We got back from our first field course yesterday afternoon to the terrential rains of Chiang Mai and a final essay to write. Fortunately, both have finished now and we have a three day weekend!
But the field course was an awesome experience. The first week we were living in a small agricultural town called Mae Ta, living with families who have switched from cash crop farming to organic/polyculture/subsistence farming. My Paw was 60 years old and Mae was 55 and they have been proudly farming organically for twelve years. They were so cute and kind (as was everyone in Mae Ta)- Mae was at least three times the size of Paw, both were very soft spoken, and they just love to farm. I am pretty much in love with the community there- everyone is so excited about farming and the neighborhood was so friendly. Some highlights of the week include: prepping live crickets for cooking, eating fried crickets for breakfast two days in a row (they were actually pretty tasty), hangi ng out with the neighbor family, exploring the community forest and watershed, and seeing how successful agroforestry and polyculture farms can be in subsistence farming. The crazy part was that all of the farmers said they have lots of relaxing time (i.e. "Sabai" time) and the few days that we worked with our families on their farms definitely prooved that. I actually never worked for over an hour before it was time to take a break, or to start cooking lunch, or to take an after lunch nap. It was ridiculously relaxed (but I have to wonder if they were just letting us off easy...) Regardless, I love Mae Ta and I am really excited to visit my Mae Ta family at the organic market in Chiang Mai next week.
The next few days after Mae Ta were part of Mid-Course Seminar. For some reason or another, it was at the fanciest resort with little bungalos and delicious food. Very unexpected, but very lovely indeed. The day we got there, we had gotten up at 3 am to go to Chiang Mai and sell produce with our families at the Market, and then we had a paper to write. So unfortuately, I didn't have much time to explore the surroundings, which consisted of lots of awesome cave-filled mountains.
After two nights in the most comfortable best of all of Thailand, we headed off on a hike to a very small hilltribe village. The next day we hiked to another village and explored their political/social situation. Both villages were in pretty bad states of food security, but UHDP (the organization we went to next) was working with them in terms of sanitation, food security, citizenship/land rights, etc. It was pretty interesting, but it felt kind of weird to just pass through and not really spend time getting to know the places.
Next we went to the UHDP agricultural center- a big demonstration area, almost like a small village- there were houses and a meeting hall and a few agroforests, etc. We stayed here for a week studying more of the science side of things- identifying species, prepping seeds for saving in the seedbank, etc.
A main highlight of the week was the pig harvest. Saturday, after learning about the ceremonies that different hilltribes use pigs in, we had the chance to participate in the slaughter of a pig. Definitely more intense than a chicken. Much more intense. We spent the entire afternoon slaugthering, then prepping the meat, then cooking dinner with the UHDP staff and it was quite the experience. The staff did the actual stunning and killing of the animal, but we had the opportunity to participate in as much of the rest of the process as we wanted. I will leave the rest up to imagination and maybe some pictures later... For dinner we had...Pork! what a coincidence. And the Thai eat every part of the pig- they were loving the intestine and liver, and I tasted a bit of ear, which was perhaps one of the more disgusting things I have attempted to chew. But an experience nonetheless.
Another day, we split into groups and forraged in the agroforest, caught catfish and ducks, and cooked it all with bamboo and rattan for lunch. It was pretty cool to see a meal prepared entirely from the few acres around us.
Overall, I'd say it was a pretty great trip, one more week and we're off on another adventure!
Thai Thai For Now, Hannah
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