We at Feun Foo Permaculture Chanthaburi (Thailand) would like to welcome you to explore our ideas and visions!
Feun Foo (ฟื้นฟู; pronounced ‘fern foo’) is Thai and means ‘restore’, ‘rehabilitate’ or ‘revive’, and that’s how we see ourselves: We help restoring Nature to original beauty by converting an orchard and adjacent bamboo monoculture into a food jungle, and by reforesting parts of the neighboring Nature Reserve. We revive an ancient, long forgotten way of life, so that it may lead us into a better, not only sustainable, but regenerative future. We cooperate with Nature to create a Food Jungle – a self-sustaining and natural habitat for human beings.
We provide one of many paths to live a happy and healthy life in harmony with Nature.
Our mission is to become fully autonomous and develop a regenerative way of living. We do that mainly through practicing Permaculture, but include elements of Rewilding, Deep Ecology, and Primitivist Philosophy, Practice, and Spirituality. We try to adapt as good as we can to Climate Breakdown through Deep Adaptation and Climate Smart Farming.
We believe human beings are an inseparable part of Nature, one species in an enormous interconnected web of living beings that depend on and benefit from each other.
Our focus is on
- creating the most diverse habitat possible,
- being a functioning part of the ecosystem we inhabit,
- and proving that it is not only possible but desirable for modern humans to return into Nature’s open arms.
We offer anyone who is interested the opportunity to stay with us on our farm or to be a volunteer and take permaculture introduction courses that include tropical horticulture, building soil, growing and taking care of vegetables and trees, primitive skills, sustainable building methods, basic Traditional Thai Herbal Medicine and many other topics.
Our goal is to assist Mother Nature in growing a small patch of self-sustaining jungle with a high density of species useful for humans (food, fuel, fiber, medicine, timber, thatch, cloth, dye, glue, lacquer, arrow/fish poison, etc.) that provides subsistence for a small band of people all year round, using a concept we are developing called Primitive Permaculture. We do this through planting jungle giants (dipterocarps, keystone trees, ironwoods) alongside a large variety of fruit trees, thereby increasing overall biodiversity, and eventually living under a closed, multi-storey canopy. We hope that one day the Hornbills will nest in our garden and the elephants and monkeys become regular visitors.
When we initially set out on this adventure, some other goals for the future included (but were not limited to):
- Full autonomy as soon as possible
- Canopy closure in 5 to 10 years
- Helping to create an ecosystem almost indistinguishable from climax rainforest, with several layers of trees, vines, palms, bushes, herbs, grasses, rhizomes, mushrooms, epiphytes, etc.
- Increasing wildlife populations, birds, bees, spiders, bats, rodents, primates (and, if somehow possible, hornbills nesting here in 20-30 years, when the first trees will be large enough)
- Mastering archery to be able to hunt
- Increasing knowledge about herbalism and massage
- Making instruments from bamboo
- Learning the language of the birds
- Weaving baskets and mats
- Having fruit all year long and as much honey as we want
- Sharing seeds, seedlings and cuttings with like-minded peers
- Making all this knowledge available in several languages to anyone who’s interested
- Creating “climate awareness” and reverence for Nature and all she does for us through translating English texts (studies, articles, books) into Thai
- Assisting and aiding people who want to return to the land
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We are on Patreon, too!
If you like our project and want to support us, please consider a small donation for our cause:
patreon.com/ FeunFooPermaculture
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To all friends, followers, supporters, subscribers, readers, and potential volunteers and visitors: We now have electricity (at least a little), although we are still off-grid – we installed a small solar system for lighting and charging phone and laptop. Correspondence will be easier from now on.
+++NOTE: THIS HOMEPAGE IS STILL IN PROCESS!! STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES!!+++
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Update Oct 5, 2023: Dave was interviewed by Dr. Shane Simonsen for the “Going to Seed” podcast!
If you want to learn more about our land (and its peculiarities), the methods we utilize, and a few potential breeding projects – this conversation has it all covered!
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Update Aug 20, 2022: New Essay – “Ghosts without a Shrine” – How Globalism uproots the connection we all crave
On becoming indigenous (again).
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Update Aug 16, 2022: New Essay – Reflections on bumble bee sentience
The human supremacist worldview assumes that nonhumans are akin to automatons. Science proves it wrong.
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Update Aug 4, 2022: New Section on the Website! “What to Eat when the Stores are Empty” is now online!
We explore possible ways to ensure Food Security and Food Systems Resilience in this new series!
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Update Aug 3, 2022: New Essay – Does plant cultivation inevitably lead to Civilization?
Dave responds to a question from a reader.
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Update Jul 12, 2022: New Essay – Another day, another dead elephant
Human-elephant conflict is rampant in the area we live in. A report from the frontlines.
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Update Feb 9, 2022: New Essay – Good-bye, good bicycle!
We recently bought a water pump (we didn’t have one before). This is an attempt to morally justify this purchase.
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Update Jan 22, 2022: New Essay – Following the Call of a Plant
Exploring personal experiences of communication with plants
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Update Jan 10, 2022: New Article – Ten Guiding Principles
Dave lists ten simple principles he tries to live his life by
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Update Jan 08, 2022: New Essay – A Primitivist Critique of ‘The Dawn of Everything’
A detailed critique of the new book by Graeber and Wengrow
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We will of course update the website accordingly when we find the time.
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Update Oct 15, 2018: New Article:The future will be green… or black. – David B Lauterwasser
A down-to-earth vision of how to avoid the worst
History repeats itself as the story of the Easter Island’s Downfall begins to unfold globally – David B Lauterwasser
A millennia-old, self-destructive belief is, once again, picking up speed.
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Update Nov 14, 2017: New Article – The Collapse of Global Civilization Has Begun – David B Lauterwasser
But this doesn’t mean we have to give up hope.
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Update Sept 04, 2017: New Article – The Red on Yellow
A short lesson in Banana History.
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Update Aug 26, 2017: Complete Banana Index online! (First draft)
An overview over all the different varieties of banana in our garden.
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Update Jul 06, 2017: Essay ‘On the Personhood of Plants‘
Connecting ancient wisdom and modern evidence. Drawing together the latest findings from the controversial field of plant neurology and contemplating the relation to animism. Making sense of my experiences. Demolishing the delusion of anthropocentrism.
Dave’s contribution to the conversation.
For anyone who has an open mind and likes reading:
Be sure to check out our collection of important, interesting and useful articles if you want to know more about why we do what we do. If you are looking for a good book, check the section books.
References
*Throughout the site, when we reference books, we will also state the publisher, so as to make it perfectly clear that we don’t reference pseudo-scientific and speculative half-truths, but root our ideology in indesputable findings of academics who spent their lifetime researching the topic in question. Many (if not most) books are university press releases, or works of popular science published by credible and respected institutions. While we view science and the reductionist worldview rather critically at times, there are interdisciplinary works and holistic sciences like ecology, as well as certain scholars, that don’t lack the view of the bigger picture.
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