Visitors

[Caustic Burno]

Friend of mine died last year, his son in law is Swiss and highly educated moved to the farm with his wife to help the MIL.
Boy like to wore me out at first, we finely got past the language barrier of him speaking correct english vesus east Texan.
He was a hoot to be around.

 

[J&D Cattle]

I see a gentleman from Austria every year at least once. He normally brings a buddy or two over to his "American Ranch". Owns about 1400 acres which is mostly wooded. I keep an eye on it for him and generally mow the yard before he comes over. He always invites me over for a warm budweiser and goolosh. Found out the last time that he actually owns a castle in Austria.

 

[Limomike]

Since we live off the beaten path, about the only people we have show up at our doorstep are the UPS gal, and an occasional guy wanting to pave my whole driveway with blacktop, and the Jehovah witnesses, and stray dogs / cats from time to time. Only neat ones are the dogs and cats.

 

[Dave]

My kids stop by on rare occasions. Well some of them do, some not so much. Other than that not too many visitors.

 

[M5farm]

I see a gentleman from Austria every year at least once. He normally brings a buddy or two over to his "American Ranch". Owns about 1400 acres which is mostly wooded. I keep an eye on it for him and generally mow the yard before he comes over. He always invites me over for a warm budweiser and goolosh. Found out the last time that he actually owns a castle in Austria.

I would call him my best friend and supply the beer.

 

[melking]

I am thinking the "Go Away" sign on my front gate must be what keeps people from visiting me.

 

[Jogeephus]

I am thinking the "Go Away" sign on my front gate must be what keeps people from visiting me.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: I want one.

 

[AllForage]

Serve them alcohol, it's the universal cure for awkwardness.

 

[Ryder]

I am thinking the "Go Away" sign on my front gate must be what keeps people from visiting me.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: I want one.

You both need them. It would be a public service. :roll:

 

[J&D Cattle]

I see a gentleman from Austria every year at least once. He normally brings a buddy or two over to his "American Ranch". Owns about 1400 acres which is mostly wooded. I keep an eye on it for him and generally mow the yard before he comes over. He always invites me over for a warm budweiser and goolosh. Found out the last time that he actually owns a castle in Austria.

I would call him my best friend and supply the beer.

I wish he would allow hunting; deer and turkey galore down there. He asked me not to hunt so I never have, I respect him to much and appreciate his business. I've found a boat load of morels though. Ran some cows down there on the 30 or so open acres for a couple of years but it's just to far of a drive to check on them. Nice place though, very remote and peaceful. I've offered to bring "refreshments before and I think it offended him. He wants to do the hosting.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Never had anyone stop by, but the Bull man, gate man, and a few feed salesman. But last summer during the county fair there was a group of reporters from the UK doing a report on the drought, and looking to talk to different farmers. Talked to one guy that lived in New York, but was from London, guess he had been here long enough to catch on how to talk american so we got a long pretty good.

Sadly he didn't let me on TV...said all my hair and burly looks might offend some of the weaker English.

 

[Kingfisher]

M5, I'd have paid to have seen that.

John, its kindof neat to see the differences in our cultures both good and bad but what is really neat to me is seeing the common ground that many of us share. Me and that fella from South Africa hit it off like long lost buddies. We talked on every subject from snakes to employees. You gotta chip the ice some though with some cultures it seems.

I know some Swiss brothers ( one lives in Houston one in Schweiz) that take Swiss farmers and their family on @10 day tours in Costa Rica. Seems like CR has some diverse farming methods that interest the Swiss and it makes for a nice holiday. I know my buddies enjoyed it!

 

[Jogeephus]

M5, I'd have paid to have seen that.

John, its kindof neat to see the differences in our cultures both good and bad but what is really neat to me is seeing the common ground that many of us share. Me and that fella from South Africa hit it off like long lost buddies. We talked on every subject from snakes to employees. You gotta chip the ice some though with some cultures it seems.

I know some Swiss brothers ( one lives in Houston one in Schweiz) that take Swiss farmers and their family on @10 day tours in Costa Rica. Seems like CR has some diverse farming methods that interest the Swiss and it makes for a nice holiday. I know my buddies enjoyed it!

I bet they were looking at the micro or pothole gardening techniques. Great production on a little bit of earth. A friend and I looked into doing something like this on an island down that way after DelMonte pulled out. Government there was really friendly and would have near about given us a long term lease for next to nothing but it would have spread us too thin so we didn't do it.

 

[Kingfisher]

Tell us about pothole gardening please.

 

[iowafarmer]

I've been to Costa Rica. Great country to visit and vacation at. Very diverse in agriculture with some really pretty country. They farm in places I would never dream of.

 

[Jogeephus]

Tell us about pothole gardening please.

Don't know if you've ever read Mel Bartholamew's book on Square Foot Gardening but the theory and practice is much the same. On many of these islands the soil is very weathered and very shallow. So what you do is rather than worring about fertilizing a whole field you create holes in the limestone and fill this with composted enriched soil. Using the principles outlined in his book you grow the crops. This type agriculture when done properly will produce a huge amount of food in a very little space. It requires less equipment which is good because the import tax on equipment and the cost of fuel was extremely high since everything must be shipped in.

All this worked well in our business plan because unlike the states where the government shakes you down on permits and things before you even create a job, there they look at the big picture and value jobs and job growth over the immediate infusion of taxes for permits and such. They were bending over backwards to help us create jobs. Basically they were going to give us a good chunk of an island for us to set up operations on something like a 100 year lease. The other good thing was there was no income tax on the money we'd make. There government operates in the black and raises money with an import/sales tax - and they have free health care. Of course this was some concern because we were going to be working under this tax so they were discussing possibly putting a tax when we sold the stuff to the venders which would have worked out fine because even this tax is much cheaper than what we have to pay in the states.

I won't go into any specific details cause I'll be down there again in a few months and may get the notion to rethink things since all my children will be weaned shortly and I really like the area, the people and the government. I also have four friends who have relocated there and have lived there for some years now and I'm sure they will be encouraging us to do the same and gardening year round doesn't sound like a bad way to spend my golden years.

But if you are interested in this type gardening you ought to pick this book up - especially one of his earlier editions when it was more practical oriented rather than filled with all that "green" nonsense.

 

[andybob]

A few years ago I met a wonderful guy from South Africa (Zimbawe?) and he was a hoot. I could have sworn we were blood kin. Had a van load of Russians come this summer. They mostly spoke through an interpreter and I could tell they would have been more forthcoming had someone not been in their presence. This fall I had a couple of guys from the UK come as well. They were a little stiff in the collar at first but ended up being pretty entertaining. Apparantly it takes a little time for americans and the english to adapt to each others humor.
Any neat people show up at your doorstep?

Don't mix up your Rhodies/Zimbo's with South Africans or you will have a war on your hands!! With the education centre here at Laverstoke we get visitors from all over Europe to see how the organic system works.

 

[Jogeephus]

Yeah, he told me some stories about the rift. I may have it mixed up but I think he lost a lot of land in Zimbabwe due to some sort of land grab thing. It took the country from being self sufficient to having to import food. Things were changing and he was looking at some equipment we were usiing to clear some land to put in cultivation. (If I have the countries mixed up please correct me - its been a while - but it sounded like it was a mess)

 

[andybob]

No harm done Jo, the rivalry is mostly good natured something like the Canadian/USA relationship. The land invasions started in large scale in 2000 (in Zimbabwe) after the president lost the elections and refused to step down, so punished the agricultural industry for supporting the opposition party, hence the reason so many of us appear in different parts of the world these days, it is also a conspiracy to take over the world.

 

[Jogeephus]

He told me some real horror stories but it sounded like things were getting better and he was going to give it another go. Some of the stories he told were hilarious about the help. He told me he preferred hiring women to drive tractors since most had never driven a vehicle and they could be taught unlike some of the men who knew everything. Said he once pulled up and a fella was stuck and just kept the wheels turning for lord knows how long even though he had bottomed the tractor out. He and I had more in common than you would have thought being from different parts of the world and we both understood each other's plights with help.