We're back from Fields, but wow, where to even start? It was such an incredible three weeks but I'll do my best to sum up what we've been doing. As a little background, Fields is our first course and focuses on Agroecology. Once again, a pretty large subject to summarize in a couple sentences, but basically the idea is working towards building a sustainable agriculture system that will be able to feed people in the coming years. Some of the main ideas are organic food, eating & buying local, and modeling one's farm off a natural ecosystem. The idea behind the natural model is that when a farm system functions as an ecosystem, it is stronger and more resilient to disturbances; no synthetic chemicals are used, energy and nutrients are cycled within the system rather than being lost as waste, all aspects of the farm serve multiple purposes, and biodiversity increases. All of this, of course, is in opposition to industrial agriculture, which uses chemicals, hybrid seeds, is harmful to the environment and food, and tends to throw farmers into debt because they have to buy hybrid seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides/herbicides each year. That summary really only touches on the surface, but it does give you an idea about the types of subjects our expedition focused on.
I was in group B, and we started our expedition in Mae Ta. Mae Ta is a village that has started an organic farming co-op and CSA based on the encouragement and knowledge from a few local farmers, which is pretty incredible considering the higher number of conventional farmers in the area. Us students (17 total) were paired up for homestays for the week. My roommate was Megan and we lived in a house pretty close to the center of town with our host mother, father, and college-aged sister. We didn't have school in the traditional sense, but our entire group did meet each day for activities. The majority of our time was spent in community meetings; with village elders, younger generation farmers, and the man who started the co-op. The great part about how this program was set up was/is the experiential learning. Oftentimes we would come in with overarching knowledge of the themes, but then we would use the community meetings as our knowledge source. It is interesting too, because even though organic farming benefits the environment as a whole, Mae Ta farmers seem to be switching for a couple reasons: 1. because they see health benefits in their crops, soil, and themselves and 2. because it is an opportunity to take pride in their local knowledge and their ability to be self-sufficient and to provide for their families.
In addition to the community meetings, we toured both organic and conventional farms; talked about Mae Ta's efforts to save seeds from year to year; hiked the watershed to learn about water's impact on the area; and had one "family day" which basically consisted of walking to our family's farm, pulling weeds for maybe an hour, eating lunch, napping for two hours, working for maybe another hour or two, and then walking home. On the last day, we woke up at 4am and drove to the JJ Market in Chiang Mai, which is an organic market where many of the Mae Ta farmers sell their crops. Really cool to see, and we're all planning on going back this week before school to see our families again.
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| Talking with a conventional corn farmer |
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| Organic farm |
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| Crickets for dinner! |
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| It's all mental. They were actually really good! |
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| Watershed hike |
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| Host family (and Megan) at our farewell dinner |
I really enjoyed Mae Ta; our family was hilarious, our mom made the best pumpkin dishes, and I felt like the homestay really helped my Thai. But after five days, it was time to move on. Next, we headed to our Ajaan Jeff's farm just outside of Chiang Mai for our midcourse seminar. Luckily we turned in our midcourse essays on the first afternoon, because then we were able to just relax, go for a couple runs, eat great food of course, and recover/prepare for the next section.
After midcourse finished, our group headed to the Upland Holistic Development Program (UHDP). UHDP is a program committed to helping the Hilltribe people learn about and practice more sustainable agriculture techniques. They focus on natural solutions for problems/pests, and we got to do activities such as make a natural pesticide, make compost, compare the biodiversity of an agroforest and corn field, and collect food from the forest to make a meal. UHDP also works with an organization called ECHO, which focuses on saving seeds, allowing the farmers to be able to plant crops each year without having to buy hybrid seeds from a company. By saving seeds, the organization is also working to save local varieties of plans that will eventually be lost by the prominence of hybrid seeds and monocropping. The organization works all over the world and their headquarters is apparently in Ft. Myers, FL so all you family members should check it out! Who knew!
Despite all these activities, I think the highlight of UHDP was the pig slaughter. It may sound gross or sad, but honestly, I thought it was really good to see. I eat plenty of pork, and if I am going to be a consumer, I think it's good to know where that meat (and really, all food) is coming from. Plus, it makes a difference that the entire process was treated with respect and appreciation; the slaughter itself was humane and as quick as possible, and afterwards every part of the animal had some use. Ultimately we used the meat to make a variety of dishes that night for dinner, and it is pretty incredible to watch the entire process- from live pig to a cooked dish- in the span of half a day.
Aside from the many activities, UHDP was a nice group bonding time. We had a little running/workout group going each morning (nothing like watching the sun rise over mountains and corn fields!), bonded over banana grams and singing/instrument playing, and stayed in big dorm rooms that felt like summer camp.
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| Chopping plants to make a natural pesticide called Neem |
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| Spraying the Neem mixture! |
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| Dinner! I believe someone christened it "Princess Diana." Don't ask why, I'm not sure either |
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| Despite this picture, it was actually a very respectful process |
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| Preparing the meat |
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| Geeking out over the heart right before we cut it up to be cooked |
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| Surveying the corn field in the rain |
After UHDP, we headed into the mountains. We backpacked between a couple villages, learning about their sustainable practices and agroforests. We had a two-night homestay in one village, and stayed in a big lodge in another. Our activities mainly consisted of community meetings and tours of the various farm systems. This section was touch because it rained all day, every day; we were hiking through mud, all our gear was wet, and there was no point doing laundry because nothing would dry; thus, we were extremely dirty, gross, and smelly! Luckily, however, we ended on a high note in the village of MaeMae. This village was like an oasis compared to the other villages; everyone was so happy, the scenery was stunning, and we ate tons of amazing pumpkin dishes!
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| My host brother with one of his toys |
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| Sunrise over the village |
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| Looking out into the village from our house |
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| Don't ask about the loss of his hair; it was a sore subject |
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| Double trouble (but so adorable)! |
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| Terraced plots between villages |
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| Group B, best group! |
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| View from our longhouse. Not real life. |
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| Everyone in MaeMae Village |
Now we're back in Chiang Mai. We took our final exam yesterday and today we drove to Burma for literally an hour because our visas require us to leave the country every 90 days. Our next block, Forests, starts on Monday; we'll be here for about a week before heading out again, and I'm already excited to go! I didn't realize how much I missed green until I left and (I never thought I'd say this) but I actually miss sleeping under mosquito nets, pitch-black villages at night, and waking up to the sound of roosters crowing. Other than that, I love the way we're learning. It's not traditional school, but we're learning so much. We have readings that give us background information but the majority of our learning is hands-on, from interacting with and talking directly to the people and their lives. And then we're asked to analyze and reflect on what we've learned through essays and reflections throughout the course. Definitely a nice reward and (I think) a deserved break for surviving a pretty touch sophomore year!
