Building a Farm from Scratch: Lessons and Advice from Kenya

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3:33But for them, it's like, a lot of times it's heritage land, which I totally respect, I get that, right? And if they don't have to sell, then there's no motivation. You know what I mean? It's not like, I think it's just a different system here, right? So you just have to adjust to that. So there are deals, 1 ,000%. You can absolutely find land that is comparable. I would say some parts of California, and, like, I keep comparing it to, like, Texas, right? Like, you can get great land. I heard, like, 10 ,000 an acre on that. Is that? Yeah, that's, like, a good, yeah. And then sometimes, though, like, there might be land that's, like, 10 ,000 a plot, but it'll be because it's, like, they really value the road, right?

4:11So, like, it'll be, like, things that we don't really think about, but, like, if it's close, they'll tell you how close it is to the main road. and the closer it is to the main road the higher the price will be so i've seen plots that are like say you could go anywhere from like 300 square meters which is like i guess the size you would like build a house right um and they'll be like it's ten thousand dollars for that plot which you're like wait i just could buy an acre for they're like yeah but not here they're like where's the road yeah exactly exactly yeah one of the things that a lot of people especially where we're from are ignorant to is how profitable farming can be right you said we went to a tea farm we got to see your farm and we broke down the onion thing talk about that and why people should really be looking at this as a business opportunity oh man i mean like when you think about i knew it had to be profitable because you see it and you're like these guys are doing it because it's making money but i didn't i couldn't really wrap my brain around it um but my lawyer again who's been super helpful he's a farmer and he was like i make way more money farming it's like this is surefire so he started to break it down for me when i started to understand okay it's like this is something that especially here because i think yeah really i think here like there's so much agriculture like opportunities here and i feel like the younger people are not doing it as much that they need it right and so like for example the reason i decided to do onions is because a lot of you know they were getting like a year ago they were getting a lot of the onions from tanzania and then recently they kind of banned the onions from tanzania so it's like they need onion farmers here i was like i can do that right so things like that but for example like you know after your cost right if you if you put in five acres of onions right and without everything so you've got your with the exception of the borehole which will make your money back within the year but say like just all of your drip lines and all of that stuff right for five acres if you once you spend all that which say eleven thousand dollars you can make between let's say 30 conservatively to like$35 ,000 within let's say a quarter right so at minimum you have two harvests a year for only five acres that's a good you can live on that right like it's a good living and then say you had another five acres like so it's it is actually extremely profitable they're looking for farmers they want people to farm it's such a good opportunity especially Kenya Kenya has so much flatland you know and it's great soil this is Africa it's like you throw a seed in the ground and stuff just grows you know what I mean like literally like it's amazing it takes it doesn't take as much as we've ruined our soil in the states you know and it took me so much to I mean even thinking about that like when I think about my farm in California it took me a year before I could plant anything because the soil was so depleted and it was just so ruined like I had to go through this whole process of like fixing the soil just so I could grow stuff whereas here it's like i mean i could put anything in the ground like oh look it's a tree you should see my backyard right now i live in an apartment my backyard is like a jungle i have i've been here a year right so i have banana trees that are like literally like 25 feet tall and like i had to cover them to keep the monkeys from taking all the fruit i mean it's amazing you know so it's just to show the difference like so i was gonna actually what is the process actually setting because buying land is one thing but having an operational farm is another thing you gotta like have an irrigation system you gotta you know i'm assuming you gotta plant the seeds you gotta have people that's working it you gotta have uh pesticide control perhaps you gotta put the fence like i think people don't understand how complex farming they look at farming as something that's like especially people from cities right that's something that's like backwards right or something that but it's like it's a lot of step back people don't associate technology with farming but oh that's like the first form of tech absolutely it's farming right absolutely and like i said it's also real money right like it's real money and it's also like when you think about like food safety and just like no matter what's happening in the world if you're farming you've got this i mean honestly like the only thing that's your enemy could be the weather right but even that like there's there's safeties that you can you know take to get around that i mean i think like for me like buying all this stuff one thing i have to say is that like especially in the farming areas people are people want to work so it wasn't even hard like i got an agronomist and these are people with like full-on like degrees in agronomy and like farming stuff that I was just kind of like fumbling through it like they really know what to do you know and so I ended up um I ended up finding someone it was very again it's just random like because Naivasha specifically is a farm area so like my car broke down and I was talking to the mechanic and then he was like well this is a good uh this guy's a good agriculturist like he's a horticulturist actually and I was like okay cool and then I talked to him and he was like I was like well who can I have help me like really do this and he's like oh I know a guy and I just like what's that Tim and he was like I'll be there on Sunday I was like great but it's also like you have to talk to people you have to like some people are not going to be as good you know you just got to kind of get out there you can't be afraid to speak to people and kind of figure it out it is something you have to learn right like I'm still learning um but it's totally doable one thing I will say to you different here than anywhere else people are so willing to help they're so willing to help I was gonna go I mean, they really are.

9:21And there's like no dumb questions because I ask tons of questions and they're just so willing to help and they don't want you to mess up. You know what I mean? They're like, no, no, no, that's terrible. Don't do that. You know, and you're like, oh, OK. I was going there because as you were talking and we spent a few days together, I'm thinking like you're really knowledgeable in this. So there's been an education process. But even when we are with our drivers, they're knowledgeable about everything. How has the impact of the locals had on the process of you saying, all right, I've got this acreage.

9:48I want to add more. they gave me some ideas I'm gonna add this wait how do I power this this might be a new idea how much has the impact it had on you so much I mean when you think about even moving to a place right it's like the people that's one of the first things that I fell in love with here was the people I'm like these people are loving and care and they care and it's just from the top to the bottom like you could be in the mall bump someone and just how that interaction goes you know to really needing someone to be like I need help I don't know how to do this help me do you know what I mean like it's just so it's so different culturally I think from that perspective it's like welcoming right it's warm and i think too like what i really appreciate what's made this so feasible is that there is a process even if it takes a long time it's the same they'll be like no this is what you have to do you've got to do this and so when everyone keeps giving me the same answer you're like okay you know you're not being taken for a ride it's like this is how you have to do it and so then it becomes like all right well this is the way to do it this is how we do it and they like i said what you don't know people will help and even you know i'll talk to random and people are like, did you plant this?

10:47And are you putting this around it? And oh, no, no, no, sister, you got to put baking soda. And I was like, I did hear that. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, put baking soda if you don't want those. But you know, little things like that. And you're just like, oh, OK. But they're always willing to help. So it makes something that could feel really daunting and new. It makes it easier because it's not like, it doesn't feel like crabs in a barrel where everyone is just like, you know, fighting to win. It's like, they're like, we farm, we farm. It happens. You drive, you can't drive up a road in Kenya and not see some sort of someone selling some fruit or vegetables or something, right?

11:16Like, there's so many things. People are just, they're farmers, and so it's great. Like, you learn a lot just by regular conversations, I feel like. So what's the hardest part of farming, right? Even from you learning in America to now having a farm in Canada, like, what is the hardest? Dealing with droughts? Keeping animals off your farm? Like, what's the hardest part that you had to figure out? I think, I keep saying that, like, my farm in California was, like, my, like, training ground for this, right? Because it was smaller, and I had major pests there too. So like it's just figuring out like, okay, what am I dealing with here?

11:50I think water has been a challenge. Like the borehole. Rain or irrigation? No, rain is great. It rains so much here. I think getting like the borehole system, like that system is so new. What is that? So a borehole is like a well, right? So it's basically they're digging into the ground and well, first you have to get like a water analysis to see if there actually is water there, right? So you'll pay someone to come. Then you need a geologist to check and make sure, like, see what the rock situation is. And a lot of people will say, oh, you don't need that. I did it because I just was like, I need to know, like, what's happening.

12:21It is an extra cost, obviously. But you need to check, like, if there's water there. And then you need to have someone come. And what I learned was someone will tell you, like, they can do it for cheaper, but you don't really necessarily want that because then your borehole is going to break down. And so essentially they come, they check the water, and then they have to dig down between 200 to 300 meters, and then they put the casing in there, and then you've got this pump that's going to bring the water up it's like a well it's like a well yeah it's like a smaller well essentially and it pumps up but what is the purpose of that to keep the crops it will to irrigate and also because if even if you're going to build a house then you need water right because a lot of the land that you're going to buy is rule right so there's been nothing there before so you need to make sure because a lot of like there was i was about to sign papers on this other land and then i and the guy was like you should just check and that's when i was like i wasn't going to do the geology but the guy was like you should just do I was like, okay, I'm just going to keep doing it for all the land.

13:13I ended up doing it, and he's like, there are these massive boulders up to seven meters down. So my farming would have been awash. How much water is under it? It just depends, right? So for me, right now, that first borehole that we saw that we just dug pulls up, it's like 10.4 cubit feet of water, whatever, every day, right? So then that's how we did the math. So then I know they said that that amount of water, if you're continually getting that, can cover up to maybe 10 acres. Me wanting to be on the safe side, I decided to do five, right? And then I'll put another borehole. So I know that no matter what, we'll have water, but that's also solar.

13:48So then you have to figure out if you're going to get a generator or if you're going to hook into Kenya Power, which is also an option. Yeah, one of the things we kind of like breezed over was the animals. And, you know, we grow up in farms. It's like, hey, hopefully these groundhogs don't eat this or the birds don't eat it. You have a whole different set of animals. Hyenas, giraffes, zebras. How is that navigating that and making sure that they're protected because it was their land? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the thing that I've learned so much about being here, too. And it's funny, actually, even being in California is that there is a way and people have been doing it for millennia.

14:22Right. There's a way to farm and not completely like ruin the ecosystem, but become a part of it. An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child in Massachusetts. An MS-13 gang member from El Salvador accused of murdering a Texas man. A Venezuelan charged with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded.

14:58And over 100 ,000 illegal aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, you're next. You will be fined nearly$1 ,000 a day, imprisoned and deported. You will never return. But if you register using our CBP Home app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, border, and families will be protected. Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Hey, it's Joel. And Matt. From HowToMoney. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, We've got your back. Prices, they're still high.

15:36And the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right. Yeah. Each week, we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

16:10Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, a.k.a. neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

17:02Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to The Mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.