Its been a while part 2 - We became...

[Thai Dhupp]

OK I'm going to speed this update process up a bit with this hastily constructed post, detailing what else we have been doing apart from playing with ducks.

Right...we also became....drum roll.... fish farmers and rubber farmers.

The fish was a no-brainer as we had that big, deep pond for the ducks and it was crying out for something else. I wanted to go with alligator farming because I need new shoes and PJ can always use a handbag or three, but she told me 'no!' something to do with alligators eating ducks...

I never thought of that, so instead... fish. 750 tiny lil' fish were introduced and promptly disappeared, to the bottom, I assume.

We never saw them again for a month or two, until the fine fish food we had periodically chucked in brought a few to the surface

They had grown!

After that, we saw a lot of them regularly, as did the effin white egret that decided to take up a temporary residence. lol the problem he had was the pond sloped off to 'too deep to stand' not far from the shore. He gave up after a few fruitless days.

We had, I think 6 or 7 different breeds, selected by PJ and all was well for the next few months until the pond water level started to drop

The first sign of trouble was when we saw a lot of the red-coloured fish (sorry, cant remember the name - 'pla...something) clooping on the surface, gasping for oxygen i think.

Before we could do anything, one morning not long after... about 200 red fish looking decidedly ...dead. oh dear, this enterprise not off to a good start...we have a lot to learn.

On the plus side, those fish carcasses became excellent fertilizer so all was not lost.

[Mendip]

when we saw a lot of the red-coloured fish (sorry, cant remember the name - 'pla...something) clooping on the surface, gasping for oxygen i think.

Pla tabtim... been there, done that...

[Thai Dhupp]

So now...rubber farming.

Before we built TD Towers, we purchased a much larger piece of land behind where we are living now (i covered it at the beginning of the house build thread) with the idea of building there.

In the end, we build on this other piece of land near the road, meaning we still had, unused the first piece. The land came with what i thought was about 120 young rubber trees. Nothing happened with this land until last year, when we checked the plot again to find that there were in fact 161, now much larger rubber trees and we should think about harvesting some of the 'white gold' latex (ooooh latex dont get PJ started....) and make some dosh.

Of course we dont know what the fcuk we are doing. and we dont have any sharp knives in the house (it's a condition of me living there), and anyway you have to play with acid which sounds dangerous, and I'm not partial to getting up at 2am to do the tapping.

Enter the burmese workers.

They could do it, and they had knives, and they liked getting up in the night and all we had to do was provide the acid and the collecting cups and we would all get rich...

right!?

Ummm... well... we got ri...some money. I think in total we made about 20,000 THB in 2023. Not going to retire on that, right wait...I am retired already. We had to pay them and initially we were taking the rubber balls to the rubber market (this sounds more n more like a dutch porno movie), and it was messing up the car (we dont have a pickup), so I was quite glad to see the end of the 'rubber season'

[Thai Dhupp]

Pla tabtim... been there, done that...

hey hey! interestingly, they were the only ones that died. all the rest...no issues. Pity cos' PJ said they make 'big money' when you sell big ones!

Ahh well. Looks like I'm going to have to rely on my third 'update' to get rich!!

[Norton]

Pity cos' PJ said they make 'big money' when you sell big ones!

฿ 420.00

Quantity - 1

size - 500-700 gm

Fresh Red Tilapia 2 fishes. (500-700 g/fish) (PRE - ORDER 2 DAYS)
– Thammachart Seafood

[Thai Dhupp]

฿ 420.00

Quantity - 1

size - 500-700 gm

Fresh Red Tilapia 2 fishes. (500-700 g/fish) (PRE - ORDER 2 DAYS)
– Thammachart Seafood

Very interesting! Maybe they will get reintroduced when the water level starts coming back up.

(not the dead ones, obviously)

I know it's the dry season but really...there was not much rain though summer last year. Now we have not seen rain again for about 2 months. We are watering the garden most days, so thank goodness water is cheap here!

[Mendip]

^ This is really interesting.

When we had a major die-off in our pond I noticed that first the pla tabtim, and then the pla nin died. They are both tilapia (red tilapia and brown tilapia) and I'm not sure that they're actually different species as I am sure that we have had interbreeding between the two in our pond.

The pla duuk and pla chon were completely unaffected by the lack of oxygen that caused the die-off.

[cyrille]

they were the only ones that died. all the rest...no issues. Pity cos' PJ said they make 'big money' when you sell big ones!

Those two things are probably connected.

[Thai Dhupp]

^ This is really interesting.

When we had a major die-off in our pond I noticed that first the pla tabtim, and then the pla nin died. They are both tilapia (red tilapia and brown tilapia) and I'm not sure that they're actually different species as I am sure that we have had interbreeding between the two in our pond.

The pla duuk and pla chon were completely unaffected by the lack of oxygen that caused the die-off.

There's a couple of catfish, and a load of 'doctor' fish in our pond and they are thriving!

[Topper]

Is there an aerator of some sort in the pond?

[Thai Dhupp]

Is there an aerator of some sort in the pond?

No...nothing. its 'au naturel'. based on PJ's childhood experiences of fish farming with father, he said we didn't need it. hmmmm! I did say at the time, do we need...? etc.

The problem I think was more to do with the sinking water table due to lack of rain. We are getting it again, now as we have had no rain for 6 weeks.

So far, the fish are not dying, thankfully.

The best thing would probably be to sell them, maybe!

[malmomike77]

and it was messing up the car (we dont have a pickup)

have you thought about a container? or alternatively we have a 22 year old hilux thats not so hilux we can let you have for 65k - it just keeps on running but i would not bother with any washing etc, it lost most of the clear coat years ago

Duck farmers, fish farmers and rubber farmers.

You are slowly discovering that being a middle man is both more profitable and less work We only grow stuff for the pleasure of watching it grow and eating our own produce which hasn't been covered in mostly worldwide banned substances. Oh and a block of Durian which the Mrs family manage for us and sell to the chinks, we go down harvest time pig out for a week until we're sick of it, tend to or plant some new trees.

[Thai Dhupp]

have you thought about a container? or alternatively we have a 22 year old hilux thats not so hilux we can let you have for 65k - it just keeps on running but i would not bother with any washing etc, it lost most of the clear coat years ago




You are slowly discovering that being a middle man is both more profitable and less work We only grow stuff for the pleasure of watching it grow and eating our own produce which hasn't been covered in mostly worldwide banned substances. Oh and a block of Durian which the Mrs family manage for us and sell to the chinks, we go down harvest time pig out for a week until we're sick of it, tend to or plant some new trees.

All good stuff and hopefully, PJ will come through with it all. I am the passenger in those enterprises, though Im happy to put my name to them all if they become successful.

I'm banking on the writing - see Pt.3!