Volunteer

This is a workshare program to give you some experience and knowledge of what it takes to have a farm or large garden.

There is a required 25 hours per week of your labor to offset the cost of accommodation and food and supervised instruction plus 2,000,000vnd to offset our time for supervised instruction. 20% of this amount will be donated to one of our community outreach programs for the local indigenous community.

We are a working farm, not a farm stay. The living and work conditions can be classified as rustic.

This program gives you some experience and knowledge of what it takes to have your own farm or even a large garden. You may be assigned to assist PDC students in their projects from time to time.

You may sit in on other classes (if held) after the completion of daily chores. You can ask questions to the owner, teachers, or other students as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties/studies.

Any tasks assigned to you will be given a complete explanation as to what you are doing and why it is being done in that manner.

You can expect to gain knowledge on the following (some may not be available due to the season, availability of materials or needs of the farm):

1. How to create and use compost
2. Where to plant annuals
3. Why certain annuals are planted here and not others
4. How to mulch and its importance
5. How, and what, to feed chickens

- Bed with mattress, or a tent

- Blanket

- Pillow

- Bed sheets

- Mosquito net

- Shared, small kitchen w/cooking utensils

- Shared refrigerator/freezer to put your food in

- Rice, chicken, eggs, mushrooms, and vegetables picked by you from the garden or bought at the local garden.

- WiFi

- Personal Hygiene products that do not contain anti-bacterial ingredients or fluoride

- Towel and washcloth

- Boots during the rainy season

- Shoes or boots during the dry season

- Raincoat

- Long sleeve shirt

- Lightweight long work pants 

- Broad-brimmed hat (traditional straw hat may be provided)

- Sleeping bag if you choose to stay in a tent

- Flashlight

- Face masks (required for the first 3 days).

- Notebook to document your new-found knowledge

Applicants should have the following;

- Minimum of 18 years of age

- strong work ethic

- a fit and able body and mind (manual work is often repetitive and strenuous.)

- You must be able to work at least 5 hours a day

- excellent communication skills

- work with a task-based approach (as opposed to a time-based system).  This is farming!

- Farm Tasks: Managing the nursery, chickens, goats, building compost, worm farms, weeding, planting, digging earthworks, watering, spreading compost, repairing/creating infrastructure, basically, anything that we need to get done to provide our educational training and move our permaculture projects forward.

- All volunteers must contribute to work in the community garden. There will be fresh produce for you to pick and seeds/seedlings for you to plant to replace what was used.

- When arriving, or leaving, please ensure that the times are between 8am and 8pm. If you arrive outside of those times then please wait at the Bus Station. If you leave outside of those times, please provide your own transportation as there is no one to help you outside those times.

- This is a smoke, drug, and alcohol-free farm. ( No, that doesn't mean they are free 😉  ) That doesn't mean you can't go out and have a beer or smoke. It just means you can't do it on the farm. We have children that live here and many visit. We don't want to expose them to those.

You only need the following to apply;

1. Being on Time
2. Good Work Ethic
3. Honest Effort
4. Positive Energy
5. Friendly Attitude
6. Being Coachable
7. Doing Extra
8. Being Prepared
9. Shared Passion

2-week Farm Volunteer - This program will give you some experience, and knowledge, in what it takes to be a farmer.

We provide rice and eggs, fruit, and vegetables from the garden or market. Anything else is provided by you

There is a 2,000,000vnd (approx. $82) non-refundable fee, per 2-week period, required of which 20% of this amount will be donated to one of our community outreach programs for the local indigenous or underprivileged community.

"The time in Pangaia had so much meaning for me. I love everything in Pan Gaia just I can't drink milk tea there haha. I miss you, Mrs.Le, Vân Chi, Xíu, chị Linh,... so much. Thank you a lot for teaching me new knowledge that I think I would never know anywhere else. I gonna be back soon so I can learn more from you and so many questions go on. " - Thao Phuong

"It’s hard to tell the reason as everything that has happened, each piece of memory during my stay is really precious to me.
I got to be indulged in nature and drown myself in the warm embrace of mother Earth. The knowledge I’ve gained from the talk with Rich every day and also through work/practice is incredibly big and amazing. And there's this wonderful wonderful family, a mother, and two kids who made me feel belong like I'm a kid again, and that I'm cared for.
I love the silence there, the atmosphere, the stars that I can hardly see clearly in the city, the calm forests that when they get a gust of wind, all of the trees start to sing and dance, and the dogs. I love the version of myself when staying there.
And many more." - (10 out of 10) Ngọc Nguyễn

"I think it would be more fun if I didn't forget my sunscreen and had more volunteers on the farm :)). I miss you all." - (10 out of 10) Phuong Nguyen