Sustainable Agriculture

“True mindfulness is not an evasion of any kind; it’s a serene encounter with reality.”

Sustainable farming is one of our most important activities. It helps us to achieve two main objectives:

1)   To fulfill our goal of being an environmentally-friendly, self-sustaining community

2)   As an essential aspect of our healing and mindfulness program

On our 65 acres of land in Chiang Rai, we grow our own rice, corn, vegetables and fruit using organic and bio-intensive gardening techniques. We are always looking for new ways to use our land while being extremely conscientious of our environment. Here at New Life, we aim to become a learning centre for everyone who wishes to learn about large-scale organic farming techniques.

Annually, we harvest two crops of delicious, nutritious brown rice, while straight to our kitchen for breakfast go the bananas, avocados, dragon fruit, pineapples, and mangoes from our orchards. Our vegetable fields provide us with a feast of eggplant, pumpkin, beans, lettuce, okra, beetroot, potatoes, cucumbers, chilies, tomatoes, and much more! This organic produce is all prepared into healthy Thai and international cuisine for our visitors, residents, and volunteers.

We produce the compost we use on our farm ourselves, with a mixture of manure from our own pigs and chickens, as well as food scraps from the kitchen, where we separate our waste into recyclables and compostables. Our rice paddies are naturally irrigated with water from our fish-filled lake. Additionally, with help from our friends over at Pun Pun Organic Farm in Chiang Mai, we are developing our own seed-saving project in order to preserve rare and indigenous species of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

At New Life everybody is invited to help on the farm and with infrastructure maintenance. In addition to providing us with food and a clean and relaxing environment, our work is a source of achievement, satisfaction, and self-esteem. It allows us to mindfully get back into our bodies and reminds us to enjoy the simple pleasures that reconnecting with nature can provide. Furthermore, it provides structure and purpose to the day, offers opportunities for social contact and making friends, and provides us with an identity and function within the community.