Pun Pun Organic Farm
Seed Center and Sustainable Living Learning Center
Near Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand in Mae Taeng Province

Pun Pun is an organic farm, seed-saving operation, and sustainable living and learning center. Pun Pun has been a leader in propelling the earthen building movement in Thailand and hosts workshops, internships, and trainings at the farm every year. We feel that only by living in a sustainable way ourselves, is it possible for us to create a model from which others can learn and live.

The Earthen Building Movement in Thailand
The earthen building movement in Thailand is recent but has been overwhelmingly successful. Since 2002 hundreds of earthen buildings have gone up around the country ranging anywhere from homes for the poor to offices for farmer’s groups and other NGOs, temples, artist communities and galleries. This could not have been done without the dedication and energy of committed individuals. The leader in this movement has been Jon Jandai, a Thai organic farmer and earthen builder since 1995. After giving two years of his life to volunteering, traveling, and teaching to help empower people to learn to build themselves he has now together with other community members established Pun Pun organic farm, seed center and sustainable living learning center. Pun Pun is a place for people to use hands-on learning, experimentation, and creativity to propel the field of natural building and sustainable living in Thailand and the rest of the world.

For more information on the community members of Pun Pun click here.

Pun Pun is an organic farm, seed-saving operation, and sustainable living and learning center. We feel that only by living in a sustainable way ourselves, is it possible for us to create a model from which others can learn and live. Through natural cultivation on our organic farm we display ways of transitioning to, and living more sustainably. Through the living and learning center we experiment with appropriate technologies, organic farming, and natural building techniques. We discover the practices that work well for people and are practical. We then spread this knowledge to those individuals and networks that will put it to use. Through our seed-saving operation we seek to bring back indigenous and rare species of all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and medicinal herbs. We propagate them at the farm and then exchange them for greater use amongst farmers and other interested people, thus empowering and improving the health of the general public.

Pun Pun’s events

Workshops: Every year Pun Pun hosts one-week to two-week workshops intended for individuals wanting to learn the basics of building who do not have the time to attend a longer session. Most of the houses, guesthouses and structures at Pun Pun were built during these workshops. Pun Pun community members also host workshops at other locations and have built hundreds of structures for various groups. These workshops are intended to show the simplicity, beauty, affordability, and ease in which earthen structures can be built and show give participants the tools they need to be able to go build themselves. Most workshops are attended by around half international participants and half Thais.

Internships: Since 2004 Pun Pun has hosted different internship programs ranging from 1-6 mos in duration depending on the year. The internship program is intended for those interested in getting in-depth, hands-on experience in building, organic gardening techniques, and community living. Interns become one of the community and most end up completing some kind of project during their stay on the farm. These have ranged from building their own living quarters, designing and implementing a new communal shower area, or designing and preparing new garden beds. The internship is designed to allow for instruction as well as experimentation and taking initiative to use what they have learned or have interest in.

Training of Trainers: 2006 was the first year we hosted the Sustainable Leadership Training for Asian activists/representatives of community/farmer groups to come and learn about sustainable living techniques and ways of taking these home to create local initiatives in their home communities. The intention is to support a growing movement in the region and network with other groups. In 2006 Pun Pun hosted 7 participants including 2 women from “Flower Aceh”, a women’s group in the hardest hit area from Tsunami in Indonesia, one leader from “Karen Youth Organization” who helps Karen youth living in Thai refugee camps as well as Karen still in Burma, two reps from “Youth for Peace” in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, and one Estonian starting an ecovillage there. Initiative ideas include establishing their own sustainability training center, hosting trainings with women on making their own soaps and fertilizers (something they have been dependent on buying chemical products for before), youth trainings, and more. Pun Pun will continue to host these trainings yearly with different grassroots groups in the region as well as continue following up with past participants to give support and encouragement..

For more information on this year’s events at Pun Pun click here.

For more information:
Contact Peggy Reents at pareents@yahoo.com
For more information about Pun Pun visit http://punpunthailand.org/