As part of Baan San Fan's move towards self-sustainability we decided that we would try and get an organic farm programme running. While there is some in-house knowledge of the subject, we decided that it would be beneficial to go and see a working example. Thailand is yet to embrace the idealism of environmentally-friendly farming and most of what does happen is in the North around Chiang Mai. Thanyapura Farming Limited is a project that was started a few years ago specifically to service the requirements of South Thailand and, in particular, Phuket.
The Project Manager is Pierre Larigaldie who kindly welcome us into the shaded courtyard of his home where we were given a detailed overview of his organisation and the methods they use.
Creating a soil which contains the right balance of minerals and nutrients is a challenge which requies a mixture of technology and hardwork. Crucial to all of it is Effective Micro-organisms (EM) which is a mixture of rotting vegetation carefully designed to contain the essential ingreditents required to grow. In a painstaking process, which takes several months, trenches are dug and then the first elements are introduced. These include charcoal (used to help drainage), chicken manure, coconut husk, compost and, of course, EM. For the first few months in the life of the trench it is used to grow Marigolds, the roots of which, introduce large deposits of nitrates. Finally, we have a prepared bed ready for growing.
Having explained how he prepares the soil Pierre took us on a tour of the farm. Despite all of his hard work there are still a number of plants which simply won't grown in the Southa Thailand environment. Perhaps the most significant being tomatoes because this is fundamental to any kitchen. What we did see were beds full of basil, long beans, cucumber, courgette, parsley and aubergine to mention a few. Additionally there were a number of mature trees around the farm (providing coconuts, mangoes, bananas and other local fruit) and crops such as rice, corn and lemongrass.
It was a pleasure to enter the inner sanctum of the farm and a very useful experience for the volunteers and Gai and Sam. Pierre was very informative and knowledgeable, not to mention; hospitable. Now to put it into practice!!!
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