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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Bruce,
Australia always seemed like the old west, so how did you let them take away your guns?
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
At the end of my second enlistment in USAF (1976) a recruiter for Rhodesia, a country in Africa just above South Africa, spoke at the base NCO Club about the sale of farm land to foreigners. The deal seemed too good to be true; government financing, low interest rates on equipment purchases, large tracks of superb growing land for different types of farming, and plenty of blonde women eager to start a family. I was sorely tempted, but backed out when I was told that I'd have to serve in the Rhodesian army reserves and go through "basic" all over again. I turned down 1500 acres of wheat farm land.
Fast forward to 3 years ago: a friend of mine who took the offer has lost his farm to the "veterans" who fought for black rule. His farm, over 2000 acres, and all of his finances were given by the (now) black ruled government of Zimbabwe to blacks who knew nothing about farming. He was given the opportunity to work for the new "owners" or leave, so he left behind several dead family members who were killed while farming and returned to America. He works as a photoprocessing technician and for all intents, is a broken man.
The point? Some countries offer great deals to would be farmers. They truly are, too good to be true.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
G'day Grinder,
Last year I stayed in an old frarmhouse in Aradia - and went sea-kayaking off Passamoquoddy bay. (wonderfull place really).
cheers bruce.
***
G'day Stephen,
Hey - no one took our guns - we got ca$h for 'em.  (actually we only handed in military style assault weapons and such.)
Without wanting to start a gun debate - we hardly need guns here - we certainly aren't in fear of our own government (though I have one for putting injured native animals out of misery and shooting feral animals - foxes, wild dogs and the like).
regards bruce.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Abbeywoods,
We've heard so little about this from the liberal media, black on white atrocities seem to be no big thing to them, thank God for the web. But I always wonder why they didn't fight back enough. Are they that out numbered? Lack of will? If I lost family to something like that I would take as many of them out as I could.
Buncle,
Never say never. Re: Abbeywoods.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Unfortunately this a subject I know all too well.
My wife was born & raised in Cape Town South africa, and I have several relatives who had moved to Rhodesia from Britain while it was still a colony. Luckily the division of the former Rhodesia meant they ended up in Zambia and not Zimbabwe.
As Abbeywoods mentioned a lot of the whites in the southern part of the former colony have not faired well at all. The unfortunate part is that the entire country is now suffering since, as Ted mentioned, the blacks who were given the land no nothing about farming and are for the most part farming by hand while holding down jobs for any bit of cash since they are making NOTHING farming. The situation was featured in the National Geographic recently, many blacks candidly admitted that the whites had treated them well, and that at least there were jobs and food when the whites owned and operated the farms (quite successfully).
StephenR, it is easy to say you would fight, especially when you live in a place where the Police or Army would show up if you called on them, and they were on YOUR side when they did show up. It is much harder to fight a crowd fire-bombing your home under cover of darkness, or a sniper shooting people working in the fields, or a gang of people opening fire on your vehicle with automatic weapons as you drive down a desert road.
We are talking about an area of the worls where an AK-47 (with a full clip) costs US$20 and you can have someone murdered by giving the shooter that $20 gun.
When I hear people complain about OUR government I think "Geez buddy, be thankful the Gov. is only screwing you for a few bucks, and not taking everything you have and allowing someone else to kill you without retribution.".
Rant over.
Best of luck.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Murf,
I am thankful for the country I live in. But it seems like alot of people are all to willing to give up their freedoms for security, in which case we wind up with neither. I appreciate the freedoms that the United States founding fathers fought for, and my own Father who fought in WWII. I refuse the PC crap that is bantered about by the Left, and yes, I am one of those who complain about getting screwed by the government for a few bucks. Their taste of power is insatiable. Better to make noise now than be silenced latter.
Ok, now the rant's over ;^)
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Unfortunately as the saying goes "Freedom is NOT FREE.".
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Given the misery in totalitarian countries it appears that tyranny isn't free either.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Dear Stephen, the situation there started out with an occasional half-hearted sniping action by the "freedom fighters" or rebels. My friend Glen had completed the mandatory military training, as did his wife and two of his three children, and they were well armed at all times. Glen's favorite weapon was his Belgium FN .308, full auto, his wife always carried an Uzi. But they were farmers, more than soldiers, and with the helicopter born troops being more than 45 minutes away, contacted only by radio because the phones were always out, there wasn't much advance warning when things got more complicated.
As time went on the raids became more organized, with attacks coming at night by twenty or more rebels. They would retreat when fire was returned. Then the rebels switched to day time, and killed workers (blacks) in the fields. The white minority ruled government told Glen to move his family into the nearest town where the army had a presence, they did, and enjoyed safety.
While returning to the farm (with a small military escort), Glen learned that his in-laws' Mercedes was hit by an rpg. Glen's wife's father was killed and her mother died shortly after, they had been supervising the farm workers, they were there because they were well respected by the blacks and felt they would be safe. The army suspected it was the workers who killed them (or allowed them to be) because they feared "necklacing" or being hacked by the rebels. That was hard to take, but the true hardship follwed after the white minority government ceded power to the blacks. Glen was allowed to return to the farm, and kept ownership and operation, until the politicians decided their fate. Danny Glover, the actor from "Lethal Weapon" film fame, and several Afro-American politicians, focused the world's attention on the "injustice" of white rule, and, well, black power has become global power. The rest is the kind of history we don't hear about because of political issues. You can't always "take them with you," sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.
A quick word about the farm. It was magnificent and had all of the industries' best equipment. Years ago, I almost fainted when he told me his new tractor, an MF, cost over $100K (U.S.). Glen farmed wheat and meat, a lucrative combination, and was a millionaire several times over. When he left, he had only the money he was able to wire to Switzerland before the government put a hold on banking: about $200K. He arrived in America with five hundred dollars in his pocket, he wanted to start farming in the US, but couldn't get the credit necessary. Such is life.
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Buying that Perfect Small Farm
Thanks for the update and best wishes to your friend.
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