See Hes

Congrats,
here in Thailand is a turtle a symbol of longevity and many people have released a turtle into my lake in hope for luck, health and prosperity.
From time to time one of them sticks its head out of the water but most have meanwhile found a good hideout in the greens and only the splash when they jump in the water while I am passing by, tells me they are still kicking around.

The biggest challenge in the potato world is to grow a heat resistant potatoe.

Potatoes usually wont fruit if the night is not significantly cooler than the day.
Here in Thailand we talk about 34 Celsius Day and 26 Celsius night and only October/November till February/March.

India developed Kufri Lima which is now known as most heat resistant but also these are grewn in the north and cooler areas.

If anyone has found the ultimate heat potato he/she probably will grow a golden Nose too.. ;-)

Challenge is on!

By the way: The picture shows where my wife and I am now.
We got a few years ago real potato seeds from India and a single potato from NE Australia a friend gave us in Thailand on his return.
The Aussie potato started flowering and produced seeds as well, we mixed both breeds..
The outcome was small but at least some fruits were growing.

Any earth homes have one significant risk you should be aware of.
Before you do any steps check the soil for Radon Gas and maybe also for other dangerous gasses..

.. Time for an Update.

I left the wind farm project in Taiwan after closing my site and workplace in the 5th year and itwill be a change from rat race to "permie"

As you could follow in the past, while I made the coin in my offshore job my wife and our long year house maid prepared each other and together when ordered seeds and small trees came..

Now it's time to get a life (on) with our land.

The 2nd rain season sets in and we can only say, that we still had water in abundance and all fish survived the heat wave..
Our house has got its solid foundation and now the mud bricks (they are much harder than cinderblocks) walls getting erected.

My experience gathered so far is the following.

Here in Thailand the best time for Potatoes is November till March but that will need watering.

The problem with potatoes is not the heat, it is the fact that a potato needs cool nights below 28 degrees celsius to set fruits.

Organic...

everything that has a life is organic, isn't it?

If I am looking nowadays in the shelfs of big supermarkets it's meanwhile all organic and bio.
Then I step outside, start my Enfield and drive 100s of miles passing only monoculture fields..

Yes the plants are in the dirt growing, have been fed with "chemical" fertilizer and get sprayed with "bio" pesticides,
but because they are alive, they are from my point of view "organic"

Then I enter my food forest and forage for my veggies, harvest what I need and shalke some bugs off. Hey that's organic too..
But you cannot tell me that these veggies are found by the metric ton in the supermarkets..

I not worry if a seed that is not readily available has an organic label. It's a little embryo that has one root and 2 small leafes, in total maybe 2 grams when it pops out of the seed shell.
As soon it hits the resources in my soil it will grow into a 100% clean and organic plant in pounds of weight, full bio to eat..  

Time for a little update..

Latest in June I will leave the rat race but hope my client has a heart and lets me go by end of May

The farm is busting with life and growth and our farm gang is waiting that I build a market trailer for the roadside.

I asked all what they expect fro me to design and of course there were many opinions and features...  
It has to be a trailer set up like a swiss army knife.

It shall place veggies from the farm which our plant fanatic grows
farm produce like jams and and dried stuff from our housemaid
my wife wants sell her in Pattaya famous Pa Tong Go again as the roadside is near a School
Uncle loves his fried Banana chips and assures me that these will fly off the table
Well, brother loves his chicken but now reaching 400 plus (Brahmas and Plymouth Rocks)  we have a little more Eggs (300 per day at least) as we can eat. Same counts for Chicken meat..

Well, yes, that's my job to build the attraction of our farm not just a "booth on wheels".

My last design is completed and hit in like a lightning bolt into an umbralla...
Our cob house, and as soon the drawings were released there was no hold for my wife and farm gang..

I will keep updates coming as they are available..

99% I tend not to flies of any kind as they bite, sting and will lift off.
Lets close it in:

This poor critter was likely caught without chance to escape and or even defended its nest but couldn't fly.

Two punch holes in the first pictures = spider fangs

getting red and spreads = spider poison and some flies but it can't be told is it poison or an allergic reaction.
- but here flies have red round or oval reaction spots.
A spider will just bite and bite again and depends how much she could refill her fangs, the reaction will be seen in unequal areas. She tried to run and bite, run again and bite, until you swiped her unknowingly from your forehead because of the sensation you felt.

slowly dissolving flesh and skin tissue = spider and this kind of poison uses the brown recluse. If you haven't them around your area sure there is a spider that gives necrosis.

The symptoms:
a few hrs you will feel a mild pain followed by itching, you might not remember that you wiped the "sweat" out of your face..
a week and longer it followed with tissue breakdown
it took many month till the necrosis went from spreading slowly futher to reverse and the skin started to heal = Thats a 100% Spider poison like the Brown Recluse uses.

Beside me is my colleague a Phillippino and he says 100% spider bite.

Now it would be interesting which Spider you got in your area:

Since you have only 2 that are to be taken serious in Illinois we can almost say who was the culpit.

The Brown Recluse, aggressive and will bite. Its venom will exaclty react as seen in your pictures

The Black Widow uses neurotoxin, it will affect your nervous system and a bite is like a hot pin pushed into the skin.
Beside Black Widows like build their nests in hidden areas and is most likely to escape than attack..  

Here we go. Brown Recluse to 99%

Time for an update I feel:

Our farm is up and running and there are wins and losses as in every business and farmlife,
today I let pictures speak: