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[scooterboy]

Just an update on what's happening...

Went to the land early this morning, like we usually do. Whoo! - an enormous part of one side
of the mountain had burned sometime during the previous day - or maybe night.
Everywhere was blackened by fire - fruit trees, teak trees, bushes, grass - everything was
gone - or rendered totally useless.     

It looked like the fire had started way over in the distance and had swept along the side of the
mountain, burning everything in its path. Our neighbor's land has been 99% destroyed, along
with all the fruit trees that were in bloom - except for maybe a couple at the far end of their land.  
Strangely enough - their little house on the middle of their land hadn't been touched by the
flames.

Looks like all the hard work in the last couple of months helped things a great deal, as the fire
had stopped dead at the firebreak we'd made. On one side it's black - on the other there's still
fresh earth - like someone had drawn a very straight line from one end of the boundary to the
other end - a real weird sight.  

Actually, we did get some charring on our side - around a tree on the boundary itself , which
had a couple of bushes close by - the bushes won't survive. Small stuff - just a couple of square
yards - and we figure we're dead lucky that the damage was that small.

Maybe the firebreak stopped the fire from spreading even more  - across our land and to the
neighbors on the other side and even to the adjoining areas. We like to think that's the case, as
I'm pretty sure that if we'd just cleared grass'n'stuff  from the middle of the land, as we'd
originally done, then the damage might've been far worse.

Off topic (maybe!) - surprised there aren't more fires out of control. We regularly see folks
burning stuff slam bang next to wooden fencing, under trees - even a few inches from their
(wooden) house. Sure hope they know what they're doing.  

Anyway, we're continuing with the work on the land, clearing and burning as we go.

Thanks for your time...
SB

[jubby]

Hi Scooterboy,

I've just maybe 1 hour ago got back from our little farm.   Got a phone call from the wifes brother.   I new it was bad news straight away.

Its been a very windy day today, VERY windy, so you know whats comming right  

I lost 8 rai to fire, mainly young teak.    The teak should recover but will take a bit longer.   Utter devastation as far as the eye can see.   beyond our firebreak.  The firebreak did help and saved the neighbours rubber.      I did lose it a bit when I was up the mountain surveying the devastation another neighbour lit a big bonfire mainly bamboo  .  The flames were huge and blowing towards our land.   I pottered on over and asked them politely "  NOT  "  to put the Fire out ;-)    They complied to my request.

You'll get used to the fires after 3 or 4 times.    

The real funny thing is that I know its one of the neighbours clearing land for rubber , but he ain't going to admit it.  He's almost certainly encroucing also as it borders a  'forest park'  .

Wild Wild West.

[scooterboy]

Hi Jubby!

Really - 8 rai? Jeez, that's really bad! And losing the teak trees, too - yeah, sure they ought
to grow again, but it's never a pretty sight to see all the hard work ruined. Get used to it? Not
sure we can ever get used to that sort of thing, especially IF it's caused by "human error".  

Ain't a one to whine about other people's lack of respect for their (and other's) property, but
it sure would be nice if people treated burning with the respect that's due. Seem to be hearing
a lot lately about folks lighting fires and not bothering to take care about where or how they
burn. Man, that's real scary! Then again, it's the "burning" season and I suppose that when
the season's finished, people tend to forget about it all until the next time around.  

hel_l - at the present time we drive out to the land in the early mornings, wondering if it's still
gonna be there by the time we arrive - heh heh!  

Talked to the neighbors (next land) today - they reckoned another owner burned a pile of
stuff and just walked away from it - which caused the sweeping fire to burn other people's
lands. Sounds a bit like hearsay to me, though - but you never know. Whatever, they sure
weren't happy about their land being razed like that - and I don't blame them, either. They
spent a lot of money getting the grass'n'stuff cut twice these last few months - the late rains
made it all bounce up again after the first time, so had to cut again towards the end of last
year. Maybe now they'll consider making a firebreak, now that they've seen that it can, in fact, help
things - but I ain't holding my breath.  

Anyway, hope your land recovers quickly - keep safe out there!

Cheers
SB

[jubby]

I've had a couple of days to calm down and check everything out.   There's a great deal of what appears to be lack of appreciation of consequences or is it just sheer selfishness I don't know.   You have to think of everything possible to stop the relentless mindless onslaught by the natives of this beautiful Country.  

Its clear the Firebreaks not wide enough, its approx 3 metres but I guess needs to be Six.   have to make sure that its kept clear of anything that can burn for example falling leaves etc.   It requires a daily inspection I think.   Its worth dividing the land with several firebreaks also so you don't loose everything.

The teak is remarkably resilient it'll probably sprout a few extra stalks as if its been coppiced but thats easy enough to control.   The termites will have taken a bashing also   .     I had some nice mature trees of an unknown variety which are almost certainly going to fall down as they've burned from within like Charcoal.  i'd better take them down before they fall down.    

I'm hoping to find some other fast growing trees similar to teak to replace the lost ones as I'm not keen on monoculture.

Its just a shame they didn't burn a bit of their  own rubber which would have maybe caused some neurons to spark in the peanut between their Ears.    

Anyway,   its just an hobby and maybe something for the Granchildren in 40 years or so.

[scooterboy]

Hi again Jubby!

Well, can't help but agree with you there - don't seem to be a whole lot of natives interested in
using their nuts (sorry, peanuts!) to actually THINK about how and what they're doing. That goes
for more than just burning, too. Ain't too sure it makes any big difference if they burn their own
land, as well as others' - folks here think in a different way than most of us farangs.  

Three metre firebreak ain't enough? Maybe you got some tall bushes, trees or something, close
to the boundary - but would've thought a couple of metres would normally be more than enough,
though I sure ain't speaking from experience - got no real experience, 'cept for the last few
months.
Six metre firebreak? Whoo - that's a big'un!! You could build a whole row of houses on the
firebreak itself!  

Hmm..already learned a few things about young teaks. Like, don't think they're wild bushes and
cut them down. hel_l - had no idea they were teaks - neither did the g/f. As you say, they start to
sprout again after a long while - and thank goodnes for that, as I downed one of the neighbor's
prize golden teaks, too!  

Yeah - we'd been thinking much along the same lines. We reckon on keeping a 2 metre clear area
down and across the the middle of the land - so maybe only a quarter of the land will be ruined
at any one time. Ought to make it easier to get around the place in the wet season, too!

Can't help you with any "fast growing trees" - but hey - got plenty of fast growing weeds, if you
can use any of them!  

The neighbor just had another chat with the g/f. Seems she's VERY teed off, partly as they'd used
about 100K baht on their fruit trees - but mostly coz she'd just quit her job and had been planning to
start a small chicken farm on the land. Well, a 100K's can be a whole lot of money for the
average Thai - and I doubt anyone's gonna come knocking on her door with a bag full of cash to
replace the fruit trees. The chicken farm ain't gonna amount to anything just at the moment, that's
for sure. At the moment they're turning their backs on the land and don't want to go near the place. I
expect they'll return again after they've cooled down awhile.  

Here's hopng there are no more "accidents" for you, me - or anyone else!
Cheers
SB

[jubby]

scooterboy, on 2009-03-10 05:18:41, said:

Hi again Jubby!

Well, can't help but agree with you there - don't seem to be a whole lot of natives interested in
using their nuts (sorry, peanuts!) to actually THINK about how and what they're doing. That goes
for more than just burning, too. Ain't too sure it makes any big difference if they burn their own
land, as well as others' - folks here think in a different way than most of us farangs.  

Three metre firebreak ain't enough? Maybe you got some tall bushes, trees or something, close
to the boundary - but would've thought a couple of metres would normally be more than enough,
though I sure ain't speaking from experience - got no real experience, 'cept for the last few
months.
Six metre firebreak? Whoo - that's a big'un!! You could build a whole row of houses on the
firebreak itself!  

Hmm..already learned a few things about young teaks. Like, don't think they're wild bushes and
cut them down. hel_l - had no idea they were teaks - neither did the g/f. As you say, they start to
sprout again after a long while - and thank goodnes for that, as I downed one of the neighbor's
prize golden teaks, too!  

Yeah - we'd been thinking much along the same lines. We reckon on keeping a 2 metre clear area
down and across the the middle of the land - so maybe only a quarter of the land will be ruined
at any one time. Ought to make it easier to get around the place in the wet season, too!

Can't help you with any "fast growing trees" - but hey - got plenty of fast growing weeds, if you
can use any of them!  

The neighbor just had another chat with the g/f. Seems she's VERY teed off, partly as they'd used
about 100K baht on their fruit trees - but mostly coz she'd just quit her job and had been planning to
start a small chicken farm on the land. Well, a 100K's can be a whole lot of money for the
average Thai - and I doubt anyone's gonna come knocking on her door with a bag full of cash to
replace the fruit trees. The chicken farm ain't gonna amount to anything just at the moment, that's
for sure. At the moment they're turning their backs on the land and don't want to go near the place. I
expect they'll return again after they've cooled down awhile.  

Here's hopng there are no more "accidents" for you, me - or anyone else!
Cheers
SB

I'll drink to that  

As for the width of the Firebreak.  You've got to take into consideration the 'consideration' or not of your neigbours and wehter they keep the land relatively tidy.  If its heading back to jungle because they are just going to clear it with a match then maybe 3 mtrs not enough.

The Compost Heaps comming on nicely though,  only one failed attempt to torch it, but really wet shit doesn't burn unless you add Diesel or something  

Just got a tune in my head, wasn't there a band called 'Zombie Nation' ?

[scooterboy]

Hi there Jubby!

Better not "drink to that" - save the drink for putting out any fires!  

Well,i f you have to take into consideration the consideration of other folks, lightning strikes,
discarded cigarettes, glass fragments, etc., then maybe it's better the whole land is just one big
firebreak, huh?!  

You getting real earth from your compost heap, yet?!

Zombie Nation? Well, if there wasn't - then there sure ought to be!

Cheers
SB
Oh - had a fire way outside the rear of our residential land yesterday evening. Smoke and
flames way up into the night sky - thought maybe a house was on fire. The g/f said she could
hear people shouting to get some water to the area. Shortly after, the flames were gone and
there was just the smoke - luckily the wind was in a direction away from us, so things didn't
get smelly.
Went out to have a look this morning - the fire was farther away than we'd thought. A whole
area of forest gone, nearly taking a couple of parcels with fruit trees with it. Looks like some
dickhead was burning garbage - and maybe things got out of control. Surprised? Nope!  

[runker]

enkmd, on 2009-02-09 10:49:10, said:

Hay! Composters,

I always wondered why people here burnt everything and thought that composting would be a better way of doing things, however where I come from leaves and weeds etc easily compost themselves either heaped in a pile or left where they fall. I also thought that the dry dusty soil here would benefit from composting.

Well we just got some land recently and have just arrived to experience life in rural Thailand. The teak leaves are dead dry when they fall and we had piles of them covering much of the land. I soaked a few leaves in a bucket of water but it just didn't seem that it was going to be a very easy or succesful job, so I gave in and as instructed by the family, we burnt the lot, so quick and easy.
So at least now I can understand why it is like it is.

I will however get around to building a proper compost heap with 3 seperate sections and roof, and will hopefully prove myself right, even if it does take much longer and hard work.

put a mower to the dry leaves, this will chop them up to smaller bits and then you can use it as mulch.