Frequently Asked Questions

Rak Tamachat has a passionate group of Experienced Lead Educators supported by a dedicated team of Permaculture Educator Interns who help to Facilitate and co-teach portions of the courses. We feel this way of teaching helps to provide a more well rounded diverse course and allows our course graduates to gain teaching experience while being mentored by an experienced lead teacher.

 

Facilitation of the courses is one of the unseen but most important aspects of making sure the course runs smoothly. Creating and maintaining a welcoming and loving environment with trust is where the Rak Tamachat Interns really shine. The Interns are the Rak that rolls the Education Center wheels. We really could not do it without them and achieve the high level Rak Tamachat strives for.

Rak Tamachat’s Main Classroom is simply amazing. It has fully reclined bamboo seating with Thai cushions so you can lay back and relax while learning. The classroom is laid out in stadium seating perspective and can fit a maximum of 18 students luxuriously. We feel 18 students is the upper limit for providing a good student teacher ratio and delivering a student centered approach to learning. We feel this allows the teacher and all the students to get the valuable face time together needed to transfer knowledge and maintain a more personal teacher student relationship so essential in learning. We are not in this for the money, we do it to support our growing community and PAY IT FORWARD.

At Rak Tamachat we understand the value of a good night sleep are consciously focused on providing a high standard fo natural living for our students and guests. Rak Tamachat’s courses included a shared stay in one of our Teak Bungalows. Our bungalows are situated in a beautful forest garden setting, on the edge of a pond, nestled under bamboo stands bordering our fruit orchard. In the tropics hygiene is important. We have designed full functional, “Bali Style” open air toilets and showers. There are banana trees right in the shower!! On Rak Tamachat’s Tree of Life you can see one of the key Permaculture Principles on is integrate not segegrate. When you come to stay at Rak Tamachat you will live in the same bungalows that our educators and intern stay in as well. . You can choose to upgrade to a private bungalow should you wish or stay in one of our or your own tent.

Rak Tamachat understands the value of seeing what we teach being done in the real world. We take amazing fields trips to show you what can be done with Permaculture. Check out the field trips Phi Mai Historical Park & Korat Ag Uni, Khao Yai Natura Reserve

 

At Rak Tamachat we understand the need to maintain a structured, well planned and professional course that is clear, concise and conducive to learning. At Rak Tamachat we provide students with a detailed PDC Course Syllabus, Master Plan Design Portfolio and Permaculture Tool Box.

At Rak Tamachat we engage our students in an adult oriented, interactively based curriculum, open forum learning environment. Our Main Classroom and Outdoor Hands on Practical Classrooms are equipped to give the best education possible in an relaxed environment. We are never short on space, tools, or equipment and our founder prides himself on his large “toolbox”. Without tools design is just a dream. Rak Tamachat makes dreams a reality.

Rak Tamachat utilizes a Permaculture Master Plan to oversee our short and long term farming plans and actions. The plan allows us to plan for and reflect on what we hold to be the corner stones of what is necessary for the farm to be a healthy environment for us to live, provide for the lifestyle we need to flourish and allow for the return on our work to keep us economically viable. The Master Plan is a living document and as such is constantly referred to, revised, updated, and added to as we learn and grow with the integrated farming operations here at Rak Tamachat. We hope by putting our work out to the world for their review and use that we are “Paying Forward” the help that we received. Feel free to copy whatever can help you in your farming endeavors, nothing would make us more happy than to help another farmer succeed in Permaculture and Sustainable Integrated Farming. Check out our Master Plan Here

Rak Tamachat gives access to our Google Drive to all students and a Pre-course Info Package which includes a course schedule, course curriculum, recommended reading list prior to every course. During the course we provide our students with Permaculture Toolkits to build up their Permaculture Tool Box. As they say, a plumber without tools is juts a fat man with a large crack bent over your sink; and a Permaculturist without tools is just a Tool. Upon graduation, you will be given access to our complete “Rak Tamachat Tool Box” located on Rak Tamachat’s Goggle Drive. This will give you all the information and further study materials for your “budding” Permaculture career.

Rak Tamachat is a very hands on, experiential learning training center. We are lucky to have the ecological and physical infrastructure of a well designed training site allowing us to demonstrate and participate in the principles taught in all our courses. We’re able to take first hand knowledge and experience and apply it to project based practicals that fit within a real vision and masterplan. At Rak Tamachat you will participcate and coevolve in projects that contribute to the overall development of Rak Tamachat’s Living Organic Permacultutre Master Plan. We don’t like demonstrations for the sake of demonstrations. We value resources and practice profitable permaculture by re-investing our yields. We value your labor and make it count towards something real.

Rak Tamachat believes in open source and free share. We have a database with a plethora of Permaculture Materials – books, documentaries, podcasts, articles, pictures, research papers etc. We reccomend bringing a portable hard disk with at least a Terabyte if you want it all. We want to share with you and give you all the resources so you can continue learning after graduating from Rak Tamachat.

Yes. Is there any other way? We also have a Rak Mart (Rak means Love in Thai), which we sell non communal items you may not be able to live without – mosquito repellent, natural shampoo and soaps, Thai snacks, etc……

At Rak Tamachat we understand the need to interact online with friends and family while abroad and value the ability to access the internet. We have full and realiably fast free wifi capabilities in our communal Sala. You can skype home anytime you want. We don’t mind.

Our lifestyle values diversity and personal choices and our kitchen reflects this. We have Raw-food, vegetarian, vegans and gluten-intolerant people as guests all the time; we strive to accommodate food sensitivities, however you should inform us about your dietary needs and we may advise that you bring specialty snacks as we live far away from any major cities and we may not have access to certain food items. If you want to learn more, check out our Communal Cooking page.

The residents of Rak Tamachat enjoy our lifestyle. We work hard to create a variety of areas to relax, socialize, swim, meditate, do yoga, exercise, go for a walk, enjoy a sunset or hang out with the locals. We also understand that personal space and privacy is important at times and therefore we have placed throughout the property bamboo huts to allow you a place to get away and be on your own. Did we mention we have 75 acres to wander around? Check out Our Farm and Our Home pages.

 

We actively accept interns that want to embody a Holistic Natural Lifestyle. We appreciate diversity and regularly have interns that practice yoga, meditation, song and dance, drumming, guitar, tarot cards, voodoo, community check ins and open empathetic discussion. In short Rak Tamachat is designed and built for people to practice their own personal pathways towardsa a holistic lifestyle withing a supportive community without undue external social pressures. If you want to learn to live free without judgement, we would love to welcome you into our community.

We don’t expect you to do any reading before a course, but if you’d like to get started now there are a few books that we particularly like.

If you’re looking for a small introductory book, we like both ‘Permaculture in a Nutshell’ by Patrick Whitefield & ‘A Beginners Guide to Permaculture’ by Graham Burnett.

If you’d like something a little more in depth, Graham Bell’s books: ‘The Permaculture Way’ & ‘The Permaculture Garden’ are excellent.

As far as chunkier texts go, there are a few more options. The only British book in this category is Patrick Whitefield’s ‘Earth Care Manual’. There are a couple of excellent American books: ‘Gaia’s Garden’ by Toby Hemenway & ‘Designing & Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally’ by Robert Kourik (not technically a permaculture book, but close enough in our opinion).

Then there are the Australian books, starting of course with Bill Mollison’s books. His most accessible text is ‘An Introduction to Permaculture’, though his ‘Permaculture – A Designer’s Manual’ is still his finest work. In addition, David Holmgren’s ‘Permaculture – Principles & Pathways beyond Sustainability’ is an updated look at the subject, though quite an academic one. In contrast, Rosemary Morrow’s ‘Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture’ is very easy to read & full of excellent illustrations.

Most of these books can be ordered from the Green Shopping Catalogue.

There are plenty of other great books out there on Permaculture & related subjects, but these should keep you occupied for a while…