New Land!

Okay, some of you have heard the rumors... others, not a peep. It's been fun keeping it as our little secret but I guess we're ready to make it official:
We bought some new land here on the Big Island! Thirty-two acres in fact, way out in the boonies - just the way we like it and are most comfortable. It's only a twenty minute drive to get there but it feels like a whole different world!

I'm not going to tell where our little slice of heaven is located. Suffice it to say we have a distant ocean view! It's a mix of big old ohia, kukui, and mango forest, and overgrown fields. There are acres of neglected banana patches and pasture, one enormous old grandmother mango tree, about 100 avocado trees, and lots of trash to clear out. Perfect project! Because we're not too busy at all, right? Ha! 

This place is old homestead land from way back at the turn of the previous century. It is completely surrounded by State land. Somewhere along the way, it was used as a banana plantation (hence all the old patches). When we bought it at auction in January, it came with squatters (hence all the trash), nine dogs, and a horse. We told them the horse could stay, but the people and dogs are, thankfully, long gone now. Oh, and there's a sweet little kitty who Mike dubbed Blackie.

Doesn't he look a lot like Wynn? Just a little smaller and much more shy.

There are also a few beautiful meadows.

In the long run, this will make farming easier for us. Think pastured animals (pigs, cows, chickens) as opposed to barns and pens. We plan to do do mob-grazing to improve the fields, then pasture rotation to maintain them. We'll still continue with Korean Natural Farming, of course, but will be pioneering new applications for this method with pasture land. This will actually make KNF more translatable for the western mainland where there are plenty of wide open spaces still, unlike in Korea or Japan.

We are not planning on moving out there any time soon. It is way off-grid, which is not an obstacle for us. But we have a comfy home here already, along with a nice barn for the piggies and all the trees and plants we're growing. Plus, Lori, Dave, and Acacia just moved here from Alaska! No, what we're going to do is build a little shelter and a big firepit.  Camping, anyone? Yes, please!

Good times with good friends.

There are loads of these magnificent wild orchids in the woods.