Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 1022 Location: 38 km west of Warsaw, Poland
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:47 am Post subject: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
As some of you may know, I have been hanging out in Warsaw, Poland for the past 3 years, building our new house in a small village as funds allowed and trying to sell the property in Warsaw to continue the project. We finally sold the property and although not finished yet, we are living on the property in the village. Most of the time.
I say most of the time, because we used some of the money from the sale to buy some land an hour or so north of Warsaw in another small village. We have seven acres of forest on the property, 3 acres of pasture and seven acres of productive raspberries. 20 of the rows are over 1 km long. All together we have almost 20 miles worth of rows to pick.
We spent the entire month of July harvesting. The hardest part was just finding enough local workers to get the job done. We treated the whole thing as a learning experience and are pretty sure we can do much better next year, weather permitting. This year we almost didn't have anything to harvest, because of a bad drought. But, we got some rain at the last moment and managed to pick almost 7000 lbs of berries! We stopped only because we went back into drought mode again the first week in August.
Now I'm back at the new house trying to get ready for winter. We have over 5 chords of wood, but no stove. I am planning to buy a Jotul F3 this month. No garden this year - we were too busy moving out of Warsaw. We also bought another house 5 minutes from the farm as a place to park my mother-in-law and PITA brother-in-law. It also serves as a base of operations for us during the harvest.
The only problem so far has been lack of internet access. I have a wireless solution but it is simply to slow. At the moment I am typing this from a local Internet cafe in the nearest town. Probably a good way to meet some more locals and pratice my Polish anyway.
Now that we are out of Warsaw, I feel like we are finally starting on the road to making some preparations, so I should be here more often. Project for this winter: learn to make sourkraut. Lots of people in the village have what looks like a big 50 gallon drum sitting in the kitchen - food always available! _________________ Remember, with globalisation "everyone is a winner" in the "race to the bottom". - rogerhb
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A.C. Clarke
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:08 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Thats a lot of berry picking. Congratulations on your good harvest. Now you have twenty miles of canes to thin and maintain to get a good crop next year. A lot of man hours there. Whats the prevailing wage and can you find acceptable workers for it.
I dont suppose Huges Net has a Europeon Geosincked satellite they could hook you up to? I'm on NetBlue here in rural New England. Its still not what you would call fast but its miles ahead of the dial up .
Sounds like your making real progress.
Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 1022 Location: 38 km west of Warsaw, Poland
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:45 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
vtsnowedin wrote:
Thats a lot of berry picking. Congratulations on your good harvest. Now you have twenty miles of canes to thin and maintain to get a good crop next year. A lot of man hours there. Whats the prevailing wage and can you find acceptable workers for it.
I dont suppose Huges Net has a Europeon Geosincked satellite they could hook you up to? I'm on NetBlue here in rural New England. Its still not what you would call fast but its miles ahead of the dial up .
Sounds like your making real progress.
Right about that (thin and maintain)! We are not happy about the work that was done last year prior to this years harvest. The former owner did it for us (he has the equipment and time) using money we get from the EU for the forest and money we get from Poland for growing soft fruits. Next year. even though we will still hire someone to do the prep work (spray for weeds, fertilize, etc) I will also follow up with touch up work as required.The money we get from various agencies for the land should offset the cost of hiring locals to do the maintenance work.
As for hiring locals, the prevailing wage for a 'full' basket of raspberries was 3 PLN (less than 2 dollars). We were paying 4 because we were competeing against the local warlord for workers. Most didn't come because they were afraid to offend the warlord. Next year we will do more recruiting in the surrounding local villages - teenage girls on school break and wives and old babcia's with nothing else to do. Don't underestimate the ability of a 75 year old woman to work! I had one this year that while she had no teeth, could outpick me and walk faster up the rows carrying 12-15 kg's of berries than I could! She has never been to a doctor in her life!
I will check into Satellite Internet. Thanks for the suggerstion. _________________ Remember, with globalisation "everyone is a winner" in the "race to the bottom". - rogerhb
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A.C. Clarke
Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 1022 Location: 38 km west of Warsaw, Poland
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:11 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
allenwrench wrote:
Wow!
Do you have to harvest at different times?
Do you have any trouble selling that much berries?
No. The berries we have are in season from July to mid-August (if the rainfall is adequate). They are used for juice and are not what you see for sale in the supermarket. We thought about growing some longer growing types, but it is too much work.
Next year we will pick the best on Saturday morning and sell them in Warsaw for 4 times the price at local markets.
The 'skup' (local fruit buyer) takes everything we can bring them. We found one that although a bit of a drive, gives us a better price. We pay the pickers 4 PLN per basket (basket = around 3 kgs) and we sell the berries for 4 PLN/kg.
There is lots of unemployment in the rural areas of Poland. We don't exploit the workers though. We pay them above average wages, my wife treats them like equals, and I work in the field alongside them.
BTW, I believe my last place of residence in the US was not too far from you: Frederick, MD. _________________ Remember, with globalisation "everyone is a winner" in the "race to the bottom". - rogerhb
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A.C. Clarke
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Czescz, my friend! (writing from that other large Polish enclave, Chicago.)
Nice to see you bought a production farm, the raspberries of course, are for eating in Poland, but mainly they make jams and fruit syrups for flavoring beverages, teas, etc.
You can buy them in most flavors, currant, bilberry, gooseberry, blueberry, raspberry, rose-hip, strawberry, and mint-fruit blends and use them in tea (which is more predominant in Eastern Europe to drink instead of coffee.)
I buy them here in the wintertime for evening tea drinking, something done since my youth. My adoptive family and birth mother were/are Polish-American, so it's a cultural habit. It's a good way to get extra fruit and vitamins in your diet.
I am so happy that you have started a venture like this, I think this is just the thing that is needed if we go to our "Heritage countries" and buy land...do something to "give back" to the country, especially if our families reaped the benefit of living in a country that did well for them during the boom years. (America vs. Poland)
Glad to see you bought the extra house for the family..you can have them close by without the headaches of the extended family right on top of you. Something they know about all too well in Poland, lol. Maybe you can give the ne'er do well brother-in-law a job at the farm? Get his ass-a movin', and earn his keep.
Good to see the homestead built and you will be working on it for a bit, but hey, that's life. Always an ongoing project.
If I get the chance to come and visit, I'll be sure to help with the raspberry harvest, I loved doing that with my aunts when I was a child, (but only if we make some raspberry kolachkys later on!)
Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 1022 Location: 38 km west of Warsaw, Poland
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 2:40 pm Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Quote:
Glad to see you bought the extra house for the family..you can have them close by without the headaches of the extended family right on top of you. Something they know about all too well in Poland, lol. Maybe you can give the ne'er do well brother-in-law a job at the farm? Get his ass-a movin', and earn his keep.
Very funny. To give you an idea about how incompetent he is I offer the following:
1. He was picking raspberries on our neighbors property (don't know for how long) and when he went to collect payment he had half a basket (worth 75 cents). He then lost that money and our neighbor felt compelled to pay him again. She felt sorry for him. This is a 50+ yo guy! A child can pick 3 baskets/day.
2. My wife has already bought over 5 chords of wood - some I will take to our property - the rest will be used to heat the house at the farm (wood only). It is mostly cherry wood from the orchards - very hard and dry but needs to be cut to length. He sits there in front of it, reading books about American Indians.
You are welcome on your next visit to Poland to pick some berries as part of your native experience. Just kidding! We will treat you well. Perhaps you could offer us some 'hints' as to how to improve he harvest. We are also looking at rose-hips for export. Plus, you can eat all the raspberries you want. I swear that I have eaten more raspberries in the last month than I have eaten in my entire life (also +50 years).
This is hard work. Good thing my wife is a massage therapist!!! _________________ Remember, with globalisation "everyone is a winner" in the "race to the bottom". - rogerhb
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A.C. Clarke
Joined: Feb 09, 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Venezuela
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Interesting. I wonder how many of us (Americans) are doing what you've done......buy a place in another country and making a go of it off the land?
I'm always interested in hearing about the local culture, and the hassles of getting things done, etc. Life seems to move at a totally different pace outside of the United States.
When time permits, try to post some pics of your place.
In case you're interested, here's a thread I posted with some pics of my place in Venezuela.
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:19 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
lateStarter wrote:
They are used for juice
Dumb questions time:
How do you juice them? I've just purchased an enterprise fruit press off of ebay, but am interested in how others do it. You must need a far larger capacity.
Also, how do you preserve the raspberry juice? Do you can it?
Is juice your only product? Have you found other ways to economically preserve it?
Joined: Apr 06, 2005 Posts: 1022 Location: 38 km west of Warsaw, Poland
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:23 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
hermit wrote:
lateStarter wrote:
They are used for juice
Dumb questions time:
How do you juice them? I've just purchased an enterprise fruit press off of ebay, but am interested in how others do it. You must need a far larger capacity.
Also, how do you preserve the raspberry juice? Do you can it?
Is juice your only product? Have you found other ways to economically preserve it?
Actually not a dumb question. I will ask my wife and get back to you on that. Juice is not our product. We just take the berries to the 'skup' - the guy that buys all the locally produced fruit and veggies in the area. What happens after that, I don't know. I was told that they are used to make juice. The last time I see them is when we dump them in 120L containers right after we weigh them.
Some of the fruit we kept for ourselves. Most of what we kept my wife used for making jam. I think she did attempt to make some juice because I remember seeing her pressing the cooked fruit through a sieve. What she did to keep it from fermenting, I'll have to ask. _________________ Remember, with globalisation "everyone is a winner" in the "race to the bottom". - rogerhb
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. A.C. Clarke
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:46 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
lateStarter wrote:
Some of the fruit we kept for ourselves. Most of what we kept my wife used for making jam. I think she did attempt to make some juice because I remember seeing her pressing the cooked fruit through a sieve. What she did to keep it from fermenting, I'll have to ask.
She may have been making jelly. You cook the crushed fruit then strain it & cook the juice alone with sugar & pectin (some use lemon juice). But I would think that to make juice for drinking you'd just eliminate the second cooking
Quote:
The former owner did it for us (he has the equipment and time) using money we get from the EU for the forest and money we get from Poland for growing soft fruits. Next year. even though we will still hire someone to do the prep work (spray for weeds, fertilize, etc) I will also follow up with touch up work as required.The money we get from various agencies for the land should offset the cost of hiring locals to do the maintenance work.
Can I ask how this works? Why do these agencies pay you for the land? Do they have some access/use of it? Is this common? I'm very curious _________________ Country Momma
Joined: Mar 25, 2008 Posts: 890 Location: Alif Lam Mim
Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:48 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Sjedni po jedi! That's the only Polish I know and that's only because it's on the back of our reunion shirts (1/4 Polish).
Do you expect that enterprise to be economical even if the governments stop subsidizing it? There's a good chance that governments the world over will need to cut back on some things and growing berries may just be one of those "unnecessary" items. Have you thought about shifting some of your pasture land towards dairy or chicken production? That would seem to be more economical possibly. Although, it would depend more on local environmental and economic conditions.
Are you diverting any of your resources towards obtaining a water storage unit to offset any drought that may occur? If you're growing fruit, it may have to be quite large (100,000+ gallons) but when floods/extra rain comes, then you can divert the water to there to be stored for future years. Could be a major boost for crop production during those bad years. When everyone else's crops are failing, you're will still be trucking and then with higher prices (unless you have price controls), you'll make out quite nicely. _________________ Riches are not from abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind.
Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1464 Location: Somewhere there
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
lateStarter wrote:
2. My wife has already bought over 5 chords of wood - some I will take to our property - the rest will be used to heat the house at the farm (wood only). It is mostly cherry wood from the orchards - very hard and dry but needs to be cut to length. He sits there in front of it, reading books about American Indians.
Well a well-read person can be a find in a Polish countryside I guess. And dont burn that cherry wood--- its a waste-- use it for smoking fish/meat.
Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:14 am Post subject: Re: First harvest under our belts... Whew!
Sounds like you are enjoying your new home!
lateStarter wrote:
Project for this winter: learn to make sourkraut. Lots of people in the village have what looks like a big 50 gallon drum sitting in the kitchen - food always available!
It's not difficult at all. (This is from the OLD Walton Feed site. I sure hope they put the articles back up when they finish their site.) I've made kraut for the last three years with this recipe. It is the best kraut I've ever tasted! And it's so very, very easy.
Quote:
The following was submitted by Kevin Cramer
I read Mabel Mertz's recipe for homemade kraut and think I might have something to improve the process. Although it's not a 100 year old method, it was taught to me by Bill Scmuck (himself in his 80's).
We use 2 trash bags, double bagged and filled with about 10 inches of water as a fermentation lock on our sauerkraut. We've fermented at least 2500 gallons using this method over the last 12 years. The only failures have been attributed to "peeking". DO NOT peek until the fermentation has ceased 7-8 weeks at 65º F, and then bag or can it immediately.
Clean your crock (or in our case Rubbermaid trash cans) with bleach water and rinse well. Slice, stomp, salt, and pack your cabbage into the trash can leaving at least 12" of space at the top. Wipe any cabbage from the sides before inserting the bags (this stuff turns hard and is nearly impossible to scrape out later). Carry this beast to your basement, put 2 bags (one inside the other) into the top of the can and fill it with 10 inches of water from a garden hose.
Loosely tie the inner bag into a knot (to slow down any evaporation). Make sure that there are NO gaps along the sides. Check your water level every 2 weeks or so and top off if necessary. Then remove the bags of water CAREFULLY... so as not to rupture them and flood your work. You could siphon or dip this water out if you really wanted to...
Note that some trash bags may be coated with an insecticide. A food grade bag is better.
I've made a LOT of sauerkraut this way and it is absolutely delicious. Nothing can replace the long ferment time. But the best thing with this recipe is that there is NO daily tending to it. I leave the crock in my kitchen to ferment and there is NO smell!
If I don't have large quantities of cabbage available, I use the shreded cabbage in 5 pound bags I buy at a local restaurant supply store (which you may not have over there).
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Thats a lot of berry picking. Congratulations on your good harvest. Now you have twenty miles of canes to thin and maintain to get a good crop next year. A lot of man hours there. Whats the prevailing wage and can you find acceptable workers for it.
