Thong Lor's Root Garden farm

An easy walk from the Thong Lor BTS, a farm has sprung up on the busy upscale soi. Project owners hope it will give a much needed push to land reform in the country. Visitors are welcome.

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Surprise! These passersby were not expecting to see a farm in the upscale Thong Lor area. Photos by Somchai Poomlard.

Root Garden comes to Thong Lor

Pattramon Sukprasert

A garden of edible vegetables in the middle of Thong Lor? Since last week, a new patch of green amid urban high rises has raised many eyebrows — its name is Root Garden, and it is located at the beginning of Thong Lor Soi 3, next to the Pridi Banomyong Institute.

The roughly 1,000m² garden is planted with various edible crops familiar to most kitchens — Chinese cabbage, mushrooms and corn. There are also chicken coops, and goats wander about. Visitors are welcome.

Thong Lor locals are not yet dressed for the farm experience, but that may change for some of them.

Root Garden is a project run by Plick Feun Puen Din Thai (Land Reform in Thailand), an NGO that promotes four land-related laws that create opportunities for poor and small-scale land owners and farmers — the Progressive Land Tax Bill, the National Land Bank Bill, the Community Land Title Bill and the Justice Fund Bill.

The idea of Root Garden, which showcases efficient land use, was conceived by 29-year-old Eakdanai Wongwattana.

“Most land is possessed by a small group of wealthy people. Plenty of land plots were left unused, while many people don’t own any at all,” said Eakdanai. “However, land is not just property — it’s essential to life, and affects food and security.”

In order to push these bills into the parliamentary process, members of the NGO believe that social support, especially from Bangkokians, is important. Thailand’s constitution allows 10,000 people to sign a petition pushing for a law that concerns the public good. Plick Feun Puen Din Thai’s movement, however, aims for 1 million signatures.

“We want to communicate with city people that there is an easy way to make the use of land by transforming a seemingly useless area into a garden,” said Warut Boontarig, 25 the garden’s manager and a graduate of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University.

While the team was searching for land it could use to launch the project, it spotted an abandoned, weed-filled area in Thong Lor. Luckily, the land belonged to the Jayavana Foundation, which does charity work for children and the rural poor. The foundation was willing to help, and granted the team a one-year contract.

Yes, that's busy Soi Thong Lor in the background, only a few hundred metres from the even busier Sukhumvit Road.

Root Garden encourages people to get their hands dirty by doing tasks such as watering plants or feeding animals. The idea is to demonstrate that a city farm is feasible, and that visitors could potentially create their own.

“Even though land in Bangkok is not ideal for agriculture, there are techniques that can make it possible,” Warut said.

The farm’s produce seems to be thriving, and is available for sale to visitors. Income from those sales will be used to manage the garden, while the rest will be used to fund the campaign to push the bills.

“We hope that the garden will foster community spirit and link those who share an interest into a network in which they can share thoughts or trade tips — not only those about gardening, but also about land use,” Warut said.

A place to bring your children to feed the animals and watch the plants grow.

It has been more than a week since the garden opened. Already it has drawn the attention of many.

“I live in the neighbourhood and I just passed by. I’m so happy that there is a green space where I can bring my kid. It’s going to be very interesting for him to see plants growing. And I’m thinking of bringing some veggies home,” Julie Dodet, a visitor to the garden, said.

After spending a lot of time in the garden, Warut said, seeing people relaxing in the space is what he enjoys the most.

Here is a story I did on urban farming while I was visiting my home in the US state of Minnesota: http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/363081/farming-in-the-city

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