My Thai Farm Life

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet.  I've just dropped out of internet access.  My usb mobile broadband doesn't want to play with my Thai sim card, but thankfully there are internet cafes.

After visiting some Thai cities, I'm now in the countryside staying at a permaculture farm.  The farm is just a little ways outside of Chiang Mai.  It's an easy ride back into the city if I want, but still far away.  I'm the only one at the farm at the moment.  The owner comes out every couple days to work on things and hang out.  But things are taken slowly as per instructions.  I have lots of time to do what I want.  The pace of life here is about perfect.  I haven't run out of things to do and it doesn't look like that will ever be a problem.

A field on the way to the farm.

At the farm I have electricity and running water.  I have a refrigerator and fans.  There are hammocks set up outside.  I have a mosquito net to keep the vampires and other scaries away at night.  I also have a mountain bike I can use, which is awesome for exploring the area.  The toilets are new, but don't flush.  You have to use a bucket of water to do the flushing manually.  The water temperature depends on how hot it was that day.  I get hot showers when it's hottest and cold showers when it's coldest.

There's a bird that I call the crosswalk bird because it makes a regular beeping sound like a crosswalk telling you it's okay to cross.  I hear that one during the day and get disoriented.  The neighbors seem friendly.  This morning a grandma was working on some banana trees as I was passing by.  She offered me a banana heart she just cut down.  I'm not sure if that means we're engaged or something, but I guess I'll find out if someone else is under my mosquito net tonight.

Lately I have been waking up at sunrise or even a bit before.  The sun and ambient noises (feral things and neighbors' loud speakers) are enough to wake me.  Since the rainy season hasn't arrived yet, my job is to help the plants fight off the oppresive heat.  There is an electric pump that sits in a fishy pond and I hook up hoses to that and then spray water on the plants before the sun really gets brutal.  If the water falls while it's still cool it might soak into the ground instead of evaporate instantly.  After that I have time to make breakfast.  They provide me with food here, so I just need to think about what I want to eat and make it.  There is lots of fruit (especially mangos) available so I eat that often.

If the owners are coming out to the land they might arrive around this time.  We work on special projects when they come out.  The latest project is getting an outdoors kitchen set up.  We finished installing a sink.  There will also obviously be farming related work to do.  The farm is still starting out so most of the plants are not established yet.  We weed or plant new things, but planting has been put on hold until the rain starts.

These mangoes want to turn yellow so I can eat them and the fire ants on the trees want to eat me.

But if the owners don't come out then I mostly have the rest of the day to myself.  I have a couple other projects I could work on, but they don't take long and there's no deadline I'm working against and they aren't strictly required anyways.  So I might read one of the books I have.  By this time it's time to sit in front of a fan.  I only got them out here recently, so they are a welcome addition.  Another fun thing to do is to ride around the country roads.  Drivers are few and courteous.  People love to smile when you pass them.  The nice thing about the countryside here is that all over the place people set up little shops in front of their homes.  It's not always apparent what each place is.  Riding slowly and checking things out is a good way to learn about the place.  Everything I need is within a short bicycle distance.  Internet cafe, purified water machine, restaurants, markets, barber, fresh produce.

Once the sun gets low I like to be back at the house.  I'll make some dinner from the food I have available.  I make lots of stir fries and fried rice dishes.  Fresh fruit for dessert.  Then I'll sit in front of the fan and either read or check out some of the things I downloaded from the internet cafe.  I go to bed early.  And as I dream away another wonderful day I'll hear through my sleep the large lizard on the other side of the wall that screams with rage like it's trying to be heard over grandpa's TV at volume 20.