An Organic Detour in Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng. Over the years, this tiny mountain town has become a hot-spot among travelers in Laos, and for many backpackers, a sort of rite-of-passage to their Indochina adventures. It’s easy to see why: with numerous caves to explore, a rippling river to kayak or inner tube and King-Kong-esque mountains gracing every view, Vang Vieng is without question irresistibly breathtaking. The karst limestone mountains pop up out of the otherwise flat land in unseemly shapes, and take on magical qualities as the sun sets, illuminating their jagged forms in hues of gold, pink and red. The scenery around Vang Vieng has a lure impossible to resist.

However, with tourism increasing in Laos and Vang Vieng being a back-packer magnet, the development here has boomed so quickly that the town itself is having a difficult time retaining much of its original character. These days, Vang Vieng itself resembles a backpacker’s Mecca more than a Lao town, with TV bars blasting movies and Western menus outweighing traditional Lao food.

However, just 3 kilometers north of town sits a quiet alternative. Peacefully tucked between a row of jagged emerald mountains and a winding stretch of the Nam Song River sits the Phoudidaeg Organic Farm; an alternative in all senses of the word – for travelers to farmers alike.

At 60 years old, Thanongsi Solangkoun, or Mr. T as he is affectionately known by everyone he comes in contact with, is as bright and energetic as any man half his age. This, he says, is because he is doing what he feels passionate about. And organic farming is only the beginning. His real passion, he says, is in teaching others the beauty of what organic farming is all about.

“You see, 80% of Lao people are farmers”, Mr T. explains over a cup of Mulberry tea, grown and produced on the farm. “And farmers in Laos need to learn new methods for sustainable farming. But, we can learn new ways by studying from the old ways and improving on them.”

He explained that problems such as slash and burn farming, and modern techniques such as chemicals and fertilizers ultimately deplete the soil of nutrients and damage the soil’s health. Additionally, he explained, expensive machinery is unattainable for many farmers. The solution, he believes, is found in returning to traditional practices – using natural fertilizers rather than manufactured ones, using buffaloes instead of tractors.

Having been raised on a farm, Mr. T was familiar with the hardships that accompany the agricultural lifestyle and knew he was taking a risk when in 1996 he quit his office job of 20 years to return to his childhood home of Vang Vieng. Although the people closest to him, including his wife, thought he was mad to leave a well-paying, comfortable office job to strike out on an experimental organic farm, he felt strongly that this was his purpose in life.

With a mere 5 acres of unwanted, deforested land in a village made of up ethnic minorities who looked upon him with suspicious eyes, the first few months were trying ones. Eventually, his daughter came to visit from Vientiane and, seeing that her father had clearly been forgetting to eat, took pity on him and decided to stay and cook for him.

“I was not in the habit of working in the sun, after years of office work, physical work was new to me and suddenly I was so thin. My daughter was shocked to see me this way!” he recalls.

Thankful for his daughter’s company, Mr. T slowly began to rebuild the soil on the farm by planting Mulberry trees to serve as his long-term crop. The Mulberry trees are used for just about everything on the farm – the berries are used to make wine, shake, pancakes, teas; the leaves are used are fried in tempura for a tasty appetizer, dried for tea and fed to silkworms.

For short-term crops, he planted an assortment of seasonal vegetables and fruits that would help him from needing to go to the market to buy food.

“Toads, lizards and frogs are natural predators so these animals are my pest control!” Mr. T says with a laugh. “I find them and put them out around the plants at night so they can feast on the insects.”

With chickens, ducks and goats added into the mix, the farm was soon full-fledged. The only thing Mr. T needed now was a solution to the problem he still faced with his neighbors – one too many things had been stolen from the farm and he knew that people in the village assumed that he was a big businessman, there to take their land. To prove them wrong, he was determined to do something for the village that would demonstrate his goodwill and intentions to build relationships. Using the little money he had, Mr. T built a school in the village and surrounded it with mulberry trees, encouraging the children to tend to them and earn money by selling the leaves back to him. In addition to building the school, he helped improve relations with the village people by constructing a silkworm house. By engaging local women in learning the fine art of raising domesticated silk worms and teaching old-fashioned techniques for spinning, dying and weaving silk, local families are provided with a stable income, as the farm buys back and sells the women’s work, and the women have a valuable trade that they can pass down to the next generation.

“Relationships have greatly improved with the local people,” Mr. T says, with a smile brightening each aspect of his face. “The first few years were hell, but not any more. Now, the people know that I am not here to take, but to help.”

The farm is open to anyone who is curious about what Mr. T is up to, and just about everyday, curious people, locals and foreigners alike, stroll down the long dirt road leading to the farmhouse to investigate what is so special about organic farming.

“I don’t have any books or manuals. I demonstrate what I know. I teach by showing. I can take someone out into the trees, and show them the healthy soil,” Mr. T explains. “I can show someone how to make a natural pesticide that won’t kill insects or injure hurt the plants. The farm is open to anyone who wants to learn.”

For foreigners who’d like to stay, and perhaps get a taste of what organic farming is all about, Mr. T is an exceptional teacher and the farm has endless opportunities for volunteering. The educational center is always looking for help assisting with English classes and on the grounds, manual labor – from hammering and digging, to picking leaves and berries or perhaps painting a new recycling sign – is bountiful. Just ask Mr. T and you’ll be sure to be pointed in the right direction.

Of course, the farm is also a great place to simply relax and observe the sheer beauty of Laos, preserved in its purest and most natural form. Here in paradise, there’s no need to wander far for food as the farm’s guesthouse boasts an enormous dining area with a tantalizing menu serving up delicious dishes straight from its organic garden. Mulberries are found in countless forms on the menu, in shakes, teas, wines, fried leaves and pancakes.

Mr. T, through his patience and dedication, is transforming what was previously a forgotten piece of land into a healthy, sustainable, life-giving piece of paradise offering new hope to farmers in the form of tangible, traditional methods. But, the land is not the only thing being transformed. After 5 years, his wife, convinced that her husband wasn’t altogether crazy after all, joined forces with him and now works on the farm as well, focusing on weaving.

“I hope that anyone who comes here can learn something,” Mr. T says. “We can improve the land; we can save the forests if we learn from each other.”

Phoudinaeg Organic Farm

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