This village of three hundred families lies just outside Chiang Saen, near the Mekong River in northeast Thailand. Unlike some of the silk villages in the region, San Tad farms its own silk worms, which includes cultivating mulberries for worm-feed, hand-harvesting the silk, and meticulously cleaning its sticky threads. Some of this work is government-supported as part of an eco-tourism homestay project, but so far, the initiative has generated very little additional revenue.

As the San Tad economy relies heavily on its surrounding rice fields, only eight women can afford to work the looms full-time (often because they are also financially supported by their children). A good day’s work is less than a meter of woven silk. While each worker has her own costs and her own profits, each contributes to a group fund that pays for broken looms and other communal materials.

Wansri (pictured right), the current head of this weaving cooperative, started the silkworm farm with her husband. When her daughter was in school, she says, the silk worms managed to produce just enough silk each month to support the next month’s schooling. Her daughter and son are now working as a teacher and a policeman, respectively, thanks in large part to the efforts of these industrious creatures.