Our First Harvest

Getting up early

Since my girlfriend has a lot to do on a daily basis, we have to get up before dawn to harvest vegetables.  There are no lights at the greenhouse, so she is picking the larger plants while I hold my cellphone up with the flashlight on.  It felt great.  Now, let's go get the kids to school!  But first, let's drop of some of these vegetables to a few food stands to sell.  Did I mention that this was only my 2nd day here?

A Massive Trek to Central Thailand

40 hours of transportation

Leaving Chicago

Talk about anxious and nervous.  I am taking a massive risk and it is all starting now.  All the prep, all the planning comes to a head when I have to step out the door of my comfy little box, and head out to the other side of the world to see if my plan will even work.  At least the weather was helping convince me to get the hell out of Chicago!

The weather wasn't helping my nerves much.  I was nervous my flight wouldn't get out, they were plowing the runways as I left!  Obviously, we took off.  Once we were in the air, I was very concerned about my 50 minute layover in San Francisco heading to Japan. 

The Thai Business

The Beginning of a Greenhouse in Thailand

We had talked about many different business before we ended up here.  She has experience being an animal breeder as well as baking.  But, she wanted to do something a little different.  We looked into making kombucha, but she wasn't happy with the results.  She made some for herself, and liked it, but she thought it was a bit of a tough market to get into for her area.  After much more deliberation and researching her area more, she decided on starting up a greenhouse.  

Her family will be able to help sell the vegetables and greens in the market, and she has a few small restaurants who would buy from her.  Her uncle said she could put up a greenhouse on the land that is owned by the family, which is actually on the same spot as her childhood home.  The lot was a bit over grown, so there was much work to do.  I am quite impressed with how quick it all happened.