Veggie Self Suffiecient In Asia?

[uptou]

Hello,my asian girlfreind comes from a farming background,& infact if her father spends to much time away from working on his large plot of land,he seems to get abit down.She's often said to me that she would like to get a cheap place with garden & grow our own veggies for the two of us,maybe have the odd chicken,& the free & simple life really appeals to me aswell,rather than tied up in some boring job back in the uk.But before we start dreaming too much,& possibly go for this,like anything else we'd have to study (even though she seems to be able to identify anything edible growing by the side of the road),along with the family help,but are many tv members out there that are virtually living,or rather eating,off of their small garden plots,in a non profit sense?

What would be the minimum sized plot you would be needing for mainly greens,& root vegetables,or for example the standard veggies in this area,for turning out on a regular basis?

I have some small finances back home that are earning some interest,which is a plus.

Thanks for any thoughts shared.

[chownah]

I don't have self sufficiency in vegetables as a high priority but have raised some. I think that two people could be self sufficient for vegetables with 1/4 rai (probably less if you know what you are doing) since you can grow year round here assuming you have enough water in the dry season and adequate drainage in the wet season....do be advised that root vegetables are not grown much in Thailand as the soil contains alot of bugs and the soil is often clay and nearly saturated even with good drainage for many months a year. Around here, though, the idea of self sufficiency is not so important...your friends grow stuff, your family grows stuff, you grow stuff....it all gets eaten.....why be so self oriented that you don't want to be involved along with your family and friends in growing food?

Chownah

Edited January 3, 2008 by chownah

[uptou]

....why be so self oriented that you don't want to be involved along with your family and friends in growing food?

Chownah

With regards to being involved with the rest of the family,i think it could be a problem as they live in a no go area of Burma.Unless you can smuggle me in.

[Gary A]

My wife raised some vegetables but normally not more than two different kinds. Other people in the village did the same. It was more of a barter system than anything else. Now she is happier raising dicks and turkeys. I can't remember the last time I ate a chicken egg. I have just cleared a half rai beside our house and plan to have a fairly large garden there AFTER I get it fenced in.

You would likely be better off raising a couple different vegetables and trade for others with the village people.

[ozzydom]

My wife raised some vegetables but normally not more than two different kinds. Other people in the village did the same. It was more of a barter system than anything else. Now she is happier raising dicks and turkeys. I can't remember the last time I ate a chicken egg. I have just cleared a half rai beside our house and plan to have a fairly large garden there AFTER I get it fenced in.

You would likely be better off raising a couple different vegetables and trade for others with the village people.

Did your finger slip Gary ? is she raising the Spotted variety or the Whistlers???

[WeeGB]

Hi Uptou, My wife and I have a piece of land about 1/3 of a rai, and we are growing all kinds of thai vegetables. Carrots we have had success with, by growing them in soil mixed with sand, in cement pots ( the kind Thai people buy for the base of their toilet systems - unused of course!) Like most others who've replied my wife has a large extended family living around us, and everybody kind of helps each other out. I can thoroughly recommend this lifestyle to anyone, the only stress I've had is sorting out a retirement visa, and a computer that exploded, but apart from that, the most exciting thing that has happened to us is the birth of 10 baby rabbits, who were all born on the same night to two different mothers. We water our garden everyday, it hasn't rained here since we arrived late October, and the cost of the water is equivalent to less than three Pounds a month. I too, am a vegetarian, and soya pieces are available in our local Tesco here. Don't know how strict a veggie you are , but fish and prawns etc are also readily available at very low cost. My advice, get yourselves over here and check it out. You don't say if your girlfriend is a Thai national, it may be you'd have visa problems staying long-term if she's not. This is the best site to ask such questions, the sum of all human knowledge can be found here, and usually with a good sense of humour thrown in for good measure. I should know, these guys have just sorted out all my visa problems.

Peace Out - as those rapping chappies say.

[JungleBiker]

Hi Uptou,

I am not growing veggies for myself but have recently been involved in an FAO project in Laos that helped farmers grow fruits and veggies. There is lots of information on the internet, for example if you insert the words home garden vegetable FAO into Google you will come up with sites like this:

IMPROVING NUTRITION THROUGH HOME GARDENING (there are 2 versions, one for Africa and another for S E Asia) http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X3996E/x3996e00.htm#TopOfPage

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/V5290e/V5290e00.htm

The project I worked with introduced net houses for growing leafy vegetables in the rainy season (need to combine with raised beds). The net houses break the impact of rain drops which can cause soil capping, soil compaction, soil splashing, etc. You get better growth and cleaner, less diseased vegetables.

www.cityfarmer.org has lots of interesting articles like this one: http://www.cityfarmer.org/Thaigarden8.html#Bangkok

Also see The Vegetable Sector in Thailand: http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ac145e/ac145e00.htm

Another useful resource can be found here at the World Vegetable Center: http://www.avrdc.org/LC/home.html

Good luck.

JB

[WeeGB]

Hi Again Uptou, Just noticed your second posting about your girlfriend not being able to see her family.In my experience, Asian women are extremely family oriented, so this must be really upseting for her, poor lass. Best of luck to both of you, let's all hope things improve for the people of Burma this year.

Hope I haven't gone too far off topic with this posting, wouldn't want to get my bottom smacked in my first week!

[WeeGB]

Thanks for the posting Jungle Biker, there's some interesting stuff there. We'll definitely give the net idea a try when the rains come. As an aside, does anyone know where we can buy strawberry plants through the post in Thailand? We've tried using seeds from ones we bought on our local market, but without success. Didn't really expect that to work, it never did in the Uk, but if you don't try...

As a further aside Ozzydom, oooh spotted dick and custard... I've now got cravings. I'm off to look for a recipe and then I'll see if I can "backwaan" the good lady into a spot of kitchen duty. Bon Appetit!

[JungleBiker]

As an aside, does anyone know where we can buy strawberry plants through the post in Thailand?

Hi WeeGB,

I don't know about strawberry plants via post but they are available from the Chiang Mai Royal Agricultural Research Center (along with many other interesting types of fruits). It's in Hang Dong District, phone 053-432275, 248407.

JB.

Edited January 11, 2008 by JungleBiker

[uptou]

Thanks for the info.I like living in asia,& i think that this would be something that the two of us would enjoy (depending on regular availabilty of visas in chosen country).