surin farmers, sustainable farming

http://www.surinfarmersupport.org/

On June 29, 2009, Dr. Silverman and some UCLA students visited an organic farm in Chumphon. We noticed that there was no monoculture, a style in which one crop occupies vast fields as seasons change. Pests can foster, so unnatural pesticides are used. Synthetic fertilizers are common, which depletes soil nutrients and undermines the aim of achieving high yields. However, this particular plantation used natural fertilizer coming from the manure of water buffalos rummaging around on the fields. During our walking tour, we noticed polyculture – a style in which multiple crops are simultaneously planted around the same field. Thanks to crop rotation, a species grows off of the nutrients left in the soil by the species that previously occupied the area. Inter-cropping is also beneficial since it maximizes the use of space. Different plants are embedded between rows of a primary crop. Diverse plants can help each other grow. Furthermore, we noticed papayas, coconuts, watermelons, and finger-nailed bananas, cucumbers and green bean strings that were growing. We only planted one type of rice, but there were other grain varieties around – some that even produced milk. In any case, getting hands-on agricultural experience -- which involved bending over, getting soiled and exposing myself to the capricious weather – gave me a deep appreciation for farmers whose contributions to the economic sphere were overlooked. Fortunately, this farm was recognized, as evidenced by the Thailand king who gave it an award for self-sufficiency. -Amy Ta

Andaman Discoveries Blog

Andaman Discoveries Blog



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Student Presentation: Sustainable Livelihoods, Women's Handicraft Groups, Kamphuan

Project Presentation:

Project Photo Slide Show:

By Christina, Christine, Amy, Liz, and Terri


Student Presentation: Sustainable Livelihoods, Women's Handicraft Groups, Kamphuan

Beluga School for Life - Sustainability Education

Student Project: Beluga School for Life



Student Project: Food System and Tourism Sustainability

Ko Phra Tong: Student Research Project

Koh Phra Tong, Ban Lion [Village]

Amy, Liz, Terri, Christine & Christina In the Jungle

Kuraburi flood

Home & Life: Sawasdee krap. Welcome to Home & Life

Home & Life: Sawasdee krap. Welcome to Home & Life

July 15th and 16th Home & Life: a family place of love and learning



On July 15th and 16th our program visited Home & Life, an orphanage, which is both a home and an informal education center in Phang Nga Province. Home & Life( see blogspot) aims to provide a nourishing and nurturing 'home' where kids learn about sustainable development, and more specifically, the King of Thailand's 'self-sufficiency' principles. See http://livesufficient.blogspot.com/for some commentary.

The staff, working with donations from a variety of, mostly, private sources, practice experiential learning, providing the kids with skills, knowledge, and practices to raise, cultivate, and cook their own food; conserve the environment, and develop community-based tourism oriented livelihood skills, such as baking, cooking, and handi-crafts.












During our visit, we assisted in a variety of sustainable community activies.

We were involved in planting lemon-grass [scientific name: cymbopogon citratus], a spice used in many Thai dishes, such as Tom Yum. Here, however, lemon-grass is also planted to stabilized river banks suseptible to erosion during the monsoon rains, which happen to be occuring right now. During monsoon season [June - October], rains easily fill and over flow this river courses.


The lemon grass, which is a perennial, is well suited to stabilize slopes and reduce run-off. Rhoot, the project director, suggested that we terrace the slope, dig holes about 1/2 meter apart, fill each hole with sand, as the entire slope was heavy clay, and plant 2 or 3 shoots per hole.


A relative of lemon grass, citronella grass, [ cymbopogon nardus] can also be planted to enhance community well being. In addition to protecting slopes from erosion, citronella grass is a natural insect repellent; the oils can be extracted and applied to your skin to repel mosquitoes and sand fleas, ever-present in coastal habitats, shorelines and forests, which we have visited.

Antiseptics, geranio and citronellol, are two chemical compounds in citronella grass, properties which make it a ingredient in natural soaps.

According to Root, activities at Home & Life are hands on, giving the kids real experiences living sustainably. "In order to sustain the center, we are developing the bakery, coffee shop, kitchen, a garden, and a fish pond. The kids, along with the volunteers, like your UCLA students learn about community and sustainability by doing. We try to follow the King's message about self sufficient living, providing enough food and income for our own needs, and selling whatever additional foods we produce."

During our visit, Root, the kids, and the UCLA students dug a new 'pond' to stock with cat fish, which will be sold later at the nearby village or District market.



The activities are just part of the kids' day. Ranging in ages from 5 - 16, all the kids attend one of the nearby primary or secondary schools and in the afternoon they return to Home & Life. The center is home to 2o kids, many of whom lost their parents in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Others face sever hardships due to family breakdowns such as domestic violence and drug addiction at home.

Want to assist Home & Life, contact at http://www.homelifethailand.net/help.htm

Confessions Part 1: David (aka Dave) Loyst

Here's a short interview with one of us! Hear what we have to say about the trip!

Pets of Thailand

An integral part of our trip in Thailand has been the animals. Every place we go are dogs and cats galore which always seem to brighten our day... especially Geoff's.

And it's been a pretty interesting aspect. We expected to form relationships with all the super friendly people here in Thailand in all the different places, but the animals? But we honestly have, and anyone begging to differ should think of Maggie/Jamie, Princess Lea, or that cute puppy near the roti place.

Maggie/Jamie followed us everywhere... and I mean everywhere, even into the suki place for dinner... and there she was again waiting for us to get out of our academic meeting. She became part of the program

Stephanie suggested that the microfinance group should ask around for pictures of all the pets and make a calendar which we could sell and get some money... perhaps to donate to a charitable cause?

Come on... who wouldn't buy a calendar?

Elephant Trekking in Khao Lak

I don’t feel as though this statement should be taken as generalization for everyone’s experience on the elephant trek, but there were most definitely some veins of similarity running the group opinion of our little outing.

I remember at the beginning, before the trip even began… it was actually at the pre-program meeting in Lakretz and one of the students asked Michael if he had ever been elephant trekking. He said that he wasn’t sure if elephants should be used for trekking or just left in the wild. I’m pretty sure I would have felt guilty even if he hadn’t said that, but the whole guilt thing was definitely multiplied upon arrival to the Khao Lak Elephant Camp.

After a short sang taew ride we arrived to the Khao Lak Elephant Camp where we were greeted by a macaque holding a sign which read “Hello, My Name is Michale.” I’m not sure if they meant to spell it that way intentionally. Honestly the whole thing scared me shitless—excuse my language—but at first I thought the monkey standing on its hind legs was a dead stuffed version of a creature that once roamed the jungle. Much to my chagrin the creature moved, indicating that the live thing fared a worse fate than my assumption of its dead counterpart. But who knows, I could be completely wrong and maybe the macaque was born in captivity and has no experience with living in the wild. Perhaps, in fact, the Khao Lak Elephant Camp was doing something good for the primate. I have no way of knowing now, but one can only hope.

I have no experience with elephants, much less training them, but the ice pick looking things each of the elephant ‘drivers’ held looked quite menacing, as did the chains attached to the ankles of pachyderms. I winced as a driver smacked his elephant on the head, though I’m not sure how much force would be needed to get the attention of such a large mammal.
As we boarded our large, long-nosed vehicles from the raised elephant port I wondered if we were heavy to the elephants. I wondered how many one hour treks a day were demanded of these animals. I’m very interested in what the elephant trekking project group will come up with in their findings.

Personally, I feel like our group got a little bit jipped on the whole excursion since the elephant groups were split in two. Our jungle trek was through an out-of-commission rubber plantation that was overgrown with natural fauna. We trekked out to a stream where one of the camp employees stood with camera in hand. I guess the elephants are trained to pose with trunks uplifted for the camera. I heard the other group trekked out to a water fall, though I must admit our group’s elephant drivers were very friendly telling us the names and ages of our elephants. Stephanie and my driver was the best. He carried with him a pair of scissors and palm leaves which he cut and folded to make a bird for me, two fish for Stephanie and three very real looking grasshoppers, one for each of us and another upon special request by Barbie on a neighboring elephant. I still feel really guilty about not tipping him, but he took the elephant away before I realized I should have.

Back at the elephant port, we dismounted our elephant topping bench and were asked to buy a basket of green bananas to feed the elephants for 50B. I felt a little obligated, especially since our elephant “Lilly” was terrible cute and a very good elephant. During the trek, she often did her own thing, wandering off and pulling branches and squeezing between rubber trees. Stephanie and I got nice pictures with her, and that was about the only part of trip I didn’t feel as guilty about. Once we had cleaned up (elephant trunks can be very dirty, being as they use them like hands) we were offered pineapple and special elephant camp water and then asked repeatedly to buy pictures of ourselves atop our elephants in the river photo shoot. It was a bit awkward and we opted to leave since none of us were planning on buying, because at this point in the trip, we’re all hurting in the wallet area.

In the end I think I agree with Hanna when she said that she wasn’t too happy about the whole elephant treatment aspect, but she was satisfied with her decision to go. I’d be kicking myself if I passed up the opportunity to pet and feed an elephant and we definitely got some once in a life time pictures (or pretty close to it) but if there had been an option to go pet the elephants and feed them a basket of bananas and have a photo shoot, that would have been perfect for me. The excursion was more about seeing elephants than seeing a “jungle.”

--Michelle Honda

Excursion: James Bond Island and Sea Canoing

We are in Khao Lak at the "4 stars Resort" called Nangthong Bay Resort. We have our free weekend to do excursions, so I decided to go to the one where we visited "James Bond Island" and we did sea canoeing. The majority of the group decided to do Elephant trekking, but I preferred to go out and look rock formations. Our group was small, only Rebecca, Thomas, Amy, Kevin and I decided to go.

Our driver Halim picked us up at 9 am and it took over an hour to go to the Phang Nga Bay. It was raining a lot and we were hoping that it would get better as we get closer to bay. We arrived to Phang Nga Bay, It is a Muslim village; Halim was actually from there and his dad came from a moken village. Halim told us that the previous symbol of the village was the "chang" (elephant), because one of the mountains resembles the form of an elephant and there was a legend that a farmer killed a domesticated elephant because he thought that it was destroying his crops. The man killed the elephant by stabbing him on his side, and the legend says that the mountains surrounding the village resemble the dying animal. This is a very interesting story of the village but sadly, they changed the symbol of the village to be the “James Bond Island”. This small island was used by the Hollywood industry to film the James Bond movie in 1974, and they actually closed up the island for 3 months!

Later, we got to the port and took a long tail boat from the Kean Tour company and went around the bay to look at the mangroves and mountains surrounding it. It was really nice to see the beautiful green landscapes, and we even saw a colorful bird between the trees; there were supposed to have some long tail macaque monkeys but we didn’t see them. It was a very relaxing boat trip until it started raining and we got wet! Anyways, we continued the trip to James Bond Island. The island is pretty cool, it has organic beaches full of shells and it has very interesting rock formations and jungle style. However when we got to the beach it was full of tourist and little “tourist traps” stores selling all kind of pearls and shells. It was funny to see a European woman wearing a thong and nothing more in the middle of the bungalows administered by Muslim women. Another interesting story was that Kevin asked for the price of the pearls and “bargained” the price down to 100 bah, which means those weren’t real pearls.

After taking several pictures with the James Bond Rock and some of the caves and leaning walls we got back to the boat and went back to the site of sea canoeing. Unfortunately it was raining again but it got lighter as we were loading the sea canoes. We took 3 canoes, Rebecca and I in one, Thomas and Amy in another one, and Kevin in the last one. It was actually nicer to have drizzle instead of a bright sun as we were around the sea. We passed under an open passage where it felt as we were inside of the mouth of a very large whale. We continued going and entering very low and dark caves and small and hidden passages. We saw a lot of mangroves and even found mud keeper fishes. It was a very low tide and sometimes we got stuck in the mud; either that or we were too heavy! We were in the canoes for over an hour and got back to the boat to take more pictures.

All the canoeing and rain got us hungry, so after that we went to have lunch. It was really good but spicy! We had soup, bbq chicken drums, coconut shrimp, and another very spicy plate of fried sea food, vegetables and eggs. We finished the delicious meal with pineapple and tea and went walking around the Water Village. They had a couple of souvenirs shops and as we were walking, a lady boy handed a monkey to Kevin and Amy held it too afterwards. We took pictures and they were charging us but I don’t think either of us paid. We continued our walk and Halim was so nice to take us to the Muslim school and showed us the biology lab where they had samples of many sea animals in jars: turtles, fish, crabs, octopus, snakes and other animals. They also had posters of the different small scale and commercial fishing practices and we had a discussion with Rebecca about which ones are the more sustainable and which ones they should ban. There were kids running and the little Muslim girls had to wear a uniform that looked like the gown of a graduation. After the school we continued walking around the water village and Halim showed us the fishing practices they use to trap fish, lobsters, clams and crabs. It was already time to go back on land, so we took the boat and they showed us some pictograms up on the walls of some cliffs that no one knows who made them but they say it was 2000 years ago.

We got back to land. It was 330 pm and Halim was rushing so he could show us a Buddhist temple that was famous because it was in a cave and it was full of monkeys that came down from the mountains. We got there and there were like 50 monkeys of all sizes around people who were feeding them. The temple itself was very interesting as well: it had another leaning Buddha and many other big Buddha figures that were made of clay. There was a monk and even Buddha figures that if you put a coin in them, they will give you your “fortune”. As we came in farther there was this very dark cave that we climbed. It was inhabited by bats and there was a characteristic smell, as we went up, there were traces of water and the view was amazing. It was too high though so I was feeling a little bit of vertigo and went down very slowly. At the entrance of the cave, there were also writings on the walls made by each of the kings Thailand has had. My camera died as we were around the monkeys so sadly, I couldn’t take any pictures.

We left the temple and went to one of the national parks close by to see the waterfall. It was a little park but it had seven waterfalls (small ones), we could have swum there but the water was really brown from all the sediments that the rained brought. So we decided to take the nature trail and hike for like half an hour. It was a very refreshing walk around the forest and the river but as we got back, Kevin noticed he had a leech on his foot. As we got back all the way down, Rebecca and Thomas also had them, they were like 5 little leeches in total; Thomas was bleeding a little bit and Kevin was playing with them. This way we ended up our great excursion and started our trip back to the resort. Those 1700 baht for the trip were very well spent.

By Angela Forero

Segment 4

7/10/09

We arrived in the morning at Kamphuan and had a very successful Q&A session with the Muslim Women, in which we introduced ourselves and shared our stories with each other. They told us about how their religion played in their everyday lives and enabled them to get through the pain and destruction of the tsunami. We also had the chance to buy their hand-made handicraft scarves and batiks, with which they donate a portion to scholarships for students with HIV/AIDS. After having lunch with the women we proceeded to our water-testing lab guided by Rebecca.

In the lab we tested for phosphate, nitrate, pH salinity and ammonia. We analyzed different water trends with these 7 samples, which were collected by the Green Teams at all of the locations thus far on the program. We found that the water in Bangkok is completely disgusting and nitrate is the limiting reagent. Also, the water in the Gulf of Thailand is more acidic than it should be.

7/11/09

Today we went to Ban Talay Nok village. We learned from the youth at the community center about their six sustainability projects that were an organic garden, recycling/composting program, fence and tree improvement, biofertilizer production, mangrove restoration, and their green house competition. For the mangrove program, they were in the process of getting government permission to be able to dig the land to plant mangroves. The planting process will take 11 months and the entire project will take two years in order to determine if the planting was a success. The kids ranged from age four to 20 and it we all thought that it was a good idea to teach about sustainability from such a young age.

We ate lunch at their school and were supposed to help plant trees along the side of the road after lunch, but it was raining too hard to do that. Instead we went indoors and played games with the children in the community center. We then got to make our own soap and used cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the soap to make our own “soap mobiles” on ropes. The women there started the soap making business after the tsunami as a way to support themselves and their families. We met many villagers who were directly affected by the tsunami. There was one child at the center who was one of two survivors at a school that was destroyed by a tsunami, as well as a girl who lost her sister, brother in law, and two nephews. It was a true eye-opening experience for all of us.

7/12/09

Today we were supposed to return to Ban Talay Nok village but we were not able to because of the torrential downpour. Apparently we are experiencing a “tropical depression” which is the same as a tropical storm in the States. If it gets windier it will be classified as a cyclone. There are power outages and insane flooding and the road outside of our resort is basically a river, and the actual river is flowing over a bridge. Wading across to 7-Eleven is the biggest adventure of the day.

Kamphuan: KLC - Kamphuan Learning Center and Mangrove Restoration Project

Kamphuan Learning Center has facilitated a mangrove restoration project over the passed two years, funded by a Rufford Small Grant.


Project:-Mangrove Rehabilitation and Regeneration for Biodiversity Prapas Beach Ranong Thailand
The project aims to develop an experiential education program involving the local community/estuarine ecosystem stakeholders in directly gathering knowledge and experience in surveying, identifying, propagating, planting, monitoring, and managing a mangrove ecosystem regeneration program located in Prapat Beach Estuary, Ranong Province, Thailand.
A goal is to have a living laboratory for local scientists and community members to learn the benefits of bio-diverse mangrove habitats The community will participate in environmental analyses, create a data base, and regenerate a degraded mangrove habitat with approximately 20 local compatible species of mangroves, encouraging the return of other species that rely on the health of this ecosystem.

The Kamphuan Community Learning Center has been promoting sufficient households since its inception with hopes of creating a sustainable community. One of the greatest services it provides is its leader, Pi Panuwat, who passionately spearheads the project. He teaches computer classes to locals and often aids in translating Thai into English. Another service the center provides is a mere space for community members to meet. This space can be used for locals to organize meetings, host guests, give lectures, sell their handicrafts, and so on. The center is also working on a mangrove restoration project which often replants cleared mangrove forests. KCLC encourages sustainability from all dimensions--ecological, social, economic, institutional, and personal. Sustainability by most definitions involves longevity, which is exactly what threatens the sustainability of KCLC in the future. The center rests on the money it gets from grants and international aid organizations, but the money they receive has a time limit. Often, the time limits are very short and the grants are renewed only if there are tangible results. This is very difficult to demonstrate within the period of a few years, and continued funding may not continue if this is the case. What is important for the continuance of this remarkable center is faith in its objectives and realization in the benefactors' parts that it takes time to see real evidence of sustainability.

-Christina Hughes

Din Dang

After spending three days in Chumphon we traveled inland to Din Dang, a fledgling earth building project, as well as to a nearby watershed. There we learned about permaculture and green-building. A local named Bow had initiated the program focusing on clay building, including houses that require few outside materials not available on site. These houses could last hundreds of years, yet can cost as little as a few hundred dollars to make. Although we only got to spend two days as a group working with Bow, doing further work at Din Dang is a possibility later in the program as part of the final research project. Bow's project works in association with Runs n' Roses, a restaurant/guesthouse that generates its profits to support the Thai Child Development Foundation.


The Dindang Natural Building Center aims to promote the natural and traditional techniques of clay house building in the area of Phato in southern Thailand. The organization was set up in the year 2007 and works with both Thai and international volunteers in order to realize its current goal: to set up an educational center where all those interested in natural building techniques can find information and share knowledge.




Hi, I am Bow, (with the yellow shirt). My full name is Rawat Thongbunchu. Here is picture with my family from the concert night! We are looking forward to welcome you, living and working with us.

DinDang is my dream and I would like to share this dream with all of you. If you want to know more about the projects and ideas that I have, you can sent an email to: rawat_tongbooncho@hotmail.com

And if you like to be a volunteer with DinDang, please email to; dindang.info@gmail.com (subject: DinDang).

We hope to hear from you!!

Bangkok to Chumphon

After experiencing the city life of Bangkok for three days, our group was ready to leave the metropolitan environment and get out in the field. Our first stop was a beach-side lodge in Chumphon, located in southern Thailand. Although the bus ride was long, it gave us time to view the landscape of Thailand and all its beauty.

Once in Chumphon the program really got going. Lectures in the morning on coastal ecosystems provided a framework for fieldwork in the afternoon. We surveyed plants and animals in the intertidal ecosystem, an activity which besides from being informative was incredibly fun. In less than an hour we had already collectively identified over a 100 different species, each one unique in its own way. One day we split into groups and each developed an easily testable experiment about one of the organisms, such as how hermit crab distribution varies with depth, and then did research to find the answer. This proved to be a fun way to learn about how even using the most rudimentary of materials can reveal valuable information about coastal ecosystems.

Later we learned about broad concepts in sustainability, such as various ways humans relate to their environment and different views of what it means to be sustainable. We saw how these concepts are put to use by visiting Chumphon Cabana nearby, which through innovative methods had managed to produce almost no waste!

[See blog on self sufficiency economy]

Chumphon Cabana is more than a eco-resort. Begun in 1982, the Cabana is the site of a community education program that promotes the King of Thailand's Self-Sufficient Economy paradigm. The paradigm corresponds to the Thai Buddhist Philosophy of the middle path -- producing what one community needs, selling the surplus to others, re-investing profits in the community's health and well-being. In Thai Buddhism, material goods are of little value.

Of course the beach provided more than just a classroom. The eighty-five degree water was incredible, and we found plenty of time for swimming or just hanging out.

To conclude our stay in Chumphon, our Thai staff (Awe, Joom, Kunh, and Pang) organized a traditional welcome ceremony on our last night. We stood in a circle, each digging a small hole in the sand to hold a candle. As our professors and staff went around the circle to tie pieces of white string around our wrists, they wished us luck and happiness for the upcoming trip.