Sustainability Internship: Natural Building, Permaculture and Community Living
Dates: 9th - 23rd January 2011
This two-week program is designed to give interns:
1) An integrated experience living at an intentional community
2) Experience in natural building
3) An introduction to permaculture design
Interns will take part in all the activities of daily life, from cooking to composting, as well as work on specific projects such as installing a earthen floor in our adobe cottage . Throughout the 2 weeks, we will mix in permaculture lessons, both in the classroom as well as on the ground. (…)

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Two-week Sustainable Living & Natural Building Workshop
Come & join the people of the Panya Project for a two week introduction to sustainable living & natural building. See & learn about a range of construction styles using natural materials, while being immersed in a permaculture eco-village in Northern Thailand.
December 5 - 19, 2010
We will explore many ways we can create strong, beautiful, efficient, affordable, & artistically expressive spaces to live, work & play. Using locally sourced, commonly found & recycled resources.
Techniques will including wattle & cob, adobe (…)

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PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE March 5 - 21, 2010
With Christian Shearer, Geoffroy Godeau, and the people of the Panya Project, Chiang Mai, Thailand
This full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course will be held at the site of the Panya Project, about 60 km north of Chiang Mai.
The course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students present as well as the location at hand. Participants will help to co-create the design of tropical food forests, permaculture-style gardens, natural buildings, (…)

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Permaculture Design Course in Taiwan - February 14-28, 2011
With Christian Shearer of the Panya Project, assisted by Jiivandeva Chiu and Yaman
The full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course (PDC) will be held in Ananda Suruci Eco-village, about 40 km away from Tainan city in Southern Taiwan. The course will be offered in partnership with the Panya project, a permaculture and natural building education center in Northern Thailand. Founder and Managing Director, Christian Shearer will be the lead instructor and coordinator for the course. With over five years of tropical (…)

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We have learned a lot and been very inspired by our neighbors at Pun Pun Educational Center. Their internships and trainings always win high accolade from their participants. Wonderful people, doing great things for the sustainability movement in Thailand and elsewhere.
Check out their list of programs here: [ www.punpunthailand.org
>http://www.punpunthailand.org]

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Permaculture Design Course
December 3 – 18, 2010
Tanjung Sutera Resort
Kota Kinggi, Johor Malaysia
with Darren Doherty and Christian Shearer
This full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students at hand. Participants will help to co-create the design of edible forests gardens, natural buildings, water catchment and irrigation systems, as well as actively implement on the hosting land.
An easy drive from Singapore, in Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia, the (…)

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Permaculture Design Certificate Course (12 day)
November 23 - December 5, 2010
Teacher: Greg Knibbs & the people of Embun Pagi
Visit their website to learn more:
http://embunpagi2009.wordpress.com/courses-events/pdc-23-nov-5-dec-2010/
Greg Knibbs teaches the accredited 72-hour hour Permaculture Design Certificate Course. The course curriculum covers sustainable permaculture systems to suit a wide variety of landscapes and climate. The course, which bring positive outcomes from those seeking culturally appropriate sustainable change, can be undertaken by anyone – regardless of background (…)

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Permaculture Design Certificate
Tacomepai, Pai, Northern Thailand
Come join us at Tacomepai this October for our unique and creative Permaculture Design Course. Led by Australian permaculture designer Eileen Kaufman, an experienced representative of sustainable agriculture, organic farming and social enterprises. In addition the inspiring founder of Tacomepai, Sandot Sukkaew, will share his extensive expertise and knowledge in local traditional skills, methods and real farming experience.
Tacomepai is an organic farm run by a local Yon family, who strive to maintain a sustainable and (…)

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Permaculture Design Course
December 3 – 18, 2010
Tanjung Sutera Resort
Kota Kinggi, Johor Malaysia
with Darren Doherty and Christian Shearer
This full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students at hand. Participants will help to co-create the design of edible forests gardens, natural buildings, water catchment and irrigation systems, as well as actively implement on the hosting land.
An easy drive from Singapore, in Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia, the (…)

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Links for Volunteering around the world:
Volunteer 4 Africa
www.volunteer4africa.org
This website is a comprehensive database of affordable volunteer work opportunities for backpackers, gap year students and independent travelers. Do good in Africa!
Volunteer Latin America
www.volunteerlatinamerica.com
This website provides information on low-cost volunteer work and language schools in Central and South America. Happy travels!

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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 (…)

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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 (…)

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3rd Annual
Rice Harvest Festival
Tacomepai
Dec. 1-3, 2009
Come join us for our yearly full moon celebration. Enjoy local hill tribe performances, delicious Thai food, singing and dancing. Also help us in the special ritual of dehusking rice. Come support your local farm.
Full Moon Party - Paimaculture Style
location: Tacome Pai 7 km east
contact: sandot:
e-mail: homeayone@yahoo.co.th

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Dear all,
Registration for all 9th International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC9) events
is now live on the conference website www.ipc9.org. The IPC9 events are:
1. The 9th International Permaculture Design Course (IPDC9a). Harare, Zimbabwe;18 to 29 October 2009
2. The 9th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC9b). Lilongwe, Malawi; 2 to 5 November 2009
3. The 9th International Permaculture Conference (IPC9c). Lilongwe, Malawi; 6 November 2009
4. The 9th International Permaculture Site Tour (IPC9d). Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa; 7 to 30 November 2009. (You can (…)

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Internship and Volunteer Opportunities
For Alternative Learning Center
“Wandering Seed”
www.wanderingseed.org
(This project is run by wonderful friends of Panya Project, but has no official connection to Panya. Please contact them directly.)
The Alternative Learning center for Middle school Youth along the Thai Burmese Border; The Wandering Seed Project, is the growing pilot project from Whispering Seed Foundation, 501 © (3) USA. And with cooperation from Global Village School, International Home School USA, Children Village School, Thailand , Children and Youth for Development (…)

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International Visiting Schools Program
We invite school groups to experience authentic, hands-on activites related to sustainability and environmental consciousness through the opportunity to live and learn in a thriving eco-village.
*Please e-mail us to request the full color PDF version of this document at: panyaproject@gmail.com
Description of Services Offered
One of the most powerful ways to educate our youth is to give them direct, hands-on experience with the important issues of the day. Building earthen structures, planting organic vegetables, and hiking in a natural forest all (…)

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Contribute to Ping’s Education
Ping is the amazing little girl that lives on our property. She has been with us since the very beginning along with her mother Kae. Living at Panya has given Ping the opportunity to grow up speaking English and Thai (she is amazing in both), and amazing opportunities to learn from a wide variety of people many skills and ways of beings. One thing Ping and Kae do not get by living at Panya is much of an opportunity to save money for the future.
This is why one of our wonderful volunteers decided to set up this way of giving toward Ping’s education. If you (…)

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Panya Blog on Blogspot
Panya Social Network on Ning
Panya Photos on Flickr
Panya Group Photo Pool on Flickr (add your own photos of Panya here!)
Panya Group on Facebook
Panya Group on Tribe
Panya Project on MySpace

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Volunteering in Thailand
Here is the contact information for a couple of amazing projects happening here in Thailand. Both are often looking for volunteers, and both are very worth your time an energy. The people running these projects are personal friends of us here at the Panya Project, and we vouch for what they are doing. You will be contributing to a very worthy cause as well as have a wonderful time working on these projects:
The COMMUNITY PLAYGROUND PEOPLE are starting up again.
Starting in the end of January 2009, the CPP will be getting ready for another cracker year (…)

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Volunteer Opportunities in Thailand
Build Playgrounds
Marcus Veerman (Aus) and Saw Tha Wah (Karen/Shan) are a pair of privately funded guys building playgrounds in the poor and under-resourced migrant and refugee schools of Mae Sot, Northwestern Thailand. Using many recycled and reused objects they create all sorts of fun and adventurous elements for kids to play on. They are looking for creative, hardworking people who like kids and experimenting with ways to help them use their bodies and minds in fun ways. There will be projects from now until mid 2009 in many different schools and (…)

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To whom it may concern,
I attended the trip to the Panya Project of Northern Thailand with my school, International School Bangkok, on February 10 15, 2008 during our Week Without Walls programme. It was not only a great experience but also a very educational trip as well.
My favorite aspect of the Panya Project was that it had "CAN" written all over it. I loved how we were given the opportunity to build a house out of raw material right out of the land, and employ our manpower to transform mud into bricks into walls, and finally into a house. It was very rewarding to stand back and (…)

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A Week To Remember
ISB Week Without Walls, 2008
For a week in February 2008, the Panya Project hosted a groups of students from the International School of Bangkok. The students had come to learn about sustainable living, earthen building, permaculture, and to experience a lifestyle with a lighter footprint on the planet. Lisa Guest had this to say as she was leaving, "Thank you so much for sharing everything with us this week and teaching us incredible things. This place is going to change the world. Actually it already has for 29 high school students. I hope I have a chance to come (…)

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Aqueous Solutions
www.aqsolutions.org
Started by an associate of Pun Pun and Panya, this site has impressive statistics about pesticide use and water quality issues around the world.

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Here is a little snippet from the website AqueousSolutions’ (www.aqsolutions.org). This website was just launched, and is doing great things. For expanded and expanded version of the article below, check out the website:
www.aqsolutions.org
The newest editions of two of AqueousSolutions’ papers are available for download from the Resources page:
Pesticide Use in Thailand and the US: Ecological and Human Health Effects, and Agrichemicals of Concern in Northern Thailand.
article written by Joshua Kearns
These docs are packed full of all kinds of factoids, tid-bits and statistics you (…)

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Name What is Permaculture
Aim To gauge participants level of understanding of permaculture. To get participants thinking about the topic. Timing First session Resources 5 strips of paper per participant, glue, felt pens. Large sheets of paper Activity • Each participant to write on slips of paper 5 statements/words to answer ‘What does permaculture mean to you’ • Get in pairs and swap responses, merging any that say similar things (throw one slip away) and putting aside any that the other person doesn’t agree with. • Join 2 pairs together and repeat. Then decide on headings and paste (…)

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Here are some other websites that are worth checking out. Some really inspiring stuff. ____
Evidence of Humanity This website has a great list of reminders that there is still beauty in the world. It lists projects, publications, artists, and events that are dedicated to bringing a better world.

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Integral Naked This is the online home of the ideas, theories and institutes of Ken Wilbur. Very interesting stuff.

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www.thetravelersnotebook.com/how-to/how-to-travel-for-free/
www.matadortravel.com
www.exp2009.kir.jp
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
www.oknation.net (…)

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Phone ____
From inside Thailand: 087-181-8821 From outside Thailand: +66 87-181-8821

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E-Mail ____
This is the best way to get in contact with the people at the project. Please allow a few days for a responce.
For course registration, questions about visiting schools programs and general inquiry:
panyaproject@gmail.com
For Thai language inquiries:

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Kae Sodthamna ___ pa-kae@hotmail.com

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Address _____
Please send ecstatic poetry, high-quality chocolate, your favorite seeds, or any other correspondence to:
The Panya Project PO Box 5 Mae Taeng Chiang Mai, 50150 (…)

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. . .
For a complete list of the courses and internships offered by the Panya Project (and friends), please follow the link below
Courses and Internships
We are striving to keep the quality of our courses at a high level and to keep the costs of the courses low, including a very reduced cost for anyone woking for an NGO or non-profit organization.
Come join us!!!
See you there!
Or Link to:
Panya Project Home
Permaculture Courses

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Natural Building Internship

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History of Panya Project
Volunteer or Visit
Photo Galley
Pun Pun Educational Center
Directions to the Farm (…)

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Resources for the November, 2007 Permaculture Design Course, taught by Chris Shanks
Personal Reading List for Whole Systems Design, Permaculture, and Ecological Design.
PLEASE USE THIS TEXT FOR KICKING ASS ONLY. No armchair lethargic devils please. Compiled, Read, and Edited By Chris Shanks
Design:
The Permaculture Designer’s Manual Bill Mollison
An exhaustive text oriented to specific design techniques, landscape profiles, management systems and philosophies of regenerative design.
The Introduction to Permaculture Bill Mollison
The primer on (…)

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Pun Pun Education Center
Focused on seed saving, organic farming, and natural building. Located here in Thailand, and offers internships and workshops.
System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
A little more labor, but this alternative system results in a much healthier and higher productivity for rice. Amazing results.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Edication Program (SAREP)
University of California program with a ton of information and resources.
Food and Fertilizer Technology Center
A huge amount of information about everything agricultural relating to the Asia Pacific (…)

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Thai Flora and Thai Ways
A list of Thai fruits, phots and information about each one.
New World Fruits Database
A search engine for information about many fruits and other plants. Photos, taxanomy, uses and more.
Plant Propagation
A Texas A&M extension that gives lots of information on grafting, cuttings, and other propagation techniques. Really easy to follow and learn about grafting from this site. Great little drawings leading you through the process. SO EASY!!
Gallery of Tropical Fruit
Photos of fruits from around the world.
Edible Nuts
A list of edible nuts the world over. (…)

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FAO: The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006: Eradicating World Hunger - Taking Stock Ten Years after the World Food Summit
Hunger Movement.org: Ending Hunger and Poverty

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Permaculture Research Institute, Australia
Permaculture Institute, New Mexico, USA
Permaculture Association, Briton
Central Rocky Mountian Permaculture Institute, Colorado, USA
International Institute for Ecological Agriculture
Zion By The Abbey: Permaculture in Ethiopia
Permaculture project in Ethiopia and a Blog following its progress. Very interesting and inspiring.
Permaculture Activist
[ Appleseed Permaculture
>www.appleseedpermaculture.com]
[ www.permacultureplanet.com
>http:// (…)

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Whispering Seed
The Whispering Seed is a village-based sustainable living and learning center and home for children who have been orphaned, abused and neglected along the Thai-Burmese border.

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Pun Pun Education and Seed Saving Center
Wonderful people doing powerful things. They are located right next door to the Panya Project.
You Sabai Cooking School and Natural Building Excellent reviews as a cooking school, and verifiable good people. Located right near to the Panya Project
[ Dokmai Garden - Chiang Mai
>http://www.dokmaigarden.co.th/]
This is an inspiring site that has set out to showcase every variety of plant that you might find in the Chiang Mai region, regardless of whether it is an indigenous species of foreign. Go and visit them. Great people with a great (…)

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Once the land had been purchased, the Baan Thai Project needed a proper way to really get its feet off the ground. That way came in the form of Geoff Lawton (of the Permaculture Research Institute), and a 72-hour certified Permaculture Course hosted on the grounds of Baan Thai. The course consisted of seven of the core members, 10 of their friends, and 8 Thai students there on scholarship. The three week course was no less than phenomenal, and culminated in a design and groundbreaking of the master plan for the property, including the construction of a 2 million liter dam and four (…)

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History of the Project The Early Days: 2002-2006
In the summer of 2002, Christian Shearer sent out about 50 copies of “The Original Proposal for the Baan Thai Project,” to friends and family. (This document is attached to this article if you are interested in reading it.) While acknowledging that there are many ways to reach a dream, it pointed out that really making a conscious choice for something different is important; that if we don’t consciously step out of the path laid out for us, then we will remain. Most of the people that were given the proposal were just graduating from (…)

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