This 2 week program is designed to give you:

1) Hands on experience in natural building

2) An introduction to permaculture design and practical sessions

3) An integrated experience living at an intentional community

Interns will take part in all the activities of daily life, from cooking to composting, fermenting to foraging, as well as get your hands in the dirt as you build and sculpt with earth, practice plant propagation and nurture our organic garden and food forest. Throughout the 2 weeks, we will mix in hands on natural building experience and permaculture lessons, both in the classroom as well as on the ground. We hope that participants go away from this course understanding not only the basics of natural building and permaculture design, but also understanding what it takes to live and thrive in an intentional community.

Natural Building 

Natural building is all about reconnecting with our ancestral roots and our natural environment. Building beautiful, durable, healthy and spiritually uplifting buildings as well as building nurturing relationships with people and the planet along the way. This is a true passion here at Panya and you will be involved in lots of hands on work during the 2 week program Our aim is that participants will leave motivated, empowered & with plenty of practical experience.

At Panya we have been experimenting with natural building for the last 15 years and constructed over twenty earthen and bamboo structures. Together we will explore the successes and failures from over the years, look at construction from the foundation up, and what it means to inhabit and maintain an earthen building.

You will get hands on experience in wall construction with several techniques such as; adobe, cob, and wattle and daub. We will combine this hands on experience with the theory for how to choose a climate appropriate technique, source materials, and evaluate a building site.

We will also make various plasters and paints for functional and aesthetic finishes for interior and exterior walls. . It’s fun, forgiving and a great material to practice and play with.

Community Living:

At the Panya Project we involve all members of the community in the daily activities that keep a community rolling, from cooking and cleaning, to feeding the animals and watering the garden. We value the opportunity to share what skills we have and to learn from everyone present. We also know the importance of a balanced and healthy lifestyle, and we encourage each person to join us in the activities which keep our own human systems in balance.

During this 2 week internship, we will enjoy a healthy and balanced vegetarian diet, intellectual stimulation, plenty of physical movement, and time each evening to socialize, play music or take time for one’s self. The schedule for each day includes a morning work session, followed by lunch and a mid-day siesta and an afternoon work session. There will be a day of rest in the middle of the internship to allow everyone to reload the batteries for the second part.  Three delicious vegetarian meals will be provided with as much organic produce supplied from our gardens as possible. The evenings are an opportunity for us to socialize, have a potluck with neighboring communities, or squeeze in another lesson or “skill share” activity.

Permaculture Design:

The Panya Project has been greatly influenced by the design principles of Permaculture. We started our project over 13 years ago, since then we have been working toward achieving the aims of that design, including earthen buildings, an edible food forest, a large kitchen garden and a broad acreage of fruit crops. We have also put in an extensive water harvesting system to help us return water to the watershed. We will explore those systems and you will learn all about our development, the successes and the lessons we learned along the way. There will be classroom sessions on Permaculture design, methodologies, ethics and Principles so you can grasp a good understanding of the Permaculture philosophy and how it can be applied to your lives.                                                                                                                                                                           

Organic Gardening:

Our beautiful organic kitchen garden is forever expanding and growing; we wish to increase our food production for the community and we want to show you how we can do this. Interns will learn what it takes to design and nurture an organic garden from seed planting and propagation to natural pesticides and harvesting. Your green fingers will be happy and content as you learn about the importance and the empowerment of producing your own organic food.

In addition to all of these things, we have an adobe pizza oven, abundant fruit crops for eating and wine-making, a swimming lake an easy 15 minute walk away, a beautiful forest around us, and two more wonderful communities next door, including a Thai cooking school and cafe that serves the best fruit shakes in Thailand!

Through observation, experimentation and sensory research, we propose to co-create in an inspiring place, learning, working and sharing with one another.

This 2 week internship will be an inspiring opportunity to develop your own creativity, in synergy with the group.

We welcome people from all walks of life: The more diversity the better!

Costs:

2 week internship including accommodation, food and transportation from and to Chiang Mai: Jan 29 – Feb 11  $500 (15,000 THB)

We ask all participants to pay a $100 deposit to secure your place.

If you have any questions please contact us at [email protected]

REGISTER NOW!

**Scholarships are available to people from Thailand or surrounding SE Asia countries.**

We like to be as transparent as possible with our finances, as an example to other projects and to be open and honest with our visitors, who each contribute so much to the building and maintenance of our farm. Panya is funded through the support of our volunteers, who each contribute to food and accommodation costs through a weekly payment. This helps us break even on the cost of having a short-term community on site. Our bigger projects, maintenance systems and financial support of our managers is gained through the courses we run.

Fundraise for your Tuition

If you are interested in a creative way to come up with funds for this course, look into fundraising for it through WeTheTrees.com. It is a great way to reach out to your family and friends, let them know what you are up to and give them a easy way to contribute to your education.

Accommodation:

The Panya Project Permaculture and Sustainability Centre offers an optimal and inspiring environment to truly experience living in intentional community, exploring an alternative way of life and reconnecting to a natural state of being. Comfortable accommodation is provided in one spacious dormitory, a beautiful yoga deck overlooking the garden plus there is plenty of space for camping (you will need to bring your own tent). Panya will supply mosquito nets, clean sheets and pillows.

Please note; we are not a five star resort, accommodation is basic but beautiful!

Food!: We will be eating 3 healthy and delicious Thai vegetarian meals a day with as much produce supplied from our land as possible. Please contact us if you have any specific dietary requirements or allergies.

Meet the Facilitators:

Geoffroy Godeau is from Belgium where he graduated in landscape architecture. He discovered permaculture in Nicaragua, while traveling the world. He has been living on and off at the Panya Project for the last 10 years, learning, experimenting and teaching mainly about natural building and perenial food solutions. He has been working and teaching on natural building projects in Belgium as the manager of «Roots Culture»(registered non profit). Roots culture has been also investigating and practicing permaculture techniques in landscaping projects through the management of a plant nursery for PE Ferrard SPRL. He is also part of “brin de paille” the French speaking permaculture network in Europe.

Today, he is part of the Surplus Design staff, a partner on the conservation orchard of Kazakhstan apple trees (http://hommespommes.fr) in France as well as a garden coach and a transition network enthusiast.

Nick Tittle specializes in consulting and teaching about a variety of subjects including natural building, organic gardening, forest gardening, soil food web technology, animal husbandry and alternative economic systems.As the founder of Surplus Design  he has consulted in Thailand, China, India, Portugal, Algeria, and the USA.

Nick has spent the last 8 years on and off in Northern Thailand managing volunteers, interns and apprentices at the Panya Project Permaculture and Earthen Building Education Center. Nick is currently working with the Blueprint Alliance on a regenerative toolkit for refugee camp design for the humanitarian sector based upon Permaculture principles and systems thinking. Nick also lives in an earthen, hanging treehouse when he is in the USA.

We are looking forward to working, sharing and growing together! Any questions please email us at [email protected]