Who Goes There? Farming interest? Speak Up!

[IsaanAussie]

I agree with both you and Mario. Where you have to make the difference is by doing it yourself, doing it yourself again, and doing it yourself yet again. Eventually the message will sink in. They're not really stupid, just set in their ways.

I came into Isan farming in rather a different way. I was in my 70s, and my (male) partner was in his 30s. There was no way I was going to be allowed to do anything myself (even if I was physically capable). So I watched; I could see what was happening.

Not so different. Most better off Thai farmers tend to direct more than do, regardless of physical capability. I suppose at 60 I have to plan for a more instructive role in the future, hopefully distant future. The point is I find the willing workers here are keen learners as long as it is light hearted and mistakes are overlooked. That isnt easy, well not for me. The what and how stuff is easy but imparting the why is tough.
Inputting information into a computer is easier than training a farmer. You only have to punch it in once!

 

[mario299]

I agree with both you and Mario. Where you have to make the difference is by doing it yourself, doing it yourself again, and doing it yourself yet again. Eventually the message will sink in. They're not really stupid, just set in their ways.

I came into Isan farming in rather a different way. I was in my 70s, and my (male) partner was in his 30s. There was no way I was going to be allowed to do anything myself (even if I was physically capable). So I watched; I could see what was happening.

Understood IB, and also understood from IssanAussie. It's tough trying to impart logic, since that isn't part of their makeup. They base their decisions on history, not reality or facts so we must deal with that.

Fortunately, I'm not requiring farming as my need, I'm only interested in the information I can learn for now. If we decide to do more than we do now, then we will seek information on how to do better, and I am grateful that we are apparently starting to get a farming thread going.
Thanks IA and IB (sounds lyrical or something), for your information.

mario299

 

[manplikron]

I am about to try mushrooms on compost and on straw bales, cannot be bothered with mushrooms in condoms like they do here. Glad for any clues.

Well my exwife really was the expert but before we started we looked at the option that you are considering. This seems to be the small round straw mushrooms used in Tom Yum. There is less effort in growing but more effort in harvesting and more essentially preparing them for market...According to what I witnessed anyway. The farms we visited seemed to think that method was also at risk from infection / disease.


We mixed and filled our own growing bags and the key was the steaming, a job which I loved doing and did far better than any local. It is important to have the correct level of water in the oven and that it is kept at 100 degrees for the full 5 hours. There were monthly arguments when steaming was due to be done because I insisted I did it and she insisted she paid her family to do it....Jeez I am getting angry just thinking about it...

You see they just didn't understand...they thought all they had to do was burn wood whereas I knew the whole concept was to create heat by burning wood. A skill I learnt as a kid growing up in freezing cold winters and living in an old house with a log fire. If I bunged on the wrong log at the wrong time and put it in the wrong place I got a clip around the ear from my old man and if we dare get too close my old man would just poke it once and the heat produced would soon have us scurrying away!!

Anyways less of the reminiscing...When I finally caved in and let them takeover the steaming I would wander out to check the gauge only to find them asleep on the hammock with an empty bottle of seesip degree. This led to further arguments when they said the 5 hours was up and I basically said "Bollocks!!!"..The result was that in about 3 weeks we got about 60% infected and thereby useless growing bags whereas NONE of mine ever got an infection......Jeez it gets me so angry..!!

 

[IsaanAussie]

Mushroom shed in the corner of the garden

We mixed and filled our own growing bags ..The result was that in about 3 weeks we got about 60% infected and thereby useless growing bags whereas NONE of mine ever got an infection......Jeez it gets me so angry..!!

This really deserves its own thread as growing mushrooms can be a money spinner at scale or a beer money hobby for those town dwellers with a garden corner to spare...
Dear Khun Jai RON
I reckon we have much the same train of thought. What is wrong with the Golden Rule, "He who has the gold makes the rules!" My money, my equipment, my land, why can't you just "DO IT MY WAY, just once?

I have a patch of vacant dirt which for the past three years I lay bales of rice straw on as the rains start. I do nothing else and we harvest a kg or 2 every day after a month or two of real rain. The spore must be in the soil already. This year I am going to lay a bed of bales in a pig sty and actually try to culture the Straw-Shrooms. There is a guy up the road who sells the spore.
Personally I like button mushrooms and they grow on compost. Since I know what biology is in my compost and can control it, I want to try growing buttons WITHOUT steaming the substrate. Big chance to come a gutzer on this one.

 

[manplikron]

Dear Khun Jai RON
I reckon we have much the same train of thought. What is wrong with the Golden Rule, "He who has the gold makes the rules!" My money, my equipment, my land, why can't you just "DO IT MY WAY, just once?

Regarding my board name..it is in reference to Mr Ron who was my mentor in 95/96/97 in a small village outside Kap Choeng but sadly died during my absence resulting from my divorce from my first TW ( We are back together again). Basically it is "not forget Ron".. At the time his son was nearly an adult so he must have lived in the village since the early 80s.. Anyways he instilled this atitude in me when dealing with Thais to not just to let them do what they effing want with your money, your land, your house, your business, your car etc....and never..EVER..lend them tools/machines...If ever you get them back they will be broken, or dirty, or bits missing......or even not the original tool they borrowed

 

[IsaanAussie]

Regarding my board name..it is in reference to Mr Ron who was my mentor in 95/96/97 in a small village outside Kap Choeng but sadly died during my absence resulting from my divorce from my first TW ( We are back together again). Basically it is "not forget Ron".. At the time his son was nearly an adult so he must have lived in the village since the early 80s.. Anyways he instilled this atitude in me when dealing with Thais to not just to let them do what they effing want with your money, your land, your house, your business, your car etc....and never..EVER..lend them tools/machines...If ever you get them back they will be broken, or dirty, or bits missing......or even not the original tool they borrowed

It is a hot day and I meant nothing other than the reference to hot hearts we are so often accused of having. I meant no insult or irreverence to you or anyone else. If I caused offence, I am sorry.

 

[manplikron]

It is a hot day and I meant nothing other than the reference to hot hearts we are so often accused of having. I meant no insult or irreverence to you or anyone else. If I caused offence, I am sorry.

No insult taken mate..would love to meet up for a beer or three!!...and that goes for anybody on here...

My skillset consists of being a fat ******* that drinks too much and talks bollocks..!!

 

[IsaanAussie]

No insult taken mate..would love to meet up for a beer or three!!...and that goes for anybody on here...

My skillset consists of being a fat ******* that drinks too much and talks bollocks..!!

Really?Great start two out of three. I'll be the skinny old fart with the same issues..You're on!

 

[IsaanAussie]

"IT was old anyway!"

.... Anyways he instilled this atitude in me when dealing with Thais to not just to let them do what they effing want with your money, your land, your house, your business, your car etc....and never..EVER..lend them tools/machines...If ever you get them back they will be broken, or dirty, or bits missing......or even not the original tool they borrowed

Strange isn't it. With all the problems we cause ourselves, how everyone seems to heed our examples and buy the same gear as us. Abso-f**king-lutely amazing. Bosch impact drill and Maktec drill "hidden" at the sty, gone. But now when the need musts, everyone seems to have one... No-one seems to "own them" so everyone takes it in turns.
Leave the tractor keys with the family, come back and it is all smiles, rice is in early. Well apart from mine. But somehow the tractor must have died a natural old aged death and the hydraulics are stuffed. Oh well, I suppose a complete service must have been too much for the old girl. Sometimes I wonder how most guys in the village learnt how to operate a front end loader, mine is the only one within miles.
Caring and Sharing, that's us!

 

[manplikron]

Strange isn't it. With all the problems we cause ourselves, how everyone seems to heed our examples and buy the same gear as us. Abso-f**king-lutely amazing. Bosch impact drill and Maktec drill "hidden" at the sty, gone. But now when the need musts, everyone seems to have one... No-one seems to "own them" so everyone takes it in turns.
Leave the tractor keys with the family, come back and it is all smiles, rice is in early. Well apart from mine. But somehow the tractor must have died a natural old aged death and the hydraulics are stuffed. Oh well, I suppose a complete service must have been too much for the old girl. Sometimes I wonder how most guys in the village learnt how to operate a front end loader, mine is the only one within miles.
Caring and Sharing, that's us!

I bought ( at different times) 3 chain saws for sawing up wood into usable lengths for the oven...When I needed them they had all effing disappeard ( 1 of which I personally hid out the back) and bloody muggins here used an old bow saw and did it manually!! It took a lot of blood, sweat and beer chang to get through the stacks of wood!!

 

[manplikron]

This really deserves its own thread as growing mushrooms can be a money spinner at scale or a beer money hobby for those town dwellers with a garden corner to spare

I really don't know enough to support such a thread...All I can do is tell stories about how I fcuked up!!

 

[isanbirder]

I really don't know enough to support such a thread...All I can do is tell stories about how I fcuked up!!

Can't we all!

We DO have a tractor which still works.... and generates income, now that we have finished paying for it. Providing you can get a sensible person to operate it (they do exist), this can be a fairly steady money-spinner.

 

[IsaanAussie]

Can't we all!

We DO have a tractor which still works.... and generates income, now that we have finished paying for it. Providing you can get a sensible person to operate it (they do exist), this can be a fairly steady money-spinner.

Sorry Birdy, but I disagree. I paid cash for a tractor that was an Iffy proposition. A 20 year old large frame 4WD Iseki. For the last two years I have been unable to cost justify fixing the hydraulics. When it first arrived, no competition and I got 400 baht to plough or rotary hoe or row make. For someone wanted to grow row crops, thats 1200 baht a rai. Now the shiny new ones get half that. Why would I fix mine?

 

[isanbirder]

Sorry Birdy, but I disagree. I paid cash for a tractor that was an Iffy proposition. A 20 year old large frame 4WD Iseki. For the last two years I have been unable to cost justify fixing the hydraulics. When it first arrived, no competition and I got 400 baht to plough or rotary hoe or row make. For someone wanted to grow row crops, thats 1200 baht a rai. Now the shiny new ones get half that. Why would I fix mine?

I have a shiny new one, IA, and don't spend all the income fixing the hydraulics. A secondhand vehicle of any kind in Thailand is a chancy proposition, unless you are your own mechanic.

 

[manplikron]

I have a shiny new one, IA, and don't spend all the income fixing the hydraulics. A secondhand vehicle of any kind in Thailand is a chancy proposition, unless you are your own mechanic.

Too true. I bought a second hand e-then that was basically useless but was used by a gang of criminals...oops sorry my ex-inlaws... to rip off the local government handing out subsidies...i.e. they used the money to buy a decent one...then sell it on and pretend that my e-then was theirs...Did I get anything......??? Wot do ya think??

 

[IsaanAussie]

I have a shiny new one, IA, and don't spend all the income fixing the hydraulics. A secondhand vehicle of any kind in Thailand is a chancy proposition, unless you are your own mechanic.

Well done bird man, yeah I am a mechanic of sorts, well mechanical engineering background. So much easier with equipment that can be fixed. Lucky you with new stuff, I'm bored with things that really need burial, still what can you do? Soo Soo...

 

[IsaanAussie]

Hot Weather, anyone doing anything?

Today at last is cool enough to get back to doing something other than drink beer and shower pigs. Time to bag up some wormcastings and compost.
On the bright side the pigs aren't eating much in this weather and most Thais are asleep so nothing has been broken, stolen and misplaced.
Do we have any brave soldiers out there who have been busting a gut this last week?

 

[adam]

Today at last is cool enough to get back to doing something other than drink beer and shower pigs. Time to bag up some wormcastings and compost.
On the bright side the pigs aren't eating much in this weather and most Thais are asleep so nothing has been broken, stolen and misplaced.
Do we have any brave soldiers out there who have been busting a gut this last week?

Half of my day when I am home seems to be taken up with showering pigs, I'm glad I'm not the only one!!

 

[manplikron]

Today at last is cool enough to get back to doing something other than drink beer and shower pigs. Time to bag up some wormcastings and compost.
On the bright side the pigs aren't eating much in this weather and most Thais are asleep so nothing has been broken, stolen and misplaced.
Do we have any brave soldiers out there who have been busting a gut this last week?

Too effing hot to do anything but drink ice cold beer chang!!


Hopefully we will be up in Prasat in the next 2 weeks for the missus ( 1st TW) to sell some farm land..

 

[IsaanAussie]

Half of my day when I am home seems to be taken up with showering pigs, I'm glad I'm not the only one!!

Yeah, and the other half, feeding and cleaning up.
I have Durocs what type of pigs do you farm Adam?
Anyone else out there with a few pigs?