Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Blueberry progress

My blueberry farm progress has been limited by specific needs of the plants themselves to properties with existing plants or promising soil types. I found a decent looking house but i think i could see corn stalks through the snow in the lot behind the house http://www.mlsfinder.com/mi_sbr/kw_205/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=083253&searchkey=4467115b-c4f7-7bc5-7bb3-e014e86ab47b&npp=10&sr=1 . Also i have also been feeling the effects of the economy working only 40 hour weeks since december which is about a 40% cut in net pay. There is also now signs of this getting better soon as 1st and 2nd welds now take some days off and work only about 30 hours a week. But, crop losses of blueberries in the southern hemisphere total to $5 BILLION this winter due to an extreme drought so the price will be sky high this year. Unfortunately that may or may not be a good thing because i talked to a couple that was thinking of possibly retiring and selling this year (their 15 acre mature patch and small house). I plan on asking them to help me learn a few things and voulenteer to maybe make them more willing sellers.

7 comments:

  1. I totally knew this blog thing was a good idea.

    Anyway, are you thinking of actually buying a house? How much money have you accumulated? lol it must be a shit ton. Suppose that'd be a pretty solid plan if you were to buy a mature patch. Not only would the bank be more likely to give you a loan to buy the place if you've got a solid business plan, but it's also the perfect time to buy houses. I don't think the recession is getting any worse than this. Loan interest rates are probably high though... hmm... i guess i really have no idea lol.

    Good luck though.

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  2. Richland township! Yes! That's less than 4 miles from my parents' house.
    Yeah, it's a buyer's market. I don't usually house shop so I don't know what to think of that price. Seems decent for 11 acres.

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  3. For some reason I really didn't see the details when i looked at it before. I just saw the picture. It says 3 outbuildings and 2 large barns. Seems like a lot for the price. There has to be a catch somewhere, but I could be wrong. The land might not be what you're looking for.

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  4. the land is not what i'm looking for and in person the house really shows its age so that was the catch. looked good on paper though. btw today i went and helped joe frost clean denny's for 2.5 hours today BEFORE work, extra $45 cash and an increased need for sleep. to give you a better idea on the cost in this area farmland or vacant acreage runs for $2000-5000+ per acre on average.
    15 acres vacant + $33k for bushes and 4 years
    OR 15 acres already mature and instaharvest. I can offer way more per acre because of the cost of bushes. right now i have $18k and no debt and greenstone wants 20% down on loans so i can get about $90k in loans. I should be able to pay ALL of that back in less than 2 full harvests on 15 mature acres.

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  5. You best get hoppin then, springs coming around the corner.

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  6. my progress might be hindered even more, SCE laid off 30 people, (15%) on monday. No one has got laid off on first shift lasers but i think i'll be ok. I made it past round 1 and i am the ideal employee: 1) reliable 2) cost 35% less than a 10 year guy 3) no dependents 4) well liked

    BTW i just got an eval last week and i think i am going to get max raise, while 30 people lost their jobs...

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  7. I'm sure you'll be fine. You'll realize how valuable you actually are to them when you do end up leaving the place for good. As soon as I announced I was quitting Best Buy, the managers started sending pleas for me to stay because I was their best worker. I was #2, but he quit like 2 weeks before that. Since they never offered me a raise, and gave me a 20 cent raise over my entire year working my ass off there, I quit with a big "fuck you" lol.

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