Homesteading in Ukraine

[kyivkpic]

We've also got plenty of raspberries, apples and wild nuts.

[kyivkpic]

@ Carl - I went cheap on the shovels and rakes but don't worry I shelled out for a quality hatchet.

[Carlusha]

@ Carl - I went cheap on the shovels and rakes but don't worry I shelled out for a quality hatchet.

Quite! The quality hatchet will come in very handy when you fancy a chicken dinner! Gulp! 

[Glyn Thomas.]

Huh!

Call that a hatchet?

Where's your sense of adventure? Why not go local and get a wooden-handled one where the wedges holding in in ... don't.

Livens up any barbeque.

[Tnic]

Huh!

Call that a hatchet?

Where's your sense of adventure? Why not go local and get a wooden-handled one where the wedges holding in in ... don't.

Livens up any barbeque.

Then we'd hear some stories about flying off the handle!

Nice looking garden produce mate.  Getting really jealous here and hoping to find a plot next Spring.

[kyivkpic]

Nice looking garden produce mate.  Getting really jealous here and hoping to find a plot next Spring.

Thanks, buddy! If I were you I would start looking in the late autumn. Prices go down over the winter.

 It took us over a year to find our place. We looked at least 30-40 places. There is lot of over-priced poop on the market. Also, talk to friends and family. That is where the best deals are to be had.

We're waiting for our tomatoes to ripen. My wife doesn't believe me when I tell her about fried green tomatoes. If I have any large enough this weekend they are on the menu.

Our cucumbers are not too shabby. We're going to start pickling them next week. I planted 20 jalapeno plants as well and each is giving 4-5 peppers. I'm going to make some chili/vinegar sauce with them.

As for the chickens, they are actually the neighbors. I don't understand why they don't pen them up. Their manure is great for composting. They do lay eggs in our barn, though. Next spring I am going to get our own chickens and make a pen on the side of the barn and cut a small door on the barn and put their coup in there.

Last weekend I invited my friend Andre and his girlfriend, Elisa. They both just finished their PhD's in botany and work at the botanical gardens in Kyiv doing research. We sat all night around a fire and talked about permaculture and some other techniques I've been researching. We may set up some experiments with his university in Ternopil.

I'm working on putting together a blog about the homestead. We are there everywhere weekend and we've formed a good relationship with the children next door. My wife spends alot of time talking with the girls and Sasha, the 5 year old boy, follows me around alot. We give them some spending money for doing some chores for us and it feels good to make a positive difference in their life(hopefully). Their favorite thing is to ride around in our car (with their Mama's permission of course) We've been helping them learn some English and I talked yesterday with my superiors at my school and they are interested in my idea of offering some courses (English, art, music) in the village to the under-privileged children there.

[timinua]

I'm working on putting together a blog about the homestead. We are there everywhere weekend and we've formed a good relationship with the children next door. My wife spends alot of time talking with the girls and Sasha, the 5 year old boy, follows me around alot. We give them some spending money for doing some chores for us and it feels good to make a positive difference in their life(hopefully). Their favorite thing is to ride around in car (with their Mama's permission of course) We've been helping them learn some English and I talked yesterday with my superiors at my school and they are interested in my idea of offering some courses (English, art, music) in the village to the under-privileged children there.

Now that's a fellow countryman that Americans can be proud of...

[Ted]

I'm working on putting together a blog about the homestead. We are there everywhere weekend and we've formed a good relationship with the children next door. My wife spends alot of time talking with the girls and Sasha, the 5 year old boy, follows me around alot. We give them some spending money for doing some chores for us and it feels good to make a positive difference in their life(hopefully). Their favorite thing is to ride around in car (with their Mama's permission of course) We've been helping them learn some English and I talked yesterday with my superiors at my school and they are interested in my idea of offering some courses (English, art, music) in the village to the under-privileged children there.

Now that's a fellow countryman that Americans can be proud of...

Oh crap, here I thought I was being productive making 20 liters of Samigon today, but nooooo you gotta go all "respectable and stuff"....   

[Tnic]

I'm working on putting together a blog about the homestead. We are there everywhere weekend and we've formed a good relationship with the children next door. My wife spends alot of time talking with the girls and Sasha, the 5 year old boy, follows me around alot. We give them some spending money for doing some chores for us and it feels good to make a positive difference in their life(hopefully). Their favorite thing is to ride around in car (with their Mama's permission of course) We've been helping them learn some English and I talked yesterday with my superiors at my school and they are interested in my idea of offering some courses (English, art, music) in the village to the under-privileged children there.

Now that's a fellow countryman that Americans can be proud of...

Oh crap, here I thought I was being productive making 20 liters of Samigon today, but nooooo you gotta go all "respectable and stuff"....   

Well, if you're willing to share maybe we can let you off the hook John.

Kudos to KP for making a difference.

[Ted]

I'm working on putting together a blog about the homestead. We are there everywhere weekend and we've formed a good relationship with the children next door. My wife spends alot of time talking with the girls and Sasha, the 5 year old boy, follows me around alot. We give them some spending money for doing some chores for us and it feels good to make a positive difference in their life(hopefully). Their favorite thing is to ride around in car (with their Mama's permission of course) We've been helping them learn some English and I talked yesterday with my superiors at my school and they are interested in my idea of offering some courses (English, art, music) in the village to the under-privileged children there.

Now that's a fellow countryman that Americans can be proud of...

Oh crap, here I thought I was being productive making 20 liters of Samigon today, but nooooo you gotta go all "respectable and stuff"....   

Well, if you're willing to share maybe we can let you off the hook John.

Kudos to KP for making a difference.

Yes KP excellent!

Ok, I will give a bottle to my alcoholic neighbors, that's what a good American should do right? 

[kyivkpic]

Thanks, guys.

I wanted to bring something uplifting to the forum, perhaps some inspiration, instead of the usual bitching and moaning and not to just to get a pat on the back but it is nice and I appreciate it.  I believe that you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. My altruism is not independent of my self-interest, though. I am building a home in a village and I'd rather have good relationships with my neighbors than just wall off everyone and try to ignore them. My daughter is going to be raised there and I want her grow in a community of people that support each other.

Community, not Communism

The children are nice too. The oldest girl is responsible and has her head on straight. She likes mathematics and is saving her money for a computer. The younger girl is pretty and not too wild but she has unfortunate birthmark on her shoulder and upper arm that she is quite self-conscious of. Sasha, the five year old boy actually told my wife that he wishes he I were his Papa while we were all sitting around a fire on Saturday night. I told him that I wish I had a son like him. His father is prison for growing marijuana, that scourge of society like alcohol and opium(poppies), which are both legal. I don't know about their father but their mother is a self-respecting and decent woman. She works and they have nice clothes and they went to zoo this week. I like them because they grow up in an agrarian environment like I did. They are never bored while there are plants and bugs and animals around.

We try just to be good role models. Unfortunately, their grandparents are more akin to animals. Igor and his wife live in poop and don't care. The grandmother tries to act more civilized when we are around and does most of the actual farm work on their 20 cotok. Igor is an alcoholic lout that doesn't fix up or clean up his family's home but he fears me and respects us so at least he isn't a problem.

I do know that kids are amazingly resilient and poor environments can be overcome. We'll do what we can.

[Tnic]

Well it sounds like the kids need a positive male role model in their lives and you've stepped up to the plate, never a bad thing.

Totally agree on knowing your neighbors and getting on with them.  It wasn't so long ago that that was simply how it was done.  After a year in Simferopol I barely know what the occupants of the other 3 flats on our floor look like, let alone get on with them.  Maybe we should invite em over for some BBQ pizza some evening.  er, one flat at a time that is.

[Ted]

Well it sounds like the kids need a positive male role model in their lives and you've stepped up to the plate, never a bad thing.

Totally agree on knowing your neighbors and getting on with them.  It wasn't so long ago that that was simply how it was done.  After a year in Simferopol I barely know what the occupants of the other 3 flats on our floor look like, let alone get on with them.  Maybe we should invite em over for some BBQ pizza some evening.  er, one flat at a time that is.

ya know, that is something that is totally different from where I lived in CA and Oregon. I mean, I really didn't know my neighbors at all (except the Indian Grandma a few doors down who would make killer curry dishes in Salida CA.)  But here, I know all of my neighbors from all of the surrounding area. I like that, it reminds me of when I was a kid and it was ok to be friends with everyone. Ok, it probably WASN'T ok, because there were some "strange confirmed bachelors" down the next road that my parents told be to stay away from. But in retrospect they were great cooks and bakers and were always the hit of the parties.

Anyway, when people ask me why I like Ukraine, one of the reasons is that it actually feels like home to me. Hard to explain I guess.

Not meaning to hijack the topic, but being friends with your neighbors enriches our life here.

[kyivkpic]

I think with 20 liters of samogon you'd be quite popular with the neighbors, John. 

[Ted]

I think with 20 liters of samogon you'd be quite popular with the neighbors, John. 

Well, I figure 5 liters are already downed, we had a party. Gee, it goes kinda fast ...