Did you know there is an Urban Public Farm, right in the middle of Chiang Mai city? A place where people can come together, learn, exchange and share ideas? A place where parents can show their child how fruit and vegetables grow on trees and plants? A garden where community members can collect herbs for their daily use? A farm where you can buy organic eggs?
Chiang Mai Urban Farm is located on Changklan Road, opposite Shangri-La Hotel. It is now open for everyone to visit.
This piece of land of 3,200 square meters used to be totally abandoned, actually it was a rubbish dump. Community members, working alongside private companies, Chiang Mai University, and other members of the public pooled their knowledge and expertise to transform this land into a useful green place, a great sustainable open farm. Everyone contributed their knowledge, time, and labour or donated seed, plants and trees. The Shangri-La Hotel gave 4 tons of biochar to enrich the soil.
This work was created during lockdown period and Chiang Mai Urban Farm is now open for everyone to visit, study, learn and exchange. Take a walk during late afternoon, and you will see community members meeting and talking while picking a few chilies or basil leaves for their cooking. Since December, the farm also has chickens and they produce about 40 fresh eggs per days, which can be bought at the farm.
While urban gardens around the world may not feed an entire neighbourhood, they provide green spaces in cities bolstering a sense of local community by giving life to a place which used to be abandoned. It’s all about helping each other and being more aware of the environment. In the future we hope to see more and more of these community projects in Chiang Mai.
