A lifetime of local Knowledge – Thai Village Life

It is impressive the resourcefulness Syy’s mom has at her disposal. We’ve been washing dishes from a liquid soap she’s created from a number of mostly organic ingredients. She makes a lip balm out of coconut milk and wild bees wax collected from nearby hives. It smells quite pleasant and works very well for chapped lips. The rice wine takes her most of the day to make – and ferments for about 8 days before its ready to drink.

We’ve had running water in the village for the past few years and as a result the large water urns are no longer as important. She turned one on its side and is now growing mushrooms inside (which we use for Tom Yum soup).

This year the garden is planted right next to the kitchen – so within seconds we have fresh cilantro, basil, green onions and a variety of other greens. Oh and bitter-melon – this plant and fruits are quite bitter but supposedly good for a bunch of things including type II diabetes. She is using dried herbs to mix into the soil to keep out certain pests.

Syy’s mom also grows the best pineapples – the perfect combination between sweetness, tanginess and flavor. The stalk smells like fresh sugar cane after you cut through it.

Dry mangosteen rinds are hanging near the house ready to be ground up into powder which is supposed to be good for putting on cuts. Today we enjoyed the miracle of the “miracle fruit” – you taste the small red fruit in your mouth and then you drink vinegar and eat lemons like there is no tomorrow. The lemons taste like lemonade with the raw flavor of the lemon (no sugar added) and the vinegar tastes sweet – like drinking sugar. This is all well and good until you take too many lemons and drink too much vinegar and your stomach ties into knots.