NextGEN Gallery Plugin Not found
My friend Brenda is a farmer back home in Ontario and her neighbour came out to the seedbank a few weeks ago to visit. Â Jon’s an organic farmer who produces mushrooms using an old Japanese method and asparagus, urticaria among other things. Â It was terrific to talk farming with someone who’s been in the business for over 25 years; he ended up writing an article on our seedbank so check it out!
I made these videos a while back to show my friend Prachaya’s wedding and to show dance and music in the north. Â Enjoy!
Untitled from Ruth Tshin on Vimeo.
Tribal and Northern Thai Music and Dance from Ruth Tshin on Vimeo.
I made this presentation a while ago about my co-workers and the work up at the seedbank. Enjoy!
PS. It’s better viewed full screen on the Scribd site (click on link below).
disinfection Arial, vitamin Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;”>Seeds and such in northern Thailand
I’ve been going through reams of books and countless databases as part of my research for our seed catalogue that we hope to open on-line in April (gulp!). Â I came across this simple but comprehensive video on the rice bean (Vigna umbellata) and why it benefits the poor, about it subsistence farmers who grow in the the mountains of Nepal.
It’s a neglected, thumb under-used crop that has so many advantages in making soil better, visit web feeding animals, and as a good food source…we LOVE these characteristics at the seedbank!  Rice bean is part of our seedbank inventory and we source it from local farmers in Chiang Dao district. Take 10 minutes and watch it!  Reminds me so much of the folks we work with here in northern Thailand.
My friend Betsy (from ye olde ECHO USA days) shows how to graft fruit trees
Wah and Team Thailand measuring out oil for the soap-making course.
Dried moringa leaf powder added to the not-yet-solid soap makes a great facial soap...I'm still waiting to test mine out.
Kirk and Esther from Laos hanging out with the finished product. Â Partners teaches soap-making in Karen and Shan refugee camps along the Burma/Thai border...it's cheaper than constantly ferrying in store-bought bars.Â
With my favourite German, Klaus Prinz. He's been in Chiang Mai for almost 50 years so he makes an awesome eating buddy!
Welcome to Mae Jo University's worm centre!
We checked out a local university's worm centre...where tonnes of plant rubbish is gobbled up by worms. Â The worm juices are then collected and sold as fertilizer in organic food growing.
So Thai...check out the cutesy worm with cowboy hat (the university's mascot) on a bottle of worm juice.
I travelled with the seedbank team by boat to a Lahu village in Chiang Rai province last Sunday and Monday to help out with a seed exchange between Lahu and Akha farmers. Â It was a thrill to see them exchanging food plant seeds and having a lively exchange between themselves and with our ECHO Asia and UHDP staff. Â Now we have lots of new seeds to add to our seedbank inventory (yay!).
—-
The boat ride from Thaton to Panasawan village was beautiful…is this really work?? Â Lue’s grin says otherwise…
Dusty brown road – the hot season is upon us. Â The Gok river is a small but steady.
Lue: I’m THIS happy to be here! Â (We’d just finished interviewing a villager and found out she grows over 20 different food plants in her tiny garden)
Wah and I preparing ferns picked along the river for dinner the night before the seed swap.  It was yam-ed: boiled and then lime, there garlic, crushed peanuts and chili peppers added.  De-LUSH-cious.
Vinny and Lue hanging out in the kitchen. Â Vinny had lived in the village for a month previously, interviewing farmers and gathering seeds for ECHO Asia’s seedbank.
ECHO Asia’s director Rick Burnette attempting to give a stern face before plowing into a yum-tastic meal.
Day of the seed swap: A Lahu language songbook decorated with stickers.
Wah and Jamlong (right, UHDP’s extension director) kicking off the activities.
Jamlong translating Rick’s talk about seed saving into Lahu. Â The Lahu and Akha farmers came from four villages in the surrounding area.
Listening intently.
These hands produce food.
Participating farmers collected seeds of food plants like pumpkin, beans, melons, job’s tears and lots of rice. Â UHDP and ECHO Asia staff interviewed each of them, cataloguing what they brought and the special characteristics of each seed. Â Then the farmers mingled and checked out each other’s seeds…funnily enough, hardly anybody took rice seeds but a purple bush bean seed disappeared quickly! Â And I totally missed snapping the exchange itself because it was so much fun to eavesdrop and watch everyone.
Wow, pestilence it’s been so busy lately that I’ve not been able to post any photos from the past few weeks. Â But, I’m happy to share that the article I wrote for ECHO Asia was published last month. Â Zanthoxylum is a fascinating species and I’ve recently been able to find the famous Chinese variety huo jiao in Chinese villages near UHDP. Â Hand-made, smoked pork sausage with huo jiao, anyone?
For your full reading pleasure, click here.
bulimics
