Thanks! For me personally, the experiment showed that we should focus more on cocoyam and less on rice in the future - the only thing standing in the way is the ingrained eating habit of the people around us.
We know a good print shop that doesn't care about copyrights, so we just send them pirated pdfs and let them print the books - the result looks exactly like the original book. Very professional.
In case you haven't found it yet, here's a link to the pdf. The book looks a bit old school (typewriter aesthetics) but is definitely worth the read, people like you and me can get a whole lot of information out of it.
Which hopefully lasts us until the rolling brownouts and the ultimate collapse of the global Internet somewhen next decade.
Not that soon, I think/ hope. I wanna read your essays a bit more
Anyway, did you know that paddy rice ( the old ways, not now) were very much polycrops? rice alternated with wheat, peas, beans, legumes and vegetables. They also had fish and ducks in there to more approximate an ecosystem, as well as providing a food source! I hope we can get back to that after all this is over
Well, it remains to be seen how long they can keep the whole thing up and running, but I expect that poorer countries might get hit with brown- and blackouts much sooner. It's already happening in Cuba and Sri Lanka (again), and as someone living in a country that imports most of its energy I don't have high hopes for the long term.
Yes, I'm aware that (pretty much by necessity) peasants in the past had a lot more ecologically sound methods of staple crop cultivation. Masanobu Fukuoka's approach is a pretty good modern example, I think.
When not being able to use the cheat code that is chemical fertilizer, you kind of HAVE TO adapt mixed strategies, polycultural planting schedules/techniques and animal husbandry. It's a crying shame that all this was lost due to industrialization/mechanization/standardization.
When there's no chemicals used - such as on my wife's parent's farm - I was surprised to learn how many fish, eels, crabs, snails & insects they harvest from their paddies as a byproduct. Off-season crops are mostly cassava and tobacco these days, but in the past people grew a lot of vegetables as well. And since they keep a few cows, artificial fertilizer inputs are also minimal. Here in Thailand a few old people still remember the old ways, and here and there it is even still practiced!
Since we both live in southeast asia, we're parts of one of the few competent international blocs in the world, ASEAN. They're building a multinational elctric grid for the countries without natural sunlight to benefit from the renewables built on those that do, so the internet might last a bit longer than you think!
. It's a crying shame that all this was lost due to industrialization/mechanization/standardization.
I agree, but IMO the silver lining is that they will be relearned, whether we want to or not. And I'm happy that some of the people are still alive to teach it, rather than in say 50 years from now. That's one of the reasons im optimistic that civilisations (not ours but of antiquity) may be able to rise a long long time from now.
Wow, I am surprised the black sticky rice actually yielded. Maybe it is an older variety that is more hardy. There are some of these varieties that can yield in wet and hill conditions.
Over in Malaysia, the indigenous people only plant hill rice in slash and burn from forests where the trees are too big to hug, and only once before fallow. They need very high fertility.
I put red tape on our sickle handles too! Very frustrating searching for them in tall grass...
Yes, we were quite surprised as well with the black sticky rice. Excellent genetics, it seems.
Have you read "Swidden Agriculture in Indonesia" by Michael R. Dove? It's about the Kantu in Kalimantan - such a beautiful read, with very detailed descriptions of each step in the swidden-making process. Highly recommended, very inspiring. They traditionally followed the same rule for tree diameter. Among the hill cultures in Northern Thailand it's now more common to wait until the trees reach the same diameter as ones head, because the government doesn't allow long fallow periods anymore. That seems to be the minimum limit to be able to grow rice in Zomia, I guess one reason why Indo-Malay swiddeners wait longer is because of the relatively poor soils they have to work with.
Very funny that you also use red tape - I don't even want to know how many HOURS we've wasted searching for tools in the past! That's the downside when your tool handles look like random sticks... We now use it for pretty much every tool we have that might get lost in the garden. I also have an extra pair of crocs in bright orange that I occasionally wear in dry season, for the same reason.
Hopefully the rice you harvested will provide improved genetic for next years planting.
Here up north I am thinking of growing rye and buckwheat, the next few years might be wild. Nut trees aren't producing yet, at least not enough so having easily storable grains along with potatoes might help.
That is exactly our hope as well - annual plants adapt rather fast to new conditions with each consecutive generation, and the black sticky rice has probably learned its own lesson (about soil & climate) that's being passed down via genetic information to its offspring.
Good luck to you on your journey, it gets easier the longer we're at it!
Please can you tell some more day to day instructions on living off grid/farmjng technique? I like your writing and the fact you really have Much to report. Thanks
Thanks a lot to you! Yes, I plan on writing more about our lives and the techniques we use in the garden. After over seven years on the land, we finally have the feeling that we're slowly starting to figure things out. But we're not professionals, by any standard. Many of our projects are basically trial and error, so it always takes a while to learn a lesson as complications often only show up after a while. Stay tuned for more insights and ideas!
I love your optimism! Indeed, preconditions are not too terrible, and we'd love to do more experiments like this in the future. Let's just hope that the currently unfolding fertilizer & fuel crisis (which will hit Thailand especially hard) helps to shake people awake to the stark reality we're facing. Thanks for reading!
Love to see an update from ya. Definitely understand the working hard though.
congrats on what DID grow, and cheers to activities that promote socializing and good sleep!
Thanks! For me personally, the experiment showed that we should focus more on cocoyam and less on rice in the future - the only thing standing in the way is the ingrained eating habit of the people around us.
I tried to find the book but it is not easily available? Where did you get yours from?
We know a good print shop that doesn't care about copyrights, so we just send them pirated pdfs and let them print the books - the result looks exactly like the original book. Very professional.
In case you haven't found it yet, here's a link to the pdf. The book looks a bit old school (typewriter aesthetics) but is definitely worth the read, people like you and me can get a whole lot of information out of it.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/z7sjx14i8tpsd8v08j8uq/ACVmQzXf_UxIBuuYt7u1qBA?rlkey=563k1pbxqgx72lyaduiy1tmps&st=wjkxepns&dl=0
Which hopefully lasts us until the rolling brownouts and the ultimate collapse of the global Internet somewhen next decade.
Not that soon, I think/ hope. I wanna read your essays a bit more
Anyway, did you know that paddy rice ( the old ways, not now) were very much polycrops? rice alternated with wheat, peas, beans, legumes and vegetables. They also had fish and ducks in there to more approximate an ecosystem, as well as providing a food source! I hope we can get back to that after all this is over
Thanks for reading!
Well, it remains to be seen how long they can keep the whole thing up and running, but I expect that poorer countries might get hit with brown- and blackouts much sooner. It's already happening in Cuba and Sri Lanka (again), and as someone living in a country that imports most of its energy I don't have high hopes for the long term.
Yes, I'm aware that (pretty much by necessity) peasants in the past had a lot more ecologically sound methods of staple crop cultivation. Masanobu Fukuoka's approach is a pretty good modern example, I think.
When not being able to use the cheat code that is chemical fertilizer, you kind of HAVE TO adapt mixed strategies, polycultural planting schedules/techniques and animal husbandry. It's a crying shame that all this was lost due to industrialization/mechanization/standardization.
When there's no chemicals used - such as on my wife's parent's farm - I was surprised to learn how many fish, eels, crabs, snails & insects they harvest from their paddies as a byproduct. Off-season crops are mostly cassava and tobacco these days, but in the past people grew a lot of vegetables as well. And since they keep a few cows, artificial fertilizer inputs are also minimal. Here in Thailand a few old people still remember the old ways, and here and there it is even still practiced!
Since we both live in southeast asia, we're parts of one of the few competent international blocs in the world, ASEAN. They're building a multinational elctric grid for the countries without natural sunlight to benefit from the renewables built on those that do, so the internet might last a bit longer than you think!
. It's a crying shame that all this was lost due to industrialization/mechanization/standardization.
I agree, but IMO the silver lining is that they will be relearned, whether we want to or not. And I'm happy that some of the people are still alive to teach it, rather than in say 50 years from now. That's one of the reasons im optimistic that civilisations (not ours but of antiquity) may be able to rise a long long time from now.
Wow, I am surprised the black sticky rice actually yielded. Maybe it is an older variety that is more hardy. There are some of these varieties that can yield in wet and hill conditions.
Over in Malaysia, the indigenous people only plant hill rice in slash and burn from forests where the trees are too big to hug, and only once before fallow. They need very high fertility.
I put red tape on our sickle handles too! Very frustrating searching for them in tall grass...
Yes, we were quite surprised as well with the black sticky rice. Excellent genetics, it seems.
Have you read "Swidden Agriculture in Indonesia" by Michael R. Dove? It's about the Kantu in Kalimantan - such a beautiful read, with very detailed descriptions of each step in the swidden-making process. Highly recommended, very inspiring. They traditionally followed the same rule for tree diameter. Among the hill cultures in Northern Thailand it's now more common to wait until the trees reach the same diameter as ones head, because the government doesn't allow long fallow periods anymore. That seems to be the minimum limit to be able to grow rice in Zomia, I guess one reason why Indo-Malay swiddeners wait longer is because of the relatively poor soils they have to work with.
Very funny that you also use red tape - I don't even want to know how many HOURS we've wasted searching for tools in the past! That's the downside when your tool handles look like random sticks... We now use it for pretty much every tool we have that might get lost in the garden. I also have an extra pair of crocs in bright orange that I occasionally wear in dry season, for the same reason.
Hopefully the rice you harvested will provide improved genetic for next years planting.
Here up north I am thinking of growing rye and buckwheat, the next few years might be wild. Nut trees aren't producing yet, at least not enough so having easily storable grains along with potatoes might help.
That is exactly our hope as well - annual plants adapt rather fast to new conditions with each consecutive generation, and the black sticky rice has probably learned its own lesson (about soil & climate) that's being passed down via genetic information to its offspring.
Good luck to you on your journey, it gets easier the longer we're at it!
Please can you tell some more day to day instructions on living off grid/farmjng technique? I like your writing and the fact you really have Much to report. Thanks
Thanks a lot to you! Yes, I plan on writing more about our lives and the techniques we use in the garden. After over seven years on the land, we finally have the feeling that we're slowly starting to figure things out. But we're not professionals, by any standard. Many of our projects are basically trial and error, so it always takes a while to learn a lesson as complications often only show up after a while. Stay tuned for more insights and ideas!
Love that story, hard work, lessons learned, still hope for the future, sounds like the perfect idyll once you iron out a few wrinkles ; )
I love your optimism! Indeed, preconditions are not too terrible, and we'd love to do more experiments like this in the future. Let's just hope that the currently unfolding fertilizer & fuel crisis (which will hit Thailand especially hard) helps to shake people awake to the stark reality we're facing. Thanks for reading!