Long Term Volunteer Positions

Summer / Fall / Winter 2010

Six Month Minimum

The Panya Project is an education center that is fairly seasonal by nature. The monsoon rains in the summer and the dry heat in the late spring really help us decide when is the best time for what. As you can see by the dates of our programs, we schedule most of our workshops and school visits during the winter (October through February). This is when there is the most action at Panya, and when the most people are around.

This is not to say that there isn’t anything happening at the other times. In April and May we are doing a five acre planting of timber on the land adjacent to Panya, and we are hosting a PDC courses in June and July.

Another interesting thing about this project is that the people are fairly seasonal as well. Currently there are only two full time residents, but the population of the farm fluctuates between 3 and 15 long term residence depending on the time of year. And our record number of people at the farm on one day is over 60 when we had two school groups visiting and an internship happening at the same time!

These are responsibilities that we know would benefit from having a single, or two, dedicated people working on at the project. The positions cover specific responsibilities in specific areas but there is a great deal of flexibility and experimentation at Panya, so we welcome creative help in any direction, on any project area. That means that even if you are applying for Volunteer Coordinator, we would love for you to get involved in building projects and experimentation in the kitchen, or whatever else you are interested in doing!

Compensation for all of the positions comes in the form of room and board, and limited access to our motorbikes and bicycles for the duration of your stay at Panya.

We can try to help you obtain a one-year visa for Thailand. We are a fun-loving community, so it won’t all be work! We try to maintain a very balanced perspective on life, balancing our work with play and that with yoga and meditation and exercise. We have a great coffee shop next door that serves the best fruit shakes ever, run by one of our neighboring communities, and there is a swimming lake about 15 minutes walk up into the forest. Life’s pretty good here. We would love to have you come join us!

If you are interested in any of these positions, please copy and paste the questionnaire at the bottom to an e-mail and send in your responses. Please attach a resume as well (it can be a very rough resume, don’t spend hours trying to make it look professional!)

The following positions are for six month (even longer is preferred) period starting in July or August of 2010.

This year we are excited to have Will Eastlake and Shelley McClure as our overall Farm Managers for the duration of the summer months. They will be here helping to boost our food forest, and help the whole property boom throughout the rainy season. We are looking for a few people to come here to help them see that the rainy season is a wonderful, productive season for Panya. They are departing from the farm in September, so we are looking for a couple more people to help the transition between september and the new year (when more old timers will be returning).

If you are interested in any of these positions please respond. We hope that you are excited for a quiet, beautiful environment. We have an amazing library of sustainable living and eastern philosophy books (and others). You will have the opportunity to do as much work on the site as you like, but also plenty of opportunity to swim in the lake, relax in a hammock or make music. The ideal situation would be in a number of friends came together or a couple came together to fill in these positions (at least that is what I imagine would be the ideal!)

Permaculture Site Managers

ideally six months to one year stay.

The responsibilities of the Permaculture Site Manager
— -manage the farm when the other experienced permaculturalists are away.
— work with the short term volunteers to make sure that they feel they have a valuable way to participate in their short stay with the community.
— -work together with the other long-term volunteers to plant and maintain an integrated food forest.
— -and any other design and implement that you see fit (with our approval)

This person (or these people) need to have experience working with permaculture systems. They need to have energy and motivation. They need to work well with others, because often when there are visitors and volunteers they will be working with you, as well as working with the other experienced permaculturalists on the land. This person also needs to know how to strike a balance, because the amount of work that could be done is endless. We don’t expect to get it all done!

Ideally we have a team of people doing this job. We are open to taking a number of people who are either working on their permaculture diploma, or simply excited to get more experience in tropical permaculture systems.

Our current overall Site Managers will be leaving in September. We are looking for some experienced permies who would like to be here with them for at least a couple months, then take over their responsibilities when they depart. You will always have others here to help.

Animal Manager

The responsibilities of the animal manager include:
— -Feeding and watering the chickens
— -collecting the eggs
— -moving the chickens when it’s time
— -feeding the dogs

We have several chickens and are hoping that they will start laying even more! We may get some ducks as well.

We do plan on eating them as well, so if you cannot stand that idea, then please do not apply for this position.

We are looking for someone who has experience with chickens, both in the rearing as well as in slaughtering, but even if you are just excited to learn (and willing to read up in advance), then you can apply.

If you are interested in applying for any of the above positions, tell us a bit about yourself and cut and paste the questions below into an e-mail. Answer them and send them in to:

panyaproject@gmail.com

Please title your e-mail: I WANT THE POSITION!

1. What position are you interested in?

2. Why do you think that you would be good for the job?

3. What relevant experience do you have? When? What were your duties?

4. How long would you stay with us, ideally? From when to when?

5. Why are you interested in living at the Panya Project

6. Have you ever lived in community before? When? Where?

7. How was the communtiy living experience for you?

8. What other interests do you have?

9. What can we do to make your experience with us even better? Is there something specific you want to learn from your stay with us?

10. Do you have any other questions for us?

Please attach a (rough is fine) version of your resume.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

The positions below are not currently available

Kitchen Coordinator

The responsibilities of the kitchen coordinator include:
— -managing the community cooking rotation (everyone cooks)
— -orienting newcomers to the ways of the Panya Kitchen
— -making sure our pantry is stocked up.
— -making market runs
— -making bean sprouts and sourkraut/kimchi (easy)
— -in addition to that, your cooking and baking skills would be most appreciated.

We are looking for someone who loves to be in the kitchen, and loves to help people find the creative chef in them! This person should be able to describe themselves as very organized and excited about coming up with creative ways to serve what we have (veggies from the garden, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, leftovers, etc). We would love to have someone who is also in favour of reducing the amount of cooking oil, soy sauce, and other outside additions to our food.

We generally cook over wood fired stove. It is not necessary to have experience in this as you can learn quickly. We also have a wood fired cob oven for pizza and other baking adventures. Baking experience in a plus, so is knowledge and experience with Thai/tropical veggies and cooking, but neither is necessary.

Your duties do not include cooking every meal for the community! There are lots of us on the farm, and we will regularly rotate into the kitchen. There are times (during courses) where we will hire a cook, and your duties may be reduced by quite a bit.

Again, you will also have a chance to work in the gardens, work on natural building, and take part in the Permaculture Design Course.

Garden Manager (2 positions)

The responsibilities of the garden manager include a great deal depending on the interest and experience of the applicant:

— -managing kitchen gardens
— -managing production gardens
— -harvesting food for the kitchen
— -harvesting herbs for Sauna in Chiang Mai
— -saving seed
— -organizing the seed saving space
— -organizing and expanding the nursery
— -designing and laying a drip system

This position is an important one and could encompass a great deal depending on the interests and experience of the applicant. We have been experimenting with both Thai and Western varieties of annuals and perennials. We have a small seed saving center that could use some organization and we have a fledgling “food forest” of young fruit, nut and legume trees. We also have a plant nursery that could use organizing. We are interested in building a seed-starting structure and we are also interested in providing produce commercially on a small scale, both to a CSA-style delivery service and to an organic restaurant in nearby Chiang Mai city. We are also growing medicinal perennials for a nearby herbal sauna and, hopefully, for our future sauna. Another priority for this year is setting up a drip-line irrigation system.

Knowledge of organic soil building and pest-control would be very helpful, as would experience teaching and integrating volunteers into farming duties. Permaculture background would also be great. Also some knowledge of tropical and sub-tropical plants is a plus. This position should be split into two if there are several interested candidates. Consistent water access is still an issue for us, so experience with water pumps and pvc plumbing and irrigation systems would be also helpful!

We are looking for someone who loves to be in the garden, is organized and also is able to work with "newbies." You will get lots of help in the garden, but it is your management skills that will help that to be effective.