Down On The "farm" Today

[IsaanAussie]

This story is about the spiritual side of life here in Isaan. I am not a religious person but there are things that happen here which are difficult to explain. The fatalistic approach of Buddhism where everything is seen as temporary and importance placed on doing the right thing, co-exist with all the jealousy and vindictive nature of the ghosts that haunt at least most of the programming on the local TV. So for what its worth, enjoy my latest offering.

Living with the Spirits.pdf

Isaan Aussie

[c64]

:cheesy:

Hi there IA, I'm with you there but I couldn't do anything but laugh out loudly about that spirit stuff.

Experienced some smallish things myself about the spirits/spirit houses in LOS and the crazy situations that people tends to end up in - especially the westerners

Regards

[bina]

:cheesy:

Hi there IA, I'm with you there but I couldn't do anything but laugh out loudly about that spirit stuff.

Experienced some smallish things myself about the spirits/spirit houses in LOS and the crazy situations that people tends to end up in - especially the westerners

Regards

worse then gremlins... cant save file, cant open it... its like invisible... why is that?? it doesnt seem to really exist....

bina

[IsaanAussie]

Update on Living with the Spirits, (refer previous yarn posted)

Once you install your spirit houses you have to visit each day for three days, offering food and drink and talking to the spirits. After that the devout will visit daily, or when needing help with a problem, but its a must to visit on every Big Buddha day.

Yesterday was such a Big day and the wife and MIL visited the shrine to pay homage but with the real reason being it was also Govt Lottery day and the local illegal lottery has a special 3 digit game and they wanted the winning number. So the piece of the original spirit tree was rubbed with powder in a small corner and the number sought.

Guess what 372 was revealed and it won at 800 to 1.

Luck? Co-incidence? or do these spirits really help out?

Isaan Aussie

[canopy]

Luck? Co-incidence? or do these spirits really help out?

In my observation there is a good reason auspicious numbers chosen for the lottery work so well in Thailand. It is because each and every Thai person chooses lottery numbers based on something auspicious. So anytime anyone wins, it is of course every single time able to be linked to an auspicious event that led to its choosing. Then to seal the deal it's only the winner that people will talk about and everyone quickly forgets the existence of the other million similar auspicious numbers that didn't work, including their own.

[peterallard]

I want to thank every contributer to this thread. It is, by a long ways, the BEST ONE ON THE FORUM. IA, you have the makings of probably the most informative and hilarious book ever for the aspiring falang immigrant. Taken as a whole, this thread in its entirety would make a terrific read for the outside world. Thank you all.

Re: animism - I posted this elsewhere a while ago in response to someone's question about mysterious rural explosions:

On the way to our village, we passed three fellows walking along the road and carrying what appeared to be musket-loaders.

"What are they up to," I ask Herself.

"Funeral," she says. "They shoot."

"What do they shoot, please."

"Ghost. Bad spirit."

Just one more thing I love about rural Thailand.

P

[IsaanAussie]

Luck? Co-incidence? or do these spirits really help out?

In my observation there is a good reason auspicious numbers chosen for the lottery work so well in Thailand. It is because each and every Thai person chooses lottery numbers based on something auspicious. So anytime anyone wins, it is of course every single time able to be linked to an auspicious event that led to its choosing. Then to seal the deal it's only the winner that people will talk about and everyone quickly forgets the existence of the other million similar auspicious numbers that didn't work, including their own.

Canopy,

Of course you are right. The people behind the Hoon are no mugs, 80 to 1 on the range of 00 to 99 and 800 to 1 on the range of 000 to 999. How can they loose? The odds are the odds, the sellers are in constant touch with the boss and they close numbers that have been covered too much.

But explain this to me. My wife has a better than average run of luck with the numbers, but has her lean times. But, since that spirit house went in she has not lost once, yes she takes a few other non-winners as well but on 5 baht or less bets she is currently over eight thousand baht better off in a few weeks. She was told but the magic man who set the house up not to share any number the spirits give to here and she will keep on winning. She hasn't shared nor lost since?

Auspicious indeed, do I believe it? Well she is enjoying it, so does it matter? Her standing in the community has benefited enormously. Now that I like!

Isaan Aussie

[IsaanAussie]

I want to thank every contributer to this thread. It is, by a long ways, the BEST ONE ON THE FORUM. IA, you have the makings of probably the most informative and hilarious book ever for the aspiring falang immigrant. Taken as a whole, this thread in its entirety would make a terrific read for the outside world. Thank you all.

Re: animism - I posted this elsewhere a while ago in response to someone's question about mysterious rural explosions:

On the way to our village, we passed three fellows walking along the road and carrying what appeared to be musket-loaders.

"What are they up to," I ask Herself.

"Funeral," she says. "They shoot."

"What do they shoot, please."

"Ghost. Bad spirit."

Just one more thing I love about rural Thailand.

P

Peter,

Thanks for the support. We should all instantly join in and sing the Python song "Always look on the bright side of life" There is always a lighter side even to the frustrations of rural Isaan life, its just a matter of looking for it. The alternative can be very depressing. Writing it down with a little humour added makes many of my memories much more enjoyable.

Isaan Aussie

[Foreverford]

I want to thank every contributer to this thread. It is, by a long ways, the BEST ONE ON THE FORUM. IA, you have the makings of probably the most informative and hilarious book ever for the aspiring falang immigrant. Taken as a whole, this thread in its entirety would make a terrific read for the outside world. Thank you all.

Re: animism - I posted this elsewhere a while ago in response to someone's question about mysterious rural explosions:

On the way to our village, we passed three fellows walking along the road and carrying what appeared to be musket-loaders.

"What are they up to," I ask Herself.

"Funeral," she says. "They shoot."

"What do they shoot, please."

"Ghost. Bad spirit."

Just one more thing I love about rural Thailand.

P

Peter,

Thanks for the support. We should all instantly join in and sing the Python song "Always look on the bright side of life" There is always a lighter side even to the frustrations of rural Isaan life, its just a matter of looking for it. The alternative can be very depressing. Writing it down with a little humour added makes many of my memories much more enjoyable.

Isaan Aussie

Howdy All I hope everything is good "Down On The "farm" Today " for all. It must appear everyone is as busy as me (tell the truth) and doesn't have time to share what it is. well what it is? as dey say. I definitely can't put it down at this attempt as I beat the sun and all the vendors to Kaesesart U Ag Fair this morning and off to change hotels and make a noon golf game (so busy?). This was an interesting year as we continue to improve the land (26 tons of chicken manure and 20 tons of cane ash along with multipile green manure crops in the off season for these old rice farms that ill soon not be just "old rice farms". Ducks hogs laying hens lots of mangoes nd lots more coconut trees along with hopefully tons and tons of bananas will see our ground in the esxtremely short future. This year itis more Pah Teung beans fo9r cover crops and seeds and then we intro9duce co9rn and pumpkins on a slightly large scale for feed ands sale. Yeah fruity i had to give up the idea of putting a train shipping line in to bring out all the frogs rtio sjhip to the Eifel Tower in Paris but still will try to bring on the survivors of your family that are living in the peaceful comfort of the hiomestead as the condos were washed off to some far away land as half of Cambodia came washing thru thiis year. I put in that huge pond you saw me digging and it's about 6 plus meters deep and then I ringed the entire plot on the farm you saw with a 2X2 meter klong so i think we will be doing more catfish and nile perch than frogs as i think profitability will be better (it cost a lot of money to lay down railroad tracks all the way to bangkok and either buy or make railroad cars, you never explained it that way when you guaranteed that the 3000 baht I spendt buying frog stocks was going to make me a multi bazillionaire.).

Guess i can't make this all in one paragraph so let;'s see where we start for the year. I think i may have left everybody with the rice being planted on the small farm (the newly to be irrigated) and rain falling the next day. Well it never rained again, much, many many people lost their entire plantings and without our fledging ability to irrigate we would have also but we survived the drought of 2010 luckily. Of course everbody in and around Buriram and korat know the rest of the story. we got hit with the 100 year floods later in the year (after getting the once in a lifetime floods about tjhree years ago). The "klong", we'd call it a river anywhere else as it is about 30 meters across on average and about ten meters deep got to flood stage and then finally came over my newly constructed 2 meter high "big levee road" ...got to go will continue but just for the records rice doesn't do well when it is under 7-8 feet of water for weeks on end. Choke Dee and if you own a Ford and can say Fore life is not too bad, peace and love me forever with Fords Don't go back

[Foreverford]

I want to thank every contributer to this thread. It is, by a long ways, the BEST ONE ON THE FORUM. IA, you have the makings of probably the most informative and hilarious book ever for the aspiring falang immigrant. Taken as a whole, this thread in its entirety would make a terrific read for the outside world. Thank you all.

Re: animism - I posted this elsewhere a while ago in response to someone's question about mysterious rural explosions:

On the way to our village, we passed three fellows walking along the road and carrying what appeared to be musket-loaders.

"What are they up to," I ask Herself.

"Funeral," she says. "They shoot."

"What do they shoot, please."

"Ghost. Bad spirit."

Just one more thing I love about rural Thailand.

P

Peter,

Thanks for the support. We should all instantly join in and sing the Python song "Always look on the bright side of life" There is always a lighter side even to the frustrations of rural Isaan life, its just a matter of looking for it. The alternative can be very depressing. Writing it down with a little humour added makes many of my memories much more enjoyable.

Isaan Aussie

Howdy All I hope everything is good "Down On The "farm" Today " for all. It must appear everyone is as busy as me (tell the truth) and doesn't have time to share what it is. well what it is? as dey say. I definitely can't put it down at this attempt as I beat the sun and all the vendors to Kaesesart U Ag Fair this morning and off to change hotels and make a noon golf game (so busy?). This was an interesting year as we continue to improve the land (26 tons of chicken manure and 20 tons of cane ash along with multipile green manure crops in the off season for these old rice farms that ill soon not be just "old rice farms". Ducks hogs laying hens lots of mangoes nd lots more coconut trees along with hopefully tons and tons of bananas will see our ground in the esxtremely short future. This year itis more Pah Teung beans fo9r cover crops and seeds and then we intro9duce co9rn and pumpkins on a slightly large scale for feed ands sale. Yeah fruity i had to give up the idea of putting a train shipping line in to bring out all the frogs rtio sjhip to the Eifel Tower in Paris but still will try to bring on the survivors of your family that are living in the peaceful comfort of the hiomestead as the condos were washed off to some far away land as half of Cambodia came washing thru thiis year. I put in that huge pond you saw me digging and it's about 6 plus meters deep and then I ringed the entire plot on the farm you saw with a 2X2 meter klong so i think we will be doing more catfish and nile perch than frogs as i think profitability will be better (it cost a lot of money to lay down railroad tracks all the way to bangkok and either buy or make railroad cars, you never explained it that way when you guaranteed that the 3000 baht I spendt buying frog stocks was going to make me a multi bazillionaire.).

Guess i can't make this all in one paragraph so let;'s see where we start for the year. I think i may have left everybody with the rice being planted on the small farm (the newly to be irrigated) and rain falling the next day. Well it never rained again, much, many many people lost their entire plantings and without our fledging ability to irrigate we would have also but we survived the drought of 2010 luckily. Of course everbody in and around Buriram and korat know the rest of the story. we got hit with the 100 year floods later in the year (after getting the once in a lifetime floods about tjhree years ago). The "klong", we'd call it a river anywhere else as it is about 30 meters across on average and about ten meters deep got to flood stage and then finally came over my newly constructed 2 meter high "big levee road" ...got to go will continue but just for the records rice doesn't do well when it is under 7-8 feet of water for weeks on end. Choke Dee and if you own a Ford and can say Fore life is not too bad, peace and love me forever with Fords Don't go back

Oh My The taxi driver was 20 years old and from Issan but he picked me up after i got down from the Skytrain he saw I had my golf bag and i told him Bangkok Sports club ... golf... horse racing.......... gambling!!?? etc and only 1-2 km away. He said yeah I know ok and off we go. About a few more than a couple k and nothing looking correct I call my Thai buddy and he talks to the driver and he is going to the wrong racetrack and golf course andit's 30 minutes from the point he picked me up to get back to it again....... yeah I missed my tee time and had to catch them on the second hole but it just got better and better from that point on as we helped a good buddy celebrate his 50th birthday ? why Dr. HS Thompson is his role model i don't understand, but every so often it's time to persue similar literary and life patterns, fear not.

So where were we.... yes raging flooding rivers and torrents of Cambodia awash through the flats of Lavia (the village) and all earth and mass between atwixt and about. Water crested over the top of my "big levee road" but the levee held as it spilled over in a couple of places. I had monster excavator transports on this old newly renovated"bike and buffalo" path last year and obviously the Ford's work stood the test but unfortunately a bit further up stream the main government road and levee couldn't handle the flow and it spilled over and eventually blew it out in a couple of places and 100's of thousands of rai if not millions went under. It blew out my one and a half meter tall interior levee road systems as it ripped through in its initial surge. The weather was rather pleasant at the time in California as I was visiting with my mom. That ended access to the main farm for many many weeks as the ten mile detour upstream to get in to the back side around the river was impassable also. Good news was the other big farm planted much later out nearr the back side wasn't hit as bad and it could take the meter or so of water it was sitting in. All the people who cried as they saw their crops burn up in the earlier drought now could just look as their friends now took their turn shedding tears as their yearly income sat rotting in the flood waters.

We managed to get a crop from the main farm though it was completely under water for weeks (lucky it was "head-high" due to being able to irrigate thru the drought when the floods hit) and the crops at the other two farms came in much better. Nowhere near the 29 tons we have harvested in the past but 29 tons of the old methods equated to a 1/4 million baht loss. This year we will make a profit through all the adversity. I don't think it has as good a flavoras in the past but everyone who has had it for the first time thinks it is the best rice that they have ever eaten (Europeans Vietnamese and Chinese) but I think it may be time to try to find new seed stock. So now I am in need of some very serious help as the main farm has been operating for three years completely organically with no chems of any kind. With the flood waters on the farm will I need to go through another 3 year period of organic methods to be in line with all international certification standards? (I'll will base my conclusions on the standards that are set for the State of California under the USDA or the major body that dictates for the EU). As stated in my earlier posts the province of Buriram has no ability to certify organic though the neighboring province of Surin has an excellent organization.

I'm in Hua Hin and the final piece of the puzzle for the main farm should be put in today. A multi-stage submersible pump is going in the well and then we will have a year round water source to go with the lake and klong system that we have on the this 14 rai piece. I am going to expand the klong to completely surround the plot and also put in two more lakes. The box scraper on the Ford will haul all the topsoils out of these areas to the homesite at the main lake and to top off the irregularities in previous levelling of the the farm. The heavy clay sub soils I will put into place around the farm with the box and my newly adapted angle dozer blade (oh yes it can still rip with those big teeth i mount on it) and make the levee around the farm at least two meters and then i will raise the main levee road up another half a meter or so. At that point i don't think there can be a way that we can be affected by any water that isn't generated from within our property and then there can't ever be any question as to "is it really organic?". I truly believe aqua-culture could be a huge part of the future income of this old rice farm. As I have said before these levees will be the beds to plaqnt many different types of fruit and coconut trees that will also be above the flood levels (100 year floods included!)

The big and main farm are both in cover crops of pah teung that are getting close to be tilled under for green manure and we will leave some sections in the big farm for seedstock for replanting and sale. We started quite a few pumpkins in Dec and just transplanted them into the main farm and hopefully will have a bunch more and corn to be going in this year. I have quite a few different kinds of tomatoes (I'll really try hard to get over and see you in a little bit ol' Soi Dogger and hopefully I can turn you on to some wild Mexican tomatoe seeds and seedlings). We just finished constructing a 8x8 meter clear fiberglass roofed pole barn type structure in the homestead that we will use for an outside kitchen, solar hot water heater, worm composting facility, fish and frog infirmary, bar-b-que shack, and most importantly an all year rain free area to grow hopefully prize tomatoes. Ol Dogger I've got a bunch of heirlooms and they all seemed to germinate well but have been in flats since well befor xmas but it has been so darn cold I haven't even transplanted them as I don't think they are strong enough yet. Should be about perfect in a couple of days when i head back to the farm (Chinese New Year on the roads eeegodds).

I saw some rice straw floating in one of the klongs the other day and found one of the solutions to organic feed for the ducks and laying hens, snails. they were all over the straw that was floating and it reminded me of all the monster tennis ball sized snail we harvested off of the bottoms of the 55 gallon drums that we used to build the Hilton Frog Condos. I should be able to harvest tons of the buggers to feed them when they are young and it should be great protein and calcium for the entire life of the laying hens and another use for that nasty ol rice straw.

Well all I'm typed out for the day but just got a call from the wife and the seven stage pump is pumping like a jewell and she thinks the water tastes as good as it can get which is really good news as the water at the homestead is very hard tasting before we run it through dern near nuclear multi-filtering before drinking and selling it (1 baht a liter). So the first decade is over and we move on to the next of this millenia and it's still the same two words that dictate the way we will live, water and contamination. Can't do without the one and strive to do without the other. peace and love and Fords Forever

[soidog2]

"Can't do without the one and strive to do without the other.

peace and love and Fords Forever"

Mr Ford !

Reading in between the lines of your first post, it was a difficult year in your neck of the woods !

Hopefully this one will be better for you.

Looking forward your wild Mexican tomatoes and I can definitely use some tractor induced remodeling advice; on a nice piece I am in the middle of acquiring.

Mango season coming up, busy taking care of my trees also just finished pulling about 30 rais of cassava with about another 30 to go.

From the back yard, it's a shot of some nice giant lemons for you.

Best regards.

[Foreverford]

"Can't do without the one and strive to do without the other.

peace and love and Fords Forever"

Mr Ford !

Reading in between the lines of your first post, it was a difficult year in your neck of the woods !

Hopefully this one will be better for you.

Looking forward your wild Mexican tomatoes and I can definitely use some tractor induced remodeling advice; on a nice piece I am in the middle of acquiring.

Mango season coming up, busy taking care of my trees also just finished pulling about 30 rais of cassava with about another 30 to go.

From the back yard, it's a shot of some nice giant lemons for you.

Best regards.

sorry about the bad luck you are having with your lemons but it appears the only way you are going to keep those trees from comitting suicide and breaking off their branches is by picking the darn things and making juice (a yuk a yuka ha ha). I will try to PM so we can exchange phone #'s to get together.

[Foreverford]

"Can't do without the one and strive to do without the other.

peace and love and Fords Forever"

Mr Ford !

Reading in between the lines of your first post, it was a difficult year in your neck of the woods !

Hopefully this one will be better for you.

Looking forward your wild Mexican tomatoes and I can definitely use some tractor induced remodeling advice; on a nice piece I am in the middle of acquiring.

Mango season coming up, busy taking care of my trees also just finished pulling about 30 rais of cassava with about another 30 to go.

From the back yard, it's a shot of some nice giant lemons for you.

Best regards.

sorry about the bad luck you are having with your lemons but it appears the only way you are going to keep those trees from comitting suicide and breaking off their branches is by picking the darn things and making juice (a yuk a yuka ha ha). I will try to PM so we can exchange phone #'s to get together.

Lot's going on and Soidoggeroo what do you say. About a week or two ago I got Issan Aussie's compost inside and out of the Ford Wagon hauled it back fro Si Sa Ket and took your advice and got it on and around the ground I was preparing to transplant the exotic tomatoes that you got. The planting holes got a bunch of it and a good dose of EM. I'm told (in the US freezing waiting to be in Death Valley for the full moon ande the first day of spring and hopefully the biggest beautiest spring bloom of wild flowers in the last 1000 years) they look extremely impressive now. after thinning each bag to the strongest plant I did take your advice and cut nearly all the leaves and branches off and planted them very deeply with just a few branches left. Corn carrots and cucumbers (the half meter long kind with the edible skins) have continued to be palnted and the pumpkins are doing well but I fear they are going to suffer from lack of water while we are away but time will tell. The iron mongers have fisnished the "Ban Badan" as i call it, "well house". It's really a "Ban Tahnk" " Tank House" but actually it's just a bunch of pieces of galvanised that goes up nearly ten meters and has two 2000 gallon tanks on top of it holding a lot of nicely warmed air at the moment. I'll get back and manage a bunch of valves and switches and flow restrictors and pipes and valves and ....... well a couple of more ........ and well anywho the well is in the tankhouse is up in the air the tanks are on top the electricity is there and sweet abundant water flows with a flick of a switch. The steel structure will get covered in wood and insulation and have a few doors and windows put it and will become a two story (it's 3x3 meters long and wide) house for now. the second floor south facing window is going to have a full time steel window shade which will have a coil of HDPE flexible roll of black water pipe and that will be the hot water system. I managed to repair and increase the size of the border levees that were damaged in the massive floods this year. Lot's of it is up (well not too much of lotsa it) to two meters high and i think another half of meter might do it but will need to bring out some surveying equipment when it gets that close. Still the modification of the front blade of The Ford so it works as an angle dozer is making it really go fast and good. dey ain't seen nuttin like dis in dees parts ya all. gotta go but will tell of more as the fingers thaw. me

[soidog2]

It would be difficult for a mere mortal to comprehend how busy we are.

The 49 rai, you saw, are near completion. 49 Excavator hours, about the same tractor hours with may be 30 to go.

Must go to supervise several time a day, it not, it will become moonscape.

It started to rain, we need to plow and plant cassava on 60 rai. Finding workers when everybody wants to do the same thing; it's not eassy.

After the rains softened the rice paddies, we have about 50 rai to plow as well.

This morning, I just finished spraying the mango farm, the fruit is heavy and the bugs are coming!

The pizza oven is nearing completion, I must supervise very close.

Nobody around here ever saw refractive bricks, mortar and cement.

On the other hand, your Mexican tomatoes are doing fine. See attached.

Don't ask who's what, I lost the tags a long time ago.

Best regards.

[Foreverford]

It would be difficult for a mere mortal to comprehend how busy we are.

The 49 rai, you saw, are near completion. 49 Excavator hours, about the same tractor hours with may be 30 to go.

Must go to supervise several time a day, it not, it will become moonscape.

It started to rain, we need to plow and plant cassava on 60 rai. Finding workers when everybody wants to do the same thing; it's not eassy.

After the rains softened the rice paddies, we have about 50 rai to plow as well.

This morning, I just finished spraying the mango farm, the fruit is heavy and the bugs are coming!

The pizza oven is nearing completion, I must supervise very close.

Nobody around here ever saw refractive bricks, mortar and cement.

On the other hand, your Mexican tomatoes are doing fine. See attached.

Don't ask who's what, I lost the tags a long time ago.

Best regards.

Oh baby looks mighty fine indeed. I think you have a couple of Louisiana specials a "Ciudad Juarez" a "Glacier" and i can't remember my own name and what all else but I have managed to have most of mine documented (wife did too out on the small farm and then her sister "cleaned up a bit and thru away all the tags so it's mysteryville there but will be fun and will try to collect "hybrid" seeds there to create new strains, so all is well. I may try to germinate a bunch more in April to try a rainy season experiment under the roofed area. I told you that new big plot wasn't a lot of work and less than 150 hours is not bad. As always supervision is the key to any project like that, with my tank tower i THOUGHT WE HAD AN UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE LADDER ON THE INSIDE AND WHEN IT CAME TO THAT TIME THE BOSS SAID HE THOUGHT ABOUT AND WASN'T REALLY SURE SO HE DECIDED TO FABRICATE AND ATTACH TO THE OUTSIDE INSTEAD OF SPend two minutes making a phone call and he pput it on the outside . that is one beauteous piece of oith you are preparing. Tomatoes and Fords forever

[lannarebirth]

Was there anything more like a woman than a tomato.(My Brother In Law stopped by with this bit of Thai wisdom) If you give them everything they could ever need or want they give back next to nothing. If you sort of forget you ever planted them you're playing catch up to keep building a framework that will support them. Luckily we're dealing with the latter case this year, but it was not always thus.

[Foreverford]

Was there anything more like a woman than a tomato.(My Brother In Law stopped by with this bit of Thai wisdom) If you give them everything they could ever need or want they give back next to nothing. If you sort of forget you ever planted them you're playing catch up to keep building a framework that will support them. Luckily we're dealing with the latter case this year, but it was not always thus.

Now is that the tomatoes you are talking about or the woman?

[Foreverford]

Thought I'd refresh this old topic as I think the farmers are getting older than the topic and too busy to kick in a few (yep even for me I think this will be a short one) lines about what is going on. I'm looking fior fish emulsion in lieu of chicken manure at the moment for my nitrogen fixes but have gotten no responses. The rice is in after way too much early rain (la nina effect after last years disasterous el nino) over a short period of time. Now we are in the grip of a one month no rain drought. we had to do a bit of hand planting in lieu of our preferred broadcast (scatter) seeding because of so much water in one farm. This year we are using two new products. A all in one (no nitrogen) sort of, "Beyond Organic" liguid for topical spraying and a new nano-calcium powder "Supergreen" for foilar application also. So these have ben incorporated along with the compost, animal manures, EM, bio-char and cover crops of sun hemp (pah teung) along with the elimination of the plough and only using the disc and rotovator has really shown a great improvement in the structure and tilth of the soil. No new lakes or klongs have been built this year as they were added to the list of future projects but is still very high on the list. the new adapter to create an angle Dozer blade configurtation with the front blade on the Ford has paid for itself about a thousand times over already but still haven't got the levee up to two meters all the way aroungd the farm but getting close and that will eventually be filled and occupied by a lot of lemon grass, galanga and cilantro along with hunfdreds of trees. Right now it looks like we'll be putting some sweet corn ontop these levees that will be above the flood plain when it gets really wet. Neighbors have been complete idiots as they want to come 3-5 meters onto our property and claim half the leveeas theirs as they have come and removed all our boundary cement monuments. goofy mean ugklly people that are very foolish and lazy and make s a real pain in the butter to try to do something new and good but they are clueless and cause a lot of grief and trouble. to the ignorant keep cleaning behind your ears as you always have your head in the ground. Hoping for rain today to make life easier. Two farms don't have any irrigation so no alternative. Lakes and klongs on main farm have both been stocked with catfish so should get a good harvest at the end of rice season but now the water has been used to supplement the rice on the main farm. A good crop is going there as we have three different planting times two of which were hand planted transplants. Nothing is waist high yet but trying to be. a big truckful of manure would be nice but managed two crops of sun hemp as a cover this year along with all the straw so will go a bit of cheap charlie and maybe not bring in a ten wheeler and see what we get. I really hope this "Supergreen' lives up to its test results but actually with no controls this year (just threw the dice and logistics made us go in 100% with the new amenmdments on all of the crop) we won't know the true effects of the new fertilizers so hoopefully next year we can do it a bit more scientifically to check on growth and yield and all results. So i said it would be a short one and maybe it is but the Ford has remained a real workhorse and though getting a bit worn still not worn out, operator maybe moreso, such it is and seems to always be. thanks for all the help from those who contribute here, we definitely miss jahndta but waters edge and Issan Aussie help pick up the slack from his fantastic contributions. Let it rain. Forever Ford

[IsaanAussie]

Challenged by FEF to live up to the challenge of offering an amusing story again I thought I would wait until something amusing happened. Well I didn't have to wait long.

The Players

Moon - My wife

Nick - Drunken useless no-conscience BIL. Civility and Forum rules limit any further description of this piece of Big Faced seeking <deleted>.

Skinny - Moons mother

Tonight we had a visit from our PooYai, for once nothing to do with us. A couple of days ago Moon apparently asked Nick to go and find a Papaya from the villagers and gave him 20 baht to pay for it. Nick goes to an old guy, Khun Hello's house and asks for a papaya. The old guy asks why he wants it and Nick tells him it is for Moon. Oh, she doesn’t have to pay she can have all the small fruit of that tree in the front that she wants, points to a tree and rides off on his bike. But the BIG beautiful ones out the back are the ones that Nick wants and takes one. The twenty baht ends up in the bottom of a whiskey bottle somewhere and Nick proudly comes home a hero with a beautiful fruit. Yesterday the old guy comes to see Moon and tells her that he is not angry with her but Nick stole one of the two papaya that his wife was growing for seeds out the back. Moon says she didn’t know anything about that and apologies thinking that he had been paid so things weren't too bad. She also apologised for the tongue lashing that his wife must have given him, he nodded slowly, shrugged and wandered off. Tonight the Poo Yai turns up and drags the family over to Khun Hellos house. The old guy is furious, his wife is ballistic and Nick is in the firing line. Seems that Nick, drunk as usual, had met one of his freeloading mates who had seen the prize papaya Nick had before and offered a drink or two in exchange for one just like it. Nick was more than happy to go fetch the last of the prized seed papayas. Pretty easy pickings actually since no-one was home to accidently bump into and no need to attempt to talk in his drunken state. At the square off session, again the old guy apologises to Moon and to her Mum and says that he is not angry at them, they are people with good hearts. But the wife has eyes for only one person, Nick. Those eyes glow red when she turns to Nick and says, "You will pay me 1,000 baht for my papaya you stole. If you don’t pay the Poo Yai will take me to the police and you will go to the jail!" Silence. Now comes the fireworks, Skinny grabs half a tree and starts beating Nick to the ground. At 24 kilograms, even her rage can't hold this limb up for more than a few swings, so she drops and starts in with the boots. Well actually bare feet, bare boney feet. Everybody else dives for cover, everybody meaning half the sticky nose village that has turned up to trunk in. At a safe distant they all just stand and watch Nick now covered in shame and a healthy amount of mud and buffalo crap get what has long been overdue. Like all naughty children he gets his ear grabbed, twisted almost off and dragged by the lug home. Me, I just sat on a chair and watched it all happen. Even the reenactments that all the village kids performed once the stage was cleared.

In the words of Billy Connelly, "You'll get yours Jimmy"!

[loong]

Hi all,

I can't imagine how you big boy farmers have been coping this rainy season.

With the constant rain these last few months I have been unable to keep up with the weed and grass growth in my 2 little plots. Mind you, without the grass holding it together, most of my soil would probably have washed away.

September is usually the best time of year for starting seedlings for the coming cooler season and I really hope to see some drier periods soon.

[IsaanAussie]

OK, so FEF is back and its only a matter to time before he publishes another Down on the Farm Epic, so I thought it was time to issue the challenge to him this time and get in first. I wrote a message to a friend today which was amusing so I thought I would rewrite it t todays story. Actually true, it did happen ...

Room for a Laugh.pdf

Hope you enjoy it.

Isaan Aussie

[Foreverford]

OK, so FEF is back and its only a matter to time before he publishes another Down on the Farm Epic, so I thought it was time to issue the challenge to him this time and get in first. I wrote a message to a friend today which was amusing so I thought I would rewrite it t todays story. Actually true, it did happen ...

Room for a Laugh.pdf

Hope you enjoy it.

Isaan Aussie

"Doesn't matter what they're looking at just as long as they are looking" or something like that was a quote from the end of Steinbeck's " Cannery Row" or "Sweet Thursday". If you read them them IA maybe you renmember why it was said. I wonder if its almost the same as "doesn't matter what they are reading just as long as they are"? Well I've saddled up to the internet cafe's slap traption and here goes again. A day in the life of "Down On The "farm" Todday" . Hey that sound like a pretty gopod title to a song (if yoou drop the quotes) if you could find four mop head kids to sing it (nah no way not a good idea)? Anywho and how and what should be laid out to the world to see today "Down On". Well the level is rising and after coming up about 7-8 meters it has one meter more before it reaches the top of the levee on the big klong and at our place that is about 30 or so meters wide. So you might figure that at the surging river-like flow of this monster water snake that it is somewhat like liquid dynamite. I was able to put another 50 cm on the top of the levee at a nasty turn of a oxbowand right on th property boundry so hopefully it'll hold on this historically weak spot. the rice is huge and broad and way overhead and starting to set up. It's hasn't ever been this huge but the last time it was close to this size until further upstream from our new levees the main levee explioded and put under tens if not hundreds of thousands of rai underwater and ours was comopl;etely under for nearly two weeks and probably lost 80%. It wopuld be fun to see if we can move towards the magic 1000 kilo mark but ain't that like counting chickens before the eggs are even laid? Avos doing ok but lost most of the Taku hardwoodf trees to the drought we had after the earlier pre-season floods. The bifg farm is weed infested due to the flooding and later drought ( and laziness in not cutting it down after the drought finally passed) but believe that the nano calcium Supergreen, EM and "Beyond Organic" micro nutrient spray we formulated were verry effective in keeeping the rice strong thru the drought. Tons of other things going on bubut got to go now. So "Nickles" 36 years ago was some kind of wild times but that story will wait until we get together, too much, too long ago to even think of putting to print even for esteemed students of the College of Small Minds. Peace and lotsa love 4 4'ds 4ever

[somo]

Hi FEF

Interested in "Supergreen, EM and "Beyond Organic" micro nutrient spray we formulated"

I have tested just supergreen on cassava and it works well so wondered what else you add to it.

ie what is EM and "beyond organaic"

I have been trying to think of ways of adding some NPK to the supergreen so as to kill 2 birds with one stone when spraying. Hoping your EM and beyond organic are the answer.

Steve

[Foreverford]

<br />Hi FEF<br />Interested in "Supergreen, EM and "Beyond Organic" micro nutrient spray we formulated"<br />I have tested just supergreen on cassava and it works well so wondered what else you add to it.<br />ie what is EM and "beyond organaic" <br />I have been trying to think of ways of adding some NPK to the supergreen so as to kill 2 birds with one stone when spraying. Hoping your EM and beyond organic are the answer.<br />Steve<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Hey Somo internet and this site are acting peculiar but will try to9 answer. BO and EM are not your answer for NPK but are micronutrients in BO and microorganisms in the EM. Y9ou will see info on EM in the pinned subjects above and hopefully at the end of this will be some info for you on the BO. Krauti had said he didn't get much results with cassava in field tests so hopefully you are proving him wrong but I was very satisfied with the results I got though it wasn't a very good test this year do to a multitude of factors. Hopefully next year will be much more scientific but Ifeel it was rather helpful to get the rice thru drought stress. Choke Dee. Sorry no luck downloaDING info but can send to you if you wish or will try again later at another internet cafe. Fumbling on Fords Forever

[IsaanAussie]

<br />Hi FEF<br />Interested in "Supergreen, EM and "Beyond Organic" micro nutrient spray we formulated"<br />I have tested just supergreen on cassava and it works well so wondered what else you add to it.<br />ie what is EM and "beyond organaic" <br />I have been trying to think of ways of adding some NPK to the supergreen so as to kill 2 birds with one stone when spraying. Hoping your EM and beyond organic are the answer.<br />Steve<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Hey Somo internet and this site are acting peculiar but will try to9 answer. BO and EM are not your answer for NPK but are micronutrients in BO and microorganisms in the EM. Y9ou will see info on EM in the pinned subjects above and hopefully at the end of this will be some info for you on the BO. Krauti had said he didn't get much results with cassava in field tests so hopefully you are proving him wrong but I was very satisfied with the results I got though it wasn't a very good test this year do to a multitude of factors. Hopefully next year will be much more scientific but Ifeel it was rather helpful to get the rice thru drought stress. Choke Dee. Sorry no luck downloaDING info but can send to you if you wish or will try again later at another internet cafe. Fumbling on Fords Forever

A wise man once said, if you can get the sh1t in the right spot and it still won't help th crop.

You got take it out of the bags!

[somo]

<br />Hi FEF<br />Interested in "Supergreen, EM and "Beyond Organic" micro nutrient spray we formulated"<br />I have tested just supergreen on cassava and it works well so wondered what else you add to it.<br />ie what is EM and "beyond organaic" <br />I have been trying to think of ways of adding some NPK to the supergreen so as to kill 2 birds with one stone when spraying. Hoping your EM and beyond organic are the answer.<br />Steve<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Hey Somo internet and this site are acting peculiar but will try to9 answer. BO and EM are not your answer for NPK but are micronutrients in BO and microorganisms in the EM. Y9ou will see info on EM in the pinned subjects above and hopefully at the end of this will be some info for you on the BO. Krauti had said he didn't get much results with cassava in field tests so hopefully you are proving him wrong but I was very satisfied with the results I got though it wasn't a very good test this year do to a multitude of factors. Hopefully next year will be much more scientific but Ifeel it was rather helpful to get the rice thru drought stress. Choke Dee. Sorry no luck downloaDING info but can send to you if you wish or will try again later at another internet cafe. Fumbling on Fords Forever

My supergreen tests weren't very scientific but the results of spraying some rather sickly cassava were very noticable. I was surprised as the literature did say it wasn't that applicable to that type of plant but in addition to growing well the leaf size was significantly increased.

Next season will be doing a thorough investigation but know enough that I will be using it on 95% of my cassava.

As it doesn't contain any NPK I am looking for ways to incorporate that. I know krauti is also working on it so maybe by next spring we will have the perfect concoction.

[elgato]

Just finished the entire thread - Great Read! I want more!!!!

[IsaanAussie]

About time for a few more ripping yarns.

[loong]

This thread has lost momentum a bit lateely. Guess we have all been busy or nothing to say.

I've been busy weeding. As I am going back to the UK for a visit next month, have to get as much of the grass out as possible because this time of year, with the rain, I am likely to return to a jungle.

Always amazes me how the stuff that you don't want grows really easily

We had the Mother of all storms today. Gale force winds, extremely heavy rain and to cap it all, hailstones.

About half of my little plot has held up quite well, but a lot has been smashed into the ground. I'm actually quite relieved, because I was expecting a lot more damage.

Although a lot of my immature Kale, flowering pak choi and chinese cabbage looks very sorry for itself, I know that these can easily recover from the worst batterings, so will see what happens in the next week.

[IsaanAussie]

The days of the organic farm are numbered, the chemical giants are engulfing the fields spreading their poisons. But a small group of vegetables are fighting back.