When Life Hands You Mulberries...

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From 10am to 5pm the farm slightly rattles and shakes from the thumping techno beats at one of the nearby river bars. It certainly offsets the tranquility of this place.The town of Vang Vieng has become a backpacker haven because of the growing number of river bars/parties and the ridiculously cheap food and accommodations.

Although the farm is concerned about the growing numbers turning the town into party central, they decided to make the best of a situation under the philosophy of “If you can’t beat'em, join'em”. They set up a “drinks bar” to cater to the tubers floating along the Nam Song River with some advantages the other bars don’t have:

1. The farm is the first stop on the tubing route along the river
2. All proceeds from the bar go to local community development projects (specifically the school bus)
3. The drinks are all organic, made with the ingredients from the farm

I had time in between feeding the goats and teaching English so bartending became my afternoon contribution. And with plenty of mulberries around, I’m proud to say that I’ve invented the mulberry mojito (patent pending). The signs were soon to follow: DRINK FOR THE CHILDREN, FRESH AND ORGANIC MULBERRY MOJITOS! Once the mojito signs went up, the crowds multiplied and I was immediately deemed the marketing/promotion and graphics department for the farm.

How to Make A Mulberry Mojito
• 5 lime wedges (squeezed)
• 8-10 mulberries
• Handful of mint leaves
• 1 shot of sugar cane juice
• 2 shots of lao lao (homemade rice whiskey)
--Crush ingredients with skewers--
• Ice
• Club Soda

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Photos

Hanging Out
The local kids hang out on the tubes, they usually end up floating along with the tourists.

Cheers!
I've created a monster.

Mojito Pricelist
The drinks menu, with added “to go” option (mojito in a bag).

More Signs!
How about something on that 6 foot panel? An info board with visuals for visitors and customers wanting to know more about the farm. Working with computers/printers/laminators in Laos is a huge challenge. Trying not to think that a 2 hour job deisgn job back home takes 2 weeks here!

Before And After...
That’s not a blurry shot, that’s really the menu. Sure, it has it’s own “charm”, stained with mud and food and all but the biggest problem is, that if you could actually read it, the prices and info were incorrect.
FYI, menu includes: mulberry shakes, mulberry tea, mulberry omeletes, fried mulberry leaves, and mulberry pancakes.

Comments

[Lisa]

I love it!
Sherry Baby, you are amazingly innovative! I just hope that mulberries will be available in time for one of my favorite summer sips!

[Little Monkey]

Mojito Mama
Hi Squirrel, Or should we call you mojito mama? Love the marketing darling...you should do it for a living! lol I insist that you make me your specialty when you get home. I'm glad you are drinking for the kids...very noble lovey! Take care. ~L xo

[Reynolds]

When I read "How about something on that 6 foot panel?" I could almost picture your brain cells screaming to ORGANIZE...I was cracking up! Miss you!!!