Lesson from an elderly man

I've always find it enriching to take a lesson from someone's life. So what is the story here?

Some 15 years back, as I toured the Victorian countryside, the idea of a country home and hobby farm was appealing. I would take note of properties for sale and make appointment for inspection.

One in which I was particular fond of was in Gippsland, a 1 1/2 hr drive south east from Melbourne. It is a 17 acre hill top property with a magnificent view of the surrounds.

The owner was a 76 year elderly man. The first question I posed him was how can he manage a property of this size at his age. A smile beamed on his face as he invited me into the yard and took me around on an ATV! I loved it, the beauty and fresh air all around with a dozen cows grazing.

Next I inquired about the cost of its upkeep and income it generated. Soon I learned his income model was to sell calves - he kept them on the property till the market prices are best. Good common sense, but only till you know about it!

I probed further. How did he get into it? Has he any farming background to begin with? It emerged he was a retired boiler engineer who came to this property 11 years before, learned everything from scratch with the help of supportive neighbors in the community. Never too old to start over again - I was very impressed!

As we headed back to his garage, I noted a fishing boat there. There is no lake nearby to take the boat out I thought. "The sea is just 1/2 hr drive away" he informed. Hmm.. isn't that a wonderful life style I thought.

Did I trot his path too? Seem like it. Got into bird nest ranching without prior knowledge. I am really fortunate to have very supportive locals like P'Jiap & P'Moo to get it off the ground.

More ideas are coming together now and my mental picture is getting clearer - I would like to take the farm in the direction of an Eco-village next. The pre-conditions do exist. The thought of it alone it pretty exciting!

Towards an eco lifestyle?

Well, construction of the new bird nest farm will complete within next 2 months. The property should further be develop for wider use. Where does it lead to next? I have been thinking about it for a while now.

A residence on-site seem appropriate. With some consciousnesses of human impact towards the environment - on climate change, carbon foot print of urban lifestyle etc. I have embraced the concept of eco-living for a while. This seem a worthwhile pursuit next.

Having witnessed how the dozen workers lived off the land, I was inspired to do the same. The land is very fertile with abundance of water around. Surely it will be self sufficient with produce even for a small community.

To begin with, the idea is to go organic. There will be vegies patch just as the workers did, a herbs garden and a fruit orchard with various tropical fruits. This is Thailand! Where on earth could be a better place than this? There will be a compost area to generate organic fertilizer too. These pics surely looks enticing, especially when produces by oneself - someday!





































The deep pond will be be re-stock with more fish species. It has been self sufficient with food at present and will be supplemented with soy bean residues, available from a friend who made soy drinks daily.







As an electrical engineer, I am hook on renewable energy such as wind and solar energy projects. So achieving energy self sufficiency is another endeavor. Though initial capital outlay is high, I intend to embark on a small scale as experimental test beds. Thailand has a program to buy electricity from very small producers (known as VSSP scheme), it will be very interesting indeed if China's Suntech Power's ambitious goal of producing solar panels at grid-parity cost by 2011!















This is a rough sketch of the path to take and things to come - another journey of learning and experimenting ahead.

Frankly I did not anticipate so much coming together so nicely at the beginning, it simply develop and evolved along the way.