Happenings at the Farm

This Blog update is going to be focused mostly on whats happening at the "Farm".  Farmer friendly. :) (Ladies, towards the end I'll share about a wedding we attended, you may find interesting :) )
  Here are a few pictures of our first field we planted, looks amazing thanks to the hard work of grass cutters and these two ladies, they have done a great job pruning and training the plants. they were bit shy about their photo getting taken, but all smiles with the praise!   The hottest season is fast approaching and the water situation is becoming a serious matter. Our ponds are dropping drastically in water. Stan has been calling talking to well drillers looking for someone who can drill a decent well with some depth to get a good idea what ground water is available.

 While at the farm, one of the men that work's for the General showed up and told us he had a friend who is a well driller lives close by and would we like him to stop by? Why sure! So the next day we were at the field and he shows up, says he is a Christian, and Pastor of a church in Trapang Prasat! told us he had come by a couple times hoping to meet us, but we were gone... and he is also the local well driller! So we made a contract to let him come the next week when we came back to the farm, to get the well drilled. ( Last Thursday)

First field we planted end of August

loaded with the Such INchi nuts!

One of the ladies packing the nuts into her bag, they get paid by the kilo they pick

Grass cutter boy, these little machines have really helped
cutting down the huge grass so we can get into the fields 

Replacing a diesel engine for pumping water

Maht and Stan re placing the head gasket

We've had issues with engines , Stan and Maht had to rebuild one of the new engines we had purchased last week, head gasket had gone out, but the good thing was Maht learned that they can be fixed.

   Well Drilling project, was interesting / frustrating/ and a learning experience for all! We did end up with water, but now the challenge is to find the right pump and generator to pump the water to irrigate with. blazing new trails of what is not "Normally done" here is always a challenge, there is a fine line between wanting it done right for the best outcome, and being a "difficult foreigner" if  they think your difficult they won't want to work with you.

  Last weeks second accomplishment besides the well was
we, were able to get the cracking machines delivered to the farm
from the storage unit in Thailand at the border where they were
stranded..... a bit of money, and they arrived at midnight:) Now we need to find the right Generator to run them and get a small seed cracking factory- set up ....and soon! we are running out of places to store the seed!

   There are always new workers, with new batch of little kids, so its been hard to really bond with any of them. Soon as you do they leave to another job.  

    One of the things I always enjoy is spending a bit of time with the little kids at the farm,  these two girls are age 4 and 5 their moms were picking, and they weren't afraid of us, we learned from from listening to them chatter while coloring, that ( their moms tell them not to bother us , that if they do we might be mean to them they were saying like, "see they like us, they don't hit us") now I know why the little ones are so hesitant to come around......

we were invited to dinner at the home of one of the shopkeepers, where we buys farm supplies, and diesel, In Dai Khrahom. ( our small village town near the farm) They were so nice made a delicious dinner of TomYum soup, chicken kabobs and fried fish. while his wife was cleaning up, she nearly stepped on this visitor to her kitchen!!! Yikes I didn't know these were around, but I guess they come out at night......... another thing to watch out for!! 

Giant Scorpion :(( 

  At our apartment we were blessed, well kinda ..... to have a our neighbors daughters wedding take place literally right outside our house, ! looking out our front door was all wedding! we couldn't go out our door, so when we wanted to go out we had to go out the back, but that was pretty full also of fruit, they were making up fruit platters and all kids of stuff for the "Fruit March ceremony" for the next morning, It was a 2 day event from 5am to 11pm for 2 days....  A combination of 3 religions so many ceremonies, Phali, Buddhist, and Chinese 

this offering alter thing was set up right outside the Brides home, next door to us.

First night dinner we attended this meal of the wedding, we were invited to the fancy dinner party the next night but we had to go to the farm... 

what I loved watching was the flower arrangements!! they used tons of flowers!!

covering the Arch with real flowers!! 

coffee bar at the wedding I've never seen this before at a wedding, this wedding spared no expense !!! they were making "good iced lattes" the guy gave me his card, they roast their own beans ! now to find there shop! 

A glimpse inside the house of the bride ( next door to ours) the walls were literally covered in flowers, most of the actual ceremonies took place inside here.

  Of course no wedding is complete without very loud music, in the evening!! No sleeping here, we headed to the farm after the first night, so it was fine:)


Prayer Requests for this week:
 WISDOM!, we need to make the best plans for farms irrigation,
  also for setting up area/ small factory for cracking seed.
prayer for our travels, this week we will be covering a lot of miles in unfamiliar areas,
as we connect with farmers & Representatives we haven't met and
purchase seed,
Most of all, Pray that God will be glorified thru all of this, that people we meet and work with would see Him through us! Sensitivity, to others needs, He would give us eyes to see what He wants us to see, Patience with language difficulties /communications and understanding of culture....
THANK YOU ALL !! For your prayers and support
we couldn't be here doing this without knowing your backing us in prayer!! this is a "team effort"!!

      

One of the Grasses, headed out, they are beautiful to
look at! about 12ft tall!