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Coffee, Bags, House and Rice Mill

This is a pretty packed update.  Not just because my last post was in January but there just seems to be a lot happening.  I have never been this busy since I moved to Thailand back in 05.  Which means we are coming up on our fifth year mark here in April.  I won’t get into to many details otherwise this is going to be a long post.  So I’ll get to the main points.

Coffee

We have already dug some 2,500 holes for coffee seedlings and about 2,000 more planned.  We are planting our own as well as micro-loaning seedlings to farmers who want to grow.  Primarily working with people in the church and family.  Many farmers have told us they may want to grow coffee after they see ours succeed.  Apart from the holes being dug we have also built a small (and I mean small) nursery to keep seedlings and other plants.  A new water project has also been proposed and will consist of drawing water from a natural spring, running one kilometer of pipe and possibly building a cement tank.  It will provide water for the coffee plantation and possibly give water to a near by village during dry season.

Also we hope to have a training event where villagers who are planting coffee will be able to learn all about growing, mulching, trimming and harvesting coffee.  We are hoping to receive training from a local coffee company.  www.silaacoffee.com

Bags

J’Nangutong ~ My Sister’s Bag

The vision includes bags from a variety of women groups around the world, but for right now, we only have Karen Bags.  We have modified the tradition style side bag to meet the grocery bag standard in the West.  We are also thinking some products like tea towels, table runners, napkins, etc. might provide a more consistent appeal to western markets too.  This is all still in the marketing research phase and a web site will hopefully soon be up and running.  For the mean time we have women busy making bags and tea towels to be sent to the States and Canada.

House

I am building a small two bedroom house for our family to stay in while we are in the village.  Mission teams and guests will also be able to use it while visiting the village.  We are cutting the wood from big pine trees in the forest and building it ourselves.  It will be a traditional Karen style house raised off the ground.  I also hope to have this done before the rains hit in mid May.

Rice Mill

We have just installed a new machine in the rice mill.  It will take the rice husks that get tossed out in the back of the mill and grind them up to a fine bran that will be bagged and sold for fodder.

Though we are having some initial set backs and some mild miss-communication on how to use the machine.  We hope to get the kinks out soon.  Thank you to those of you who have supported our rice mill project.  We will be using the profit from the rice mill not only to pay for the workers but also to help establish small businesses in the village.  Including the bag and coffee business.

July 27th

These are just a few of the really good photos our friend Kevin LJ took for us when up in the village.  Click here to see all of them.  We also did some video of rice planing and of the rice mill.  We took up about ten gallons of some organic fertilizer that I have been making for them to use on their rice crops.  It’s still in the experimental process but I am learning heaps all the time.  I’m still keeping busy with Im Jai House and mentoring teenagers.  We’ve gotten lots of new landscaping work in the last month and it’s keeping me and the boys busy.  We also have a new member in our house.

His name is Tinglee.  He is 17 years old who we originally knew from Im Jai House.  Though he hasn’t been living there for a few years I have still been mentoring him.  He has ben with us for at least a month now and is adjusting well.  He grew up with Park who already lives with us.  They both go to a dramatic arts school.  He is a very talented musician and is studying the violin.  He is on my soccer team and also works the landscaping business with me.  A very smart, talented and hard working teenager.  We are pleased to have him apart of our family.

Rice Mill Finished

As of Saturday last week the rice mill is finally up and running and producing rice for the village.  Saturday when the machine was turned on for the first time people from the village swarmed in.  It got so crowded the guys trying to do some adjustments on the machine couldn’t work.  Soon it became chaotic and some people were displeased because the bran that is discharged wasn’t enough for them to use when feeding the pigs.  People began to rush home to get un milled rice to test the machine.  It turned into a free day for anyone who brought rice to the mill.  At first I was a little set back but it was pretty much out of my control by then.  People just kept coming and there wasn’t much I could do about it.  But people were excited and we let it go for the first day.  Kind of like a grand opening.  So far a week has gone by and we have seen people come every day.  It’s been a good turn out so far.  Even Prangs family members are getting the hang of running and adjusting the machine.  Our biggest problem now is the cost of electricity.  After a few months of accounting we should be able to see exactly what kind of a profit we are looking at.  All in all it’s been a good and effective project.  Everyone seems pleased.  Click on the photos link to the right to see pictures of the mill. I also added a couple video clips down below too.

Rice Mill

I am proud to say that we (Ton, Prangs brother) and I have finally finished our first rice mill. We saved a lot of time and money on not having to build a main building. Rather just adding to an existing one. We took Dad’s area for the cows which was just a roof. They just moved the cows out into the field. We had to clear out a lot of cow manure and add over hangs on the roof to prevent rain from coming in. We hired some guys from the village to get us wood and bamboo from the jungle for the walls. We then hired this father and his son to build and install the rice hulling machine. They really knew what they were doing and have done some sixty machines or more this year. This machine runs off a ten horse power motor, thus making us have to upgrade our main power service. We are still waiting for the new electrical service to be finished. Then we will do some test runs and then learn how to actually use the machine. As well as teach the people in the village how to use it too. It’s actually pretty basic. The machine takes the rice in its husk form. Sorts out all the rocks sticks and other things brought in from the field. Sends the rice through a series of rollers that break off the husk from the actual seed. Then it is sifted again before it goes through another series of rollers that then polish the seed creating white rice. It’s capable of both brown and white rice. But everyone seems to want white because of the taste. The brown rice is obviously more nutritious but lacks in taste. The shavings that are polished off from the brown rice are saved and fed to the pigs. Maybe that’s why the pigs taste so good?  They’re feeding the pigs all the polished off nutrients from the rice.  Anyways hopefully only in a couple of days or so we should have everything up and running and will have our first running rice mill.  Prangs family seems optimistic about running the mill and the villagers seems excited to have something near by for them to use.  We are all excited to be able to have such a practical resource available for everyone. 

Natural Fertilizer

A friend of mine has been busy creating his own natural fertilizer mix. By mixing cow manure, ash and animal bone all into a three thousand liter tank, then trace elements like zinc and calcium are added along with bacteria to break it all down into a liquid form. A total amount of 2,500 liters has been made. Enough for 125 rai. One rai = 1,600 sqm. A rai is a traditional unit of land area in Thailand. The rai is now considered to equal exactly 1600 square meters, which is 0.16 hectare or approximately 0.3954 acre. So around 50 acres. I was able to use some of it in the village in our family’s rice fields. They really liked it and next year want to use all natural fertilizer instead of those nasty chemicals there using now. Chemicals that have nasty side effects and deplete the soil quality. While natural fertilizer isn’t harmful, increases yearly yield, doesn’t deplete the soil and gives your rice more nutrients. I hope to be able to provide all the fertilizer I can for them in the years to come. Also we are looking for our own rice paddy so we can start growing our own rice. If we don’t rent and grow our own rice than we will join up with different children’s homes in the area and help produce more rice. We are also planning on building a rice mill in the village next year as well. I’ll talk more about that later. You can click on the “Rice Mills” link on the right to read more. For now we need to focus on visiting the US and next year we can dive into these new projects. Either this week or the next we will hopefully be having Prang’s interview at the consulate for Prangs visa. I’ll keep everyone posted. For now please be praying for her visa as well as for us to find a rice field. Click here to see more pictures of our time up in the village

Burmese Teak Wood

This past weekend we took a trip up to the village.  Baan and Lu who are staying with us while Adam and Cindy are gone went with us along with Wayland, Prangs two brothers, Prangs mom and another friend. Total we had ten people plus the top of the truck brimming over. We had so much stuff I had install another rack on the truck. It was very rainny and muddy and we had to use four wheel drive to get in. This always makes us feel gratefull for buying a four wheel drive. Plus I think it’s fun. We went not just to see the fam and the church but also to wire our friends new house. A very nice wood house made completely from teak wood from Burma. Very nice hard teak wood that can probably last for some twenty years plus. On another note. This week we should have everything put together for Prangs visa and we can then go in for an interview sometime this next week. So we should know soon if we will be coming to the states or not. We are planning for October 9th. We’ll keep everyone posted.  Clik here or just go to the Most Recent Photos link to the left to see more pics.

Rice Planting

We went and helped out a couple of Faith Full Heart homes just north of Chiang Mai plant rice.  We took along the boys living with us as well as a couple of Adam and Cindy’s kids.  We had fun playing in the mud and water as well as cathing crabs, shrimp, fish and snails.  That night when we went home Prang cooked up the crabs for dinner.  We ate so much we got sick.  I think we have all had enough crab for now.  Click here or go to the photos link to see more pictures.