Mae Ple from Rai Ruenrom: How Nature Became Her Children’s Classroom

I believe that one of the issues that may seem small but actually causes considerable worry for many parents is their child’s eating habits whether it’s refusing to eat rice, rejecting vegetables, needing constant feeding, or running around during mealtime.

Mae Pleu – Siriwimon understands these problems well, so she was inspired to create an organic agritourism space called ‘Rai Ruenrom’, because she wanted children and people of all ages to get close to nature and experience eating fresh organic vegetables and fruits from the farm.
She aims to change the perspective on eating vegetables and fruits into an experience that is delicious, fun, safe, and healthy, while also developing the community sustainably.
In this article, Gother will introduce every family to ‘Mae Pleu – Siriwimon’, the founder of ‘Rai Ruenrom’, and share her concept of raising children through a nature-based classroom.

“I was just a city kid who hadn’t found myself yet,” Maple’s mother recalled when talking about the time she had to choose a university. She said that back then she didn’t know what she truly wanted to study, so in the end she decided to go abroad like her friends. But after graduating and returning home, she found that her studies didn’t fit her life, so she asked herself again: What do I enjoy doing? What do I want to do? What are my life goals? She discovered that she loves participating in volunteer camps and wants to do something that helps develop communities.

However, to develop the community as intended, it was necessary to have knowledge of agriculture. She therefore began by learning organic farming at a dedicated learning center, where she lived in a field hut without doors, windows, or electricity, growing all her own vegetables and preparing her own meals. This may sound like a difficult life experience, but from it, Maple discovered the value of nature and found the inspiration and life’s goal to create “Rai Ruenrom,” an organic farm that serves both as an agro-tourism destination and a farmstay.

She wants to present Organic Lifestyle activities made more fun and modern, with the hope that children and people of all ages can draw closer to and appreciate nature, learn about organic farming, and enjoy delicious, healthy organic vegetables and fruits all at once.

We continued by asking Mae Maple the question that many parents surely want to know: how to get children to eat vegetables.
Mae Maple shared a tip that sounds simple but can be hard to put into practice: “It has to start with the parents, because when a child sees whatever is on the parents’ plate, they want to eat it too, since they want to be part of what we’re doing.”
Mae Maple added that if parents never eat vegetables in front of their children but still expect them to eat vegetables and keep telling them they’re healthy, the child may not believe it or follow along, because they see that the parents themselves don’t eat vegetables either.
Therefore, if you want to instill a habit of eating vegetables in your child, parents must start by showing them first.

Then what if the parents themselves don’t like eating vegetables? We asked Mae Ple, and she recounted that she once asked many children and even many adults who joined activities at Rairuenrom the same question: why they hadn’t eaten vegetables before. Many said that the vegetables they had tried tasted bitter, creating a bad first experience, so they chose not to eat them again.
But when they opened their minds and tried the organic vegetables from Rairuenrom, they felt differently: they weren’t bitter like the ones they’d had before. Mae Ple continued that what makes vegetables or fruits taste bad, unappetizing, or unusually bitter may come from the cultivation and care processes that involve chemicals. Therefore, if you want to savor the true, natural flavors of vegetables and fruits unadulterated and grown without chemicals you need to choose produce that’s grown organically.

Mother Maple shared her technique for feeding her child: she practices BLW (Baby-Led Weaning) because this method allows the child to learn independently by offering whole pieces of food rather than pureed. The child can touch each piece and bring it to their mouth on their own, discovering different tastes and textures.
Mother Maple additionally suggests offering a variety of vegetables in different flavors and textures, including fresh, steamed, boiled, and grilled. She has found that, through this approach, children can learn to accept the mild natural bitterness of vegetables as they become familiar with and gradually understand those flavors.

We asked Maple one final question: What has teaching your child through a nature-based classroom given to your child and to you?
She explained that she gives her child small responsibilities to participate with the other older kids on the farm, such as watering the plants, feeding the dogs and goats, collecting eggs from the chicken coop, or even walking around the vegetable plots with guests who come to stay and take part in farm-stay activities.
Through these experiences, her child learns and gets to know the nature around them firsthand through touching, feeling, and hands-on activities.
They are able to do outdoor activities, withstand the sun, eat all kinds of vegetables, become comfortable around people, and open their hearts to learning new things with ease.

This is the story of Mae Maple and “Rai Ruenrom,” a small organic farm brimming with grand experiences a place that’s both an agritourism destination and a farm stay. It’s somewhere we hope every family will bring their children to experience at least once; you never know, a kid who’s picky about vegetables might just grow to fall in love with them.

Because out-of-classroom experiences are essential for children, and family is always their greatest motivation, let’s turn kids’ play into something grand together! Anyone looking for must-try activities perfect for families like this shouldn’t miss out! Join the Gother Family KLUB Click here for a vibrant community that brings together people who love travel and activities, where you can meet new friends and enjoy exclusive perks. Choose the right club, embrace the lifestyle you love, and embark on an endless journey with us! Open your heart to new experiences travel right, travel your way, with Gother!