@ Bekbolsun

Two newsletters - Value for Value.

Rare as Chickens' teeth

This newsletter will be free-to-read a couple of times a month. The updates should be fun insights on the day-to-day life of a chicken farmer, something light to dip into over your morning coffee, with the option to tip or as we say, Zap, if you find value in the content.

Creating a monster

I will ask readers to pay to access this serious, as in well organised reference for anyone interested in understanding exactly what goes into this mobile egg enterprise for olive groves, or any orchard, really.

Here I explain Value for Value, the new paradigm to easily support online content creators who you think are offering value. Yes, Bitcoin technology is behind instant, near zero-cost micropayments!

Hi, I'm Andy, I'm going to document the path to setting up a small egg-laying enterprise located on a 1.4-hectare olive grove 630m up in the hills of Bajo Aragón, Spain.

In old money that's 3.5 acres of olive groves, some almonds and standing pines, plus a couple of delapidated stone buildings, situated at just over 2000 off-grid feet. The nearest village is 3 miles away down graveled pine forest tracks. Perfect, in spite of the logistical challenges.

To be clear, I'm not setting up an off-grid chicken farm the hard way and spending hours posting online for shits and giggles. I don't identify as a survivalist or prepper, just a He or Him who was never happier than when deleting my FaceBook account a few years ago and Twitter last year. And what do you know, I'm in the latter stages of my working life, unemployable because of back issues, but I still have life in me for a few hours a day. So this project is a perfect calling to tide me over til 67.But needs must.

I see a problem, and a solution. I am sure I am capable of delivering on it.

I'm a big fan of Bitcoin, I only wish my wallet was as big as my fan-ness. Anyway, if you spend any decent time studying it, you end up a) convinced it has to work and b) you think deeper about privacy, security, self sovereignty and time preferences. It's no coincidence that I have built this newsletter website on Ghost, and assembled a small raft of apps for emailing, invoicing and social media, all built by bitcoiners or developers whose middle name is privacy, security and encryption.

This project may sound all very grandiose and a bit of a punt in hope, but I have been here before. Back around 2010, I launched a UK wide network online to promote the skills of specialist kitchen painters. It too was started at a time when all the wheels seemed to be falling off the industry, yet I saw insane opportunity for those who could harness internet technology to get their name out to the public. I worked out the Google search, Twitter and WordPress blog combination, and used that "unknown tech" to share the painters' knowledge openly. I was laughed at, until it generated so much work for the painters and prompted a whole industry to up its game. This project with the eggs as a solution to a bigger problem in the olive industry has the same vibe. Instead of painters, I'm promoting a business model for a proven pasture-fed egg enterprise that would work for small scale olive farmers anxious to find a way to make their land pay its way.

I have understood and joined many of the dots through dint of being old. I've been around chickens both as a kid and a supposed grown-up. I've been part of a biodiversity restoration project on a 4 -hectare olive grove for the last five years and witnessed the impact on the land with and without intensively grazed animals. Apparently I'm considered a crack olive picker and not a bad pruner, and for anything beyond my technical or biology paygrade, a seasoned and expert olive farmer has my back. Unfortunately, old age doesn't come alone and I need a local physiotherapist to watch my back too.

To be clear, Olive Grove Eggs is not inventing a new way of raising chickens or cultivating olives. But I am joining dots at what feels like an opportune time. The margins for small-scale olive farmers in Spain are being squeezed forever harder, driving the amalgamation of small parcels into large industrial plots, or abandonment. Neither of these outcomes is good for the wealth or health of rural communities dependent on olive production.

At the same juncture, the financial system is now visibly crumbling and inflation is kicking in. Fewer people can afford proper eggs or proper olive oil sold at supermarkets, so it feels like a good time to provide a direct-to-consumer service to keep prices down.

It is a common saying in the Bitcoin world that if you can fix the money you can fix the world. It is therefore a good time to also open eyes to Bitcoin, the solution to a failing centralised global debt-based economy. As currency, Bitcoin can facilitate commerce within local circular economies with instant settlement and ultra low costs for sellers. As a savings vehicle, Bitcoin is a brilliant store of value, meaning the best eggs and olive oil can become more affordable to buy over time, while keeping suppliers increasingly profitable. Crazy win-win, but true. It's maths. As btc goes up, €£$ go down.

I'm just joining existing dots to offer a viable solution to a big problem facing small scale olive farmers in Spain. There are 64 olive-producing nations globally, so I'm sure my project will resonate with many other communities.

Mobile chicken coops, olive groves and bitcoin

The egg-laying model I am going to adopt, and share with you, is going to be a game-changer, applicable in 64 olive-producing nations world-wide! But not without its challenges.

For a start, the neighbours are going to be laughing at me, not with me, when they get wind of 400 laying hens let loose between the 24 rain-fed olive trees and a dozen almond trees. They will all say the same: predators will get them, especially hawks, and anyway, thanks to supermarkets, the egg market is rubbish for small-scale producers. And what the hell is bitcoin!

Curiosity will definitely turn to ridicule when I say I'm not going to plough the olive groves every three months, as is the custom here. I will certainly plough once, to kickstart the soil regeneration process, but after that, the chickens are going to disturb and fertilise and prepare the land for groundcover - providing nutrients in the future for the trees and food for the chickens.

And then there's the bureaucracy. To be fair to the Spanish, who need no excuse to create extra paperwork and pensionable desk jobs for the boys, the EU is the main driver of a relentless increase in rules and norms. I wasn't kidding when I said the off-grid isolated plot is perfect. You cannot be less than 1000m from a village boundary, 350m from other animals, nowhere near a river, and who knows what else, and that's just the location boxes ticked. A far cry from say, the UK, where 10,000-strong battery hens are defacating without a license straight into rivers, legally! It's about balance, right!

On top of ever swirling bureaucracy, you have to battle intransigence, conservatism and a certain amount of intellectual laziness too. Despite the evidence of approved mobile egg enterprises all over Europe, nobody but nobody around here has a grasp of the concept of mobile coops for hundreds of chickens! Chicken farm here equals intensive battery buildings, massive ventilation systems, sewage systems, the whole nine yards of infrastructure and agencies to deal with. Screw that. Going mobile cuts through most of that rigmarole, logically. Except even local backyard chicken owners with mobile tractors look at my coop and assume the chickens will live within its confines, pecking at the grass until I move them on to the next patch of grass. It couldn't be further from that idea. The clue, folks, is in the term "free-range".

The problem facing small scale olive farmers

Olive groves of 1 to 3 hectares are vital to the local economy, and a valuable source of super healthy food. However, by and large, market forces and inflation have rendered them barely profitable. (2023/24 was an exception.)

For a start, non-irrigated olive trees only yield well biannually, literally feast then famine. There's good money to be made if you hit scale - 50 hectares or more with drip feed irrigation. That assumes you are comfortable with industrial farming, and the inherent expenses and debt too.

Many olive farmers operate at a loss, reliant on EU subsidies. Without subsidies, you own olives for pin money, keep fit and get to enjoy glorious oil that cannot be bought in any store - or you abandon the land.

This part of Spain is known as España vaciada. (Empty.) Rural depopulation is a big deal, with a negative impact on the long term economic health, and literal health of rural communities. Cities become more reliant on fewer food producers using more water for irrigation. Inevitably the market deprives consumers of access to premium quality nutrient dense olive oil that has sustained millions for centuries. If small olive groves disappear, everyone stands to lose. How to solve the problem?

Start with an egg-laying enterprise based in eco olive groves

Small-scale pastured poultry enterprises have been proven profitable by Richard Perkins in Sweden and Joe Salatin in the USA. Their systems have been copied by tens of thousands of small landowners globally. However I see very little, (dare I say zero?!) evidence of Spanish olive farmers adopting side-gig pastured poultry enterprises, to make ends meet one year to the next. The trend here at least is to buy more olives, or clear forest and plant more olives, irrigate more, wring more blood out the stony land.

I am a tree hugger type who really is enamoured with nature, but I understand the basics of business. The first rule is to keep overheads low. The second rule is to push overheads lower, and the third rule, refer to rule one. In my view, therefore, eco olive groves are a no-brainer. Once set up, inputs for olive trees are miniscule compared to conventional farming reliant on regular ploughing and NPK fertilising. And there is no concern with soil erosion, evaporation, or access to the land in inclement weather. Within a couple of years, olive yields are at least the same, if not more than ploughing neighbours', which equates to maximum profits from minimum outlay.

Use the farm to kickstart a local circular economy

There is way more to the project than what's in it for me. I'm a great believer in a local circular economy.

Nobody is self sufficient, so we all need to rely on others, if we want to get things done. Bring back humanity to our local economies, say I, with fresh eggs. Fresh eggs are a fabulous currency to kickstart economic activity between neighbours. Who can resist a newly laid egg? Clock the reaction when you receive a box as a gift. I bet you are looking around for something to offer in return, be it ferretting through your wallet for some cash or picking food from your garden, or as I had recently, gifting a piece of jewelry. An offering of eggs unlocks so much human potential.

Finance the circular economy using Bitcoin as cash and savings.

Barter never was much use. It's a headache to work out the relative value of two products. Is it one or two potatoes for a cabbage. Barter is also a nightmare for tax purposes. How much of a cabbage do I give to the taxman? Or do they want an egg instead?

Along comes money to facilitate trade. Fast forward through shells, salt and gold, Bitcoin is now the most reliable financial tool ever invented by mankind, to conduct Person to Person (P2P) transactions.

I acknowledge that, unlike fresh eggs, 99% of people resist the idea that Bitcoin is the greatest money ever, despite the evidence. It is not illegal; it is a really dumb way to fund terrorism; the nefarious usage is miniscule compared to the dollar, and it is actually recognised by most tax jurisdictions as a financial asset. So I'm going to show locals how to transact with me using Bitcoin wallets on their phone - offering 20% off my normal prices as an incentive. And from there, show other businesses how they can accept Bitcoin payments from me for their services. A circular economy with instant settlement between bona fide merchants using the Bitcoin network. That's the future without Visa.

Bitcoin as savings

As well as using Bitcoin as super efficient day-to-day money, I will also be keeping any profits in a Bitcoin bank rather than in the local bank. You would too, if you want to ensure the long-term financial viability of a business!

€100 will buy 4 sacks of chicken feed today. I can turn 100€ into bitcoin and store it in a secure facility for 4 years, knowing that when I try to spend it, my bitcoin will buy way more than 4 sacks. But if I keep the €100 in the local bank for just 4 years, even with inflation at an optimistic super low 3%, I will be able to buy just 3 sacks!

Even president-elect, Donald Trump, gets it. He has vowed to put Bitcoin on the US Treasury balance sheet as an asset to offset their crazy debt levels. And there is already a bi-partisan supported bill ready, regardless of whether he becomes president, commiting the US to buying 1 million bitcoin over the next 4-5 years. Bitcoin is not a fad, it's here to stay and it works way better as money than anything we have now.

The egg-laying model I am going to adopt, and share with you, is going to be a game-changer, applicable in 64 olive-producing nations world-wide! But not without its challenges.

Practical challenges

I'm about 1 kilometer from the end of the municipal water supply. There is no power for miles. The roads to the nearest village 5 kilometres down the hill are gravel forest tracks. That infrastructure deficit, in and of itself, is a challenge I would prefer not to face, but I'm excited about finding and implementing the solutions, and sharing that journey with you. We have a lot to share and teach each other!

It is going to be expense, time and effort, compared to plugging into city water, power and roads, but the real issue for this project is Spanish bureaucracy.

Navigating the paperwork is going to be quite the challenge, but one thing you learn about Spain is the importance of gestoría. Whether you are a local or an immigrant like me, you can save yourself a fortune in time, money and nerves simply by employing a professional middleman who knows everyone and all the traps and loopholes. So I will be using a pitbull tecnico agricola (agricultural "architect") to fire my bullets and push back against rules and the applicable fees that simply don't apply to a mobile egg system.

The Spanish are nothing if not pragmatic, and I'm confident that it's going to work, so I will meet head-on the inevitable resistance to an approach that is proven to be beyond beneficial to a chicken, the environment and the local farming community.

Thinking ahead, this project represents an important development for landowners, initially in this area and over time, much further afield. (They say farmers are only deemed experts when they are 50 miles from their own farm!) That potential for pioneering a project of some importance should appeal to the political side of the local Veterinary Office and Mayor!

Two newsletters - Value for Value.

Rare as Chickens' teeth will be free-to-read a couple of times a month. The updates should be fun updates on the day-to-day life of a chicken farmer, something light to dip into over your morning coffee, with the option to tip or as we say, Zap, if you find value in the content.

Creating a monster. I will ask readers to pay to access this serious, as in well organised reference for anyone interested in understanding exactly what goes into this mobile egg enterprise for olive groves, or any orchard, really.

Here I explain Value for Value, the new paradigm to easily support content creators who you think are offering value. Yes, Bitcoin technology is behind instant, near zero-cost micropayments!