Pun Pun: Living Sustainably

Pun pun is an organic farm, seed-saving operation, and sustainable living and learning center an hour outside of Chiang Mai in the small village of Mae Joo. We stayed with families for eight days in Mae Joo in pairs of two, learning the village Thai way of life, working and learning at Pun Pun, and running a kids camp for some of the village youth in the evenings.

Five years ago, Pee Peggy and Pee Jo (“Pee is used in Thailand for respect) bought the stripped piece of land on which they hoped to build Pun Pun with very little money. No one would ever know, however, because—with organic farming techniques and patience –where not even a banana tree would grow before crops are thriving. They are sure to keep nutrients circulating; far from monocropping on their nine acres they grow rice, sesame, passion fruit, pineapple, turmeric, kale, squash, papaya, basil, bananas…and the list goes on.

Many years ago, the Thai farmer was almost completely self-sustaining. But starting 50 years ago, the government introduced monocropping for export to make more money. People began working harder, cutting down more forest, and finally introducing chemicals. They were producing more, but producing only one crop did not provide them with security. Rice, their main crop, traditionally can only be regrown on the same land for three seasons before the land is stripped and they need to find fresh land. At Pun Pun, they are trying to reintroduce a self-reliance system to Thailand, providing people with more security, and harvesting less of a greater variety of crops all throughout the year and rotating crops to keep the land healthy.

When Pee Jo and Pee Peggy purchased this “unusable” land and began their unconventional practices, the villagers of Mae Joo thought they were crazy. Although chemicals were not introduced into Thailand’s agriculture until a mere 50 years ago, people already cannot imagine farming successfully without them. But that is alright; Pee Peggy and Pee Jo planned to lead by example. Sure enough, after only a few years the villagers started going up to Pun Pun asking for advice and adopting their techniques. Now Pun Pun offers numerous internships and provides week long intensive courses that are attended by people from all over—both from Thailand and abroad.

They are also using and teaching earthen building techniques. One-third of the earth’s population still lives in earthen homes, and it is the oldest building technique. With millennia of wisdom to learn from, earthen building may be something worth looking into! “Why spend the rest of your life worrying about paying off a mortgage when you can simplify your life, build yourself, and spend little to no money?” Pee Jo makes clear, a simpler life is a life with much less stress.

During our time at Pun Pun, we learned by hands-on experience. We made our own adobe bricks, helped to construct a house, added a final paint finish (paint made from earthen products such as clay and sand, of course,) and worked on organic farming techniques. Pee Jo is an inspiration, living his words and beliefs as very few can claim to do. In a world of fast paced advancement but less and less security, his example of self-sufficiency is becoming more and more attractive.