The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: rbno22 on December 03, 2009, 11:48:32 am
-
Hi everyone
my name is Ronnie i am english 43 by trade a gas, heating and solar energy engineer and for one reason or another i find myself in ukraine with my wife (who is ukrainian). We are fortunate enough to find ourselves in the position of having a small farm of about 3 hectares and although too late for this year we intend to make good and live off the land next year. Any advice and ideas will be gratefully received. :) can i also say that i was born on a farm of about 40 hectares so i have a little understanding of certain things.
-
Hello and welcome Ronnie, I wish you luck with your venture. What is your weather like just now?
-
hi well the weather is cool but not freezing yet although it will be very soon! what about you?
-
It is very cold and very wet and damp. Many of the fields are flooded still, we had a hard frost a few days ao which dried the paddocks up but again the rain is back and we are back to more mud. I don't mind the cold but hate the rain, still a month today and I am off to warmer parts for 3 weeks. Even my animals are bored with the mud and the rain.
-
yes i know that feeling wet or cold but not both together !
-
Hi and welcome, will enjoy hearing about your new venture.
-
Hello and welcome from a cold, but sunny North Devon.
-
Hi and welcome from a cold and damp Clackmannanshire
-
:DHELLO!!! great for you to have a change in career...working on the land is so rewarding, not financially as you will know but great for heath and wellbeing...at one with the earth!!! very Hippy!!! ;)Welcome fro the wee shires!!!
-
Hi there, sounds exciting. Do you get very cold winters and hot summers? and the big question;- can you grow tomatoes outdoors?
-
Welcome from a fellow newbie. I'm looking around (the world) for affordable land - how are prices in Ukraine? All the best with your venture.
-
Hello and welcome from the middle of Britain....
-
Hi there, sounds exciting. Do you get very cold winters and hot summers? and the big question;- can you grow tomatoes outdoors?
hi marigold indeed the winters are very cold -10 to -20 and summers baking hot up to +35/38 and tomatoes grow very well outdoors
-
Welcome from a fellow newbie. I'm looking around (the world) for affordable land - how are prices in Ukraine? All the best with your venture.
Hi frankblack well you can buy a small farmhouse with about 3 hectares in the villages for about 15000 usd it would need some work but there are some very nice plots about.
-
Wow, that sounds affordable. How are you finding the contrast in cultures from the UK to Ukraine? Is it safe over there? What's the bureaucracy like?
-
Hi there, sounds exciting. Do you get very cold winters and hot summers? and the big question;- can you grow tomatoes outdoors?
hi marigold indeed the winters are very cold -10 to -20 and summers baking hot up to +35/38 and tomatoes grow very well outdoors
Hello.....sounds very similar to our weather here in North Central Bulgaria. House/land prices about the same I'd imagine too.
-
Wow, that sounds affordable. How are you finding the contrast in cultures from the UK to Ukraine? Is it safe over there? What's the bureaucracy like?
i have to say i love it here. sure there are enough problems but arent there everywhere?...as long as you try to blend in rather than fit i dont think life could be better. safe? yea very safe the local mafia are good dont bother you!! and bureaucracy well thats a different world from anywhere else i have lived!! but luckily 30 hryvnia (about 4 usd) will open the doors to just about anywhere.
On the subject of money 13 hryvnia = about a pound
8 hryvnia = about a usd
for 13 hryvnia i can buy:
3 packs of smokes or
6 baton loaves or
1/2 kilo of chicken or
1/2 litre of good vodka or
13 kilos of corn or
15 kilos of barley or
the daily mirror??????
the average wage here is about 1000 hryvnia a month!
-
Wow, that sounds affordable. How are you finding the contrast in cultures from the UK to Ukraine? Is it safe over there? What's the bureaucracy like?
i have to say i love it here. sure there are enough problems but arent there everywhere?...as long as you try to blend in rather than fit i dont think life could be better. safe? yea very safe the local mafia are good dont bother you!! and bureaucracy well thats a different world from anywhere else i have lived!! but luckily 30 hryvnia (about 4 usd) will open the doors to just about anywhere.
On the subject of money 13 hryvnia = about a pound
8 hryvnia = about a usd
for 13 hryvnia i can buy:
3 packs of smokes or
6 baton loaves or
1/2 kilo of chicken or
1/2 litre of good vodka or
13 kilos of corn or
15 kilos of barley or
the daily mirror??????
the average wage here is about 1000 hryvnia a month!
Wow sounds good and cheaper than things here in BG. I've just quit smoking over the last month as we're due a large increase in the price of cigarettes here in January.
How long have you lived in the Ukraine and how do you find the language?
-
hi suzyj have lived here over a year or so...i find the language hard to master but im getting there (the wifes ukrainian but doesnt help i can assure you...confuses me more!!!) ...mainly because alot of people mix russian into ukrainian or speak total slang or old ukrainian....but i do find too many people speak english or french so i get by....just read your blog about gypsies and have to agree!!
-
Thanks for the info - very helpful. It sounds a lot like the economy of Malaysia, apart from the booze that is [Muslim country so alcohol isn't too popular and is expensive].
-
hi suzyj have lived here over a year or so...i find the language hard to master but im getting there (the wifes ukrainian but doesnt help i can assure you...confuses me more!!!) ...mainly because alot of people mix russian into ukrainian or speak total slang or old ukrainian....but i do find too many people speak english or french so i get by....just read your blog about gypsies and have to agree!!
I've hit a bit of a wall with the Bulgarian language, been here 2 years now and was doing quite well but I seem to have stopped learning - either that or I've stopped listening, made a mistake lately with translation and ended up with 19, day old chicks that we didn't want or need!
Nice to know that someone is reading my blog, I enjoy writing it and hope to keep it updated over the winter. Must get out and take some new photo's to put on there too.
-
maybe you just cant learn anymore? :D it happens to me .....yes i enjoy reading blogs and writing my own ...although i am not much of a writer so it takes a while...