Its nice seeing you guys develop such sensitivity and knowledge of your specific land. The handcrafted and frequently maintained swales say something. I am one of those a bit disillusioned by swales after seeing it implemented by machines that push forests over to create swales. I think the maintenance of swales isnt something often talked about too. If the berm is no longer level then you can be creating a concentration of water that erodes into a gully. Farming on hillside isnt forgiving so kudos to you guys!
What kind of net for the chickens do you use? Snakes often get trapped in nets so hopefully the hole size is right and you harvest a few.
We do our daily tribute to the chickens and ducks as well when they start coming into our open kitchen and pooping all over. But I also feel the tribute reinforces their behaviour to come and harass us.
Yes I was wondering the obvious about the monkeys. We recently caught two in traps meant for wild boar. My wife havent cooked them because she is unsure how to cook it. There seems to be more big animals (boars, pythons, monitor lizards, monkeys) where I am maybe because my neighbours do not eat them because they are Muslims. But they do poison or kill them if they interfere with their farming. We have been fortunate with wild meat (python, monkey, boar) the past few months and the freezer is full! I am thinking of learning to use bow and arrow too.
Wow, havent heard of jackfruit and cempedak seeds being used as a staple. Do you find cempedak easier to care for than jackfruits since the latter often require wrapping? My trees are still young so i have no idea but over here jackfruits are often eaten green maybe because monkeys and squirrels get them first. Havent heard of wet jackfruit but I now spit out the fiber of the cempedak since it chokes me too.
I wholeheartedly share your sentiment towards heavy machinery forcefully ripping swales into a forest. Swales are indeed a bit overhyped in general - but in our situation there was no way around it, and they fulfill an important purpose. Regular maintenance is key, though, especially at this size. Ours fill up quickly, and we didn't plant anything on them since we use the level ground as footpaths as well.
Continuous hillside farming is quite challenging, but at least we're safe from flooding!
We use regular nylon chicken fencing, with holes big enough for most snakes to pass through. The recycled fishing net had smaller holes and we caught a few snakes, but I always felt a little bad for them because it's not a good death. But the only ones that can do any real damage here are pythons, and we haven't seen one in three years now (sadly). Apparently they like to stay lower and closer to water? Snakes are only a real danger to small chicks and occasionally eggs here, and ever since we snake-proofed the chicken house that problem is solved (for now, at least).
I had to laugh out loud at your comment about the chickens - they are so much smarter than we give them credit for, right?! They surely understand what's going on, and feeding them both slightly more or slightly less than usual immediately results in rebellious behavior of some sort. An unwritten contract of surprising complexity!
I'm quite jealous of how easy it is for you to obtain bush meat. The area here has been overhunted for decades, the degraded forest provides little habitat, and what little wildlife is left is scared out of their wits. The monkeys just start getting used to us after six years.
I love archery but my last bow broke, so now I have to find time to make a new one. Already found a nice piece of rattan, but I've gotta experiment more regarding the bending of the limbs. (I've never successfully hunted anything with a bow, though. That might take me a few years of practice - or a larger target!)
Jackfruits grow easier than cempedak here, because cempedak only fruits really abundantly if it rains enough or if the tree is close to a water source. Surprisingly enough we have absolutely no problem with other animals attacking our jackfruit, so we don't even need to wrap them - only a single time did a wild elephant eat one.
If you ever get the chance to plant wet jackfruit, I'd highly recommend it - so many seeds! I've only ever seen it grown in the South of Thailand, so perhaps you'll find it in Malaysia as well. But the choking problem is about ten times worse with wet jackfruit when compared to even the "wettest" cempedak, hahaha.
Loved reading this update. It is so fascinating to hear the ins ad outs of other systems in other places. Looks like Artocarpus might be the best suited staple genus for your situation. Are you planning on gathering wider diversity and maybe doing some more hybridisation? How are the more uncommon species you mentioned trying holding up during the drought? Getting the first wide crosses done is a huge challenge compared to the explosion of diversity and vigor than happens on the other side, so I hope you keep steadily pushing in that direction. Especially for tree crops it often takes years to get all the ingredients lined up at the right time, waiting for just the right season to open the door to new possibilities.
Yeah, it does indeed seem like Artocarpus is our safest bet. Now we just need to ensure that we can harvest year-round, so we will have to wait for the trees we planted in different locations to start fruiting. Wider diversity is definitely high on our list, as there's still plenty of genetic variation available - its just difficult to find good material, since everyone is focused on high-yielding grafted cultivars. Unfortunately, a lot of massive, old jackfruits in the area are being cut down right now because they "attract elephants" and (since nobody utilizes their fruit anymore) they are considered a nuisance because the ripe fruit drops onto roads and paths. So it's a bit of a race against time as well. Moreover, I don't believe that Artocarpus is going to make a difference on a larger scale, simply because there's literally ZERO interest (or even awareness of the multitude of problems we're facing), and for Arto to actually make a difference in terms of food security people would have to start planting on a massive scale RIGHT NOW. Even in our conditions they take a few years until they commence fruiting, and once people realize it will likely be too late.
As for the other species: they are holding up. Achira didn't like the high humidity too much, and this year there were a lot more problems overall with fungal diseases affecting all sorts of annuals, which achira is still recovering from right now. I'll talk a bit more about bananas in the next Update, but after Artocarpus it seems like the second-best candidate here is purple yams. They can be integrated very well into forest-type ecosystems and thrive in a variety of different conditions. Only downside is that they can't be harvested year-round, but are only a viable staple food in dry season. During rainy season, the tubers often rot and/or get attacked by insect, but it seems like they simply cannibalize themselves (i.e. their own leftovers) because afterwards they often form even larger tubers.
I would love to get some Cempedak seeds from Malaysia as well, but sadly its easier said than done!
With the chaotic weather of the past two years, I have a whole new appreciation for what you are able to accomplish in your wildly varying climatic conditions. Surely a wholly different kind of challenge! One of the perks of living in the tropics is that there is less seasonality, but it seems like this might be changing, at least for our locale.
We are slowly realizing that the large diversity of foods we are currently still able to cultivate will likely undergo some sort of bottleneck somewhen soon, which is deeply regrettable, but sadly inevitable. All a part of the Great Simplification, it seems!
I admire your journey and its trials, your situation can get better, that I am sure. Sure the climate will get wilder, but humans will adapt, or die.
You don't know me, and I am surprised to meet you and your writing. Must have clicked subscribe in a drowsy moment after reading one of Shane Simonsen blog posts.
I am a Tasmanian, long retired industrial farmer, from a two generation farming family. All launched from my great grandfathers gold mining career in Charters Towers Far North Queensland. Near were he landed in his 30s with a shilling in his pocket, but skills in mechanics(carpentry) and butchery. Ended buying his two sons stations around Australia and himself an English Estate to retire on.
To cut the story short, I retired after 26years of industrial bored with our degradation of a landscape I love and the decadal droughts. Resulting to have 10,000 sheep shot during a 20 year wool slump being the turning point. During that time ran many enterprises, cattle, vegetables, grain and pulse crops; all in the European model.
My brother and I both being given shares in highly mortgaged mixed farms,which continued over the years.
During the 1990s I commenced the study of Social Ecology, out of my questions about our ongoing degradation of the ecosystem.
Now, I know humanity has the knowledge to save itself, but because of denial deeply in cultural anachronisms it's fast running out of time. Probably never too late, but just progressively more difficult.
For more: browse my Facebook group, Lands for Life Towards Regenerative Land Use. Posts from all over the world, sift what might be useful, all are grounded in best science or successful lived systems experience.
The whole living systems approach is the key, but paradoxically the challenge, in our own unique personal complex situation. We have to rebalance deduction with more induction.
Thanks a lot for reading the whole piece, and for sharing your thoughts & personal experience.
In the end, I hope you're right and we will be able to adapt. But the thing that worries me more than how well our own garden will fare is what all the other people around us will do. The truly scary part is not so much whether we will survive off our land (barring a massive disaster I'm sure we can somehow manage to scrape by), but what happens to society as returns continue to diminish and general chaos & desperation starts settling in. Compared to Australia, SEAsia is hopelessly overpopulated, severely degraded, and absolutely nothing of substance has been done to actually alleviate the current situation, let alone mitigate & adapt to future instability (climatic & social). I definitely agree with you, humanity theoretically has the necessary knowledge, but the brick wall in people's heads is the major obstacle for any implementation of such things on a larger scale. I truly hope this changes as the climate deteriorates - hopefully, some sort of threshold will be reached once people start realizing that this is not just a "bad year," but a steadily worsening trend.
We're in for a wild ride, which I'll keep on documenting here.
Thanks a lot for pointing me towards your Facebook group, I look forward to receiving updates. Keep up the good work, and thanks a lot for what you're doing!
Its nice seeing you guys develop such sensitivity and knowledge of your specific land. The handcrafted and frequently maintained swales say something. I am one of those a bit disillusioned by swales after seeing it implemented by machines that push forests over to create swales. I think the maintenance of swales isnt something often talked about too. If the berm is no longer level then you can be creating a concentration of water that erodes into a gully. Farming on hillside isnt forgiving so kudos to you guys!
What kind of net for the chickens do you use? Snakes often get trapped in nets so hopefully the hole size is right and you harvest a few.
We do our daily tribute to the chickens and ducks as well when they start coming into our open kitchen and pooping all over. But I also feel the tribute reinforces their behaviour to come and harass us.
Yes I was wondering the obvious about the monkeys. We recently caught two in traps meant for wild boar. My wife havent cooked them because she is unsure how to cook it. There seems to be more big animals (boars, pythons, monitor lizards, monkeys) where I am maybe because my neighbours do not eat them because they are Muslims. But they do poison or kill them if they interfere with their farming. We have been fortunate with wild meat (python, monkey, boar) the past few months and the freezer is full! I am thinking of learning to use bow and arrow too.
Wow, havent heard of jackfruit and cempedak seeds being used as a staple. Do you find cempedak easier to care for than jackfruits since the latter often require wrapping? My trees are still young so i have no idea but over here jackfruits are often eaten green maybe because monkeys and squirrels get them first. Havent heard of wet jackfruit but I now spit out the fiber of the cempedak since it chokes me too.
Hey Thomas, thanks for your comment.
I wholeheartedly share your sentiment towards heavy machinery forcefully ripping swales into a forest. Swales are indeed a bit overhyped in general - but in our situation there was no way around it, and they fulfill an important purpose. Regular maintenance is key, though, especially at this size. Ours fill up quickly, and we didn't plant anything on them since we use the level ground as footpaths as well.
Continuous hillside farming is quite challenging, but at least we're safe from flooding!
We use regular nylon chicken fencing, with holes big enough for most snakes to pass through. The recycled fishing net had smaller holes and we caught a few snakes, but I always felt a little bad for them because it's not a good death. But the only ones that can do any real damage here are pythons, and we haven't seen one in three years now (sadly). Apparently they like to stay lower and closer to water? Snakes are only a real danger to small chicks and occasionally eggs here, and ever since we snake-proofed the chicken house that problem is solved (for now, at least).
I had to laugh out loud at your comment about the chickens - they are so much smarter than we give them credit for, right?! They surely understand what's going on, and feeding them both slightly more or slightly less than usual immediately results in rebellious behavior of some sort. An unwritten contract of surprising complexity!
I'm quite jealous of how easy it is for you to obtain bush meat. The area here has been overhunted for decades, the degraded forest provides little habitat, and what little wildlife is left is scared out of their wits. The monkeys just start getting used to us after six years.
I love archery but my last bow broke, so now I have to find time to make a new one. Already found a nice piece of rattan, but I've gotta experiment more regarding the bending of the limbs. (I've never successfully hunted anything with a bow, though. That might take me a few years of practice - or a larger target!)
Jackfruits grow easier than cempedak here, because cempedak only fruits really abundantly if it rains enough or if the tree is close to a water source. Surprisingly enough we have absolutely no problem with other animals attacking our jackfruit, so we don't even need to wrap them - only a single time did a wild elephant eat one.
If you ever get the chance to plant wet jackfruit, I'd highly recommend it - so many seeds! I've only ever seen it grown in the South of Thailand, so perhaps you'll find it in Malaysia as well. But the choking problem is about ten times worse with wet jackfruit when compared to even the "wettest" cempedak, hahaha.
Loved reading this update. It is so fascinating to hear the ins ad outs of other systems in other places. Looks like Artocarpus might be the best suited staple genus for your situation. Are you planning on gathering wider diversity and maybe doing some more hybridisation? How are the more uncommon species you mentioned trying holding up during the drought? Getting the first wide crosses done is a huge challenge compared to the explosion of diversity and vigor than happens on the other side, so I hope you keep steadily pushing in that direction. Especially for tree crops it often takes years to get all the ingredients lined up at the right time, waiting for just the right season to open the door to new possibilities.
Hey Shane, thanks for reading.
Yeah, it does indeed seem like Artocarpus is our safest bet. Now we just need to ensure that we can harvest year-round, so we will have to wait for the trees we planted in different locations to start fruiting. Wider diversity is definitely high on our list, as there's still plenty of genetic variation available - its just difficult to find good material, since everyone is focused on high-yielding grafted cultivars. Unfortunately, a lot of massive, old jackfruits in the area are being cut down right now because they "attract elephants" and (since nobody utilizes their fruit anymore) they are considered a nuisance because the ripe fruit drops onto roads and paths. So it's a bit of a race against time as well. Moreover, I don't believe that Artocarpus is going to make a difference on a larger scale, simply because there's literally ZERO interest (or even awareness of the multitude of problems we're facing), and for Arto to actually make a difference in terms of food security people would have to start planting on a massive scale RIGHT NOW. Even in our conditions they take a few years until they commence fruiting, and once people realize it will likely be too late.
As for the other species: they are holding up. Achira didn't like the high humidity too much, and this year there were a lot more problems overall with fungal diseases affecting all sorts of annuals, which achira is still recovering from right now. I'll talk a bit more about bananas in the next Update, but after Artocarpus it seems like the second-best candidate here is purple yams. They can be integrated very well into forest-type ecosystems and thrive in a variety of different conditions. Only downside is that they can't be harvested year-round, but are only a viable staple food in dry season. During rainy season, the tubers often rot and/or get attacked by insect, but it seems like they simply cannibalize themselves (i.e. their own leftovers) because afterwards they often form even larger tubers.
I would love to get some Cempedak seeds from Malaysia as well, but sadly its easier said than done!
With the chaotic weather of the past two years, I have a whole new appreciation for what you are able to accomplish in your wildly varying climatic conditions. Surely a wholly different kind of challenge! One of the perks of living in the tropics is that there is less seasonality, but it seems like this might be changing, at least for our locale.
We are slowly realizing that the large diversity of foods we are currently still able to cultivate will likely undergo some sort of bottleneck somewhen soon, which is deeply regrettable, but sadly inevitable. All a part of the Great Simplification, it seems!
Best greetings to you, my friend!
Hi David.
I admire your journey and its trials, your situation can get better, that I am sure. Sure the climate will get wilder, but humans will adapt, or die.
You don't know me, and I am surprised to meet you and your writing. Must have clicked subscribe in a drowsy moment after reading one of Shane Simonsen blog posts.
I am a Tasmanian, long retired industrial farmer, from a two generation farming family. All launched from my great grandfathers gold mining career in Charters Towers Far North Queensland. Near were he landed in his 30s with a shilling in his pocket, but skills in mechanics(carpentry) and butchery. Ended buying his two sons stations around Australia and himself an English Estate to retire on.
To cut the story short, I retired after 26years of industrial bored with our degradation of a landscape I love and the decadal droughts. Resulting to have 10,000 sheep shot during a 20 year wool slump being the turning point. During that time ran many enterprises, cattle, vegetables, grain and pulse crops; all in the European model.
My brother and I both being given shares in highly mortgaged mixed farms,which continued over the years.
During the 1990s I commenced the study of Social Ecology, out of my questions about our ongoing degradation of the ecosystem.
Now, I know humanity has the knowledge to save itself, but because of denial deeply in cultural anachronisms it's fast running out of time. Probably never too late, but just progressively more difficult.
For more: browse my Facebook group, Lands for Life Towards Regenerative Land Use. Posts from all over the world, sift what might be useful, all are grounded in best science or successful lived systems experience.
The whole living systems approach is the key, but paradoxically the challenge, in our own unique personal complex situation. We have to rebalance deduction with more induction.
Cheers to all Duncan
Thanks a lot for reading the whole piece, and for sharing your thoughts & personal experience.
In the end, I hope you're right and we will be able to adapt. But the thing that worries me more than how well our own garden will fare is what all the other people around us will do. The truly scary part is not so much whether we will survive off our land (barring a massive disaster I'm sure we can somehow manage to scrape by), but what happens to society as returns continue to diminish and general chaos & desperation starts settling in. Compared to Australia, SEAsia is hopelessly overpopulated, severely degraded, and absolutely nothing of substance has been done to actually alleviate the current situation, let alone mitigate & adapt to future instability (climatic & social). I definitely agree with you, humanity theoretically has the necessary knowledge, but the brick wall in people's heads is the major obstacle for any implementation of such things on a larger scale. I truly hope this changes as the climate deteriorates - hopefully, some sort of threshold will be reached once people start realizing that this is not just a "bad year," but a steadily worsening trend.
We're in for a wild ride, which I'll keep on documenting here.
Thanks a lot for pointing me towards your Facebook group, I look forward to receiving updates. Keep up the good work, and thanks a lot for what you're doing!