Quote Originally Posted by ltnt View Post
When's the building going to end? Seems every time you return there's a new project in the making. Wouldn't it be nice to finally finish?

I hate the thought of a build that never ends. My wife is of the same nature and can't wait for the finished product so we can relax and live life in peaceful surroundings. While the build is on though shes a Tiger on the hunt.
Good question and not exactly sure of the answer, but I believe we have now almost built everything we wanted. We are trying to buiild everything now while I am still working (cash coming in) so that when I retire (again) we will only have living expenses and of course operating expenses on the farm.
Projects completed so far, house built and a couple of add-ons added, shed built and extended twice, equipment is all purchased (i.e. I don't need anymore toys), new farmhouse built. As for modifications to our land we have cleaned up all 5 blocks and are currently growing Cassava, rice (in season), sugar cane and have knocked out a lot of paddy walls to increase the paddies to a size that more easily allows for working with tractors etc. When knocking out a lot of banks we discovered that they were quite often built around a big tree stump. All the tree stumps have been dug out using the mini-excavator (lots of fun for me). So at present we only have a few rai of paddy to left to modernise. The idea is to have it set up so 1 person can farm the whole lot and just get contractors in for certain bits like cassava planting/harvesting, cane planting/cutting and rice harvesting. These days the missus has finally realised getting a contractor at a pre-determined price per rai/tonne is the best way. If the family want work she directs them to the contractor.
So at this point in time the only things I would like to try over and above what has been mentioned already is to maybe set up something so I can irrigate a second small rice crop on the rice land. Also convert some land to rubber trees as a long term income source.

Just remember if your projects end then there is a good chance of becoming bored which is not good in the middle of nowhere.

I forgot to say that the reason there is always a new project when I get home is because we discuss it on the phone a lot but don't start anything until we conduct a "site visit" to make there has not been any misunderstanding about what we both think we are going to end up with, plus when I'm there I can keep my eye on what is happening. Recently she extended the back "patio" and I asked for her to wait until I got there, her response was "f****off, I don't want you interfering". I was really impressed with the outcome so I am happy that she does listen to my guidance sometimes.