Thursday, April 14, 2011

SEAL Project awarded 6 hectares for Permacultural development

Tilyeubyek 'Bek' Yeltai, Food Security Director for ADRA-Mongolia, confirmed today that the local governments of Ulgii City and Bugat soum in Bayan Ulgii province have awarded two 3-hectare land parcels to the SEAL Project for development into permacultural demonstration and education sites.

"We are working on designs for the parcels now," said Bek. "The land parcels are barren and rocky, but the soil underneath looks rich and moist; they are close to the river, and sheltered by the nearby hills."

The list of 146 useful plant species suitable for growing in Bayan Ulgii's climatic conditions compiled Dr Beket's research team over the last few years will be a valuable resource to support the design for this new development in the SEAL Project.

Establishing large-scale demonstration sites give Project staff another location to conduct trainings, and a place to test experimental designs and techniques (such as plant guilds, worm farm designs, and mycellium innoculation of soils) for their effectiveness before implementing new ideas into the field (where an ineffective design could cause a family to go hungry).

The SEAL Project team will document development of the sites with photography and video (coming soon), to show how quickly a bare patch of land can be brought into production through permaculture and regenerative design.

We'll keep you posted!

Ulgii_city_iia

Photo: View of Ulgii City, from the base of the surrounding hills.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Useful plants of Mongolia: Crowdsourced!

Resource Alert: Scroll down to the end of this post for a downloadable pdf of 'Useful Plants of Monoglia: A Permacultural Perspective'.

You are invited, dear reader, to participate in an open-source, collaborative project to help conduct detailed research on extreme-cold tolerant plant species which have potential for a wide variety of application in cold climates from Mongolia to Canada.

Dr Beket (the hero of our 'Reforesting the Barrens of Bayan Ulgii' story) and his research team have spent the last few years researching and compiling a list of 146 plant species (mostly tree crops) that can survive (and even thrive) the extreme, sub -40C winters (and 30C summers) of Bayan Ulgii province.

P1010788
Photo: 'Dictionary of Useful Mongol Plants'

We found the above book 'A Dictionary of Useful Mongol Plants', (Ministry of Nature & Environment and Mongolian State University, 2001) in the ADRA-Mongolia offices during the project consultancy, and used plants listed in this book + selected species from Dr Beket's report to begin the work of compiling a list of our own:

  • 'Useful Plants of Mongolia: A Permacultural Perspective': in which the scientific Latin names are cross-reference with common English names of plant species, while the plants characteristics, funcitions, and possible uses are listed.

Our hope is to create a catalogued database that designers can use to identify suitable plant species for use in their systems - but we need your help.

If you are knowledgeable, or simply want to increase your knowledge of cold-tolerant plant species, and have access to a good internet connection, than you can help to build this database. Choose 10 or more plants from the list below, then download the list we have started compiling (click the 'download' link at the end of this post) to see what information we are compiling, and start your researching & learning! 

Email us at theGreenBackpack [at] gmail [dot] com, with 'MONGOL PLANT DATABASE' in your subject line, and we'll send you an Excel spreadsheet template that you can use to compile your own research.  Don't forget to record the sources of your information, and in return your contribution will be recorded in the published plant list document as it continues to grow and evolve... you can become a Sustainable Overseas Aid & Development Worker (and contribute to the development of Permaculture and Regenerative design in Mongolia) from the comfort of your living room (or favourite local cafe!).

We can change the World, with our own two hands (and a decent internet connection)... one small step at a time.

Useful_Plant_Species_of_Mongolia-_A_Permacultural_Perspective.pdf Download this file
Useful Plants of Mongolia: A Permacultural Perspective', (The Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design, and you, 2011)

Dr Beket's (et al) list of potentially usefully plant species suitable for Bayan Ulgii province:

  1. Abies sibirica.Ldb 
  2. Piciea obovata.Ldb 
  3. Pinus silvestris. L 
  4. Pinus pumla./Pall/ Rge 
  5. Pinus sibirica/Rupr/ Maur  
  6. Larix sibirica.Ldb 
  7. Jiniperus sibirica Burgsd 
  8. Jiniperus Sadina.L 
  9. Jiniperus pseuda sadina 
  10. Jiniperus daurica.Pall 
  11. Epedra guisetina.Rge 
  12. Epedra glausa.Rge 
  13. Epedra monsperma./CA.M/ 
  14. Epedra Prezewalscii.Stapf 
  15. Epedra sinica. Stapf 
  16. Barbaris sibirica.Pall 
  17. Spriaea salicifoli.L 
  18. Spriaea aguilegefolia.Pall 
  19. Spriaea hypericifolia. L 
  20. Spriaea media.Shmidt 
  21. Spriaea sericea. Turcz
  22. Spriaea flexuosa. Fisch 
  23. Spriaea alpina Pall
  24. Spriaea pubescens.Turcz
  25. Cotaneaster melanocapa
  26. Cotaneaster iniflora Bige
  27. Cotaneaster mongolica Posark
  28. Malus pallasina Juz
  29. Sorbus sibirica Hedl
  30. Cratalgus Sanuinea Pall
  31. Cratalgus dauriva pedinculata. Pall
  32. Amugdalus pedinculata Pall 
  33. Amugdalus mongolica maxim
  34. Armenica sibiroca dam
  35. Padus asiatecus kom
  36. Roza albertii Rge
  37. Rosa daurica rall
  38. Rosa kokanica Rge
  39. Rosa okyacantha MB
  40. Rosa Acieularus Linde
  41. Rosa laxa Retz
  42. Ribes nigrum.L
  43. Ribes Altissimum Turcz
  44. Ribes rubrum L 
  45. Ribes atropurpureum C.A.M
  46. Ribes diacantha pall
  47. Ribes  graveolens Bge
  48. Ribes pulchellum Turst 
  49. Ribes nispidulum Pojark 
  50. Ribes procumbens pall
  51. Ribes Pausiflorum Turz 
  52. Ribes Fragrans pall 
  53. Grossularia acicularis /smith/ spash
  54. Cargana arbazescens.Lam
  55. Cargana misrophylla pall
  56. Cargana pygmala/ L/ DS 
  57. Cargana Leucophloea Rojark
  58. Cargana jubata /Pall/ Poir
  59. Cargana stenophulla Rajark 
  60. Cargana bangea LDB
  61. Cargana sinosa /L / DS
  62. Cargana brachypoda Pojark
  63. Cargana Korshinskii kom
  64. Hippophea rhamnoides L
  65. Eleagnus moorcrftii walli
  66. Cornus alba L
  67. Sambucus sibirica Nakai
  68. Lonicera altaica Pall
  69. Lonicera Microphulla Will
  70. Lonicera hispida Pall
  71. Rhododendron aureim
  72. Rhododendron adamsii Rend
  73. Rhododendron Parbifolium Adams 
  74. Rhododendron dauricum L
  75. Rhododendron Ledebaurii
  76. Haloxyon omniodendron
  77. Calligonum mongolicum Turcz
  78. Atraphaxis  frutescen L Eversm
  79. Atraphaxis  pungens Jaub
  80. Atraphaxis Virgata /Rg/ krassn
  81. Atraphaxis compasta hdb 
  82. Tamarix ramosissina Lgb
  83. Tamarix gracifis Willd
  84. Tamarix elongota Ldb
  85. Tamarix karelinii Bge
  86. Tamarix laxa Wiild
  87. Myricaria alopecuroidec. Schrenk
  88. Myricaria daurica /Wiild/ Ehrenk
  89. Myricaria longifolia /Wiild / Ehrenb
  90. Ulmus pumila. L
  91. Ulmus masgosara.Hanse
  92. Ulmus propingua.Koidr
  93. Salix jentanra.L
  94. Salix arbuscula.L
  95. Salix  berberifolia. Pall
  96. salix caspica. Pall
  97. Salix dasycloos.Viim 
  98. Salix rorida.Loksch
  99. Salix tenuifolia.Tucz
  100. Salix microstachya.Tucz
  101. Salix caprea.L
  102. Salix /calsia vill/ glauca.L
  103. Salix dahurica./Tucz/
  104. Salix fumosa.Tucz Lakch
  105. Salix pyrolifolia.Ldb
  106. Salix chlorostachya.Tucz
  107. Salix hastata.L
  108. Salix kochiana.Trautv
  109. Salix myrsinites.L
  110. Salix mongolica. Siuz
  111. Salix nummularia.Anderss
  112. Salix vestita.Pursch
  113. Salix reticulata.L
  114. Salix sibirica. Pall 
  115. Salix caesia.Vill
  116. Salix livida6 Whlbg
  117. Salix xerophila.Floder
  118. Salix divaricata. Pall
  119. Salix rosmarinofolia.L
  120. Salix turczaninovii.Laksch
  121. Salix torulosa.Trautv
  122. Salix myrtilloides.L
  123. Salix ovolifolia.Trautv
  124. Salix viminalis.L
  125. Populus tremula.L
  126. Populus suaveolens.Ficsh
  127. Populus lauripolia.Ldb
  128. Populus diversifolia. Schrenk
  129. Populus pilosa.Pehder 
  130. Populus densa. Kom
  131. Vaccinium myrtillus.L
  132. Vaccinium vitis idaea.L
  133. Vaccinaceae uliginosum.L
  134. Betula hippolytii.Sukacz
  135. Betula gmelinii.Bde
  136. Betula rotundifoolia.Spach
  137. Betula fruticosa. Pall 
  138. Betula mandshurica/Rge/ Nakai
  139. Betula microphulla.Bge
  140. Betula platyphylla.Sukacz
  141. Betula humilis Sukrank
  142. Betula Rezniczenkoona
  143. Betula Tauschii./Rge/ Koidz
  144. Betula exilis. Sukacz
  145. Alnus glutipes.Larm
  146. Alnus fruticosa / Rupr/ Ldb

Useful plants of Mongolia: Crowdsourced!

Resource Alert: Scroll down to the end of this post for a downloadable pdf of 'Useful Plants of Monoglia: A Permacultural Perspective'.

You are invited, dear reader, to participate in an open-source, collaborative project to help conduct detailed research on extreme-cold tolerant plant species which have potential for a wide variety of application in cold climates from Mongolia to Canada.

Dr Beket (the hero of our 'Reforesting the Barrens of Bayan Ulgii' story) and his research team have spent the last few years researching and compiling a list of 146 plant species (mostly tree crops) that can survive (and even thrive) the extreme, sub -40C winters (and 30C summers) of Bayan Ulgii province.

P1010788
Photo: 'Dictionary of Useful Mongol Plants'

We found the above book 'A Dictionary of Useful Mongol Plants', (Ministry of Nature & Environment and Mongolian State University, 2001) in the ADRA-Mongolia offices during the project consultancy, and used plants listed in this book + selected species from Dr Beket's report to begin the work of compiling a list of our own:

  • 'Useful Plants of Mongolia: A Permacultural Perspective': in which the scientific Latin names are cross-reference with common English names of plant species, while the plants characteristics, funcitions, and possible uses are listed.

Our hope is to create a catalogued database that designers can use to identify suitable plant species for use in their systems - but we need your help.

If you are knowledgeable, or simply want to increase your knowledge of cold-tolerant plant species, and have access to a good internet connection, than you can help to build this database. Choose 10 or more plants from the list below, then download the list we have started compiling (click the 'download' link at the end of this post) to see what information we are compiling, and start your researching & learning! 

Email us at theGreenBackpack [at] gmail [dot] com, with 'MONGOL PLANT DATABASE' in your subject line, and we'll send you an Excel spreadsheet template that you can use to compile your own research.  Don't forget to record the sources of your information, and in return your contribution will be recorded in the published plant list document as it continues to grow and evolve... you can become a Sustainable Overseas Aid & Development Worker (and contribute to the development of Permaculture and Regenerative design in Mongolia) from the comfort of your living room (or favourite local cafe!).

We can change the World, with our own two hands (and a decent internet connection)... one small step at a time.

Useful_Plant_Species_of_Mongolia-_A_Permacultural_Perspective.pdf Download this file
Useful Plants of Mongolia: A Permacultural Perspective', (The Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design, and you, 2011)

Dr Beket's (et al) list of potentially usefully plant species suitable for Bayan Ulgii province:

  1. Abies sibirica.Ldb 
  2. Piciea obovata.Ldb 
  3. Pinus silvestris. L 
  4. Pinus pumla./Pall/ Rge 
  5. Pinus sibirica/Rupr/ Maur  
  6. Larix sibirica.Ldb 
  7. Jiniperus sibirica Burgsd 
  8. Jiniperus Sadina.L 
  9. Jiniperus pseuda sadina 
  10. Jiniperus daurica.Pall 
  11. Epedra guisetina.Rge 
  12. Epedra glausa.Rge 
  13. Epedra monsperma./CA.M/ 
  14. Epedra Prezewalscii.Stapf 
  15. Epedra sinica. Stapf 
  16. Barbaris sibirica.Pall 
  17. Spriaea salicifoli.L 
  18. Spriaea aguilegefolia.Pall 
  19. Spriaea hypericifolia. L 
  20. Spriaea media.Shmidt 
  21. Spriaea sericea. Turcz
  22. Spriaea flexuosa. Fisch 
  23. Spriaea alpina Pall
  24. Spriaea pubescens.Turcz
  25. Cotaneaster melanocapa
  26. Cotaneaster iniflora Bige
  27. Cotaneaster mongolica Posark
  28. Malus pallasina Juz
  29. Sorbus sibirica Hedl
  30. Cratalgus Sanuinea Pall
  31. Cratalgus dauriva pedinculata. Pall
  32. Amugdalus pedinculata Pall 
  33. Amugdalus mongolica maxim
  34. Armenica sibiroca dam
  35. Padus asiatecus kom
  36. Roza albertii Rge
  37. Rosa daurica rall
  38. Rosa kokanica Rge
  39. Rosa okyacantha MB
  40. Rosa Acieularus Linde
  41. Rosa laxa Retz
  42. Ribes nigrum.L
  43. Ribes Altissimum Turcz
  44. Ribes rubrum L 
  45. Ribes atropurpureum C.A.M
  46. Ribes diacantha pall
  47. Ribes  graveolens Bge
  48. Ribes pulchellum Turst 
  49. Ribes nispidulum Pojark 
  50. Ribes procumbens pall
  51. Ribes Pausiflorum Turz 
  52. Ribes Fragrans pall 
  53. Grossularia acicularis /smith/ spash
  54. Cargana arbazescens.Lam
  55. Cargana misrophylla pall
  56. Cargana pygmala/ L/ DS 
  57. Cargana Leucophloea Rojark
  58. Cargana jubata /Pall/ Poir
  59. Cargana stenophulla Rajark 
  60. Cargana bangea LDB
  61. Cargana sinosa /L / DS
  62. Cargana brachypoda Pojark
  63. Cargana Korshinskii kom
  64. Hippophea rhamnoides L
  65. Eleagnus moorcrftii walli
  66. Cornus alba L
  67. Sambucus sibirica Nakai
  68. Lonicera altaica Pall
  69. Lonicera Microphulla Will
  70. Lonicera hispida Pall
  71. Rhododendron aureim
  72. Rhododendron adamsii Rend
  73. Rhododendron Parbifolium Adams 
  74. Rhododendron dauricum L
  75. Rhododendron Ledebaurii
  76. Haloxyon omniodendron
  77. Calligonum mongolicum Turcz
  78. Atraphaxis  frutescen L Eversm
  79. Atraphaxis  pungens Jaub
  80. Atraphaxis Virgata /Rg/ krassn
  81. Atraphaxis compasta hdb 
  82. Tamarix ramosissina Lgb
  83. Tamarix gracifis Willd
  84. Tamarix elongota Ldb
  85. Tamarix karelinii Bge
  86. Tamarix laxa Wiild
  87. Myricaria alopecuroidec. Schrenk
  88. Myricaria daurica /Wiild/ Ehrenk
  89. Myricaria longifolia /Wiild / Ehrenb
  90. Ulmus pumila. L
  91. Ulmus masgosara.Hanse
  92. Ulmus propingua.Koidr
  93. Salix jentanra.L
  94. Salix arbuscula.L
  95. Salix  berberifolia. Pall
  96. salix caspica. Pall
  97. Salix dasycloos.Viim 
  98. Salix rorida.Loksch
  99. Salix tenuifolia.Tucz
  100. Salix microstachya.Tucz
  101. Salix caprea.L
  102. Salix /calsia vill/ glauca.L
  103. Salix dahurica./Tucz/
  104. Salix fumosa.Tucz Lakch
  105. Salix pyrolifolia.Ldb
  106. Salix chlorostachya.Tucz
  107. Salix hastata.L
  108. Salix kochiana.Trautv
  109. Salix myrsinites.L
  110. Salix mongolica. Siuz
  111. Salix nummularia.Anderss
  112. Salix vestita.Pursch
  113. Salix reticulata.L
  114. Salix sibirica. Pall 
  115. Salix caesia.Vill
  116. Salix livida6 Whlbg
  117. Salix xerophila.Floder
  118. Salix divaricata. Pall
  119. Salix rosmarinofolia.L
  120. Salix turczaninovii.Laksch
  121. Salix torulosa.Trautv
  122. Salix myrtilloides.L
  123. Salix ovolifolia.Trautv
  124. Salix viminalis.L
  125. Populus tremula.L
  126. Populus suaveolens.Ficsh
  127. Populus lauripolia.Ldb
  128. Populus diversifolia. Schrenk
  129. Populus pilosa.Pehder 
  130. Populus densa. Kom
  131. Vaccinium myrtillus.L
  132. Vaccinium vitis idaea.L
  133. Vaccinaceae uliginosum.L
  134. Betula hippolytii.Sukacz
  135. Betula gmelinii.Bde
  136. Betula rotundifoolia.Spach
  137. Betula fruticosa. Pall 
  138. Betula mandshurica/Rge/ Nakai
  139. Betula microphulla.Bge
  140. Betula platyphylla.Sukacz
  141. Betula humilis Sukrank
  142. Betula Rezniczenkoona
  143. Betula Tauschii./Rge/ Koidz
  144. Betula exilis. Sukacz
  145. Alnus glutipes.Larm
  146. Alnus fruticosa / Rupr/ Ldb

Monday, April 11, 2011

Minus 10C, cloudy, blustery, hellah dusty (Day 13)

Remember The Lorax.

When there are no trees, who is guarding our soils(i)?

Photo: View outside the office window this morning as a duststorm swallowed pedestrians walking by.

 

___________________________

(i) 'Trees: Guardians of the Earth', by Bill Mollison (1988)

Minus 10C, cloudy, blustery, hellah dusty (Day 13)

Remember The Lorax.

When there are no trees, who is guarding our soils(i)?

Photo: View outside the office window this morning as a duststorm swallowed pedestrians walking by.

 

___________________________

(i) 'Trees: Guardians of the Earth', by Bill Mollison (1988)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Permaculture project in Mongolia provides low-energy solutions —on Transition Voice.com

Media_httptransitionv_bzpde

We sent Transition Voice a postcard from Mongolia, and they decided to publish it!

Compost Heaps and Observation Logs (Day 07)

P1000756
Photo: Building a compost heap.

This afternoon Bek put the group through a compost-heap-building practicum (to get their hands dirty, the blood flowing, and create an experiential learning opportunity which they will replicate when working, in turn, with their students) at the experimental veggie plot he installed in his parents' family compound (in true permacultural-style, a multifunctional activity with multiple benefits - students will simultaneously be providing the labour to prepare the growbeds for this season's plantings).

Observation_log
Photo: Observation Log.

Before students depart the classroom, they create their own Daily Observation Log, in which their observations of the land around them will be recorded; an essential tool for any sustenance gardener, and even more essential for anyone serious about growing enough to bring their surplus to market.  Again, this exercise has multiple functions:

  • To create a journal for students to record their observations during the course (and long after we have departed).
  • To create another review mechanism / assessment criteria for Instructors to use.
  • Teach-the-teachers how to empower their future students with the same simple tool.

When used dilligently, an Observation Log can greatly accelerate the grower's effectiveness and crop yields(i), aiding the user to discover nature's patterns expressed in the landscape around them, to see for relationships between plant species growing together (native localized planting guilds), and to read how natural forces have shaped the land so that each walk outside becomes a mental exercise in designing solutions for capturing, storing, and harnessing water, siting potential agricultural plots, and creating a cycle of constant learning from what nature has to teach.

The biggest obstacle standing in the way of using the Observation Log effectively as a tool?

It must be used consistently in order for it to work.

Simple, no?

_________________________________________

(i) Elliot Coleman,  'The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses'

Monday, April 4, 2011

Kazakh Food Culture v2.0 (Day 16)

P1000778
Photo: Typical Kazakh restaurant meal; a typcial home-cooked meal would look more like a boiled & butchered sheep carcass...

Mongol-Kazakh food culture is predominantly dairy and meat-based, although Kazakh culture uses more vegetables, mostly in the form of pickled condiments.  Each meal we have eaten has been based around meat (boiled, fried, in meatballs, dumplings, off the bone, in sausages) and a starch (potatoes, turnips, wheatflour noodles, imported rice), with some sort of shredded pickled vegetable salad (carrots, cabbage, capsicum, onions).

While a vast knowledge of preparing & preserving meat and dairy products exists, there is relatively little knowledge (beyond storing root crops in actively heated cellars) about preparing & preserving vegetables.

P1010501

Photo: Cultural evolution: men typically do not prepare meals for the family.

A class lecture was given about the microbiology of our foods, main pathonogenic (E.Coli, Salmonella, and C. Botulisus) & beneficial microbes (Lactobacilus, and Saccharomyces), and the lifecycles and microscopic processes of succession which take place within our foods.  Once a theoretical foundation was laid, a practical class was held to demonstrate food safety procedures, proper bottling technique, and how to initiate a lactobaccilic ferment.

Tomato chutney was made with tomatoes, onions, and salt, then bottled in sterilized jars collected & re-used from the course kitchen.  A lactobaccilic ferment was initiated using a basic sauerkraut recipie of salt, water, and cabbage (the same basic process is used to make kimchee, pickles, tsukemono, and many other traditional foods from many cultures).  The sauerkraut was taken home by a student to ferment over the next few weeks, to bring back and share with her classmates when complete.

These simple techniques could be used to extend the season's harvest through the cold winter months, boost nutrition (through lactobaccilic ferment), and create value-added food products which can be packaged and sold to local markets (niche markets could be created based on a family's secret recipie).  If a family was able to produce sufficient surplus vegetable produce, and effectively preserve them to last the winters, they could feasibly meet all of their dietary needs by trading their food products for their meat & dairy product needs.

As the Mongol-Kazakhs of Bayan Ulgii develop their own new & unique recipies for preparing & preserving their vegetable crops, adapting to changing climatic & cultural conditions, we will be witnessing the evolution of an ancient food culture before our very eyes:

Photos: Masterchef Janibek prepares (and shows off) a bottled tomato chutney.

Lessons learned from Investment bankers and Brazillian billionaires (Day 23)

Bek-doc-matt
Photo: (L to R) - Tilyeubek Ye (ADRA-Mongolia), Matthew Lynch (The Asia-Pacific Center for Regenerative Design), and Dorgsurren 'Doc' Khoo (ADRA-Mongolia), at sunrise on the Barrens of Bayan Ulgii.

One of the first lessons I opened up our class on Regenerative Business was this: Never trust an Investment Banker.

I may have to retract that statement and make an exception; good Investment Bankers, ones with functional consciences even, do exist (and, I might add, could be worth their weight in gold).

Thanks to my beautiful new Kazakh fox hat (a gift from the graduating class of Bayan Ulgii's inaugural Permaculture Design Training course), and a strange twist of fate, I find myself sitting next to half of Mongolia's Mexican population on the plane to Beijing, a casually dressed, elegant young man by the name of Oscar Mendoza, who also happens to be the COO of Mongolia's first boutique investment bank: Frontier Securities (Frontier assisted with the first  IPO of a Monoglian-owned mining company, possibly creating Monoglia's first member of the Forbes 400 List and paving the way for other Mongolian companies to follow suit).

Apparently, there's no better icebreaker than a big fluffy hat which looks like an animal has wrapped itself around your head, because Oscar is impressed with the spectacle of my attempts to stuff the oversized furball into the overhead compartment above his seat, and we strike up a very interesting, and diverse conversation ranging from mining, agriculture, NBA All-Star weekend, the foreign investment climate in Mongolia, our respective homelands, Robert Kiyosaki, our current projects, Bank of -Evil- America, former Bank of America employees we know who are now involved in charitable work to atone for their time spent working for Bank of America, sustainable economic development, the amazing potential of the human mind, tsu-te-tse, and oh yes (I told you it was a diverse conversation): Regenerative Business.

Mexican_in_mongolia

Photo: Oscar Mendoza, half the current Mexican population of Mongolia and Co-COO of Frontier Securities.

I'll spare you the details of our rather schizophrenic conversation (which I can assure you, made perfect sense to the both of us, and was highly entertaining, even if only to ourselves), and share a quick story that Oscar told me about one of his billionaire acquaintances:

Our conversation stumbled onto the topic of Robert Kiyosaki's definition of an asset: something which feeds you.  Oscar Mendoza, (who must be at least somewhat financially savvy to have landed a job which requires him to work on deals containing so many zeroes the numbers sound nonsensical, almost Suess-ical), Co-COO of Mongolia's first and finest boutique(i) Investment Banking firm, commented: By the way I agree with Kiyosaki, even though every bank will probably tell you otherwise.

He went on to tell me about his billionaire acquaintance, a very wealthy and ambitious, self-made Brazillian man who runs one of the world's largest Oil and Natural Gas companies (OGX).  This man makes no secret of his desire to become the world's wealthiest man, and in the course of his dealings one evening, Oscar took it upon himself to suggest to gentleman that it might be quite a task to knock of the Mexican gentleman who sits above him on the Forbes 400, a billionaire who made his fortune in Telecom - he would be pretty difficult to knock off because his business model basically requires him to do little more than sit back and collect his revenues, now that the money has already been spent on building the infrastructure which runs everything.

In comparison, the Oil Business requires huge amounts of money to research & discover a viable oil field, then even more money to develop & tap the field to create productive wells, and more money to extract, refine & deliver the final products. 

The Brazillian billionaire smiled, leaned in a little closer and said I'll tell you my little secret: 

When I want something to happen, every night before I go to bed, I spend 30 minutes in my thinking room, where I think in detail about exactly how everything will look when it's done.  They said I couldn't build the largest shipping port in Brazil; but I did.  They think I'm superstitious and crazy, and can't believe that it could possibly be so simple.  They say I can't be the richest man in the world; we'll see.  But I tell you this: my simple little secret, it works.

So there you go.  Maybe it really is that simple: Think, and grow rich.

To think is to create. 

Thoughts are things. 

Mind over matter. 

We get what we focus on.

However you want to phrase it; think I'll give it a try.  ...I'll let you know how it works out.

Sneetches_star_off_machine
 But McBean was quite wrong. I’m quite happy to say.
That the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day.
The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches.
And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.
That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars and whether
They had one, or not, upon thars.
   - From Dr Suess' 'The Sneetches' -
 

 

Oh, and in case you were wondering... the man he was telling me about, the Brazillian billionaire? 

His name is Eike Batista.

Look him up - maybe you can even try out his little secret for yourself.

 

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(i) Unlike the big boys (Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch and the like), employees of most boutique investment banking firms live and work in the communities they serve, and therefore have an additional layer of accountability which simply isn't present with the big boys; when you live and work in a community, relationships are at stake, and you are physically present to deal the consequences of your actions, for better or worse, face-to-face.