From Thursday afternoon to Saturday early morning (as in 5 AM), our group went to Mae Taa, a community in which about half the farmers have returned to growing "in-see" (organic) crops, reversing their former choices to monocrop with the aid of chemical fertilizers and GMOs.
Ben (donning the yellow T and the Indiana Jones-esque hat) and I stayed with the family whose farm is pictured about. In total, they had over 20 rai of land, on which they grew tons of herbs, veggies, and fruit. During our time there, Ben and I tilled land, weeded, grew mushrooms, picked mahluhod (a oblong, red, sweet-and-sour fruit whose English name is foreign to me), caught grasshoppers, attempted fishing, and watered the crops.
Also pictured above is Mae (second picture), our host mom, and Pi Tohn (third and fifth pictures), our 27-year-old host brother, who spent the day at the farm with us, showing us their family's land and guiding us as we tried to help out.
For more information about Mae Taa, a former ISDSI student wrote about the community here. Note: While at the time of the article's publication it may have been true that the Mae Taa organic community was dedicated to local sale of their products, there are members in the community who have begun to export their produce to Europe, where it will be sold as high-quality organic food.
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