around but we do have maps available in our coffee shop you can use for self-guided tours. If you have specific questions or would like to set up a time to have someone from the community available we ask you call us in advance at 081.470.1461 to set it up. If you would like to stay for a meal, we ask you to set it up in advance and request a contribution of 200 baht/person/meal. There are times we have people available to give tours and for these we ask 250 baht/person for groups of 2-12 and groups larger than that we can discuss based on your budget. It’s best if these are set up beforehand by getting in touch with us.
See this page for transportation details. If you’re coming for a day visit on public transportation, you will need to take the last option on this page for transport which includes the motorcycle taxi and ask the taxi to wait for you and bring you back to the road as there is no other public transportation leaving from the farm. (We have not had success getting Grab, Bolt, and other taxi hires to come this far but you can hire a personal driver instead.)
Full-time Volunteers
Volunteering
Our farm has thrived thanks to the contribution of the many volunteers from all over the world who have come to the farm. We enjoy the energy that each of our volunteers bring to our community as well as the unique skills that each of them can contribute to our community.
We take volunteers for a minimum of 2 weeks and as long as 2 months. The volunteer experience is a chance to see what it’s like to live on the farm and in the community. Every day we have a community member who will lead all the volunteers to help to do various jobs around the farm during your stay; from about 9-12 in the morning, and then 2:30-5:30 in the afternoon. This way you can learn hands-on about organic farming practices. Most of the year work will be weeding, planting, transplanting, maintaining garden beds, preparing new garden beds, harvesting food for the kitchen, seed saving, and other jobs on the farm. We also ask volunteers to sign up on the kitchen roster for helping with meals. This is usually a couple of times/week. As we get to know your interests and talents, we can accommodate different projects as well. We will provide simple accommodations, communal meals and direction.
Living as a volunteer with us includes you in the daily activities of our 20 community members as we share meals together and share the work on the farm as well. We have small children at the farm as well who are intricately involved in what we’re doing. If you have an interest in being with children, we welcome you to also spend some of your time with them as well. Depending on the time of your volunteer session, there also may be additional groups who come for day-trip learning experiences or longer. These groups are usually between 10-30 people and share meals and space with the rest of the community.
We ask for a small fee to cover the costs of food and accommodation. Some people have queried why we charge people who come and volunteer their time and effort to work at Pun Pun. Pun Pun is a not for profit farm, and it is also a learning center. Each year, we struggle to cover the costs of running our center while providing our seeds to the public for free. All the long-term community members at Pun Pun receive exactly the same minimal monthly income. We choose to open our community to volunteers for their help and also so we can share our experience of low-cost sustainable community living.
We put a lot of effort into hosting our volunteers and teaching them how things work on the farm. We also find that volunteers get a lot out of working with us and come away having learned a lot. We do occasionally provide free places to people from the Global South. We prioritize those who come from a background where global or even regional travel is extremely difficult and we could not offer anyone a free place, without the support of those who are able to pay so thank you for that contribution as well.
Our pricing changes if you stay longer because the longer you stay as a longer-term volunteer, the more you start to know how things run and how to take on different roles and responsibilities on the farm.
Pricing:
500 Thai Baht/day for up to 2 weeks
450 THB /day for days between 2-4 weeks
11,000 Thai Baht/month
400 Thai baht/day for days beyond one month
We understand that some people are interested in staying longer but we ask for a 2-month trial period to see how it works for all of us. Then we could consider an optional extension.
Part-time Volunteers
Understanding that many people would love to have this kind of experience but also may need to do other work, we also offer half-day working volunteer positions. For this option, part-time volunteers work a half-day along with the other volunteers and community and also still sign up for cooking each week. We have wifi in the coffee shop at the farm in which people can use if they need internet but it is also a public place so please know that other people come in and out.
Pricing for part-time volunteer positions:
700 THB /day for up to 2 weeks
650 THB /day for days between 2-4 weeks
16,000 THB /month
600 THB /day for days beyond one month
To register:
If you are staying for less than a month, we ask you to confirm your dates with us and we will hold you a spot. If you are staying for a month or more we ask you to send us a non-refundable deposit of 2,000THB to hold your spot since we do get a lot of requests. This deposit will be deducted from the payment of your stay. We ask all volunteers to fill in a registration form before your arrival. Please contact us for this form.
Please consider the following criteria to ensure that you enjoy your stay with us at Pun Pun.
- A keen interest in seed saving and gardening.
- Independence, flexibility and eagerness to learn.
- Interest in living in community and communicating, working, and living with others from diverse backgrounds.
- Openness to giving a hand with all aspects of running a farm/learning center and community
- Enjoy learning by doing and experiencing different ways of doing things.
If you want to apply to volunteer with us please email us at punpunvolunteers@gmail.com and please make sure to include the dates you hope to come and stay with us.