I purchased this property within a month of seeing it in July 2006, spending US$6.500 to buy, and US$3.500 to build my cabin, well and water tank. so that it is a complete property, where one need never leave, as it has everything one would want in one place. With 3 acres of paddy land, and 2 acres of coconut and mango trees, I have completely transformed it in two years from an abandoned shrub, where the old trees were uncared for and the vegetation overgrown.
I have had a sufficient return on investment so that I could cover the cost of my travel to Polonnaruwa, which has doubled since I purchased it. I have had four paddy harvests so far, selling every grain of rice I have produced and more. I have plans, which can take its time to develop, as this is where I expect to run an agribusiness from in the future. I am blessed with a water source, namely the Minneriya Oya that runs alongside the property providing unlimited water, except that I have to pump it up.
Many of the stories in my blog arise from my living here in the middle of a village, and following the lives of my neighbors and commenting on the various social interactions arising from my intrusion into their space.
I have spent the past two years developing the poor soil conditions, fertilizing the coconut trees, planting fruit trees, coconut plants and a banana plantation. The 500+ papaya plants all contracted a virus and had to be destroyed with my demand for papaya still remaining unfulfilled.
I have brought three of my cattle here and hope to bring a further three animals to build up a small dairy herd to produce and sell milk in the neighborhood. I have also planted a third rice crop for the first time this month as an experiment to look at the pros and cons of this project.
Sudath the man I placed on this property from the farm has remained there and has got married and his wife is now expecting a child any moment. I still have not got electricity to the property, primarily due to the cost of getting the wires into the property.
I am happy to report that the value of the property has more than doubled in the past two years and I have never been more satisfied with a purchase than I have with this property, as I really love it. I welcome anyone to visit me.
2 comments:
yes, we would like to visit you.
regarding your dairy herd, do villagers like to drink milk and is there a rural market to cater to?
I would think milk is more of a foreign drink that they are not accustomed to.
I also wonder what impact the dairy herd will have on the local environment -- cows eat a lot and also leave smelly dung all over the place. Will this affect your idyllic living conditions?
I wrote to you earlier about visiting in February. Please let me know directions from Colombo as I will be travelling in a van. Thank you. Vero
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