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Organic Farm and Gardening Tips: Ebook
Organic Farm and Gardening Tips: Ebook
eBook
This eBook is a very small excerpt from
Tips with pictures for organic gardening and little organic farms. For the purpose of
this presentation, I define garden as a peace of land from a quarter hectare up to
about 1 hectare and little farm from 1-3 hectares, rarely larger. The larger your farm
the more complex your work and the less quality of life you can achieve as farmer
family.
A small organic farm needs creative ideas to be fun and provide healthy organic
food besides being a natural living environment and adventurous playground for
happy children. Hence little farms need to look like organic gardens - just larger.
Farming should be conducted like gardening, with love and health rather than with
profits in mind.
This growing tips section with pictures from various little organic farms in the
Philippines and the Kingdom of Cambodia can in no way be all inclusive in teaching
you organic gardening skills or organic farming skills. The purpose of these tips
however is to open and broaden your mind, to show you a variety of different
gardening methods or farming techniques used in both tropical countries as well as
to add additional tips from my own experience as a farmer son in a totally different
climate and environment in the Swiss mountains.
CONTENT
Beautiful small farmhouse amidst nature
Know what you love to farm and choose a land suitable for your needs
There is no poor soil but only poor understanding of the soil you have
If you love and care for nature - nature loves you back
Balance between organic farming, high tech farm and stone age methods
Grow what loves your soil most at every corner of your property
Less roads and limited transportation for a self sustaining farm life
A little farm should be a size that you still can manage as a family farm
while having another part time job and quality time for your own family
and loved ones! The ideal farmer's work situation is a mixed job - part
farming, part professional work. Ideally you work at home on the farm
amidst nature and loving family. The goal is to teach and inspire you to
work at home joint venture with your entire family. With your children
learning from you while watching you and assisting you while you are
working amidst your garden of flowers, fruits, vegetables and some God
made wild nature nearby is the goal of this farming tips picture series.
The ideal farm size may be in the range of 3 hectares for a small farm
with mixed job farmers. Up to 3 hectares can easily be managed in
organic farming by a single family in a part time job in addition to some
part time work for the outside world.
Choosing a farm location
Several criteria to chose a location for your little farm. All make sense
and are obvious. Yet if tempted with cheap offers when looking to
purchase your farmland, you may easily overlook some important
criteria and have to pay a life long for mistakes made in your initial
choice. Create a brief checklist for all important factors., Even better,
invite an old farmer to join you when looking at prospective farms or
farmland.
You also need your own well with drinking water for your household.
Hence you have to chose a location on the lower side of a hill with a
natural flow of underground water wells to find and dig for your needs
of fresh year round water supply.
The best season to chose a farm location for its available water of
course is by the end of a dry season. During rainy season we have water
everywhere. The important however is to have water after a long dry
season.
A garden or farm land without pure water has no value. Zero! If you
need to pump water my motorized water pumps, you'll have life long
additional mechanical work and financial expenses for your water
supply. There is ample water in nature. You just have to search and find
the right location to have water for household and farmland.
A house needs sunshine all day long, flowing drinking water from your
own source and a beautiful wild nature around your farmhouse to
provide you with strong life-force and natural beauty for increased
quality of life.
A house needs flowers, wild trees, wild herbs and plants and blooming
trees or shrubs to make life pleasant. Hence if you construct your house
- look at some of the pictures shown and see how a farm house can be
integrated into nature without any nature destruction.
Being invisible to nature assures that you stay within your limits and
avoid to create visual pollution for your neighbors. Whatever you do on
your farm and in your home should stay within your own boundaries.
That assures that all your neighbors have the freedom to create their
own life and living environment without any impact or disturbance from
you. Keep your noises inside your property as well as all your pollution,
smoke, animals and all else. Honor other people's freedom to be without
any influence from you or others. Each family should have a small clean
property of its own. A small "kingdom" free from outside influences of
any kind.
Organic farming is like gardening - just larger
The goal of this gardening and farming articles is to turn your little farm
into a large garden with lots of mixed culture, lots of beautiful flowers
amidst all vegetables and fruits. Learn to create wilderness - a chaotic
looking peace of nature with built in self healing. A garden is a source of
life force and beauty. Each farm should look like an extended garden - a
beautiful mixture of colorful flowers and edible food amidst and
surrounded / protected wild nature. A key source of inspiration for
organic farming is wild nature, specially jungle. Jungle is a healthy,
strong chaotic looking God made organized botanical/biological
structure in full harmony. Neither needing fertilizer nor needing any
chemicals such as herbicides, pesticide or fungicides! Learn from God
made nature for the holistic well being of all mankind including your
very own family and children.
Every farm starts with a small nursery in your garden to produce
seedlings.
Animal farming or vegetarian farming
Later on much more on this decision you make when choosing the type
of farming or gardening with or without animals. In brief a simple and
yet absolute rule: If you keep animals as prisoners of your farm, you
become prisoner of your animals as well. Any kind of animal farming
always leads to a 24/7/365 duty of personal physical presence - all life
long. No weekend off, no vacation, no night away from home.
Vegetarian farming allows full use of nature
Mixed culture is the key to organic farm success. On the picture here in
one field we have rice almost ready to harvest and beautiful high sweet
potato. Mixed culture enforces each other, just as in jungle.
The entire farm field is surrounded by wild grass, plants and strong
trees to further strengthen the entire biosphere.
Organic gardening needs love for nature
When you plant your crop in garden or farm land, you create imbalance
in nature. Then after planting your crop it is necessary to allow nature
to re-establish balance. Allow all plants to grow around your vegetables,
trees and crop. If you choose all your plants properly, then all will learn
to coexist and enforce each other like in jungle.
Testing, experimenting and adapting to nature's needs will help you to
have a beautiful and strong biosphere on your organic farm. A copy of
wild nature and jungle adapted for farming in harmony with God's
creation. Every herb or grass has a purpose and meaning in God's entire
creation. Every herb or plant has healing power for humans, animals and
all nature. The more diversified your vegetation in your garden or
farmland, the stronger nature.
Using animals on farming adds work and expenses
Animals need additional food and thus additional land and care in a busy
farmer's world. Every convenience has a price. Hence think twice if you
really need help by animals on your farm. Healthy animals need
additional living space in freedom, healthy food and daily care. However
to use machines instead is no bio-friendly solution. Technology adds
much more to environment pollution and expenses to your life than any
natural solution would do.
If you find no alternative at all, then consider a coop where multiple
farmers share tools and resources. To be happy with all your family, all
possible animals you want to keep on your farm need to be happy as
well. Only animals in God given freedom can be happy. No lace, no
chain, no stable to restrict freedom!
A smallest possible farm
This little farm belongs to an old man in Cambodia. One small house
hidden under the green wine covering his roof amidst a little garden of
approximately 0.1 hectare. Enough to supply all life's needs for a most
simple life of a single person. The last 2 years I visited this old man every
few months. Each visit the farm land looks different, new vegetable, new
crop ready to harvest. All farming work done by hand without any
machinery nor helper. Each time I see the old farmer he seems happy
and is smiling.
How to choose your house location on your property
As said earlier you need a location that offers you free flowing water
even late dry season. The opposite is to offer clean drinking water
during flooded times later in rainy season. Test availability of water
during both extremes of the year. Consider extreme years of exceptional
drought or exceptional heavy rainy seasons during the past many
centuries.
However all Khmer style houses are built on stilts - usually some 2-3
meters high rarely less - and most people have a small family row boat
to fully adapt to the annual flooding of the land. Flooding thus no longer
is a disaster but a normal state of nature and people are fully adapted to
welcome the heavy rain blessing each year for their benefit rather than
to regard it as a disaster.
Some people love it dry, others wet or afloat. Some love to live along
ocean coast while others may prefer hills, mountains, jungle or simply
country side. There is enough space for all, for each and every taste.
Every particular situation has its beautiful side, you just need to see it
and learn to live with it rather than fighting nature or attempting to
convert nature to fit into your selfish desires and goals.
Learn to make the best out of your farmland
While such wet of flooded areas may be unfit for most vegetables or
fruits, these very conditions are ideal for lotus farming, aquaculture and
growing aquatic weeds during each rainy season and for rice farming
during lesser flooded season of the year.
Know what you truly love to do and know to do. The choose your
location according to your own expertise and preferences. Avoid raping
your heart and soul to live in an area you dislike nor rape nature to fit
into your plans. There is an ideal place that matches all your
preferences. be ready to learn and open your mind for new alternate
methods of modern organic farming in full harmony with nature for our
all benefit.
Know what you love to farm and choose a land suitable
for your needs
Before choosing land for your garden or farm, you need to know what
you want to grow. Know what quality of soil your favorite plants or
trees need. What water or irrigation you need. What sunshine and cloud
hours your farmland needs to offer ideal climate and weather conditions
for your planned farming type.
Know the quality of soil you have on prospective land you look at. Know
the soil, how it looks, feels, smells. Know what variety of plants of trees
can fit or adapt comfortably in available soil condition.
Do you know a large variety of different plants, vegetables, flowers and
fruits that grow strongly in exactly these given conditions you have?
Organic farming requires knowledge of nature and natural energy.
Organic farming requires skills to live with existing conditions without
the need of artificial fertilizer or chemicals. To successfully live from
organic farming you need to be able to plant and grow in harmony with
existing natural conditions and use the existing nature strength to
produce powerful healthy agriculture products, food and other
agriculture resources offered and supported by existing nature.
Keep your small farmhouse clean amidst beautiful
wilderness
Preserve and protect all nature when building a house. Most of the
shrubs and trees here need many years or decades to grow to existing
beautiful size and strength. Your existing strong nature around your
house is the most essential source of healthy life-force and healthcare
for you and the entire family.
Preserving all nature as is when integrating your small house into
existing nature may eventually save you thousands of dollars in medical
bills later on in life. Wild, healthy nature is priceless in value to quality
of life and health of your entire family.
While preserving existing nature, keep your house clean and neat - this
is your living and working area as well as the playground for all your
family. Make your home a place all love to stay and enjoy to stay.
To enhance beauty, add more flowers, blossoming trees and shrubs
amidst existing natural vegetation.
The direct proximity of your house is needed for your
nursery
Small plants and tree seedlings are like children - needing protection
and daily loving care. Small seedlings may need multiple times a day
irrigation, supervision, protection from animals you or your neighbors
may have. Thus you may prefer to have your entire nursery close to
your house. Even children may love to care for your nursery and first
learn under your direct supervision, then accept responsibility for their
own small nursery.
Young plants are like our baby angels - they feel most comfortable
amidst strong protecting surrounding. Hence you integrate your nursery
into a neighborhood of strong old plants and trees. Yet small plants
need their very own little space just as our own babies and children do!
If you know how to care for many babies and children with loving care
and without grand mother or baby sitter, then you also have the loving
care for a successful nursery. In farming the owners always to all the
work, without outside help, without farm helper or farm slaves.
Farming only is suitable for people willing to work hard and willing to
learn to do all on their own. Farming is one of the most ideal family
business types offering near infinite number of choices and varieties of
work for all family members to be creative and free in their work.
Define your favorite farming type
There are plants and vegetables that love a particular condition or type
of the following soil, sun and water conditions:
Any existing a.m. natural condition is suitable for farming as long as you
know what type of vegetation loves that particular environment and soil
quality or soil condition.
There is no poor soil but only poor understanding of the
soil you have
There are numbers of trees and plants that love what you call poor soil.
Soil with limited of no water. Dusty, rocky, stony or sandy - even near
beach with salty air or salty ground water ...
God made something that loves exactly that type of conditions. Look at
the image and the surrounding soil. Dry and "poor" soil but exactly the
perfect condition for rich dragon fruit farming farming. Many other fruits
love same or similar conditions. Such as papaya tree with a rich harvest
as little as 9 months after planting a seed, or watermelon plants - a
juicy fruit growing in very dry soil, even near ocean.
Many most precious herbs such as thyme, marjoram, origano, sage and
countless other most precious herbs for herbal tea, herbal medicine or
seasoning of high class cuisine love dry sandy or rocky conditions with
little soil and little water year round.
You see, there is no such thing as poor soil, just poor knowledge about
all possibilities your soil offers you. Never copy what millions do
already, be different and learn to understand the very special treasure
God gave you with the land you own. There may be herbs you only
harvest a few kgs every now and then, but at a price 100 times higher
than cabbage, tomato or potato because you may have something
needed in milligrams or drops instead of kilograms.
Despite the "poor soil" the dragon fruit bear fruits as soon as 8 months
after planting a new seedling and then keep bearing fruits all year long.
That sounds quite rich to me specially when looking at the local price of
half dollar to one dollar a single fruit.
Never try to enforce a type of farming in a wrong place
Imposing a fish pond into a dry region gives you lots of additional work.
Th every same farmer having the beautiful dragon fruit farm far from
nearest city, near jungle and slightly elevated above all flooded areas
has an artificial fish pond. That requires daily feeding and all the
problems that accompany artificial farming in an unnatural environment.
There are many common sense criteria that should prevent such a fish
pond in an otherwise rather dry region.
First of all: That farm is some 50 kms away from nearest smaller city =
your potential customers. Fish need to be transported either cooled or
alive. Growing fish far from customers artificially inflates prices and
make fish farming uncompetitive.
In addition the daily feeding makes the fish artificially expensive until a
fish reaches market size of 150-200 grams that very fish may eat up
most of its selling price inn food.
The more natural your entire farming, the more cost efficient and the
less care you need to become productive and successful as a farmer.
Nature offers you a treasure - recognize that gift of love from God and
convert this gift into a blessing for your customers, neighbors.and loved
ones alike.
Create diversity in your farm just like jungle
Learn how to create your own diversity on your land. How? Take a small
piece of your land, may be 50x50 meters. Buy all kinds of seeds from
flowers, herbs, vegetables, poultry food seeds, etc. 20-50 different
types of seeds. From some plants you may want to choose different
varieties to see what grows best or strongest.
Then prepare your piece of test land for the new seed first. Get all
surface fine crumbly and moist. May be you choose a few days with
cloudy weather or light rain to help the seeds grow faster and easier.
Now mix all seeds in a big pot. One pot of seeds with dozens of different
kind of herbs, flowers, etc. now spread all seeds evenly on your entire
prepared land. Cover the seeds gently depending on seed type. larger
seeds a little deeper, small seed grains just barely covered by soil.
Moist all area gently. Irrigate multiple times a day. 2-3 days later the
first seeds start to grow. If you made a good choice of all your favorite
herbs, vegetables and flowers - a few months later you have a wild
looking rich growing variety of vegetables in your garden.Decorated
with flowers and green grass/herbs.
Avoid to mess up your newly created wilderness - just leave it up to
nature and natural selection which plant to grow and survive and which
to die.
Learn about origin of fruits and plants you plant
Convert into farmland or maintain a treasure. This are the 2 basic likely
reactions or mind sets when a new farmer gets a piece of land like this
small area less than a quarter hectare in size.
Get a tractor and turn it over to plant some corn, potato or a mango
tree ...
Or
Let's sit down and study what kind of treasure God created here and
what type of herbal medicine and natural resources are growing here for
the benefit of our farm, nature and our planet.
Look at the extreme bio-diversity and density of growth. how about just
keeping all as is until you fully understand every single plant, shrub or
tree growing on this tiny piece of wild nature. This however make take
hundreds of years ... we have eternity time!
Look at the extreme mixture and combination of different plants next to
each other without reducing each others life force or growth.
The secret within this area is the right combination of different
vegetation enhancing and protecting each other. The very same strong
biodiversity can be integrated into regular farming. All you need to learn
is to combine:
- fruits - fruit trees
- flowers
- vegetables
- herbs
- grass
- "weeds"
all into one piece of land. "Weeds" is what we call if we lack any
knowledge or understanding about a particular plant. In reality every
single plant is herbal medicine either for animals or humans or for
nature itself!
Or a plant is a food resource for any above.
To make a living you need to grow beyond crop and potato. If you do
what millions of farmers do, then you may be poor like million others or
work cheaper than any helper in cities and factories. A farmer is about
lowest paid expert in the world. That has to change and I am going to
help you as far as possible by inspiring you with new different ideas.
Then it's up to you to convert ideas into reality.
Of course part of the farming may include crop, corn, potato to feed this
planet. But you need to produce other values besides basic food. Look at
the treasure God gave you to guard and protect for this world. Offer
these values to the city world - they need your farm and farm products
infinitely much more than mobile phones and computers or cars and
gadgets!
In future chapters I cover:
- establish direct communication with end consumers
- offer healthcare
- invite city people as guests
- supply directly to consumers
- offer farm life as recreation
- offer nature experience
- teach basic gardening
and other means to create additional substantial revenue sources for
your farm family.
The first goal of every farm is self sustainability
The easiest way to earn is to save. Living for a farmer should be free,
because a farmer should be free of mortgages and debts. Simple and
small, but owned by you and never a bank.
The next step is to evaluate what your entire families and relatives love
and what among those food products you can produce yourself on your
farm.
Hence you have a number of different fruit trees to satisfy your family
needs, crop and other basic food for all year. All vegetables, salads and
herbs.
By the end of all self sustainability you may find a few products missing
from your own farm production. Hence you need to produce surplus in
exchange of money or missing goods.
On our own mountain farm, we had about a dozen cows and that
resulted in some 50 liters of milk for sale. The entire cattle story was
the biggest work load and largest loss in money. My parents failed to
understand and calculate real numbers.
In addition we had a number of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees and
within the first few years planted 450+ more plum trees and some 150
more sour cherry trees. In addition to several other sources for
additional revenue.
The mixed fruit production gave more net $ than the entire cattle but at
a tiny fraction of machinery, expenses and work load!
For complete self sustainability of an entire family and relatives, a farm
size of less than one hectare is plentiful. In good climate zones half a
hectare is sufficient for a huge variety of healthy organic food for your
entire family and guests of your family.
Offer guest rooms on your farm
Every farm is a treasure for our health. That is specially valid for small
farms far away from cities and "civilization". People in cities are getting
more and more sick and need your farm to recover, to heal, the re-
discover nature beauty and happy life in a natural environment amidst a
loving family.
Therefore every farmer outside villages, in remote areas, even in most
simple living conditions has a truly valuable nature experience to offer.
Two situations for vacation and recovery on a farm. The first in a third
world country, such as Cambodia or Philippines. The other in traditional
farms in central Europe or similar destinations.
Here I start with tropical situations. Look at a little house I sometimes
call home on a very remote tropical island.
Such a small nipa hut of 3.5x3.5 meters plus a small shower/toilet costs
less than 500 US$. An amount a hard working farmer needs to afford.
There are no furniture needed except a bed, chair and table. The true
value you have to offer is God made nature and a simple life that helps
your city-guests to find the true values of life again and reorient their
own life.
People from cities need no gold course, no tennis and no SCUBA diving
at all. What they really need is quiet and peace and real nature. A few
days, weeks or months without any distraction. Just quiet, simple wild
nature. That is what every organic farm has to offer plentiful. The less
"development" your home area has, the more natural environment and
healing nature you have to offer.
The value of a vacation on your farm is priceless. Hence if you add a
little simple wooden or nipa hut on your farm land in a quiet corner,
then you have a guest house for visitors from your own country's cities
or from any other place in the world.
For the small little house I pay 11 US$ a day. I declined the discount for
weekly or monthly rates the owner offered me because I belief that a
home in such a beautiful environment is priceless and needs no discount.
Additional revenue source then becomes possible meals you offer to
your guests if there are no other restaurants nearby. Hence most of the
time I eat at home and the house owner wife cooks homemade food for
me - including my special wish for vegetarian food.
Later I may write more about having guests. For now think about your
possibilities. Keep in mind as the key asset and major value God made
nature. That is more than any high class hotel chain ever can offer to
this world! Only small farms in a wild, remote natural environment have
the benefit of true healing nature as part of farming revenue.
Add nature beauty for your guests
Every farm location has a unique environment to offer for guests. Make
sure you know what particular values your own neighborhood and
nature has for guests from other countries or cities.
I remember that my favorite uncle came to visit us mainly for the
excellent fishing opportunities we had within walking distance.
Other locations may include jungle, forest, beach, river, flowers, wild
life, mountains and many other scenery and natural environment
specialties. Millions of people out there love to enjoy exactly what you
may overlook as true value of your farm. Your nature is unique, specially
if you are living in remote areas without chemical farming, without
industrial pollution. Even having no electricity, no TV, no radio or no
entertainment nearby may be an asset rather than a disadvantage.
Nature pure is the greatest healing value you can offer. Beware of all
the beautiful sunsets, animal encounters, insects and butterflies, jungle
vegetation and fresh air you have. That is enough. There is no need for
luxury because you have the most valuable luxury most city people have
lost centuries ago - nature!
Traditional farm houses in the Philippines mostly are nipa huts made of
bamboo. Roofing material either nipa or a high strong dried grass
depending on availability.
This beautiful farm house shows another need for organic farming: To
produce your own construction material for initial construction and
annual maintenance of your own home.
Bamboo is the world's fastest growing grass and usually grows in a
single season to its full size of up to 15-20 meters.
This house is a little different from most other Philippine nipa houses.
The upper level is entirely for privacy - bedroom, living area and
balcony. The lower level is living area or many, including guests.
Normally the kitchen is inside or directly attached to the house. Here the
small house on the left is the kitchen house. The kitchen outside as
separate building has purely practical reason. If you work in a farmland,
mainly rice fields, you always are dirty. Coming home for a quick snack
or drink is easier when all kitchen is easily accessible without carrying
dirt inside the house. Another reason: If you prepare food and need
some fresh herbs or extra vegetables, you are next to the garden to
grab what you need without carrying dirt into your home. The small
kitchen house has a table and benches to accommodate at least 8
persons, the mother and all 7 children.
This small farmhouse was part of several components of Cyberspace
Ashram's last year's Christmas gift for a widow having grown up with 7
children all alone for the past 20 years. The family father, a farmer, died
20 years ago. To pay his hospital bill, the family had to sell all previous
property of 7 hectares.
This tragedy of sick medical system sustained by greedy inhumane
medical doctors shows what happens when people are scared to die and
pay whatever charged in an attempt to "survive" in hell. The farmer died
anyway, leaving his entire family, all 7 children and widow without
home, without land, without food. Just recently a new property of 3
hectares beautiful farmland was obtained with all the tools and a
farmhouse missing.
A nipa house made of bamboo lasts for about 8-10 years with minimal
annual maintenance except for roofing. Bamboo should be grown on
own property thus making maintenance free for all future.
Kitchen house on Philippine farm
To have your kitchen separate from your living house has but benefits in
a farm house. A farm is different from city. In a farm it is about daily
long working hours in the fields, garden and forest. In tropical
environment of South East Asia with long months of rainy season and
lots of field work being done in flooded rice fields. It is apparent that
you always work barefoot in deep mud. Going for a snack home or a hot
soup or tea is easier if you just walk from the field into a separate
kitchen house with a large table to seat all family. That keeps your living
area inside the actual farm house clean all day long and thus reduces
cleaning work.
There are other benefits of having a completely separate kitchen house:
- all ash is out of your home
- all kitchen waste is out of your home
- you can walk between garden and kitchen without having to worry
about dirt being carried into your home
- all steam, smoke and fire from your cooking is out of your home.
- a separate kitchen house is easier to ventilate and thus makes cooking
healthier than if done indoors with all smoke caught indoors.
- in case of fire, the kitchen house is separate from living area and
would make a possible fire easier to control.
- if having visitors from neighborhood you never have to worry about
any street of field dirt being carried indoors. Just welcome your guests
and enjoy their company with some homemade food.
- during sunny season you can have tables and benches outdoor open
air and enjoy eating under the sky - my preferred version!
If you have many children - you know as a mother to value the fact of
never having to worry about all the stuff and dirt kids bring into kitchen
when hungry. Kids, specially farmer children are hungry all day and
mother may be preparing or keeping food ready all day long to keep all
baby angels smiling and happy. No more worry about having to clean up
living room all day long.
How to convert grass land into garden
To convert grass land into fertile garden or a nursery needs loving care.
Just cutting the grass never is enough. Rice fields have different soil
requirements from herbs, vegetables or a nursery.
You have the typical tools, a pushcart and then the work starts. A few
simple steps follow - see next picture.
Dig deep and add bio waste for mulching
One garden row is finished and now looks much higher than before. I
added and mixed approximately an equal amount of bio waste with
existing soil. Now the finished garden row temporarily is higher. In
tropical climate bio degradable natural mulching material takes but
weeks or a few months maximum to be fully degraded. By that time we
turn the soil one more times over and may even add more bio waste as
needed until the soil meets our requirements for each particular part of
your garden and nursery. Different parts of the garden may have
different requirements depending on the type of plants, herbs,
vegetables, flowers or trees we plant to grow in our garden or nursery.
This part here is planned to become nursery all over. Without well
maintained nursery no future plants and thus no future harvest.
Peanut plants grow in heavy poor soil
Peanut plants grow in a variety of soil, even heavy soil or poor soil. Even
in different temperature zones.
The girls on the farm loved it the easy way and planted peanut in soil
without additional preparation and the peanuts just love that type of
soil.
That shows once more the importance of knowing what type of soil each
and every plant you wish to cultivate needs for best results.
Other areas of your nursery may need sandy soil with a half half mixture
of sand and soil. The best is to make a full inventory of your entire
property and see what different soil conditions and water/irrigation
situations you naturally have in all parts of your land. There is no need
to have all garden or the entire nursery at one place. Just keep those
plants and seedlings that need intense daily multiple care next to your
home. All else may be at other more remote places on your farmland.
For far away nurseries, you may wish to make natural fences for nursery
protection. Natural fences means growing shrubs like bougainvillea or
similar surrounding the garden. That keeps animals out and thus the
small plants safe until ready for full exposure to nature.
Adventure vacation for children on a farm
A few hours of having fun may produce all the food kids eat and more.
The children on the previous picture having fun and harvesting valuable
food for their families. Catching fish, finding edible fruits in jungle and
all the other ways of exploring nature may be fun, adventurous - but in
addition to all the fun, children actually contribute substantially to the
family resources and may bring home more food than they can eat.
Just a very few hours of fishing the a simple net in the rice fields or rice
field irrigation channels may produce several kilograms of freshest fish.
Happy children having fun and bringing home hungry stomachs and
plenty of food.
For city children such activities are even more adventurous. Most city
children nowadays know adventure only on computers and in computer
games. Real adventure in God made wilderness and nature, on a little
farm far from cities is beyond any computer game. In addition to all the
fun, children learn to interact with each other, to team up and work as a
team to succeed. Each and every child at some point needs help from a
friend. Thus city children learn responsible peaceful social behavior and
the value of real work and useful activities as a direct source of daily
needs for life. Suddenly the awareness of city children changes and the
known source of food moves from supermarket to the actual source -
you the farmer. As a result of repeated vacation on a farm, city children
later on in their adult life may appreciate the true value of your farmer's
work and be ready to pay honest prices for all services and goods they
consume later on in life.
Even the smallest farm can accommodate a few vacation children to add
a valuable service offered to the outside world as a new and substantial
source of additional revenue to pay for all the outside products you have
to get from the world beyond your farm community.
For services and products needed from the world, you need to offer
services or products to the outside world. Your possibilities are huge
and far beyond potato and rice! I will add more tips on additional
revenue sources in later chapters to come.
By the end of my parents marriage - soon after I left home to conquer
and explore/enjoy and learn from and about this world, my parents had
up to 36 city children at once on vacation ...
The only thing missing was true love between husband and wife in their
marriage!
To offer vacation or guest rooms on your farm you need above all to be
a happy family, happy husband and wife. Because broken families is
what city children have in abundance and no need for more during
vacation on your farm!
Offer simple life but happy life in a loving and caring farmer's family
amidst beautiful nature and you'll have success with mixed farming -
agriculture and nature and farming education/adventure for guests
from cities or remote countries.
Profitability of farming - Learn calculation basics for your
farm
Every life, every activity incurs costs - after all costs paid, we need to
have enough to afford a happy life.
In the following several chapters, I shall give you step by step all basic
knowledge in details and if needed with practical examples for your own
family business to be and remain successful.
Profitability in farming is a need for progress
The size of your harvest never guarantees your profit - your calculation
need to that job.
Take the time to actually do all the coming examples given for your very
own farm. Most of these profitability calculations for farms also apply
for any other freelance or selfemployment. You need to know where the
money is spent and from what activities or products you earn money to
pay your bills and living.
Without such precise knowledge of your very own numbers, you may
have lots of work, even be overloaded with work and yet end each day
or year you may end with a minus. Simple due to lack of your own own
calculation knowledge about your farm profitability.
Profits are needed to pay for all bills, all costs of your entire life and
business as well as to invest into a better future by steadily improving
quality of products and services provided. Hence honest profits are
needed to invest into your future as well as to finance social services,
humanitarian help, help for needy ones, help for emergencies and
disasters.
Years ago I met a friend with a very well going business. A restaurant.
He was well frequented, had more guests than most other comparable
competitors in the same city. His quality was excellent and far better
than almost all other competitors.
Yet my friend complained about financial loss every day, every months.
It took me all in all about a full year to change his mind. The reason of
his loss was his lack of price calculation. He wanted to be cheap, often
cheaper than competitors while maintaining better quality. Almost
anything he sold was simply too cheap. Food, drinks, coffea, all too low
in prices.
This was one clear example where a potentially successful business may
fail or even go bankruptcy just for too low prices. To be too cheap is no
service to others. If you drop out of business, then all others who loved
your services no longer may enjoy or benefit from your services or
products.
You as a farmer are manager of your own business and thus need to
know the following terms. To help you I add a few definitions used for
your clear understanding. Be sure I do all as simple and clear as
necessary!
The following chapters thus start with definitions and examples for
- fixed overhead expenses
- variable overhead expenses
- total operational cost of your farm
- profit margin in business retail or wholesale
- retail price mark up
Any fix expenses that you have whether you work or sleep, make
vacation or work overtime belong into the category fixed overhead
expenses.
Some countries may impose a tax or fee per property - per house - per
hectare of land owned, per person in your family = fixed overhead
expenses
You may have bank loans or mortgage on your farm and your bank
wants a fixed amount of payback plus interest per year from you = fixed
overhead expenses
You may have fixed expenses for connection to public electricity, public
water supply, public sewage and garbage disposal = fixed overhead
expenses
You may have fixed expenses for your TV, Internet, radio, mobile or
land-line phone connection in addition to actual consumption rates =
fixed overhead expenses
You may have fixed expenses for social security, medical insurance,
farm insurance, accident insurance = fixed overhead expenses
You may have children going to school and have annual recurring
expenses for school fee, school books, school uniforms, transportation
to school, etc = fixed overhead expenses
Think about any other regular occurring expenses with fixed monthly or
yearly amounts. Those are all fixed overhead expenses that are charged
to you even if you have an accident and are unable to work or when you
are hanging around or on vacation.
Please take now a piece of paper or your college block and start to list
all your fixed expenses for your entire farm and family for the past year.
Easiest may be you first accumulate your total fixed expenses per year
and then divide by 12 to get your monthly overhead expenses for your
farm. You really need to know that amount! If later on you remember
forgotten expenses, then please correct your numbers to always have as
accurate as possible numbers.
Examples:
Obviously the more often you use these machines the more electric
power you consume and the higher your cost of electric energy. These
are variable overhead expenses on your farm or in your family business.
If you have a farm with guest rooms for visitors. There you have flexible
expenses - the more guests the more electricity they may need, the
more you drive around to do all shopping, pickup or drop off at boat
stations or airports, etc.
The more cattle or animals you have on a farm, the more likely you have
an increasing amount of veterinarian costs as well as many other
additional expenses that somehow depend on the number of animals
you keep.
The more animals you keep on a farm, the more food you have to
provide or produce each day - hence a variable expense that entirely
depends on the type of farming and number of animals in your farm.
The more troubles you create or maintain with your neighborhood, the
more lawyers or defense costs you may have for reconciliation and legal
activities = Variable overhead expense. Best always is to stay within
your limits even in your pollution and be in a loving relationship with all.
Cost for accidents. If you are careless, then it is a matter of time until
you may be victim of your own carelessness. Carelessness is expensive
and may cost more than the entire value of your farm plus your many
hectares farmland! Strictly avoid such expenses by learning to be
careful, listen to your heart or inner voice (spiritual guidance available
to all). Such variable expenses are impossible to predict. Look at the
past ten or more years and see what accidents you and your family had.
Is the occurrence of accidents increasing or decreasing?
I had myself a few very severe accidents until age 19. After leaving
home and enjoying my own life in freedom, all accidents with any
severe injury or expenses stopped completely.
Some of the expenses on your farm may have BOTH - a fixed expense
part PLUS a variable expense part.
Examples:
Public electricity. You may have to pay 10 dollars or more per months
just to get connected PLUS a fee per kilowatt power usage. Similar for
landline phone. You may have a fixed flat rate just for being connected
PLUS a minute fee for all calls.
Hence a car may experience a total loss of value after its lifetime of 8-12
years. Lets say 10 yrs to make calculation simple. A new car for 20'000
US$ thus may lose each year 2000 US$ in value = fixed overhead. PLUS
the same care may incur flexible expenses per mileage used. Lets say
you drive 20'000 km per year and the cost per km may be 0.25 US$ =
5000 US$ mileage cost per year PLUS 2000 US$ depreciation per year.
The loss of value of a machine due to aging until machine useless is
called depreciation.
Agriculture machines often are more expensive but also more rugged
and thus may have a longer life expectation if used carefully and
maintained by the farmer properly. The calculation for annual total cost
however are the same. The more hours you use your tractor or
harvesting machines the higher your variable cost for that machine in
addition to fixed overhead expenses for depreciation.
Now you have the total operational cost for your farm.
That total is your operational cost - your total annual cost of running a
farm. That total cost running your farm needs to include your full cost of
living expenses for your entire family living on and living from your farm.
You have an annual amount. Now divide this annual farm operational
cost by 12 to get a monthly amount and also divide the same annual
amount by 365 to get a daily operational cost for your farm.
later on you may need and use any of above - daily or monthly
operational costs for your entire farm with all family members working
on your farm.
Total operational cost of production in farming
Every single part of your farm production has its own individual
operating costs. You should know which part of each farming activity
costs how much and earns you how much. Thus you need to know which
part is profitable in your farming and which part of your farm work may
cost you more expenses than it brings revenue.
Let me explain and give you a few examples for better understanding.
A few months ago a young farmer woman told me about her successful
copra harvest. Copra production in the Philippines is widespread in the
Visayas among hundred thousands of farmers. Farmers do it because
they are encouraged by the government to do copra and because they
always have done copra since long time. Hence like so many times sons
do something just because father and grand father and all before have
done so.
How much did you get. 6000 PHP - (that's about 130 USD)
How many harvest do you have per year: 3
1 hectare forest with mostly coconut palms is used for that copra
production.
The farm is about 1 km from the river - a small walking path, no road.
3.5 hrs by boat on a river to the next small village to the copra collecting
station.
How much did you pay for the porters to carry the copra bags to the
river?
How much did you pay for the boat transportation to the village?
How much did you pay for the unloading of the copra to the pier?
How much did you pay for the transportation from pier to the copra
buying station?
I added up all her amounts - and ended up with 50% total costs just for
the complete transportation. Leaving some 3000 PHP per harvest actual
gross profit. Time 3 for all 3 annual harvests. Makes some 200 US$ per
year for one hectare of copra land. Gross profit, because there are more
expenses every now and then!
How many times does someone in your village fall down from a coconut
palm during maintenance or clean up or harvest ... etc. Coconut palms
typically are clean once or twice a year plus the harvest is done by
physically climbing up the palms.
May be you now see what I mean by "Every single part of your farm
production has its own individual operational cost". Every particular
farm activity may have additional unique expenses and risks. Her father
died some 20+ years ago after illness in a hospital. The hospital bill was
so high that the mother of 7 children had do sell her 7 hectares farmland
and farmhouse to pay the medical bill. Leaving the entire family without
home and without farmland to provide food and livelihood for the entire
family.
These or similar expenses may be part of total farm production costs for
a particular farm productivity or farm service and thus in real calculated
farming ALL such costs, including accidents need to be paid by advance
savings made from NET profits. NET profits is the amount of money left
after all cost of livelihood and all bills paid for the entire farmer family.
Every now and then someone falls down a 10 meter palm. Breaking
bones, staying hospital for a few weeks, being injured or even crippled
for life in some cases, even dieing in other cases. Palm trees are high
and a crash from 10 meters may be unpredictable and painful!
Before starting a particular farm production, learn about all aspects, all
risks, all prices and expenses and the global or local market situation.
Then research alternatives to that traditional farming production. And
only after consideration of all facts, all data, all numbers - make a
decision based on facts and data rather than on what always has been
done by our ancestors.
In next chapter I give you one more example about cattle farming or
animal farming based on our own mountain farm in Switzerland.
Profitability of animal farming - work and time
Animals kept in house or farm will take your freedom and consume your
happiness and money. In future chapters I shall elaborate much more
on that. Here first some facts and experiences from our own cattle farm.
In another chapter I gave already the guideline about cattle and animal
farming vs vegetarian farming. Here some more information and facts
based on our own small mountain farm in Switzerland.
This following is valid for all types of animal farming. Goats, sheep,
horses, chicken, piggery, the basic principles and problems apply to all
animals.
First some brief facts and numbers from our own traditional farm to give
you a rough idea:
9,6 hectares land ( half hectare forest, remaining was grass land amidst
forests and mountains.
3,5 hectares fenced area for our cattle
all remaining grass land was used and needed to supply food
over the years we usually had about 8-9 milk cows and about 3 young
ones less than a year
we had more animals - I write later about. Lets just look at the cattle /
milk production part first in this chapter.
The 3,5 hectares fenced grass land never was enough to feed all cows
even during fertile summer time. From spring to fall, each morning
around 4 or 4:30 my father was getting up to cut one load of fresh grass
to feed the cattle coming down from the fenced hill for milking.
For the frozen winter season, of course we had to cut and dry grass to
have sufficient hay for all animals all winter long.
This small part of the farm work - to feed a small cattle, requires usually
a tractor, machines to cut and transport tons of grass and hay or other
food.
We had large food silos 4 meter high to store additional fresh fermented
food needed for our winter season.
That all above is but a small part of overhead work and costs for our
small traditional cattle farm. Needless to talk about regular veterinarian
visits and bills, sleepless nights when animals get babies, etc.
The "positive" side of the work was the revenue from our milk. Cows are
pregnant once a year, hence milk production is limited to several
months per year. I know quite exactly that from our all cows we
delivered/sold to the dairy collection station twice a day 25-27 liters of
fresh milk. In today's currency that would have been some 30 US dollars
per DAY from all cows, From all work. On a cattle farm you may work
some 5000 hrs per year. 3000 USD divided by some 3000 hrs just for the
cattle related annual work gives you an hourly wage of ... 1 $ in a high
tech expensive country like Switzerland! Even if you improve and
optimize here and there - you will earn MUCH less per hours of hard
work than any city population ever would get out of the bed to be useful
for the world and feed the world! Now prices have changed, gone up, for
milk as well as for all machinery and energy. The relationship or work to
revenue remains the same.
Plus a few hundred dollars a few times per year for small calves or a
year old sold to butchery each year to feed the city people with veal and
beef. The gross revenue directly originating from cattle on our mountain
farm was in the range of 3000 US$ per year. Minus all work and all
expenses for machinery and energy.
Our cows were quite happy cows with our large fenced land. The price
for letting cows be happy and run around day and night is a much
smaller milk production. 8-9 liters twice a day per cow was about the
maximum. If you keep your cows prisoners all life - they spend less
energy for happy life and thus produce more liters of less tasty milk as
"reward".
Other countries may have different type of cattle. Look at the picture
with the water buffaloes. That is no feeding place they enjoy now, that
is just a few hectares of water place they need to be water buffaloes.
Water buffaloes love to spend most of their days in the water - lots of
water - clean water.
But after all the water buffaloes - the water never will be clean again -
water buffaloes drop all their manure into water, in rivers, in lakes, in
ponds, etc where ever your kids swim ...
Every traditional farm typically has multiple sectors that sum up the
annual total revenue for a farm. Such as forest, crop, cattle, poultry, fish
ponds, dog breeding, piggery, guestrooms, part time jobs during off-
season or winter time. We too needed such additional jobs for revenue.
Like working in federal or state owned forest for logging paper-wood,
construction wood and firewood in small teams of a few farmers
teaming up during many winter months. And other full time jobs during
certain times of the year.
Now it may be time for you to calculate on paper your very own total
cost for your animal farming. More precisely when ever possible, split it
up by type of animals, such as
- horses
- cattle (cows, calves) for dairy products / milk production
- poultry farming
any other particular type of animal farming you do
Make sure on the expenses side you add the cost for:
In my above example for your old tractor - the purchase price plus
repair/maintenance would be 50'000 + 10'000 = 60'000 USD divided by
12 years equals 5000 USD tractor cost in addition to your fuel/oil bills
for the same tractor.
Similar applies for all other machines you or your parents purchased
many years ago. Any time in the future, may be tomorrow or in 3 years -
you suddenly may need to replace the same machine by a new one and
you need to have the full amount in cash in your savings account to stay
our of debts and out of dependencies from banks. All the BILLIONS of
dollars bank earn and bank managers earn and banks waste for multi-
million dollar sponsorships of sailing events, tennis events, etc are all
paid by farmers and consumers borrowing money. The cheapest money
is your very own savings!
Now create the total sum of your entire expenses related to animal
farming on your current farm.
After all your revenues added up to one annual amount, take your total
revenues per year and deduct your total operational cost to get your
total NET revenue per year from each and every part of your farming
activities.
Now write down the number of hours you have to work just for that
particular type of animal farm work. Like I gave you a brief example
from our own old mountain farm in Switzerland.
Then take your NET annual profit and divide by the annual number of
hours you have just for that particular farming sector.
If you have several sectors in your farm, you may add up ALL your total
expenses and deduct them from your entire gross cost of farm operation
per year to get your entire total NET revenue from all your farming
activities and work. When calculating your total expenses on a farm, to
be safe with all your expenses, add 10% of all your collected expense
invoices to compensate for the hundreds of smaller amounts you never
collect invoices. Such as tips given, gifts made, dinners offered, etc to all
your neighbors or community and other services you use during the
course of annual seasons.
Divide your NET farm revenue by the total hours of work and on duty
presence you have per 365 days on your farm.
Even easier:
A year has 365 days x 24 hrs = a year thus has a total of 8760 hrs!
To easier calculate your total working hours, add up all the regular FREE
hours you have guaranteed on your farm.
How many hours a day can you sleep without ever having to wake up
and care for a problem on your farm?
How many times a week or year you have a full day = 24 hrs completely
free?
How many times a year ever do you have a full weekend free from
Friday late afternoon till Monday morning ?
How many times a year did you ever make a real full vacation - like 2
weeks Caribbean Sea or SCUBA diving in the Maldives or jungle trekking
in Cambodia or whatever others working in cities do?
How often a year to you have all day off - from morning until evening or
from late afternoon until early morning. Just for partying, having fun or
going out with friends or dates?
ADD all above number of total OFF-duty hours each year. Now deduct
that OFF-duty time from the total annual hours of 8760 hrs and you
have your approximate total duty or work hours on your farm.
For our own farm, I can confirm that my parents never had a single 24
hrs day OFF in all their farmer's life. There even never was a single 12
hrs period off during the entire mountain farm time. Never a single
weekend or a single week vacation all life long until divorce. Even after
divorce my father never had a single week vacation until he died age 87
a few months ago. Now he enjoys God's pension at home in heaven. He
deserved it through hard work and a life without any love at all.
The only time off have been a few times a year some 6 hrs periods used
to go to agriculture fairs or agriculture markets and a very few times to
visit some relatives.
I know from all our neighbors and from almost all other farmers I met
or visited around the world in the 40 or so countries I worked or visited
during the past 40 years that our own family numbers are actually the
default for most farmers. Most or all farmers I met have no time off - at
least all those having any kind of animal farming.
The animal farming cost his freedom - the new activities brought the
profits to cover expenses from animal farming.
More to come in future - see next chapter about organic farming and
learn about alternate sources to create organic farm revenues from a
real farm.
BTW: Did you notice that I use to "wrap" all your calculating home work
into pictures with beautiful tropical flowers. That is just some added
love to encourage you to really sit down and really calculate on paper
accurate numbers. To be successful in your farming and in any other
business or smallest one person "family" business (single mothers,
single fathers, etc) YOU need to calculate your business numbers to
know where the money comes from and where its getting lost or wasted
to make timely adjustments in your farming or business!
Spiritual aspects of animal farming
Animals love and feel pain just as we humans do. A life as slave in
chains or with a rope through your nose is but a life in pain. Have you
ever spend some time in jail? I did 3 days disciplinary jail in my Swiss
army time for refusing an order many decades ago - it is no fun for
anyone. Only extreme egos keep slaves. All loving souls give freedom
and protect freedom of all creation - also animals and all nature!
There is no difference in all spiritual rules and aspects for animals as all
spiritual rules of love for humans! Animals are made of love by God, so
are humans. Animals are given freedom by God and are made to be
treated with love in freedom. Animals have a divine right to live their
natural God made environment just as much as all humans have a
birthright to live in nature and enjoy absolute freedom in a world
without limits, without frontiers and without artificial restrictions of any
kind.
On our small mountain farm, a few years into growing pigs, we had one
such disease leading to total loss of all pigs and a six year waiting
period before having any new pigs again. We had FMD (foot and mouth
disease) in our region and many farmers lost all cattle. We had rabies
amidst all wildlife in our village and region with all consequences. My
father had almost yearly a more or less severe accident ... Like in most
farms, there was lots of violence involved in our farming methods. No
animal farming is done with love today. Hence new even more violent
forms of animals diseases spread around the world, such as Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), bird flue and many others.
All animals are made as a source or joy, for children and adults and God
alike. Animals have feelings, memories, emotions of love or sadness.
Animals love their own kind and offspring. Currently animals make
mistakes and create karma just as most humans do. Animals can
spiritually learn and spiritually progress just as mankind does - often
even much faster than mankind.
Examples:
Elephants may love some sugar cane, fresh young bamboo (just cut/
harvest your old bamboo annually to always have fresh bamboo),
pineapples, sweet corn, sweet mango, papaya, water melon and many
other fruits will surely enjoy the heart of any elephant in your backyard!
Birds and butterflies love sunflowers. Birds eat the sunflower seeds,
your kids as well.Butterfly caterpillars love to eat entire fresh leaves of
young growing sunflower plants = just plant more to feed the
caterpillars if you love to enjoy butterflies to brighten up your children
hearts. A single half grown butterfly caterpillar may eat almost all
leaves from a 1 meter sunflower plant in a single night.
Learn about wildlife and offer something loving to nature and in return
you receive a treasure of most loving encounters and experience from
nature. Offer love and you receive nature's love. Offer special delicacies
to nature and you receive natures sweetest treasures of herbal medicine
and other treasures God has prepared for you in nature.
I truly love nature and therefore never again had any animals as pets
since my repeated spiritual oneness with God. In earliest decades or my
current life on earth, I had Persian cats and many other animals and
also became a victim of my Persian cats. Decades ago when it was time
to travel into the world as a SCUBA diving instructor - all suitable
islands to setup a dive resort required quarantine for cats - usually 3-6
months. I never would have tortured my cats with a 3-6 months
quarantine. Hence I stayed in a rather unpleasant country and made the
very best possible with the situation, with all my Persian cats.
If you are in peace with all nature, with all animals, then you also are in
peace with God and all his creation beyond this planet!
Read on in next chapters about farming in harmony with God and nature
to be more successful also financially in your current farming. There are
dozens or even many hundreds of chapters just waiting to be written. In
a few days I plan to go to the mountains and make more educational
pictures for this organic farming section - to help you as much as I have
time left on this planet before returning home to my waiting family in
God.
Retail price markup and profits
You need to know where the money is going or even wasted and then
you learn to do direct business for greater efficiency and more honest
money distribution. I shall teach you how during the coming chapters!
Examples:
I give a few other examples out of my own business practice with real
world numbers:
resistors
capacitors
diodes
transistors
but also transceivers and other complex high tech electronic units.
In our modern society there normally is more than one dealer between
original manufacturer and end consumer. My diving equipment
distributor/wholesaler was buying from the equipment manufacturer
who then most likely purchased the same O-ring either from a
distributor or may be directly from O-ring factory.
The very same applies to all farming products as well. To potato farms,
rice farms, corn farms, diary product / milk farms, etc. Most farmer
products are sold to a local collecting station, then to a regional
collecting station, then may be to a national collecting station and finally
sold into the retail market, super market central warehouse or into
global market via export channels and/or redistribution channels. Again
to wholesale, retail and at the very end of the complex business chain,
may be to the end consumer of the food chain = you.
Profit margin in farming, business retail or wholesale
Another word you need in the farmer business world is "profit margin".
The difference between markup and profit margin is simple.
When we buy a product for 50US$ and sell it at 100$ - then our markup
is 100%. Our profit amount is 50 US$.
When we look at the sales price of 100$. That amount of profit = 50$ is
equal to 50% profit margin.
Both terms are used and we need to understand the difference between
markup and margin in business language.
During that 3 months job I was working as a sales engineer creating the
offers for power plant component according to customer specifications.
For all the price calculations in our offers there was one percentage -
our profit - to be added to the real production costs. That profit was in
the range of 8%! That profit percentage was to cover any mistakes,
warranties, loss due to foreign currency exchange fluctuations, etc.
Hence a rather small percentage to cover all eventual unpredictable
additional expenses, risks and losses in our own production for a high
tech product what took about 12-15 months to be produced after receipt
of final order. Original raw materials we needed for the production may
have a change in price, change in transportation due to energy price
change, etc.
Every farmer should add about 10% to the calculated cost for all his
farming products or services he sells to cover any risks that he may
have to carry. Risks such as Typhoon, earthquake, flooding, bad weather.
The weather is an essential factor in farming and may be too dry, too
wet, too cold, too hot and thus affect the quality and/or quantity of our
regular average annual harvest.
All such risk need to be covered and financed in advance by having some
small but reasonable savings to pay for any loss or damage without
endangering our livelihood. If you farm in a high risk area such as in a
Typhoon zone or volcano neighborhood or a region with unpredictable
heavy rain changing with periods of extensive drought - then you may
have to adapt and increase that markup to 12 or 15 or even more
percent to cover your average annual risks. Average calculated on the
basis of your past 20 or more years of occurring damages and losses
due to weather or natural disaster in your area.
Prices and profit margins need to be calculated based on facts and real
life numbers - never guessed. All profit margins need to be reasonable
and honest. More soon on the importance of profits in our farming life.
Without profit there is no progress
Over the years and decades of your farming, you may progress and
improve your farming tools and farming methods. However notice that
many of the high tech farming methods are expensive and no real
progress at all. Many of the new age farming techniques and farming
methods use all kinds of chemicals, hybrids of plants, vegetables, fruits
and flowers or in recent years even worst the use of GM food =
Genetically Modified food!
The more you invest in machinery, the more fragile your farming life
may become and the more your freedom is going to be controlled by
contracts, mortgages and pressure coming from your bank or
government financing your farming technology.
The modern society above all wants profit. Often profits at any cost,
even at the cost of cheating or lying or misinforming customers. Look at
the millions of people in USA or other countries these very moments
fearing repossession of their homes due to unaffordable mortgages that
brought these house or home owners into a situation of bankruptcy or
loss of property. Many of these people who got mortgages and loans
never really were in a situation to pay back their loans. Financial
institutes, banks and credit institutes are aware that many of the
mortgages never will be paid back in time and that the properties will be
repossessed eventually. The result of such practices leads to more
banks owning more real estates and more home owner or farmers losing
all their livelihood.
One of the many true and most valuable benefits of farming is your
freedom and your ability to achieve a highest possible degree of self
sustainability. To enjoy this benefit of freedom as a farmer, learn to stay
within your financial limits. Stay free of any debts. Progress only as far
as you can pay in cash from your very own savings.
To have savings to invest into a better future, you need to make net
profits. Your services and farm products however need to be affordable
by all who need your farm products. Hence all your pricing needs to be
really calculated and honest all the way. That is where your heart is
challenged to make all your decisions without greed for maximum
profits but with the wellbeing of all your community in mind.
With the many easy loans and mortgages or payment schemes offered
along the any purchase of machinery, equipment of homes, the
temptation is huge to get easy access to a pleasant life in luxury or
comfort. At the expense of eventually losing all - your freedom and all
your property and home for all future generations to come.
Stay free. Free of debts. Free from any entanglement. Free from any
troubles or contracts. Produce as much as you reasonably can all on
your own. The small remaining resources needed from outside you need
to learn to obtain in exchange of your excess production or additional
services provided by you as farmer to the outside world.
Quite often it is far more profitable and far better for a healthy, happy
family and happy community when people would stick more to
traditional, conventional production technology and methods. More
manpower less chemical and technological power in our environment.
The only "benefit" of all high tech machinery for farming is the profits
banks and the entire financial world and industrial world is making at
your farmer's expense. Most of the high tech machinery may make
harvesting or farming in general faster or less sweaty - but at the
expense of ten thousands of hundred thousands of dollars in debts.
Secured via bank loans and mortgages over a period of decades or an
entire lifetime. Your entire family may get into deep debts for life. That
means you become and remain a slave of the financial worlds or
dependent from your government. Whoever gives you money is owning
you and your family property.
With that in mind, it surely is a much better feeling for all your family to
stay smaller, have a more simple but natural and happy lifestyle, but
remain full owner of your entire property. Invest whatever you can pay
in cash from savings! Stay within your own financial limits and if ever
growth in needed or desirable to be profitable and support your entire
family, then grow steadily and in small steps year by year until you feel
that your farm has reached an ideal size for a lasting happy life of all
your family and local community.
Only strong people can be helpful for each other. Strong people need no
insurance. Strong farmers help each other rather than needing help
from government or insurance companies. The best insurance costs
money. More money that you ever get back. The insurance company
wants to make profits - high profits.
A strong and loving farmer community can help each other provided all
farmers have something to give in case of emergencies occurring. That
requires that all always have an emergency saving for such situations.
About 1962 our neighbor farm burnt down in a fire. A visiting boy age
about 5 plaid with matches and in an instant all farm was on fire. I just
came home from school and the neighbor's farm was still on fire, the
fire squad just arriving a few minutes later.
That was about mid or late summer and thus all current harvest was on
fire as well. The farmer's family - 4 brothers and sisters, all about age 60
+ and without any children lost all house and all harvest except the
animals and cattle.
All was replaced within shortest time. Except the house was fully lost
and for some reason the 4 old farmers where counseled to rebuilt a new
farm, fully financed by bank loans and about one third by a then
available government subsidies available to all farmers completely
renewing/rebuilding their entire farm buildings.
Considering the age of all 4 and the fact that no direct children were
existing to maintain and continue that farm, that last part of a fully
financed house for old people about to retire from active hard work on a
mountain farm certainly was bad and wrong advice. In today's money
that new farm building was about 200'000 US$ or more in total debts
after the government subsidies.
To have such gifts of love in case of emergencies in your own family and
community or neighborhood - you need to make a reasonable honest
profit and have such emergency savings available for instant help if
needed. You may keep some savings in kind for emergencies. Like in the
case of neighbor farm burnt and all helping farmers contributed with
hay, straw and other food needed for family and all animals. Food like
crops, potato, etc. Anything a farm needs to survive a half year long
wintertime with snow.
Balance between organic farming, high tech farm and
stone age methods
The key in happy life is to find the balance between technology progress
and natural lifestyle. To find the golden middle between technical
development and natural happy lifestyle in full harmony with God's
nature is a key lesson for all on earth. Myself I grew up during the phase
of our global technology development. Yet I grew up in a rather poor
family working mostly with traditional methods of using manpower and
traditional farming and working methods. Using simple tools and using
only limited motorized machinery.
All my life I was open for both - new high tech as well as traditional
natural lifestyles and working methods. I tested and used both at some
phases of my life.
However there are a very few affordable machines that may make our
all life substantially easier or safer. We may have to figure out by trial
and error or by careful intense observation of other cultures to figure
out what technology and machines may be truly beneficial to all our
local community and our family and which new technology development
just serves money making industries at the expense of additional
environment pollution and expenses that may require financing or
substantial additional amounts of working hours to compensate for
additional investments and cost of operation in our family farm business.
The more machinery you use in your farming, the higher the fixed
overhead expenses in your farming cost and the higher and more
unpredictable your variable cost of operation become. More machinery
may result in more repair, more maintenance, more technical problems,
more stress, more frustration, more fear of accidents, more fear of
possible damage TO machinery, more fear of loss/theft of machinery.
Finally to pay for each and every machine used, you create additional
burden to our planet by using or even wasting limited available
resources and energy sources (fuel/electricity, etc). The higher your
investment into high tech equipment in farming or any other production
business, the more you are under pressure to produce more, sell more,
earn more - without actually having more NET revenue at the end of all
careful and precise calculation!!!
That above said results in an ideal size for all farms. That ideal size is
what your entire family can do with bare manpower using proper TOOLS
and a really reasonable minimal high tech equipment. All that really is
needed is a farm style more in harmony with God's nature. To work
WITH God's nature instead of against nature. To learn to let nature and
God HELP you instead of fighting all bugs, insects, wildlife, herbs and
trees on and around your farm.
I give you a recent example where I experienced for a few weeks such a
drop back into stone age lifestyle. 1999 at the very end of a 800km
pilgrimage from near Munich to Assisi and later to the mountains of
Sibillini (Italy) we (a sole survivor and me) finally ended at our planned
final destination. way up in the mountains of Sibillini at a shepherds'
place - a simple house with one room for all. Three old shepherds with
some 1500 sheep together. We were sleeping in our 2 tents and
welcomed by the shepherds.
In exchange we did some house and home helping. One took care of the
house inside. I went to nearby forest and cut firewood for a few weeks
or months ahead. For all work there was one single tool! Some kind of
machete. No ax, no saw, no hammer. Just one machete to cut the trees,
to cut the death old trunks found into useful size to hand carry them out
of the forest. For transportation I had a small old pushcart. barely
suitable to transport wood long distance in the mountains. Hence most
of the logs I had to shoulder carry home. That was faster and easier
than using a pushcart which turns over or loses its cargo.
That experience lasted some 3 weeks and showed once more that you
may spend most or almost all day from early morning till sunset just
working for the very basic needs for a small family home. Additional
hours each day I spent searching the mountain fields and forests for the
seasonal wild raspberries, some herbal tea and some wild herbs and
plants suitable as vegetables or spinach (stinging nettle and others) or
salad for out daily dinner when the 3 shepherds came home early
evening from their long treks feeding the sheep in the mountains far
from our home.
For a single man, there was no time for additional house repair and
other work to improve lifestyle. Just a few weeks later the winter
started in the mountains. Either you have all for the winter or you move
down into warmer low areas or you starve all winter.
That experience showed clearly that there can be too few tools for a
comfortable happy lifestyle amidst your loved ones and a love hungry
wife. A saw, an ax, a 4 wheel (push) cart and a few additional
mechanical tools would have been most welcome to substantially speed
up my daily work and create some free time for other improvements and
work needed on a farm. I would have needed no machines at all, but a
dozen or so additional quality tools.
I love a physical workout in real life work. That makes me feel good at
any age. City people pay lots of money to go to a gym, move/lift a few
metric tons or more in an hour of workout - but by the end of their day
they have achieved nothing at all. All weights are at the same place as
at the beginning of their workout. Nothing has changed in their lives. No
results have been created that improve OTHER people's life.
A real farm work on a field creates healthy food for your entire family
and provides additional food for up to dozens additional families. A city
workout in a gym may make you feel tired - a farm workout for real
production may make you feel GOOD and a little tired unless you have a
loving wife taking care of your body after long working ours in the field
or forest.
We can buy equipment - but we never can buy nature once destroyed by
equipment.
Purpose of farming is self sustainability for family needs
There are plants and fruits that naturally grow on your soil and there
are fruits, vegetables, herbs or salads that would only grow with lots of
additional work such as modification of soil, artificial change of
irrigation, artificial drainage of water and many other modification of
the nature you have on your property.
However if you study all available fruits, salads, vegetables and herbs
from similar climate climate zones around the world, you may find
sufficient food growing on exactly your soil as is. The best organic
farming always is when you know how to use nature as is rather than to
modify nature.
A good idea is to travel in your country to different areas and see what
other regions grow in similar weather, climate and soil conditions than
your own farm. It is funny to see that many regions have same or very
similar climate, yet grow totally different products. Often this is the
result of doing what we always did and all our ancestors always did.
Hence be progressive and have the courage to bring other plants and
trees to your property even if in your province no one ever has done that
before you. Be a pioneer and do things the very first time rather than
copying others. The more versatile the overall farming of your
community and community neighborhood, the more self sustaining is
your whole community and thus the less dependent your community
from outside world.
Leave wet land wet and dry land dry, leave sandy bottom sandy and clay
or heavy soil as is. There are sufficient different plants and food sources
that need exactly what you have on your property. Instead of changing
your soil, optimize your soil. For example wet land may have an added
pond or small rice field included. Dry land with sandy soil may be
suitable for a large variety of healing herbs or fruits that love to grow on
sandy dry soil.
No matter how much efforts you invest into your farming, there always
will be missing products for your daily life. Some may come from other
farmers in your community. That makes others valuable as source for
your family happiness and encourages communication and exchange of
surplus among each other.
Other products may need to come from far away. Like your steel tools
coming from regions or countries with iron ore, with mines and a steel
industry. Electric equipment also usually comes from far away and thus
every farmer community may need to create surplus in food or farming
products in exchange for other missing items from other regions. The
more high tech gadgets you wish to use, the more surplus you have to
produce in exchange for all your wishes.
Again here we encounter a situation of fine balance between real need
for happiness and excess consumption of foreign goods that end us in
an excessive dependency and possible financial imbalance.
Diversity of food produced depends on the choice or your
land
Walk trough your land from side to side, from corner to corner and look
at the variety of soil and water or humidity conditions a single piece of
land may offer. Then search for the ideal plants, herbs, veggies and
fruits to grow together side by side to produce the largest possible
natural and strong food diversity for your family needs and community
needs.
The picture shows pineapple plants amidst jungle like wild forest. Other
fruit trees also have been added to the forest. That picture shows you
that some plants need no land of their own but can easily be added to
existing wild forest or jungle. Add to existing nature without destroying
nature. Protect nature, care for nature and add to nature wherever
nature leaves a free space for your own creative enhancement.
Live and farm always integrated in nature. God created space for all;
nature, wildlife and humans side by side.
Grow what loves your soil most at every corner of your
property
In an earlier picture you have seen a garden area of a small farm with a
rather "poor" looking soil. On that picture you saw young calamansi
trees, guava, papaya and many other plants useful for a family.
On this picture you see the same property just some 10 meters toward
the ocean with large water melon. The plant may look small, the soil
definitely is dusty, sandy and very dry. Ground water is salty because
that property is direct beach front and this watermelon just some 20
meters away from Pacific Ocean beach.
With an ocean abundant with all kinds of marine life as food resource,
land with beautiful hills and some jungle-like forest with integrated fruit
trees and vegetables. An ideal location for a simple but truly happy life
amidst a nature paradise.
Most of the pictures on the first several pages about happy children are
made in that community. The smiling faces of the children show how
happy a community can be without TV, without computer, without
electricity, without phone lines ...
Enjoy some wallpapers from island beach scenery and ocean view
scenery from a remote corner of Bicol - a beautiful agriculture province
several hours by boat from the nearest small city.
Uniqueness of your farming as an inspiration for your
community
You can be unique or a copier - God gave you creative power to be one
of a kind. In life we have 2 choices. To be inspired by others and to our
own thing or to copy others. When others are successful, then there is a
reason. At the beginning there is one who acts as a pioneer testing new
services or products. Instead of others now copying the same product
and services as mostly done in our modern world, try to be inspired by
others finding and creating something new and different from what
others do!
The more diverse your community production, the more more freedom
you enjoy from outside supplies and the more enjoyable and healthier
your life.
Self sustainability in farming as a powerful environment
protection
In this picture with dragon fruits and several different fruit trees in the
background we still have most of the space empty and available for
additional plants. Either for food production or just as decoration.
Another possibility is to add plants that need limited irrigation that can
be localized without drowning our dragon fruits. Example: Tomato,
salads or vegetables.
Insects and bugs, often falsely referred to as pest are God's helpers.
Any attempt to destroy balance in nature is counteracted and
rebalanced by nature. When ever humans lack a complete
understanding of nature, mankind starts to interfere with nature and in
the case of insects or bugs, killing nature by pesticide. Insects, bugs and
other animals are true genuine helpers of God to re-establish or
maintain natural balance where correction or adjustment is needed!
Different insects are here to control each other and maintain balance
among insects. Everything is made to absolute perfection. As long as
humans stop to interfere with God made perfection by playing God.
Learn the interaction between species and understand the duty and
work of each and every animal on our planet. For example the cute
ladybugs and many other insects eat up your aphidoids also known as
plant lice and in some countries as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies.
However aphids are typically found on weak plants, on plant growing in
wrong climate zones or wrong locations. Strong healthy plants easily
survive the visit of aphids. Usually in a healthy ecological environment
latest a few days after plant lice started to suck on some of your plants
such as roses and other plants, the balance controlling insects come and
eat all your plant lice within a day or two.
Nature has more than one controlling and rebalancing insect or animal
to maintain a perfect balance in our ecological system.
The main reason of the plant lice on my roses was a location in the
garden with too little direct sunlight - causing roses to be weak and
destined by nature to be replaced by something suitable for that precise
location.
In jungle strong nature survives because each plant, each shrub and
each tree is exactly at the perfect spot with the most perfect energy
balance surrounding each jungle plant or tree.
If you kill one part of God's creation, you also destroy the entire chain of
auto-adjusting organisms in God's nature. Everything in nature has a
precise purpose, a precise job to fulfill in God's nature. All animals,
insects, bugs, plants, trees, weeds!
The damage a pesticide for example does is far beyond your greatest
possible imagination scenario. For example the use of pesticide to kill
plant lice also may kill many other insects including bees, ladybugs,
butterflies and all other insects useful in God's creation to maintain
balance and work FOR us. Without bees and insects there may be no or
much less pollination. The final result is a strongly reduced total
harvest. In addition to a more and more polluted environment resulting
in a more and more sick population!
Whatever kills one part of nature also affects all other parts of nature as
well. By adding chemical toxins to nature you always also pollute our
breathing are, all our food products, all our groundwater we need for a
healthy life.
The very same companies that produce all highly toxic chemicals for
agriculture that eventually makes our entire global population more and
more ill - those very same companies also are among the world's largest
pharmaceutical companies producing the medicine to "treat" the illness
and damage directly or indirectly caused by their own toxins spread all
over the planet's nature. For those chemical industries involved in both -
toxins for agriculture and pharmaceuticals for medical treatment, it
always is a win win situation. The more toxins used in our modern
society, households, agriculture and industrial plants, the more
medicine is needed to counteract all ill-effects of chemicals - the larger
the profits.
I have been during fruit season 2009 on the same orchard and noticed
that all those young strong mango trees have but few mango fruits ...
In about 2 months I may be back to that very same orchard and see
how this year's fruit harvest looks compared to last year.
How to find suitable plants or trees
First step to find suitable plants or trees for your garden or farm always
is to search in your own country for more diversity in your farming.
Amazingly I have noticed that often a community or entire region is
mostly copying from each other. That creates some kind of mass
production of an entire region of thousands or more square kilometers
producing same or similar one kind of product. Such copying each other
will eventually always result in an imbalance in nature. Imbalance in
nature results in sick trees, in bugs and insects killing trees to re-
establish balance in nature.
The very similar climate also is found on many other Philippines islands
with high mountains of up to 2900+ meters above sea level. None of the
other islands with high mountains however plants any of these citrus
fruits in any suitable quantity. Even worst - if you look at my Sagada
pictures, you rarely see any fruit trees at all. Most of this entire Sagada
region is mostly unloved, uncared and partially empty unused
agriculture land! The Sagada citrus fruits are sold only in Baguio
because the quantity produced is far too small to reach into nearby
large Philippine cities such as Angeles City or even Manila!
Oranges and mandarins are very popular in the Philippines. The markets
are full with large piles of imported oranges and mandarins from far
away countries. The prices are the same as for local products. Farmers
have failed to see that market demand and increase in a reasonable way
their own local citrus fruit production.
Grapes are among the most popular fruits in the Philippine islands. The
local markets have plenty of imported grapes. All local grapes seem to
be imported from Chile! Then traveling across the entire Pacific Ocean to
be sold on our local Philippine markets. There is nothing very special to
the region of Bauang - sea level - tropical - hot like all other Philippine
sea level provinces. Most likely there could be hundreds of other places
in the Philippines that have a suitable soil/climate condition comparable
to the one village in La Union to produce delicious grapes for the local
market as well. You just need to try. Without trying there is no success!
There is no need to produce for exportation. But at least produce for the
saturation of your local and regional market in each agriculture province
or island when ever reasonably possible!
Radishes
Sweet peas
Tomato
Lettuce
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Asparagus
Spinach
and berries such as
Blueberry
Strawberry
If your climate grows strawberries - then you most likely also can grow
other fruits and berries that have a same climate zone. Such as
raspberries, cherries, plums, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, walnuts,
almonds, hazelnuts, and many more!
Travel your provinces, see what other farmers in other provinces grow.
The ask for seedlings or seeds and try them at home. Study the exact
conditions of that province. Humidity, sunshine, sunny side or shadow
side, temperature range day/night summer/winter. If you have similar
ranges at home - go for it and plant. There is nothing to lose but a lot to
win. Always open your eyes, get seeds, ask from where agriculture
products are. visit that region. Talk to farmers. Ask for seeds and advice.
Then give it a try!
The same when ever you travel into neighbor countries. An exchange of
farmers' experiences between ASEAN countries could be most beneficial
for all. Most countries I have seen during the past 35+ years in South
East Asia have some agriculture products that also might grow in a
neighbor country and thus improve livelihood of your neighbors or vice
versa.
Never expect your government to do that for you. You may die while
waiting before a government does anything that brings no cash into
government accounts. Always make your own steps toward a better
future. Take the initiative to change your traditional planting range and
be open for other natural products to grow on your farm or in your
community.
The picture shows a cashew tree with ripe cashew fruits. Amazingly I
have never seen cashew fruits on local markets nor anyone eating
cashew fruits except one single times when my cottage neighbors where
smelling my delicious cashew fruits on my balcony. Usually the tasty,
exotic and very juicy fruits are discarded right under the cashew trees
and only the cashew nuts harvested.
The water purity is vital for all life
The purity of water is sacred for all life. No matter the industry or
profits, water always needs to be kept at the highest possible purity
level.
As a farmer we often are near the springs and origins from creeks and
rivers. Hence a possible water pollution may start on our very own
property depending on our own environment consciousness and farming
style.
Any chemicals used in farming sooner or later always flows into water
or ground water and thus from that point on down river into the ocean
and across all planet. The water that passes by a farm using any
chemicals never ever will be safe for animals and humans again.
Any animal farming always creates some sewage and animal waste that
flows into creeks and rivers. Hence animal farming always is a source of
water pollution no matter how careful you keep your animals.
Look at the beauty of the water shown in this picture! The last time I
visited this very place for a bath. I took no drinking water with me - on
purpose. I knew that either I get a coconut to drink or at the end of my
day trip alone into nature, I may drink from this mountain river flowing
down the high mountains on Mindoro island. Without coconuts on the
way to my favorite mountain river place on Mindoro, I enjoyed the fresh
and clean mountain water without filter. The river is clean and about 20
degrees C almost fresh in temperature.
Imagine your rivers and creeks around your farm and downriver from
your farm are as clean and safe as this beautiful river.
As a farmer you are a business man. Look what your local population
loves to eat or purchase on local fruit market. Then produce whatever is
within your possibilities to satisfy the food likes and demand by your
local community.
Full self sustainability however includes more than just food. That is
where the limits of sustainability becomes apparent and other sources
are needed. More on full self sustainability in next chapter.
to produce locally all tools to produce cloths as well as all fabrics for
clothing
to produce locally all agriculture tools and agriculture machines
to produce locally all metals needed for all tools and machinery
to produce all medicine needed for healthy and happy lifestyle
to produce locally all education material
to have no radio/TV/Internet OR to produce all high tech equipment
needed locally
These above are but a few tiny needs beyond vegetables and fruits for
your daily food need of your entire family. Thus it is vital to fully
understand the difference between reasonable self-sustainability vs full
self sustainability in farming and to fully understand how much self
sustainability is reasonable.
To produce all above limited list already is simply impossible. Unless you
are willing to return back to stone age and work with stone tools, live in
caves, work without any tools, be dressed with leaves or animal skins, ...
For food we can easily achieve full self sustainability. For many of the
tools partial. We may import raw material and have a local mechanic
shop to convert raw material OR recycled local material into metal tools
needed. Blacksmith work, carpenter work, construction work normally
all can be done locally. Most of the material needed also can or should
be found locally. There still may be accessories needed from outside.
Wiring, bolts, screws, nails, water pipes, cooking pots, forks, knives,
spoons, etc. Above all some most useful construction, agriculture and
carpenter tools for our all daily work.
If your daily needs are produced locally, there are no needs for
expensive road infrastructure. In a natural community most resources
for living are locally produced in each farm and in the farm community.
Hence little transportation is needed to and from outside. That self
sustaining level is easily achievable and results in a very reduced need
for large roads.
Large roads are needed for all the large trucks bringing thousands of
tons food and equipment in and out of communities each year. Hence
wide roads are needed. To construct and maintain large road
infrastructure even larger construction machines, bulldozers etc are
needed. The end result is a nearly endless spiral increase of expenses to
construct and maintain logistics and additional need for fuel and other
energies.
A community that is in itself mostly self sustaining in all daily needs and
requires only limited resources from outside such as some tools and
agriculture equipment may enjoy a far more beautiful nature. Walking
from house to house instead of driving every little bit.
I have been living and visiting many such communities without any
roads toward the outside world. Either walking 3 hours across a jungle
mountain or driving 2+ hrs by boat to another larger town. Nobody ever
complained.
What is the price for such a beautiful nature when walking to your
neighbor or into nearby community center? Priceless just as much as
the improved overall health of all people living in such a community is
priceless!
Biodiversity as key to success in organic farms
Every single plant, shrub or tree is healing for either human, plant life,
animals or the planet as a whole. True organic food only grows to its
fullest biological potential of nutrition value and healing power if
growing up in a God made rich environment.
Thus it is a farmers basic duty and lesson to learn from jungle and wild
nature how to create or maintain a full biodiversity A farm having 50 or
hundred fruit trees of one kind within a few hectares never can enjoy
the benefits of real biodiversity. If you look at wilderness and study
jungle, then you rarely ever see one dozen of one kind of tree on a
single hectare of wilderness. The only exceptions found may be desert
and extreme altitude where only a few trees survive at all.
Learn to add all your skills and knowledge to your farm activities to
increase your profitability. Diversification of farm activities leads to
increase of revenue and profits from a farm. An organic farm is a
lifestyle rather than a job. The farming aspect is just one part of life, to
produce healthy food for free and to offer a variety of activities for all
family members.
The limit of additional activities to create a solid and honest basis for
needed revenue to support your family, community and enjoy a happy
life is but in your own mind and own creative productivity. All you really
need is true value skills that create real life benefits for others at
affordable prices.
All these are but a few examples of most valuable revenue sources
available to farmers. The full potential only depends on your true life
qualifications and expertise.
A farmer above all also has a right to a decent revenue in exchange for
feeding the world. Honest prices need to be paid by farm customers and
consumers of farming products to allow all farmers a happy family life
with the opportunity to have a vacation and to enjoy recreation and fun
time as well.
Most farmers during the course of decades working and living on a farm
are true experts in many fields without ever charging expert prices such
as city people and white collar jobs do. The most valuable of all, besides
happiness and love, is healthy food and a healthy nature. Farming is the
source of both as a farmer also is maintaining God made nature for all
world.
Add beauty and diversity to your farm
Add beauty and diversity to your farm. Add attraction that pleases the
heart and soul for visitors, quests and all your family. Add a beautiful
water lily or lotus flower pond with beautiful aquatic life, flowers and
fishes. Certain water lilies can be used as delicious vegetable, lotus
roots too have great nutritional value in addition to the large lotus seeds
or the lotus tea made of fresh lotus petals. Nature itself when cared with
love is a treasure for herbal medicine and delicious and healthy food
products and adventures all at once. Open for God and accept God^s
inspiration for new ideas beyond your traditional farming style.
If you need to dig (by hand of course) water channels to irrigate your
farm land, who says such water channels need to be straight or
cemented? Be creative, convert the useful into beauty by adding water
flowers, water lilies or lotus flowers to the irrigation channels and add
some fish to convert all artificial water into beautiful ponds. To be useful
and beautiful at the same time.
Nature beauty is delicious
Humans love to be active and creative. Free time and free creative
potential while living in a natural farming environment may also be
converted into creativity and productivity of services or products you
and your family loves to do.
An ideal situation for all mankind on earth would be all having a small
farm or large garden to supply most of daily food needs for your entire
family. Depending on your additional non-farming activities, some may
have more farm production and less non-farming activities. May be a
medical doctor may spend just enough time in his garden to recover
from his patients and to enjoy nature. Thus he may have a smaller piece
of land. A boat builder producing one boat a month for his fishing village
may be in a similar situation.
Others may add more land to produce more work or time intense crops
or fruits, construction wood or goods for his community. The ideal
situation allows all to enjoy life without having to carry the burden of
feeding the world without fun in life as it is the case in today's industrial
type mass production farming world.
When more or less all families produce most of their daily food needs,
then all industrial mass production farming practiced these years
becomes obsolete. That will make all chemicals, energy and most of the
agriculture machines obsolete as well. Conventional family style farming
for home supply needs no machines and may be done on small land all
managed in a fully biological way in harmony with nature.
The multitude of many small things add up to true quality
of life
Imagine a life without the many small yet simple and affordable
products and services. True organic farming needs to include all those
small jewels that turn our life into happiness. Smart farming includes a
variety of fruits, berries and herbs needed to turn food into a healing
pleasure for all.
Every household should have all the basic ingredients for healthy food in
the garden. What precisely of course depends on your climate and soil.
Make full use of all the natural resources, all all God gives you into your
garden to turn your garden into a source of delicacies for all.
Look and feel into the household of your community. What is missing,
what do others need, what adds quality of life to others, what makes
others lives more delicious, healthier. Look into the botanical world
across the planet and see what you can add to your own garden or farm
to contribute true value to your community.