See Hes

Just start is a high risk, hence I would read above posts "keep on doing what you do and tip toe in"

We started this year while I still go offshore working to build the farm further and having some backup.

The nursery was actually already 2000 in our mind.
We watched the "gold rushes" in Thailand,
Durians became expensive and all bought Durian Trees
Guavas and Coconuts were the next..
...and when all came, the market was saturated, no orchard comes, Fruits harvested go to the landfill or got sold at a loss.

Instead of following the stream of gold and do what all do, we travelled around.
Not really keen in plant markets, but if a private collector and garden enthusiast became known, we would travel 500 miless for one tree...

It is THE tree that you are 100% sure you can sell it in 4-5 years,,,   Do not get overwhelmed "This is a tree nobody has" means not that everybody wants it.

These trees are the mothers of all cuttings/seedlings
low investment and long time waiting

Sorry Folks

It's really time for an update but somehow the farm is such a change of life quality and enjoyment that I am continously working on things.

First of all:
I could tell you that I claim to see every change.
A new leaf, first flowers a new plant sent by nature what the stingless bees are on about and so on and on. The path around the lake and Zones is 750 meters and I catch myself sometimes to walk it the tenth time on the same day.

BUT what nobody realizes is how much is really done and changed.
So the first picture is put together as a 3 years time lapse.

and the 2nd good news is that after we burned through one contractor we had a break during laast rain season and a new contractor came in January.
Since we agreed on "pay by milestone reached" which is very common in big projects we went out clear matching the budget set.

The house has 130 sqm (1507 sqft), 1 Bedroom, 2 bathrooms, big office, bedroom and 40 sqm (430,5 sqft) living kitchen...
The Mud Brick walls are double walls with a 10cm space, all together 60cm (2 ft)

Outside 33-36 degree Celsius (91-97 F) in full sun and inside 27 celsius at highest (80 F)

Happy days ahead...

Some might not agree with the colour.
When every room has a different colour set up it creates hidden stress (LOL)
but mainly because we wanted to give it a nostalgic flair and made by hand appearance and after it was done we really fell for it..

(which certainly will not make us wearing middle age clothers made from scratchy wool and linen...)

Kye Goods wrote:Most of the tree bark I'm dealing with is coming from conifer. So I'm a little cautious about using it around deciduous trees or any of my garden.. but I do have a lot of pine trees in the desert that get a little too hot and need good mulch so I kind of just layer them around the base of the tree as a mulch that provides shade and collects condensation that keeps t the soil moist

Its an old lasting myth that conifer are poisonous to other plants.
It alters the PH level very little and the only thing is that it decomposes slower, hence it releases less fertilizer in the same time like other mulch would do.

The Blueberry farms in Germany prefer conifer/pine mulch so the soil stays within the PH ranges as it has been prepared for blueberries.

Working since 24 years in the wind power sector these little home WTG's are more a homeowner's toy if you don't touch money.

Suitable and steady winds are up above any goodwill of your next neighbor or city council.

BIG aerator pumps are useful when your pond is deep enough (not the other way around) and not really maintenance free
I was scrolling for a suitable system with compressor and even wanted to combine solar power with wind power.
The systems that would work is 3200 CND
Solar and a WTG from China plus hardware another 3500 USD here in Thailand.
the outcome would be a "dirty" (unsteady) energy supply if you dont spent another pocket full coins on Backup Batteries.

I also wanted to build some no fancy 12V light supplies around our 8.5 acres made of car generators.
Rotor directly attached to the belt wheel in bicycle wheels as multy blade Rotor but also here is the wind speed the killer..

If the pond is not too deep a set of solar powered paddle aerators might help

bruce Fine wrote:Ive got a giant pile of tree bark and need to find a good way to use it. the pile has been getting higher and higher as I split my firewood to be stacked up for next winter. a lot of it is from red and chestnut oak and up to an inch thick by 14 to 18 inches long. by the time I get all 9 ICB totes filled and the woodshed filled with split stacked firewood im guessing there will be close to a cord of bark that has fallen off or I removed from logs.

That are decent pieces we use as mulch cover around our trees in the chicken paddocks.
If you have a problem with your chicks cleaning the mulch around trees then pile the bark two layers around your trees and use sticks rammed in the soil to hold the pieces in place.
We have beside Brahmas (upto 10lbs) and Plymouth Barred Rocks (upto 8 lbs) also some fighting cocks* from our worker who easy dig the roots of a young tree bare.

* We are not into chicken fights but surrounded by rice farms
Kukris Snakes, Rat Snakes, Coperhead racers, Vipers and Cobras are a common sight but all learned the hard way that a snake is no match for a fighting cock which goes fully aggro.  

Here is bark mixed with old branches 2 month in place and not scratched away.
Beside a good slow release fertilizer it also protects the root area from the heat here in Thailand.

Day by day events on our farm can be turned into some cartoons
(sorry if I posted some here already but I cannot find them back)

7 Stray dogs adapted and what ever came on our farm and stayed forever.
Rod Steward (his hair style gave him the name) was even brought about 20 Kilometers away because he is a loose cannon, but only two days later he was back at his favorite spot

We have on our 8 acre permaculture farm now 7 dogs.
Not the class breeds but all have a story no race breed has to tell.
 
Strays killed in the first year almost 20 chickens in one go and there are 3 packs lurking around owning a territory of 25 Squarekilometers.

Lucky me I grew up near a trainings field for police and guard dogs so the lingo is not a book with 7 seals for me.

1st I had to choose some dogs and the best way to see is feeding them. If a puppy defend her/his food even against the alpha male or bitch that is a dog I want off the street.
Scooters with side cars are the top dog bribe. Start feeding them beside the scooter and later in the side car, then make a few turns and watch the tails wiggling after just two rides.

2nd take them home and teach them playful.
Give their boundaries and intro them to all farm animals.

One of the dogs was due to be BBQ'd by a nut case and I bought her of him for 2 USD. This dog turned out to be a genious.
15 Minutes were way too short for learning and she always wanted learn more tricks.
Now 16 month old she takes matters into her paws.

"Seven (named after the store we found the guy and her) bring the chicken back!"
and she will herd the escaped chicks back into the paddock never bites but love to hit them if they playing stubborn with her paw.

Raise alarm
"The pack comes!!" ...and 7 dogs will storm without hesitation towards the strays which meanwhile gave up their territory around our farm.

They are some characters but little seven is just special.
The day she came on our farm she was the law, the toy and the scallywagg in black.
She loved from the first day to stick to me and is always this kind of happy.

Therefore the answer to the topic.
Stray dogs give me the most pleasure despite they are more challenging to teach but eventually will be great guard/farm dogs.

Picture 1 Seven (from eleven) 8 weeks and picture 2 16 month old and her habits in human words.

Beside yard long beans we grow over here in Thailand also winged Beans which are more demanding regarding soil temperature.
If you seed them when the soil temperature has reached 20 degrees celsius (68 F) they should germinate readily but 20 degrees is a minimum.

Wait when the soil is wet and cold until the time is right, seed them direct into the soil because this is always the best option for strong developing plants.
Winged beans hate to be transplanted.
If your season is too short then seed them in pots in a shelter and transplant them when they reached 10cm but don't wait longer.

We started also away from our new permaculture farm

Planting, seeding , growing,
let the strongest plants/crops survive and the dying plants be the fertilizer and mulch.
Thats the start of permaculture and will build your soil for your arrival.

Now we talk about the harvest.
Remember when you were a kid. The fruits from the neighbors were the best and of course we have always chosen the safest places where you didn't get caught.
So it might be not you who is harvesting your fruits/crops.

Here in Thailand stray dogs are abundant
(when there is no stray dog sleeping in front of the slide door to enjoy the cool air that passes with every customer of the store, then it's not a 7/eleven in Thailand)
so we gained trust of 5 nice fellows, all some kind of character and color and after the first visit on our turf they happily stayed.
We trained them a bit into the do's don't do's and now they are thankful members of the farm and no chicken or fruit gets nicked anymore.

If this helps and how to manage this in your place I can only leave to you.

The leaves should be in level with the water surface and the styrofoam should be on top floating after giving it a good steer,
hence easy to skim the major part off.

It's recommendable to get rid of it as it is bad in all ways for the soil and plants.