Jason Manning

I've been blessed to be in one of those "you guys will last forever" relationships for 16 years, but last October forever arrived and we seperated. Looking back it's clear to see we were drifting/falling apart - there were obvious signs, but like gravity, there was nothing we could do to escape it. I really hoped we could be adult about the seperation and the division of assets, but my ex hasn't been able to and so I'm now going to have to go to court to ensure assets are sold and I get my 50%, which is my legal entitlement under Thai law.

I have a few close friends who are there for me, but I've been dealing with things fairly well. I feel sorry for my step-son who I've been Dad to since he was only 1 years old (he's now 17), but with his mother being the way she is, I am unable to continue to perform that role.

My permaculture journey is now over. I have rehomed my goats and my pig, and currently live in a rented house with no garden. The house is nice and I'm in town so have everything to hand. I'm in a new but fairly casual relationship and I've made it clear that I'm not going to be a parent again as it's time for me to put myself first for a change.

So long & keep up the fantastic work.

Love, Jase.

See Hes wrote:I wanted 1000 bales straw and of course our housemaid and also the old couple asked to avoid Farang pricing and we chose to buy in the harvest season where straw is available in abundance.

They shouted out 70 Baht for one bale which is in my opinion way overpriced...

We bought about 25000 Vetiver Grass slips and will use it as mulch when grown up.

I also tried Pinto peanuts as nitrogen fixer and proper ground cover, sold for 6800 baht/kilo.
But the germination rate is poor and we have to try again in the rain season..
They seem to outgrow a lot of weeds...

Still the straw bales are on our bucket list but I am not willing to pay more than 25 baht a go.
How are the prices in Udon Thani? 120 Kilometer from me seem to be still within reach if the price fits.

What my wife does is just pay for the baler to go to a friend's field and bale up the loose straw. I can't remember exactly how much this is, but it's somewhere around 20b a bale. So many people around here have a few rai that they use to grow rice on, it's easy to find someone willing to let us do this.

Gang photos

Another year has flown past, so I thought I would post an update.

The restaurant opened on February 1st. I'm deliberately letting it grow organically to allow my wife and staff grow steadily and avoid being overwhelmed. The menu has been boiled down to focus on Pizza & Pasta, with a couple of non-Italian favourites thrown in for added spice.

I'm going to try and be as 'sensitive' as possible in my thoughts on growing polluting fuel to burn at home.

I don't live in the US (or Europe) so it may well be 'OK' to do this there as it may have a minimal impact on the environment due to so few people doing it. In the UK, there was a big push for people to use wood burning stoves and heaters in their homes. It seems that the government there has realised this wasn't a particularly clever move as it seems they're very polluting, especially if tens of thousands of homes all start doing it.

My own situation is that people rarely burn stuff to keep warm (I live in Thailand), but do use locally made charcoal for cooking, and they burn their leaves and other garden 'waste'. Most rural people also have a bit of land where they can grow rice or cash crops such as sugar or corn. Rice and corn stubble is often burnt before the next planting and live sugar cane is burnt at harvesting to remove the leaves. To add to this, governments often burn roadside verges as they don't have many crews with brush cutters to keep the grass & small shrubs down. What is the outcome of all this? Where I live, not much really, but in the north of Thailand the pollution from burning is the worst in the world for a few months each year. I spent 5 miserable years in Chiang Mai, where the country's mountains act as a huge funnel collecting all this smoke and dumping it over the north (don't get me wrong, the people in the north are pyromaniacs too!). Tens of thousands of people are hospitalised every year with breathing issues here.

So, while I understand that people in more temperate climes must have the ability to heat their homes, I'm not sure that burning stuff is necessarily the best thing to do. There are alternatives, of course, but the good alternatives seem to be the most expensive. Maybe a thread dedicated to finding achievable, greener ways to heat your home would be a better one to feature in the 'Permies Daily-ish' than one that promotes burning stuff?

I'll shut up now...

Carla Burke wrote:

Jason Manning wrote:Biscuit means 'twice baked'. Not sure why the American scone things are called biscuits, as they're not.

Can of worms duly opened...

They're not. What is commonly known as a 'biscuit' in Europe & the UK, is called a cookie, in the USA. American biscuits are what is typically confused with scones. Biscotti means 'twice baked', in Italian, and somehow, that one didn't get confused with biscuits, in the USA... Ahhh, language culture, lol!

Indeed - separated by a common language!

Wow! You guys have done an excellent job there. Water is key to everything here as you very much understand and you should be sorted once the rains come. It's also good to see your land crew know their stuff - too often the sides of the pond (inland sea in your case!) are too steep, making for an unstable and dangerous structure, but your pond looks pretty much perfect.

The good thing about you going away to Taiwan next year is that the transformation will be massive from when you leave. I'm sure there are many Permies who will be following this project with interest!

Cheers Will. You're welcome any time.

Not much to report, other than "we're still here".

The restaurant build is continuing (slowly), the garden is being filled with more plants along with a hedge to block off visitors from the black house. It's now the dry season, so we are watering every day.

It also looks like we will soon be overpaying for a piece of adjacent land that will connect our plot to the nearby lake. This will give visitors direct access to the garden area and give us much more parking. It's being sold by our sister who needs the funds to escape her junkie husband, so the purchase price includes a worthwhile premium.

We have also got nearly all the ducks & failed chickens into the freezer, and moved the remaining birds over to the pig's area. The current site of the massive poultry shed will be turned into a number of nicely intimate garden areas for visitors. They are elevated there, so will get a commanding view of the lower garden over to the 'petting zoo'. I have hopefully found a local source for pygmy goats, so will be adding a couple of them to the menagerie.

I'll sign off with a wish that all Permies have a fulfilling 2023!