I have decided to live out my childhood fantasy. I bought myself a farm in New Zealand. It is quite a small one, only the size of the whole Singapore.
As far as I can remember, I have been fascinated with planting things and feeding animals. Now that I have made a small fortune (I am still not sure whether my net-worth has reached the trillion dollars mark yet but it should be quite close), I have decided to get myself a farm and live like a farmer. Of course, I hope you can understand that I mean more than just watering plants in one of my mansions.
My wife is not very pleased with my latest plan. She even called it a carnal infactuation. However, my son was estatic about it. He wants to go to live with me, to collect eggs and pluck tomatos every day. I told him that he can only stay with me on the farm only in the weekends because he has to continue with his studies in a local university on weekdays. When he heard that, he said he wanted to finish his studies in Singapore first so that he can be a full time farmer like me. So I suggested that he should take up mechanical engineering so that he can help me to fix pumps in the farm.
This is something that poorer families cannot understand. As most parents in the world, my wife and I desire nothing more that complete protection and comfort for our only son. At the same time, we understand the truth that no one can grow when they are in a completely safe and confortable environment. There must be a balance between protection and risk.
What should I do? Maybe I should just let him conduct his own research once we got there.
Here is what I plan for my farm.
The crucial point to note is, I did not plan for the farm to be a luxurious holiday resort. I have been living like a king. I want to have a change. This time, I want to live like a farmer. A rich farmer is still a farmer.
First of all, the size of the house and the number of servants will be less extravagant than the usual. My farmhouse will only occupy the area of only one football field and only have a basement and 2 above ground storeys. The number of guess rooms will be limited to 10.
There will be about 20 in-house servants, 30 farm workers and about 50 technical, administrative, medical and security staff. In total, I have only about 100 employees in my isolated farm, a drastic cut compared to the mansions I have been staying in.
The other point to note is, I am not planning this farm to be commercial. It is meant to be a farm for the sake of being a farm. I try to make the whole place less dependent from the rest of the world. Don’t get me wrong. I am not planning to be completely isolated from the rest of the world even though this place is quite isolated.
My plane still needs to fly on fuel and periodically needs spare parts. I still want to drink coffee. The weather is too cold for coffee plants to grow. My employees will want to get out from the farm every now and then to get in touch with the rest of the species and spend the money I pay them. I am not forgetting that I have a billion (maybe trillion) dollar business empire to run. The only difference is, I do it in my humble farmhouse.
Other than those, I want my farm to be self sustaining. I already have a sustainable water source available. I am planning harness the sun rays and wind for electricity. I am using horses for most of transportation needs. No tractors. Motorised vehicles will only be used in emergencies like when somebody gets hurt.
I will ban the use of pesticides. As fertilisers, I will use animal droppings. The green movements will be proud of me.
The next question is, how will I spend my days. I will still have a gym for weight trainings but most of my exercises will be in real farm work. I will be fully involved in real physical works like planting, harvesting, making hay, milking cows and all those things that real farmers do. I am going to use my own strength to produce my own food.
Imagine waking up everyday, breathing in fresh air and work as a farmer.
I can visualise an abundant of crops harvested from my own farm in which my family and employees can eat to out fill. The overflow will be sent to the nearest charity or town to be shared freely with everyone.
What a life! I cannot wait to do it but I still I have to restrain myself. I have wait for my son to finish his degree course first. Otherwise, he will want to stop his studies.
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