The Living Land Company

The Living Land Company is a community-run organic farm supplying fresh vegetables, herbs, salads and rice to hotels and restaurants in Luang Prabang. Visitors can take a trip to the farm and try their hand at being a farmer with an opportunity to grow rice and enjoy a beautiful Lao-style house overlooking rice terraces and the organic vegetable fields. The farm aims to offer an alternative to the current slash-and-burn farming methods which result in unusable land following harvest.

Being organic there are no chemicals used and the Living Land Company follows a strict policy of composting and crop rotation to ensure the continued use of the land which ensures it remains fertile. Struggling local families are invited to work on the farm where there are also student scholarships in place. The families benefit hugely from the income in an area that provides very little in the way of work, and the eating establishments in Luang Prabang reap the rewards of superior tasting fresh chemical free produce for their guests.

The whole family can enjoy time spent at The Living Land Company trying their hand at traditional Lao rice farming methods. You’ll be taught about ancient rice harvesting and planting methods and also all about threshing and winnowing rice. Alternatively you can combine time at the farm with a cooking lesson given by a hotel’s head chef creating clay-pot soup, curry paste and sticky rice steamed in a huat kao basket. The class takes place in a picturesque open-air wooden pavilion in the middle of the vegetable fields with grazing buffalo and rolling hills close by.

Wine is also included in the lunch which starts with a tour of the farm. The Living Land Company organic farm stretches over two hectares cultivating all manner of herbs and vegetables including beetroot, mint and mustard with an additional eight hectares of rice paddies. There are future plans currently underway to add a flower and a fish farm to the company.