Many people ask us how the farm has been during this pandemic.

Our answer is always the same, not much has changed here. As an organic farm in the middle of nowhere, we are already practicing social distancing naturally. Besides, we don’t go out as much. Our physical contact with the outside world is mostly online and with COVID, it has been minimal. 

So, our livelihood hasn’t changed much. Yet, there’s one thing that has changed, to find new meaning to regift our gifts from Mother Nature to the world beyond us.

Passing on the experience

Before the pandemic, apart from running farm works, we also bring different groups of people to our farm. We tell them about our farm. We show them how things are done. We let them explore life beyond the ordinary city lives and find the peace that Mother Nature offers us. From time to time, we teamed up with different schools in Thailand to let the kids stay with us. Some groups stay for a few days, some stay for weeks.

The kids get to play farmers during those few days. Depending on the season, some lucky ones get to play with the dirt, helping us plug rice sprouts in the muddy field. Some of them learn how rice harvesting works and realize how hard it is to work with their body. Others who stay for weeks become our interns who have daily farm tasks to finish. They get to explore their new roles and

These are a few ways for us to share what we have with the world out there, hoping to plant love to Mother Earth in their heart.

Sharing the Gifts

Since the pandemic hits, we can no longer share this experience the way we used to. It forces us to explore the new meanings of sharing.

Although we share with our neighbors and friends the produce from our farm on a regular basis, this time our gifts carry more meaning for us because we are regifting our gifts from our land to strangers who are in need. 

For the past few months, we start packing our Triphala herbal remedies, digging up the finger roots as well as picking up the Kaffir Lime, and sharing them with different organizations who work with the slum communities in Bangkok. So, at least they have access to herbal remedies that might be useful for them during these times.

They can boil the Triphala tea to drink when they start to have a sore throat.

They can make finger root tea to boost their immune system.

They can make steam inhalation using our Kaffir Limes to help with the nasal passage.

We hope these herbs can help them one way or another, and these strangers learn how to take care of themselves using herbal remedies.

A meaningful relationship with Mother Earth

Together with our regifting the gift journey, our quest to seek and form a meaningful relationship with Mother Earth continues.  

The truth is, we are merely the owner of those gifts. We are simply fortunate enough to be gifted with such abundance from our land. So we are happy to share it with the world, instead of keeping them and the rotten ones o ourselves. But at what price do we pay to deserve these gifts from Mother Earth?

Surely we planted those fruit trees and herbs. We water them in the summer and weed them in the rainy season. We take care of them the best we can. However, we can barely claim that all these fruits belong to us. Without the magic of Mother Earth,  our plants would not yield, and we would end up with nothing to harvest. She’s the one who helps us make sure there’s enough nutrient and earthworms in the soil. She lets the bugs and bees dance and pollinate the flowers in our orchards. Not only that, but she brings us rain and sunshine when needed. Her job is endless, and it’s far much more important than our jobs.

So, when people thank us for gifting them with the fruits from our farms, we can only smile and remind them that they are not really ours. The true giver is Mother Earth, who has been taking care of these fruits for us all along. We are just the messenger, sharing these gifts that we’ve received from Mother Earth to people. And through our gifts, we hope people realize that the person they have to thank most is Mother Earth instead of us alone.

And it’s time, for us all to realize of these gifts that Mother Earth has been giving us all along and to return her generous gifts by taking care of her. Because if not, we may have no one else to turn to in difficult times.