Thoughts on the farm- Amee Doyer's Organic Farm

I've summed up my thoughts on the farm as my journal entries during my time there are very long.  It was quite a memorable experience, and while I've added pictures to my picasa album for everyone to see, I of course missed the opportunities to take the important photos like of the people I lived and worked with.  But for me, those images will be in my mind forever.  So here it goes.

My time on the farm was quite and experience, very unique indeed.  The farm took some getting to (Bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao- 1.5 hours, wait for a yellow taxi to fill up once you arrive at appropriate intersection, take yellow taxi 45 minutes-unless that one breaks down than you wait for another that will finish the journey, get off at the big motorcycle shop, walk on the only road that leads to the right for a long time- until you get to the last house on the left, and then 50 meters past that is the road to the farm.  Walk up this somewhat steep gravel path for about half a mile and then you've made it) but once I finally made it I felt good.  I have to admit, I did get a bit lost, but all was well.  Once I arrived and took a look at my surroundings- mountains and jungle- I knew I was in a good place.

When I arrived I saw a girl weeding in the yard.  Her name was Elodye and she was from France.  She'd already been there a bit over a week.  Austin from Seattle was splitting bamboo reeds to make ties for rice with Alea, the manager of the farm and guy we spent a lot of time with.  I was shown my room in only a few words from Alea, and then I got busy weeding with Elodye for the last hour of the workday.
Shortly after, we washed up and started preparing dinner.  This was of course one of our chores as wwoofers.  We cut onions, garlic, some greens and tofu.  Asamee, Alea's wife, does a majority of the cooking, but often times we'll prepare a dish as well.  Dinner was delicious, as they all were.  Alea and Asamee are Burmese and therefore the food was quite delicious.  All meals were served on rice.  There was usually a dish in some broth, a dish of greens, and when available, a dish of meat.  The meats served during my time there were dog, chicken, and pig- in that order.  All dishes have salt, spice, and msg. That's right, just pour it on there.  Tofu and bamboo were also staples.  I really liked bamboo.  We did have noodles once in a while as well.  Tomatoes, potatoes, garlic and onions are common as well.
Many things grow on the farm.  Papaya, bamboo, coconut, chili peppers, and bananas.  These are not planted for market use, simply for personal consumption on the farm.  Alea and Asamee tend to a large fleet of pigs of varying ages and sizes- ranging from tiny newborn piglets to the bigger than the biggest blue ribbon pig you've ever seen.  Alea also owns cows, but they live on a different property.  Many acres of land are dedicated to rice paddies.  Alea told us that in about a month's time the rice will be harvested.
We woke up early the next morning (6:15) and got to work sweeping and mopping the porch, and preparing breakfast.  The chickens and pigs make plenty of noise so they definitely woke me up just as much as my alarm clock did. Then at 8 it's time to work...
Work for the day was shoveling gravel to make a path to the pig sty.  It was hard work hoeing and shoveling gravel into a two-wheeled cart and then rolling that down to be dumped out, all the while in the hot Thai sun.  But a good sweat for sure!  I bought a big sun hat on my way to the farm for 20 baht (about 56 cents) which was a very good decision.  We worked alongside two Burmese refugees- Lunton and Salmo for most of the work we did on the farm.  They were two very cool dudes.  Lunton was 64 and Salmo was in his 50s and they are brothers.  They have been working at the farm for about 10 years combined.  They didn't speak a lot of English at all, but we would exchange a few words in English and Thai, and we got by.  They taught us more Thai and Lisu words and I don't know, maybe we taught them a few English words.  Lisu are the hilltribe that live in the northern region of Thailand.  Working with those guys, them laughing at us when we said a word funny or did something wrong was pretty priceless.  They were cool, and even though we couldn't communicate all that well, it was worth working with them. 
Sundays are days off on the farm.  We slept in and then went into Chiang Dao to use the internet and get a different type of meal. Chiang Dao is about 45 minutes away by songthaew (song-tao, or yellow taxi) and that's where the nearest internet is.  We also saw the Chiang Dao caves with buddhas and temple structure inside.  Pretty cool except you can't walk around for too long because soon enough you'll be swimming.
The hext week continued on with the same schedule:
Wake at 6:15 for chores, work 8-12, lunch and siesta 12-3, work 3-5, wash up/dinner prep at 5, eat around 6/6:30, then relax.  There was a tv and a lot of dvds so we spent many evenings unwinding this way.
I will note the highlights for rest of this post.  Some aren't quite highlights if you are especially fond of dogs or pigs, so skip over those sections if you're a bit squeemish.  I've put disclaimers in so you know what's coming!

"That dog is eating my pigs. I have to kill it" -Alea, about the naughty dogs that come in from the village and eat his piglets.  These dogs will face a terrible end.  Don't read if you don't want to imagine a dog dying by gunshot in the middle of the morning on a Monday.
Sunday night: Alea had been telling us a story about how much you can get for selling large lizards in the markets in Thailand when he stopped mid-sentence because he heard a noise.  We (the farangs) grabbed headlamps and flashlights, he grabbed his humongous gun and bag of ammo and we take off down the road to the pigsty where Alea had set up a trap for the dog.  It's only about a minute by sprint.  Either we were too slow or it was a flase alarm because when we arrived to the scene, nothing had been disturbed and no dog was trapped.
Monday morning: After an eventful night time run down to the pigsty to see if a dog trap that Alea set has worked, the naughty dog caught a terrible fate. I was leveling some gravel, when all of a sudden a shot rang out that silenced even the ever clucking chickens.  Alea had spotted the naughty mutt and shot it.  He whimpered and howled for a few minutes while the farm dogs came near to check out the scene.  They did not go down into the ravine where the dog lay slowly dying.  The dog was trying to get up and away between its cries, but to no avail.  Later on, Alea picked it up and with the help of Asamee, the dog became a meal.  Some friends of theirs came to help with this process, and stayed for the tasty meal.
I'll admit, I tried some dog.  I'm not altogether too proud of this, but I thought I should do it because it's a somewhat normal practice here, and I don't want to seem rude- they are offering me this meat, and I should at least try it.  I don't know, it was a strange time.  It was really chewy and salty.  I had only a few bites. Enough said.  

Your local Thai Butcher **Disclaimer- another somewhat gruesome tale.  This one is about witnessing a pig death.  Read if you can.**
Wednesday: A pig was killed and butchered today.  Not just any pig- it was a very large, 200 pound pig.  It was tied by one of its back legs to a post of a hut.  Under the hut a fire was heating a large bowl of water.  When I passed by the hut earlier in the day (before the pig was present) I was unsure of what the large bowl was doing there, and why a fire was being started.  I soon found out.
The pig was walking around as much as it could with its tether, and when he was standing in a suitable, still position for the older Thai gentleman who acted as butcher for the day, he gave the pig a quick but deep stab with mis machete right behind his left leg.  Blood was pouring from the wound immediately and the pig began thrashing around and making the most unbelievable squeals.  The pig threw itself to the ground and more blood spewed from its side.  It was a scary, bloody, disturbing site.  And I was 10 feet from this...watching.  To see a 200 pound pig throwing itself into the ground, squealing and screaming to keep itself alive is not something my western mide was really capapble of processing.
The thrashing and bleeding took about two minutes.  then the pig lay motionless in the dirt.  The team of Burmese and Thai men and women who were attending this butchering (friends of Alea's and Asamee's who live nearby) jumped into action to clean the pig.  They hosed him and the area off, then poured boiling hot water on the pig, and also layed burlap bags that had been soaking in the large pan of water on him.  Now I saw how handy that fire and hot water was.  They were cleaning and simultaneously softening the pig to make it easier to shave, which they stated to do as soon as it was clean.  This was when I walked away and headed back to the barn where I was separating dried corn kernels from the cob to make pig feed.  But I could see from my spot in the barn what was happening up on the hill, and pretty soon the pink and brown spotted pig was as white as the inside of a coconut.  Later on when I looked up from my work again the pig's head was no longer attached to its body.  At this point I hurried to finish my work and get up to the house for siesta, and get away from the scene.  What was very normal for these people was not normal for me, and I really didn't know how to handle it.  Should I feel ashamed for watching, for being an audience?  Am I a coward for not helping?  No, I shouldn't feel like a coward, I have no idea what to do, and if I helped I'd only be in the way.  But if I'm not helping why and I standing here with my jaw on the ground?  I was very confused and felt very removed; very western.  I didn't know what to think or how to behave.  I just knew I couldn't really handle it anymore.
Later that day, the pig had been separated, the prize pieces sold, and the remaining portions parceled out to those who helped, and cooked for meals on the farm.  I did try some of the pig, but I'm not a huge fan of pork to begin with, so I didn't eat much.  Additionally, after witnessing the scene, I was unable to really stomach the idea of eating pig.  Again, I ate it to not be rude.  Pork is very common in many dishes here, and Alea was surprised when we didn't eat very much of it.  He offered and offered whenever it sat out in our meals, but finally I had to say that I really did not like pork very much to begin with, similar to the way his wife simply did not like to eat dog.  It was a somewhat awkward moment.  I just couldn't stomach it!

Friday Morning Chinese Market **This one is totally tame!**
This may be one of my favorite memories from the farm experience.  I awoke to a misty mountain view as per usual- the past few days had been very rainy.  We did our chores, and then Alea sauntered up to the porch asking if we were ready to go to the market.  The Friday Morning Chinese Market only occurs on Friday- hence the name- and it is a very local market.  It was very bustling as people come from all over the area to go to this market.  Driving in we had to weave past other cars, motorbikes and people.  Thai music was blaring from a speaker, but the shoppers seemed unaffected.  Everything was available at this market- household goods, rice cookers, pots and pans, clothes, food, sweets, meats, vegetables, fruits, smoothies, noodle stands where you can sit for a meal, and pharmacy items.  People come to stock up on anything and everything they need for their homes.  It was very cool to be a part of this large, bustling crowd where folks were just bent on their business- they've got errands to run!  One of my favorite images was seeing a young mother with a baby strapped to her back with a elaborately patterned cloth- the eastern baby bjorn is what popped into my head.  This notion of the western vs. eastern grocery shopping mother came into mind: here in this market that is a mile from the burmese border, a woman has a child strapped to her back while she browses some househould goods.  In the west, a mother loads her child into the little 'car seat' of the grocery car that the child loves so much.  He pretends to drive it while pointing out to mom the snacks and cereals he wants.  She only listens and "uh-hmms" half way to his requests and 'beep beeps!' while checking her grocery list and heading to the next aisle.  In both images a child is reaching out to touch something, engaging that necessity to connect with ones surroundings by touch- a hallmark mechanism for young children and both mothers are only half focused on the shopping because they are also focused on their child. 

We left the market with a lot of vegetables, tofu, noodles and eggs.  These items are very representative of Thai and Burmese cuisine (at least the style of Burmese food we were eating).  I picked up a few things as well and had a delicious noodle breakfast in my belly.  It was a very interesting experience that I was lucky to have.

So, all in all I'm glad I had the farm experience.  I can't really say what kind of expectations I had going into it- I tried not to form too many because I had no concrete notions of what it would be like- but I don't really know if they were met.  It was just such a different, unique, surreal, and ever evolving experience.  I had good feelings and not so good feelings about what I was doing on this farm in the middle of the jungle in the mountains a few miles from Burma.  The work was sometimes interesting and rewarding, sometimes I couldn't wait for our lunch and siesta break.  But, I can say that WWOOFing is a great way to experience another culture, people, language and food.  It is a full immersion experience and very cool- you just have to relax and let the experience unfold.  It also takes a lot of initiative once on the farm to get involved with the work, but this comes naturally.  I'd love to work on another farm elsewhere in the world through WWOOF to see how the experience compares. 

If you want to hear more about the farm experience, please email with questions.  This little novella I wrote above is written from the vacuum of my experiences and I realize I might be missing out on a few key details to help you, my reader to visualize these images.  Let me know. gina.matranga@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading this long entry!  Hope you got through it ok!


**I don't know if I've even really explained what WWOOFing is- sorry about that- but it stands for world wide opportunities on organic farms and it's a great program.  Check it out if you're interested in learning more:
http://www.wwoof.org/