Welcome Visitors and Volunteers

Thanks for your interest in visiting the Panya Project. Whether it is to come help us out for a while, or whether you would like to simply see the site, we would love to have you.

Because of our busy schedule, we are unfortunately very limited in the timing that we can welcome guests. We would love to be able to get anyone who wants to visit out here for a bit of a tour and a visit, and we are always excited about the help in the gardens and on the building projects, but we also request to not have any visitors during the courses and internships that we host.

Whether you are interested in volunteering for a couple weeks or just staying one night (or none), we do request that you e-mail us in advance to let us know your plan. Then we can either confirm with you that your dates will work for us, or not.

This will also give us warning so that we can set up your bedding. We have a large dormitory, and a couple of bamboo domes to stay in. We also have plenty of tents available, as well as all of your bedding needs.

We love having people stay for two weeks or longer depending on our schedule, as this helps you to get used to our systems and be more effective in your stay. But we are still open to shorter stays if that is all your schedule provides. We do ask that all visitors help us cover costs by contributing to Panya. We ask that you contribute 250 baht per day (all meals and bed included).

See below for more specific information regarding our volunteering policy for the upcoming months.

Please let us know if you would like to visit and volunteer.

panyaproject@gmail.com

We are not a guest house. Please do not come here expecting to be able to get a cheap place to stay. We are not interested in being a guest house, or having people come with these intentions. We are excited to have people here who are interested in sustainable living systems, and who are sincerely would like to help out and learn a lot! The 200-250 baht just covers your costs. We are not charging it to make money off of you, but just simply to help cover our costs.

There are certain times that we will not be accepting any volunteers and visitors. This is when we are hosting an internship, course, or school group.

For the winter of 2009/2010 we have a pretty tight packed schedule. The times that we are open for volunteers and visitors are as follows:

The farm will again be open to visitors and volunteers as of 20 Feb until 5 June. However, our volunteer schedule is now full from 20 Feb through the third week of March. But! We are still eagerly accepting volunteers from the last week of March through 5 June!

We will be taking on a maximum of 8 volunteers for each two week period. And volunteer spots are first come, first served…so book your spot early!

Below you will find our new volunteering policy and some additional information regarding the upcoming months:

We ask that all volunteers commit to a stay of at least two weeks with us. This is so you can get the full experience of being here and also so we, as a community, can be the most productive and efficient here during your stay.

Also, if you are interested in staying on for a longer period of time (months, perhaps), it is highly recommended that you come here and stay for two weeks first, and then re-assess if you’d like to stay longer after you’ve been here for a while and have had a taste for what life is like here.

Also, if your visiting dates are flexible, here is another project happening on the farm in the upcoming months, if you’re interested:

We have a big project planned for April/May. We will be working hard at planting out a timber lot focused primarily on teak trees. (April will be mostly focused on preparing the land - clearing the tall grass and other undesirable trees/weeds - and May will be primarily focused on planting.) If you are interested in helping with this project, it is sure to be something to learn from, as well as a lot of work! The hope is to plant 3000 teak trees along with hundreds of other accompanying plants such as legumes and other indigenous forest trees. We will be leaving some of the pre-existing trees, in natural strips on contour, and will be planting the teak in rows, on contour, to help maximize water absorption. The entire project will be done using permaculture principles, with lots of mulch and compost to get the trees off to a good start. We are going to be looking for a good team of strong workers to help with this, so if you are interested, come and join us.

Short term visits: Alternatively, if you cannot commit to a two week minimum stay or your dates of travel are not as flexible, we would like to offer a short term visit option. Starting on Tuesday, 23 of Feb, we will be starting our weekly "Tour Tuesdays". Every week, on Tuesday, we will be giving an overview of the history of Panya and full tour of the farm. You are more than welcome to come and stay for a night or two at the beginning of any week and attend the tour. Just let us know a few days in advance which week you plan to arrive.

Getting to and away from the farm is your own responsibility. There is a truck that leaves our village every morning very early for Chiang Mai, and returns every day at noon. We can also arrange a truck for you for 1000 baht each way (up to 12 people). For more information about how to get to the farm:

Click here for directions to the farm.