Story of the Farm

The Development of the North Star Organic farm

“BAAN DOI – Home and Healing Center for children” is an organization dedicated to supporting children and families in Mae Sai district, the most Northern part of Thailand.

When we first started the farmproject, our intention was to grow organic food for the children and families we care for, and at the same time learn how to cultivate our own food sustainably. In 2018 the foundation was able to purchase a piece of land with the size of 24 Rai (4 hectares), which had been used for rice farming for decades. By acknowledging the size of the property, we realized that perhaps we could do more than grow food. Maybe we could create living and working spaces, built in harmony with nature.

Our dream was to build with natural materials, and that dream soon found the perfect partners. We connected with BASEhabitat, an architecture program at the art university in Linz in Austria. They did not only help us with the design of the property by respecting permaculture principles as well as the design of the houses, but also joined us in hands-on construction. Every year, students from the Austrian program came to Thailand to build one house. And we worked closely with Chang Sak, a local builder from our village, Ban San Sai Pu Yii, who already had experience constructing with clay and bamboo. Since 2019, we have constructed a bamboo workshop, a water tower, the first farm house (family house) and additional 3 guesthouses as well as smaller structures for agriculture.

2018 – purchase of the land

2019 – earth works (ponds, land filling, street) and start of planting trees, construction of bamboo workshop, start with construction of garage and family house, construction of water tower with solar system, soil improvement