The Daruma Community · Bang Phra, Thailand
Growing since 2007.
Daruma is a permaculture-designed educational ecovillage an hour from Bangkok, growing since 2007. It is not one building or one course: it is a school, a farm, a library, workshops and living quarters, all designed and grown by the people who came here to learn, and still changing shape.
More elements than any one photo can hold.
Daruma is currently made up of Mosaic Learning Centre, accommodation for volunteers, interns, apprentices and staff, kitchens and a cafeteria, living quarters for staff and family, a library, FarmLab and the natural swimming pool. Around and between them run the chinampas, a market garden, canals and a rice paddy, plus integrated animal systems: fish, chickens, geese, dogs, sheep and a pig.
There is a high degree of diversity across every part of the site, and it keeps growing, along with the many trees. Read about the permaculture courses taught here.
No particular doctrine, plenty of curiosity.
Daruma was designed from the outset with permaculture principles in mind, and the intention behind it is to be a lifelong learning centre. There is no particular spiritual doctrine here. Respect for others, old and young, and a natural curiosity and desire to learn seem to be common to everyone who visits.
Everything on site can be, and is, used for educational purposes, as are resources in the local community, the local market and other centres of education such as Rajamangala University nearby. Life-long learning is close to the whole intention, stated plainly.
That is what makes Daruma an intentional community rather than simply a farm with guests: the place was designed around a shared purpose before anything was built, and the people who live, study and volunteer here shape what it becomes next. Anyone curious about intentional community living in Thailand can see it working, day to day, by volunteering or taking a course.
Hard to define in a sentence.
The Global Ecovillage Network puts it plainly enough:
An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically and ecologically sustainable.Global Ecovillage Network
Daruma sits on the intentional side of that definition. Ten years ago there was nothing here above head height; now trees reach the third floor of a full-time school that didn't exist either. Construction, planning and retro-fitting are nearly always underway, part of a continuous process of revising and refining the initial permaculture design.
About life in an ecovillage.
What is the difference between an ecovillage and an intentional community?
By the Global Ecovillage Network's definition, an ecovillage can be either: a traditional village working to become more sustainable, or an intentional community designed around that goal from the start. Daruma is the second kind, planned on permaculture principles before anything was built.
Can I visit the Daruma community?
The best way to understand a village that is always changing shape is to spend time on it: as a course participant or as a volunteer. Day-to-day expectations and house policies are all written down on the visitor policies page.
Can I volunteer, intern or apprentice here?
Yes. WWOOF volunteers, long-term interns and apprentices all integrate into the Daruma community and learn experientially, alongside the farm and Mosaic Learning Centre. The minimum volunteer stay is two weeks. Details and how to apply are on the volunteers, interns and apprentices page.
How do people join an ecovillage?
Every community has its own path in, but almost all of them start the same way: you visit, stay a while, and see whether the life fits. At Daruma that means a course or a volunteer placement first; many of the people living and working here today first arrived that way.
Where is Daruma?
In Bang Phra, Chonburi, on the Gulf of Thailand's Eastern Seaboard, about an hour from Bangkok Airport (BKK). Directions and what is nearby are on the location page.
A working site, not a showpiece.
Come see it
An hour from the airport.
Daruma sits on the Gulf of Thailand's Eastern Seaboard, about an hour from Bangkok Airport (BKK). The best way to understand a village that is always changing shape is to come and study on it.