Bluey's Quarterly Wrap

[Bluetongue]

Summary: Hot to f***ing hot especially Feb and March

What else:

The mango trees are late but dripping good looking fruit. The parched brown earth is crying out for succour. A 10 minute storm gives 10 minutes relief, 20 mins a day and a half. Lamyai, my primary crop, does not like heat that much. The trees are just not looking their perky pretty darn selves, the new leaves are taking an age and I am full of foreboding. I've been irrigating, holding off, irrigating the last two times said two rainfalls happened and I, wet anyway was soaked in cold fresh rain. Now I've been crook for a week, finally dragged off to the big quack he tells me I have pneumonia. Meanwhile another day cooks outside, the dogs look at me with their big brown eyes, begging lets go uh, lets go uh. I dont really want any of my Bils improving my irrigation system for me so I think what I will do is rope in a kid to run in under the trees and fix up the sprinklers, they get frogs, snails lizards, fish, ant, and dirt to clog them up. Meanwhile I'll just walk around and bark orders, barking being the operative word as my throat is pretty dry and raspy and without all those beers that I usually lubricate with.

Sorry guys not really a lot to do with my farming but I've got a lot on my chest.

[cooked]

Give us more!

I am building a small but very complicated fish pool (Koi) at the moment, (not my idea, the wife's - to me it looks just right for a small pool with drinking facilities- fridge and bottle openers every 1 meter), have to get the concreting done before the rains wash dirt down into the foundations. 'Koi' is a very naughty word around here.

34 C at 11 am today and humid 38%, = 'intense discomfort, avoid exertion' That's ok with me. Maybe 'sit down and drink a beer' would be more like it. ( http://www.csgnetwork.com/canhumidexcalc.html )

Anyway I finished the form work just now and am looking forward to mixing 6 M3 of concrete by hand tomorrow, no way will I let a Thai help, they seem to prefer making soup to concrete and I am too skinny too buy a ฿16 000.- concrete mixer for a one off job.

We have one longan tree here that refuses to grow whatever we do to it. The wild mangoes here are ok but the cultivars have hardly any fruit, it rained at just the wrong time for them. In Isaan..

How about a new thread, 'not really a lot to do with farming' ?

[Bluetongue]

On my gunner list is a barbeque. The little bucket ones are OK but I like to stand, not much on squatting with the dodgy motorbike knee. I had an aluminium one but cheap piece of crap that it was has now eroded into the ground. I'm thinking a brick and concrete one. Presumably I can find a plan on the net but if not I have one in mind from what I used to have at work.

Went outside to lay under the mamuang tree on my daybed but Bil 4 snoring his morning Lao Khao off annoyed me so I have retreated inside. At least the missus is sympathetic, she has not turned the vacuum cleaner (otherwise known as the annoy the shit out of Bluey until he does something machine) on.

34.2 in the shade.

[David48]

Hey Bluetounge ... I'm liking this thread.

Nice and meaty ... just how I like my snags* ... not too much fat, nor filling.

Just something I can get my teeth into ...

*EDIT ... not implying in any fashion that you are a Sensitive New Age Guy ...

.

[Bluetongue]

The dogs have given up on me and are snoozing away at my feet. The missus has gone to eat kwit dee o and I've just had a fish sandwich for lunch. No snags here at the moment of the meaty variety or the handbag envy variety.

The thunder is banging away and there are a few drops now but this happens every day, nothing to write home about yet.

While we're on about fish anyone identify this, caught a little while ago when someone netted an empty dam, I want some, pity they killed it it had a gutful of eggs too.

[cooked]

Barbonymus gonionotus, silver barb or Java barb. ปลาตะเพียน

If you can eat it my wife knows what it is, generally.

Aroi...

[Canada]

Between our 4 plots of sugarcane, we have been running our pumps non stop. Freaking hot and dry for too long. Kubotas and fuel were not in the budget for this year but I am looking at at 4th set up now. We have only got 2 holes on each plot so we run 2 on one and one on another. We need another set up to get through these conditions. Anybody that does not have water available is just watching their sugarcane die. Locally, the Thais are impressed that I am still camping with no electricity (or fan). It's been quite a while now. I think we are looking at another 3 weeks before we will have the new house ceremony. I think we'll celebrate and run the generator all night to operate a fan. I'll have to post some pics of our new digs.

[RedBullHorn]

Sorry for the insult, I'm the fortunate one all this years for having water year round, but water level in the streams are lower than my ponds requirement so pumping in this season's low is expected and costly but all within my cost structure. Havesting 80'000 catfishes in 2 days time.

Endure~~~ the rain's coming soon !

[Bluetongue]

my favourite Bil (hard working, honest, doesn't drink too much, looks after his family) offered me his trees for 10 years yesterday at 60k per. Very attractive but he wants the money up front, something to do with him buying a pickup last year and expecting to be able to make the repayments by using it to transport labour around, except they haven't set enough (or any) aside from the money it's been earning. Anyway if I had a spare 600k I'd seriously think about it except I'd have to take on permanent labour just about. Still though about it for a day, could have squeezed it but said no. He has got a beautiful big pool though, much more water than he needs hmmm.

[somo]

Nice thread Blue, nothing too serious just like chatting.

If your 600k would earn you 200k/ year it s worth it I guess. That's the kind of payback I look at in

the topsy turvy village world where nothing is quite sure.

Canada, would love to know more details of your wells/irrigation set up.

Want to try out myself on some cassava. Ie do you pump up and store in a tower and

how do you get it to the land. sprinklers/drip feed?

Me I,m suffering in Bangkok heat which is the worst kind.

[Bluetongue]

Ah Somo but at least you can probably buy feta cheese and decent olives and have a greek supper for a change

200k per year net would be doable I reckon, last year from 73 mature and 65 5 year old trees we got more than that, but we did the day in day out stuff ourselves, me and the old cheese. This is 120 mature trees, I'd have to employ labour. I've said no and I meant it but if it comes up again next year when his next car payment would be due well who knows.

I know what you mean about village price fluctuations, right after harvest at the end of last year people were going round renting at 2 and half times that price. The only people making money here right at this moment are excavator operators, and for some of the farmers getting holes dug it is as if they think having dug the hole they will have water as they sure needed it last month, some do get a slow fill but some dont.

[Wat dee]

Yeah,Real Captain America barking his commands.

[Bluetongue]

Yeah,Real Captain America barking his commands.

Nup you've lost me there

Anyway wound up the quarter with a good storm yesterday, 30mm, puts the pressure off me to irrigate and allows the pneumonia a little more time to recover,

[Canada]

We had a good storm here 2 nights ago. Everyone is visibly relieved

[cooked]

Rain you mean? Wassat? Not seen any since a five minute sprinkle in January, God bless the Isaan farmer.

[Bluetongue]

Rained the 31st about 30mm, also heaps of wind trees down etc, the 1st 15mm, and its building up to it today. Also the planes have been out every day, can hear them now, no way of knowing whether they work or not. Bought 250kg of fert today, so I'm away, a lot of cassava has been planted in the last 2 weeks for info.