Liz in Hawaii

New Year's Visitors

2012-02-03T17:33:00.000-10:00

One of the biggest adjustments in moving to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is the lack of family contact, especially if your family is a close-knit one like mine. We may go a while without hearing from one another (hopefully not too long!), but as soon as we're together again, we are immediately comfortable and can pick right up where we left off. So it was my great good fortune to be able to start 2012 with lots of family visiting!

First off, on New Year's Day, my Dad arrived. We immediately whisked him off to our friend's New Year's brunch, followed in the next few days with little trips to town, a soak in the warm pond, working on the lanai (see previous post), as well as much laughter and talking and taking turns cooking for each other. It was a lovely and relaxing time. He got to stay for a good long week, overlapping with our next visitors: Lori, Dave, and Acacia.

Poor Lori arrived with a broken toe and had caught a bug on the long flight over, so the first few days were pretty low-key. This did have the bonus of allowing baby Acacia time to get to know us and her new surroundings. We had a fun beach day at Carlsmith Beach Park with lots of our friends who wanted to see the kids and the baby. That's kind of a cool thing around here: when someone has grandbabies visiting, we all share the pleasure of their company so the other tutus (grandparents) get a grandbaby fix as well.

We visited the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo and Liliu'okalani Gardens, spent a day up at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, attended a very special wedding... and took more trips to the warm pond.

Not every day was full of activity, though. Sometimes we just stayed home and let Acacia play in the sprinkler, or we'd take her out to the piggies who she found most amusing, or I'd play my guitar for her and she'd bounce and dance along to the music. Such fun! One friend brought over her sweet little doggy to Acacia's absolute and utter delight! Another young mama came over for a playdate. A toddler does tend to keep one on one's toes. Nevertheless, we managed to get in loads of quality visiting, while enjoying our granddaughter's antics.

It's a marvelous thing to see your grown daughter become such a capable young mother in her own right. I love watching Lori with her little girl. She's a good mama, and it brings back many fond memories of my time with my own babies.

Altogether, it made for a happy house-full for almost a month! A good start to the new year.

Aloha and a hui hou!

Our Outdoor Screen-room, aka The Lanai

2012-01-31T21:08:00.000-10:00

Imagine an outdoor space with no mosquitoes. A screened-in room is almost a necessity on the jungly 'wet side' of the island.We have long dreamed of such a space, and in November 2011, we started construction of our latest project.

Not done yet, but so far, so good!

By the way, that's grandbaby #3 in my arms, Acacia Rose. I'll write about our new year's visitors in my next post...

Autumn Happenings

2011-10-30T14:03:00.001-10:00

Yes, we do have seasons here on the islands... they're just a lot more subtle. The days are a little shorter, the nights a few degrees cooler. The tradewind direction shifts a bit more northward. The beaches lose or gain sand, depending on just what angle the waves hit. Best of all, the humpback whales return! They arrived early this year, but I have yet to see any myself.

We had a class from the University of Hawaii-Hilo spend an afternoon with us. It was our first official class and the largest number of people all at one time. One of the pens was half-filled which turned out to be perfect to demonstrate and explain the various layers that go into creating the Korean Natural Farm bedding. The students asked insightful questions and were interested in everything else on the farm, too. Fun day!

A couple weeks ago we managed to go beach camping! A big special thanks to Hugh who fed the pigs for us while we were frolicking on the sand at Ho'okena Beach Park, on the Kona-side of the island. This is one of the few places where one can camp right on the sand, the way I remember as a kid. We really needed this 2-night getaway, and made the most of it too: swimming, reading, exploring, and just generally lolling about. Some of our friends had arrived before us, but they saved us a primo spot under one of the few trees that line this little cove, right behind the row of hand-built fishing boats. We enjoyed many rousing games of dice by lanternlight in the evenings, then fell asleep under starry skies to the sound of waves. Just a very relaxing time. Oh, and a large pod of spinner dolphins joined us the last morning, having just as much fun as all of us, splashing and playing in the water!

Our big Mahalo Pig Roast was a roaring success! It was our way of saying thank you to all those who helped us, one way or another, with getting our little farm off to a good start. Some helped build the perimeter fence, others brought us palm fronds, logs & limbs for filling the pens. There were those who helped fill the first pen, brought us starts for the food crops, shared their coconuts, papaya & bananas for the piggies. Unfortunately, two of the people we most wanted to acknowledge were unable to attend. They missed out on the most succulent, luscious, tender, tasty pork, and the chance to be embarrassed by the little speech I had prepared to give. The pig was spit-roasted to perfection by a local guy who had bought several of our piglets earlier. It took 8 hours but it was so worth it! Thanks, Chris Hara! So many wonderful dishes were shared by the guests, ranging from seafood-pasta salad to boiled jackfruit seeds to mango-papaya topped cheesecake. I think I can safely say that a good time was had by all! This may very possibly become an annual event, and we'd like to invite even more of our friends next time... now that we know how much meat a 101 pound pig produces! (About 87 lbs, in case you wondered.)

What I Did Last Summer

2011-10-03T14:57:00.000-10:00

Lots of good times this summer, and therefore LOTS of photos! (You have been warned!!)

First, there was plenty of work on the piggery, our biggest on-going project. Pen #3 was built, filled, and finished. Pen #4 as well. The last two pens are underway now... the end is in sight! And the first litters of piglets were raised and sold off successfully, with much demand for more. At the request of our UH-Hilo Ag Extension Agent, I started a blog (yes, another blog!) all about the piggery. You can see it here to read all about that aspect of the farm: http://hubbellshogheaven.blogspot.com/

In other farm-related news, I started a new flock of 13 young chickens, and added more to the laying flock as well. We acquired a beautiful and well-behaved rooster, Apollo, to watch over the 27 layers. He's huge! And Mike designed and built a new coop/yard for the newer birds. Consider it the revised edition of the Hubbell Bubble; he just used what we had lying around.

The gardens are growing well, providing us with more and more tropical foodstuffs, some of which is becoming familiar to our tastebuds: cassava, moringa, white and purple sweetpotatoes, taro, plantain, tamarillo... We are planting more food every day: ulu (breadfruit), gourds, more bananas, more pineapple, more cassava & taro & pineapple, and another variety of liliko'i (passionfruit). And of course, there are orchids! We have the perfect climate for them to grow outdoors with almost no care. Gotta take advantage of that!

By far the biggest and best thing I did this past summer was my solo two-week trip to the mainland. I managed to see both my sisters, two of my kids, two of my grandkiddos, several old friends, AND attend the Daybreak School reunion! It was a whirlwind trip, and so very much worth it.

I started the California portion with a too-brief visit with each sister. We packed as much visiting as we could into just a few short days, with the Daybreak reunion sandwiched in the middle. There was another reunion of sorts during this time too, with our long-time friends, the Livingston brothers, or at least two of them! And the Daybreak reunion was extended in a way by staying with my highschool friend, Jan.

Then on to Idaho! It was nice to stay with our longtime friends and neighbors, Karen & Weezil, and to be back in the woods and mountains I know and love so well. The best part was that I got to spend every day with Chris & Katie and their wonderful kiddos, Jimmy & Kirsi. We did lots of hiking, picked wild raspberries and huckleberries, had barbecues, played in the water, and just generally enjoyed each other's company in the height of a Boundary County summertime.

After that, it was on to Port Orchard to visit Kerry in her new home, tucked away behind an old apple grove. While she was at work in Seattle, I read or wandered about, enjoying the quiet days, the beaches and the views... and I took advantage of the ferry dock, only a 5-minute walk away, in order to explore a little further afield.

And finally, back home I flew, back to the island and the humidity and the gentle warm air. It felt so good to be home again, as it usually does after traveling. I have always loved to wander and explore, but I love to come home again, too.

Newbies!

2011-07-05T09:29:00.002-10:00

Here's how we spent our Independence Day: monitoring and helping our sow Suey with her first litter!

One little piglet needed assistance, and two others needed help breaking free of the sac, but Suey did just fine. The babies eventually figured out the whole business of nursing, and how to nap while a half-dozen siblings clambered on top. The runt of the litter is a little scrapper, and since he survived his first night, there is a good chance he will make it. Time will tell.

After spending the entire afternoon in the piggery, from 12:30 to 7:00pm, we at last turned in, filthy and exhausted, but feeling quite pleased with a healthy litter of ten.

But Suey had a surprise for us... two, in fact...

When Mike got up to check during the night, there was an 'extra' piglet... he counted several times just to be sure. And later, on his second check, yet another!! I guess this isn't all that unusual for the pig birthing process, but it sure caught us off-guard. This brings the total piglet count to 12!

They are some of the cutest little critters ever, but no, we are not naming them. We don't name our food.

Edited to add: We were just told by our U-H Ag Extension agent that this is the very first CGNF-raised litter of pigs in the entire USA!! There are other piggeries using the Natural Farm method, based on master Cho's teachings, but they aren't doing the breeding aspect of pig-raising. I hadn't realized quite how cutting edge we were!! ;-)

Springtime Happenings!

2011-06-01T17:53:00.000-10:00

It's not like I've just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. Lots of happenings at our place!

First off, we had the most wonderful time with daughter Lori and grandbaby Acacia while they were here for almost 2 weeks in March. Lots of picnics and parks, get-togethers and even a playdate! Acacia was a perfect angel, the darling of every gathering we attended... and we hear she's a great little traveler, so hopefully there will be plenty of future visits to come. It passed all too quickly but we made the most of every single moment!

The pigs have both been bred, with the first litter due at the beginning of July. 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days is the magic formula for pig gestation time. Lola & Suey each have their own pen now and both seem a lot happier for it.

(Sorry no pics yet of the new coop. I must go remedy that right away!)
I have a new chicken coop, a new variation on the Hubbell Bubble theme. This one still has the anti-mongoose skirting, and the roof over the entire yard for both hawk and rain protection. But we utilized building materials we already had lying about the place, so it's got beefier wood and the roof is of scrap pieces of tin, with a small vent space at the peak. Another difference is that we ran the chicken wire horizontally around the entire pen, rather than covering each individual panel vertically as in the original Bubble plan. This made stapling it on much easier, in two tiers with the bottom of the lower tier becoming the skirting. Right now we have young chicks in there, my new flock. They won't start laying until the end of summer, most likely.

Phase Two of the pig barn is well underway, a little further along than this photo shows... or at least it was, until last Friday when Mike fell off the ladder! He's okay: mainly he got the wind knocked out of him, but he also strained his back which has put the building project on hold for a little while.

We've been planting a lot more cassava (yuca or manioc as it's called in other parts of the world), moringa, and sweet potato. Also sugarcane, taro/kalo, and kabocha squash. Still need to divide and replant the bananas. All these are tropical food crops for ourselves and our animals. Our goal is to not have to buy animal feed for the pigs and chickens, to be able to grow a balanced feed here, and to encourage others to do the same.

Other springtime bits & pieces: We helped some of our friends plant 10,000 strawberry plants in their hydroponic greenhouse! We continue to help at the hula kahiko performances at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Enjoyed the Merrie Monarch parade in Hilo, an hours-long affair. Have hosted a few farm tours too, for those interested in our Natural Farm piggery & Hubbell Bubble coop. And of course, the vacation rental keeps me plenty busy enough besides all this.

And we are lucky to have had many gatherings with our island ohana (family) at beaches, parks, the warm pond, and at our homes. Every now and then, when there are no guests staying at the hale, we get to take a turn at hosting. We sure have a lovely group of friends here. Makes us feel blessed. And that's what it's all about!

(... and once again, I can't get that one picture centered. The perfectionist in me shudders to see it out of place, lol. Oh well.)

Hog Heaven!

2011-02-18T14:27:00.000-10:00

I'm sitting here at my desk, windows wide open to let in the warm breezes... and finally, I have a chance to catch you all up with all the doings on our little farmlet. Those of you on Facebook have been seeing the progress as it happens, or pretty close anyway, but for the rest of you, I know what you're thinking: It's about time!!

We've had more of our 'lot next door' cleared, but left a buffer of jungly growth along the street for now.
There is now a perimeter fence of woven wire enclosing everything that wasn't already behind the chainlink fence that came with the house when we bought the place. Enormously big, huge thank-yous to our friends who came to help with that project!

Every single post hole had to be drilled with a rock drill, then the metal post pounded in place. With all the help, it only took a few hours to do what would have taken Mike and I a week, at least.

Since putting up the fence, no roaming dogs have gotten in (as they had twice before), and the wild pigs have left their mark on the outside of the fence, where they belong. So far, so good.

Our driveway has been regraded, and graveled this time, as opposed to cindered. Makes a nice hard surface that the rains can still soak through, so no slippy mud puddles any more. The new driveway gate is something we're still getting used to.

Next up: The piggery, which has been named Hog Heaven, which was built over the past few months...

and the first pen was completed and filled just last week.

Some of our fellow Natural Farmers came to help with that. It took some preparation and arranging to get all the inputs needed for this Korean Natural Farm method of creating the 3-foot deep bedding, but it's worth it since this is the only way to raise pigs without any odor and almost no flies! And of course, it had a Hawaiian twist since we utilized the different materials available here.

A layer of logs sets over 6 inches of soil.

Palm fronds, shredded coconut husks, and wood chips cover the logs.

Layers of sawdust and cinder soil fill up the pen...

... and get spread around.

Various inputs are spread over each layer: IMO4, sea salt, biochar. This is what makes the Natural Farm method work!

The finished pen with its fencing installed. Mike's adding the door.

A large area behind the piggery was also cleared and cindered deeply to create an area to grow food crops for the pigs, chickens, and ourselves. We already have cassava starts, moringa tree seedlings, kalo (taro), kabocha squash, and pineapples planted back there.

Soon to go in the ground are sugar cane, bananas, sweetpotato, papaya, and another ulu (breadfruit) tree or two. This combination will give the animals a complete feed and we won't have to buy the pelleted variety from the feed store any more... but it'll take a while to get to that point.

The biggest news is: we now have pigs!! Lola and Suey arrived on our farm just a few days ago. Both are 5-6 month old Chester White cross, just about ready to be bred. They had been raised on a concrete slab in their own poop, not quite the industrial farm thing but not far enough from it. Mike and I felt like we were doing an animal rescue in bringing these two gilts out of that environment.

They had never been on dirt before and as soon as we could coax them out of the travel cage and into their new home, they were indeed in hog heaven. Dirt to root in! And to roll in! And to just bury one's snout in!! Their curly piggy tails wag with happiness! And I swear I can see them smile.

They are still both pretty skittish, but are calming down considerably already. Both will now come over to the fence when I talk to them, will take treats of sweet potato vines, and let me touch their ears and noses.

Mike has been doing their morning feeding, and this morning he was able to give them a few pets and do some raking inside the pen while they ate. It takes time, but gentle ways work wonders. We hear their happy grunts and soft snuffling snorts all day long, so I know we are on the right path.

Aloha!

PS: (Please excuse the crazy configuration of this post... I've been working on it for hours. That's what happens when they go and 'improve' the blog site. arrgh)

Introducing the Newest Member of Our Family

2010-11-15T21:22:00.003-10:00

Acacia Rose arrived home a few days after her birth. I know the kids were so glad to finally be back in their own nest, and to be able to settle down to being a family. Shadow-cat was full of curiosity, but he quickly learned to behave himself around little Acacia.

I think she is totally gorgeous... and I am not one bit prejudiced about that! I couldn't get enough of holding this precious little bundle in my arms.

Gazing at her, I wonder: What do the newly born think of? How does the world look to them? What is really important in this life?

Baby feet amaze me: they have never been walked on and are as soft as the rest of baby's skin. I just love tiny baby toes!

This is the smile that can make all your problems just melt away, and fill your heart with such joy! She was only 4 days old. Admit it - you're smiling now, too. :-)

Three generations... a circle of love.
I am so very blessed to have had this time with my daughter. Thank you, Lori & Dave, for allowing me to share it with you. And to Mike, for arranging for me to be able to go.

Alaska!

2010-10-30T08:08:00.004-10:00

Thought I'd share some of the gorgeous scenery up here in the far north country.

And, yes, I am freezing cold most of the time!
Baby pics next time...

Grandbaby #3 is here!

2010-10-23T09:44:00.004-10:00

Acacia Rose is utterly sweet & gorgeous, mostly very calm & serene considering what she just went through. I loved watching Lori & Dave together - he was right there with her the whole time. We took turns pushing on her back or coaching her, trading off every so often. Lori was amazing - she did great even with that long hard labor. Everyone's still kinda shaky & overtired, and Lori is completely exhausted. Both Acacia & Lori are getting the hang of nursing.

Born: October 22
8 pounds 9 oz
20-1/2 inches long!
With long dark hair & long slender fingers - she's beautiful!

Now, we're all hoping they can all return home this evening and begin settling in together.

Still Waiting...

2010-10-12T15:20:00.006-10:00

I had a lovely, if all too short, time in Seattle with my youngest. Perfect Fall weather and all the beautiful Autumn colors the entire time I was there! We walked & walked, and it felt so good to really stretch out after the long airplane ride (5-1/2 hours from Honolulu). Kerry was in the midst of packing in preparation for her move to a new apartment, which I'll get to see on my return trip, but we didn't spend much time indoors anyway. We had a blast poking into little shops here & there, traipsing through wooded parks, visiting the library and Pike Street Market. Had dinner at The Owl & Thistle Irish pub. And then I was whisked away to the airport the next morning.

Now I'm up in Alaska, with Lori & Dave. We're all still waiting for baby to arrive... she's sure taking her sweet time and so far, that's okay. We've done some sight-seeing, taken lots of walks, found the rest of the needed nursery items, watched movies, laundered & assembled those nursery items... and still no baby.
We've gone on more walks, trimmed Shadow's claws, finished a huge jigsaw puzzle, and toured the land... and still no baby.

Gone shopping, taught Smokey to pull out saplings, eaten lots of wonderful foods, played with the kitty-cat, and done even more walking... and still no baby!

But we have had some wonderful visiting time while we're all waiting patiently for the little one. The days are short but not too bad yet. It's darn cold outside - frost every morning and today it lasted all day in the shady spots. But lovely toasty warm inside at home.
It's fun to see chickadees again, my favorite little bird. And there are huge magpies too. Since the house is surrounded by a birch-spruce forest, these feathered friends come up pretty close and we enjoy bird-watching from the warmth of the indoors.
No one stays pregnant forever. It won't be long now!

Quickie Update Before I Leave...

2010-10-03T08:00:00.007-10:00

I'm taking off tomorrow to see our daughters, one in Seattle and one in Alaska, and I'm very excited to meet grandbaby #3 as soon as she's born!

It's been busy, busy around here, though there's been plenty of plain old 'wait & see' as well.

We have 6 new laying hens to replace those who were lost last summer. The new girls are all Auracanas, the ones who lay the blue-green eggs. That brings our flock up to 21. There is now a driveway alarm to alert us of any other activity back there. (The baby monitors we'd tried earlier were less than satisfactory.) A couple days ago, Mike cleared out more of the tall ferns between the back fence and the chicken yard so we now have a clear view of the flock from our house. A perimeter fence around both lots is planned, and clearing has started for that, but got stalled for some reason... not quite sure why.

The piggery is still waiting for the line-up of the planets or whatever it takes to get all the approvals in order. There it sits, all cleared and graveled and waiting... It's utterly ridiculous and would be almost funny except that we could be raising food already. This'll teach us to go by the rules, huh? Frustrating is what it is. The building permit did get approved, finally... now it's the NRCS that's holding us up. They want to do a site survey to check for - get this - burial mounds, petroglyphs, and the like... under our 13x30-foot shed. If they do manage to find something of the sort though, forget pigs, we'll run a tourist attraction! Ha!

On to happier things. The new garden area is growing really well. We have two beds of taro/kalo; lots of sweet potatoes, both white & purple; starfruit, longan, and mamay sapote tree seedlings; a tamarillo, a few papaya, mugwort, purslane, tomatoes, kabocha squashes, basil, & pineapples scattered throughout.

Mike's been producing biochar from dried coconut husks. He has a little firepit in the new garden area and has got the art down pretty well now. He adds this to the IMO mixture along with chicken manure & dolomite. This combo ferments and does its thing for a week, then we use the resultant super fertilizer for top-dressing the plants or dig it into the soil for new plantings. It's fantastic stuff and we're starting to see good results - all this from creating our own fertilizer!

The experimental corn patch behind Mike's workshop has been producing lovely sweet corn for a week now. So fun to have a familiar crop, and it tastes wonderful. But the most amazing thing is that it's growing on 2-3" of soil atop a slab of solid pahoehoe lava!! Now you understand a little better why we're so excited about all this IMO stuff. ;-)

I absolutely love my new workroom! We spent a few days during a lull between guests to reconfigure the hale and increase the living space on our side by adding a door between the Sunrise Room and our bedroom. Then we put up a wall to divide the hallway, thus creating a linen closet on our side and a beautiful map wall on the hale side. As a bonus, we also gained a second bathroom. It all went so smoothly and makes me feel like I can really settle in at last, now that I can have indoor projects going, space for my sewing & craft stuff, and room to pack my suitcase in preparation for my trip!(This baby quilt was the first project in my new workroom ~ for Lori & Dave's little bambina, arriving very soon!)

How I Spent My Saturday

2010-09-11T17:05:00.007-10:00

We took off early Saturday morning to deliver 2 dozen eggs to a friend's office right in Pahoa. Of course, one doesn't just drop off eggs, collect the money, and leave. No, no... you visit a bit, talk story and exchange each other's latest news. It was like that back in Bonners Ferry, too - just a small town, rural way of life. I love it!

Then we drove up the hill as far as Mountain View to go to the Hilo Coffee Mill farmer's market... what fun! I've been hearing good things about it, and although it's quite small, the vendors are all so friendly! Lots of free samples & tastes of goodies. We sat and talked with a furniture maker guy for about 1/2 hour, bought some candied ginger and Japanese pickled vegies from another booth, and walked around the beautiful grounds a bit before getting back in the car.

Next stop was at friend Carey's house, right in Kea'au, to drop off the box of picnic stuff left after Scuba Sunday last weekend. We also wanted to see all the progress on their place... She's done some stunning tilework: dolphins on the guest room floor, humpback whales in the shower... beautiful! Played with the rescue dog, Kiko, a bit and then away we went for lunch at the Kea'au Marketplace. There are many tiny lunch shops there and we thought we'd try something different. Ended up at Ma's Place - very friendly ladies running the place, and really fresh and tasty food: Mike had shrimp & chips and a small salad; I had Oriental Chicken salad with half chicken & half fish. Both were ono grinds!

Onwards to Hilo! If you have a museum membership you can get in free to other museums this month only. We have membership at the Lyman and had been wanting to take advantage of this wonderful offer, so today we went to the Tsunami Museum. We'd never been there before... it was awesome! Well organized, amazing exhibits, lots of information. The building used to be a bank; built very solid and sturdy. You watch a touching video inside the vault. I 'saved' Hawaii from a 'tsunami' generated in Alaska on their tsunami warning system simulator... made the right call and set off the sirens... how cool is that?! We spent a couple hours in there, then as we were walking back to our car, we ran into Leslie (for whom we had recently built a Hubbell Bubble chicken coop) so stopped to chat with her a bit.

About 5 minutes after we returned home, our very good friend Royall pulled up! He'd been doing something nearby and thought he'd just drop by... I love it! More "sit, talk story." We'll be going over to his place for dice & ice cream later this evening.

Whew!! Never a dull moment on the weekends, eh? And that's just Saturday!

Forward Ho!

2010-08-09T17:35:00.003-10:00

Okay, here's the plan:

Mike has reinforced the chicken yard with welded wire field fencing and repaired the damaged side with roofing tin. He moved the nest box away from the fence - we now have to go inside the yard to collect the eggs, which is kind of a drag but oh well. We are using a baby monitor to listen in on the chickens. I doubt any dogs could get in there now, but if they try, we'll hear 'em right away. It's very reassuring when we awaken during the night, to only hear coquis, rain, and soft little chicken sounds (and we have been waking a lot these past nights, believe me.)

We're going to put up fencing around the back half of both lots, one big fence to encircle and protect the backyard farm. This will also serve to keep out the wild pigs that will no doubt be attracted to our sweet potato beds and fruit trees just before harvest time.

The piggery is still a go. Right now we're waiting on the architect to stamp the plans, then the County gets to have another go at them. Once the permit is finally issued, it should only take a couple days to build. Of course, it will have to be inspected before we can really use it.

Though we're still reeling from the loss to our flock, life goes on and so do we. The injured birds seem to have recovered, and the chickies are pretty much settled down. Egg production, however, has dropped considerably with the loss of three of our best layers, and the shock to them all.

You knew we couldn't really be stopped by mere dogs, didn't you? We just have to adapt to the current circumstances and move forward. Onwards!

DISASTER!!!

2010-08-07T10:30:00.003-10:00

Our chickens were attacked by dogs in the wee hours this morning.

What a horrible sound to wake up to. Chickens squawking & screaming all around, feathers everywhere, and 2 young pitbulls tearing into them. Three hens were killed - well, two were and one was so badly injured that Mike had to put it out of its misery. Several others were so traumatized that we thought they were dead at first. Several are missing feathers and one other is limping. The poor birds didn't know what hit them since it was pitch dark and they were still roosting.

We didn't recognize the two dogs but we sure will if we see them again - which is quite likely since if they kill once, they'll be back. They both had tags (I could hear them jangling as they ran past me). Thank goodness they didn't attack us! We had run out in our jammies, yelling at them to get out of there. Thank goodness Mike was sleeping lightly at the time... we think it was the first excited yips of the dogs that woke him and he heard the first squawks of the hens.

All plans for the day have been canceled, but we're most worried about tonight... I think those dogs will come back for more. They had torn through the chicken wire underneath where the nest box butts up to the fence. There's a piece of tin there now. But chicken wire is really no match for a determined dog; we may have to add something stronger around the lower part of the chicken yard, like field fencing, hogwire, or chainlink.

We decided that we'll bury the victims of the massacre in the back of our new garden area. That's the most soil we have, but it will still be a shallow grave, so we will have to cover it with rocks. At least this way it's not a total waste... they will fertilize our crops. Circle of life.

I'm still shaking. And Mike's looking up traps & alarms & fencing & so on. And we're wondering about our ideas & plans of backyard farming here...

June & July Happenings

2010-07-26T16:16:00.009-10:00

It has been a hot and busy couple of months! Here's a sampling of what we've been up to recently.

We did another coop-building demo in June. This time it was a group of Hawaiians who invited us to erect a Hubble Bubble on one of the Panaewa Farm Lots. Many hands made light work of it and the coop went from a pile of lumber, wire & plastic on our trailer...
... to the finished coop, all ready and waiting for chickens to move in. The whole thing took less than 2 hours!!

The next big thing was the clearing of our Lot Next Door (as we call it for lack of a better term for our lot next door). The first order of business was to move the rest of our cinder pile to an out-of-the-way location. Here's a before picture with Ashley on his tractor:This one, taken from the same vantage point as above, shows the gray crushed rock in place for the future piggery. Notice also, our most amazing discovery... something more precious than gold in this land of lava rock and cinders: DIRT!! Whoo-hoo! It's the dark brown stuff to the left in this photo. We had Ashley pile it up to create a new garden area:
Two dump truck loads of red cinder to cover the disturbed area:
This created a lovely, smoother driveway that extends beyond the carport canopy & Mike's shop. You can see the piggery rock just peeking out behind the shop, and the slightly elevated new garden area beyond that: So far, we have planted taro, sweet potatoes and yams, 2 starfruit seedlings, 2 longan seedlings, a mamay sapote, pigeon peas, watermelons, and pineapple, as well as a few herbs and flowers. There's still room for papaya & banana, too. We think of it as our semi-permanent garden area for the food-forest type plantings. Meanwhile, Mike is still working on plans for the piggery.

Let me put to rest the rumors that we do nothing but work hard! You should know better than that!
We hosted our International Dinner Group for a Pre-Independence Day party, with the emphasis on 'independence'.
We did tours of our backyard chickens... ... the edible landscaping... ... the future piggery site, solar electric panels and solar water heater. There was a participatory reading of the Declaration of Independence...... horse shoes and darts... ... and of course, loads of good people and good food.
And then there was the wonderful beach bbq day we had just yesterday with some of our closest friends. We just recently discovered this beautiful 'secret' spot on Hilo Bay - well, it was a secret from us since we'd always just driven right past it. Now it's our new favorite beach park!I hope you all are having as much fun this summer as we are!
Aloha,
Liz

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T08:31:00.007-10:00

I want to acknowledge and send my deep appreciation to the dads in my life:

My own Dad who has always been there for me throughout my life...

Mike, the father of my children...

and my son Chris, who has become a wonderful daddy to his own kiddos...
Thanks for sticking it out, you lovely men, and for doing a great job for your families.
I love each of you so very much!
And I wish you a Happy Father's Day!!

PS: Son-in-law Dave will soon be joining these ranks! Happy Father-to-be...

Back in the Swing of Things!

2010-05-17T17:29:00.010-10:00

Finally, we are feeling back to normal (no snide comments please!) and ready to join the living once more. Had a nice dinner-and-dice evening with a good friend last Friday... and no relapse the next day. We ventured a little further and did a big grocery shopping in Hilo... still standing. So yesterday I went to work on the yard that had been somewhat neglected for the duration, pruning and hauling branches away, dumping bucketloads of weeds to the chickens in their yard. Meanwhile, Mike poured another footing for the big screenhouse.

This morning, in dire need of some muscle relaxant after yesterday's exuberance, we decided to restart our "Monday mornings at the warm pond" routine. And I'm so glad we did! We had somehow fallen out of this delightful habit well before I got sick. It was high time to resume. This one of the most wonderful places on the island - and a major reason for us choosing this spot to live, being only 20 minutes away.

We arrived just before a very low low-tide, a minus-tide in fact, and the water was clear and warm. Not many people there at all. Maybe the cloudy weather kept them elsewhere but that's just fine. We made our way to the far side of the pond where there's a little rock table to set our beach bags upon. Down the steps into the perfect temperature water - aaahhh.... You can just feel all your cares being gently floated away, while tiny cleaner fish nibble on your toes, giving you a 100 dollar pedicure for free.

Most of the bottom of the pond is rocky, but we floated over to the sandy area closer to where the water enters from the ocean. As we were admiring the view, one of the other couples drifted closer and asked, "Do you have a daughter named Lori who lives in Alaska?" Turns out these were friends of Lori & Dave's (who are taking care of their cats & garden starts back in Anchorage while they're on vacation)! What a surprise - and what a fun morning visiting with Tim & Jen, sharing places to see and things to do, both here and in Anchorage. After a bit of light rain - kisses from heaven - the sun came bursting out and I was glad I'd remembered to put on sun lotion. I bet Mike wishes he had.

Just as Tim & Jen were leaving to further their island adventures, along comes one of our own long lost friends who we hadn't seen for months! Molly and the kids had ventured down the mountain for some swimming and were actually hoping to catch us on our usual Monday trip (not realizing we hadn't done that for months). So we stayed another hour while Kekala tried to drown Mike, and Molly and I got caught up with each other's news. Another greatly satisfying visit.

Y'know, some days just turn out perfect. :-)

Out of Service

2010-05-02T15:12:00.002-10:00

While I thoroughly enjoyed the Merrie Monarch Parade last month, I did get quite chilled in the rain... and came down with a nasty cold that just will not go away. Ick! I was pretty out of it for a while there, and still have a bit of lingering cough, but otherwise I feel mostly recovered.

But now Mike's got it. No fair! And he was so good about taking care of me for the 2 weeks I was pretty much bed-ridden.

So we have an assortment of cough drops... lots of herbs, teas, & vitamins... plenty of good nourishing food... and have greatly enjoyed a few gatherings with friends to cheer us up once the worst was over.

But not much has happened during this time, so not much to write about here.

Hmmm... there must be something...

The liliko'i is in full bloom and totally abuzz with honeybees. There's an outstanding crop of avocados coming along. Little Valencia oranges are hanging on the tree, along with another batch of fragrant orange blossoms. The site for the new & improved screenhouse is all cleared, and Mike had just started pouring footings for the uprights when he came down with the cold. We're selling about 7 dozen eggs a week, thanks to our beautiful mixed flock of chickies. And the hale is empty for a while, so we can spread out a bit.

Now if we could just shake this dang cold...

Island Camping!

2010-03-29T16:43:00.009-10:00

Between emails, Facebook, Punaweb, Yahoo groups, our hale listings & website, other forums, on & on... I can easily spend waaay too much time online! Where to cut back? Lately, it's been my own blog that's getting the short straw. And sometimes we just leave it all and go camping!

Our first Big Island camping trip, a month or so ago, was at Spencer Beach Park just south of Kawaihae Harbor. We picked up a friend on our way out of Puna, and made a little stop at Lapahoehoe Point on our way up the Hamakua Coast.
Two nights on the dry side was a nice change of pace. Pu'u Kohola National Historic Site, which is really two huge heiau, is right close by, with a very informative visitor center. Then there's another underwater heiau in a little bay, dedicated to the shark god Ku, with accompanying black-tipped sharks swimming back and forth. That was exciting and enough to make me think twice about an evening swim!
We had a great steak barbeque the first night, then ate out at Tres Hombres Restaurant in nearby Kawaihae the second night. Jellyfish warnings had the beach closed the first day, unfortunately, but we enjoyed watching lots of humpback whales frolicking about offshore!

The second camping trip was just a week ago. We drove around the southern tip of the island to Ho'okena Beach Park to stay for a couple nights. I love that southern route, past Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, through the Ka'u Desert, past the little towns of Pahala & Na'alehu, and around up the leeward side a little ways. To reach Ho'okena, you turn off the highway and take a steep little road for 2 miles, down, down, down all the way to the shoreline. All along this road is a water pipe lying on the ground, winding around every corner with you. When you reach the bottom, where the campground, picnic area, beach, and a few houses are, you realize that all the fresh water for the area comes through that pipe - and it gets HOT!!!
This is a really nice little spot where you get to camp right on the sand. The waves were a bit rough the first day, but mellowed nicely so that I got a lovely morning swim in the open ocean, a real treat. Others went kayaking, hiking, snorkeling... but I truly enjoyed exploring the tidepools, reading, watching the spinner dolphins, and playing in the water.
The second day started out nice, but somehow during the 20 minutes I lay down for a nap, the skies clouded over and sure enough, it started to rain. This is one of the driest spots on the island - and it looked it! - so we really couldn't complain about them finally getting some much-needed rain... but it sure did change the camping experience. Wet sand clings to everything. But we made it fun anyway, reading, chatting, playing dice. And we all got to find out where our new tents leaked! (Only one little spot on ours; we'll goop it up with seam sealer before the next trip.)

We have another camping trip planned for next month, too. Whittington Beach will be our destination, with a day trip to Green Sand Beach. Our group of camping buddies keeps growing as others are finding out how much fun this is! I wish I had kept our old camp pots. We're having a hard time finding anything similar here. But I love our new tent - with its little front porch and big enough to stand up in! And we have a queen-size air mattress, so we can sleep in relative comfort. Hey, it definitely beats an old Insolite pad!!

Dog Bite

2010-02-25T14:15:00.004-10:00

We were just hanging out last Sunday evening after a lovely afternoon barbeque at our best friends' house, enjoying the cool mountain air and the good company. They had asked us to stay on a while to talk and visit a bit longer. Eventually the time came to make our way back downhill to home, so in preparation for that, I got up to take my glass to the sink.

One of their three dogs was dozing on the tiled kitchen floor. I spoke to her as I approached and kept talking as I made my way around her - sure didn't want to startle a sleeping dog! But she stayed asleep, or so I thought.

In the few seconds it took to set my glass down, I heard some scrabbling on the floor behind me - oh, she decided to get up after all. And then, before I could comprehend what was happening, there was something biting at my heels and suddenly fangs sunk into my left foot!! Of course I screamed, everyone jumped up and hauled the damn dog off me and put her outside.

I was so shocked I didn't realize at first that I was bleeding or what had really happened.... all I knew was blinding pain. I couldn't move or breathe, so Mike helped me to the floor. Waves and waves of pain washed over me and pulled me down into a terrifying well I could not escape. I almost passed out a couple times, but I do remember saying to go ahead and wash out the wounds. Since it hurt so bad anyway, may as well take advantage and clean them now.

Lots of tears were shed and not all of them were mine. Our dear friends felt so bad about their stupid dog gone psycho. They promised she would never be out of the kennel if anyone else was visiting, ever again. They took good care of me, while I leaned on Mike for support, until I could finally make my way, half-carried, to the car. I fell asleep on the way home.

The next morning, we soaked my foot to keep the puncture wounds open and draining while I finally had a chance to look in my books for more info on dog bite treatments. Mike took me to the Pahoa Medical Center, our new clinic only 5 minutes from our house. I got a tetanus booster and we had the bites looked at.

The verdict was that they were well-cleaned and cared for, but the surrounding tissues were quite traumatized. Fortunately, no ligaments or tendons were damaged. And thank goodness there is no rabies in Hawaii! However, dog bites carry an assortment of bacteria, and 90% of them become badly infected with all sorts of nasties, so antibiotics are routinely prescribed. My foot was already swollen, hot and red, sure signs of infection and trauma, so I agreed with the antibiotics.

This was the first time I have been bitten by a dog, not counting little nips that don't draw blood. I will never forget that sensation of the dog biting at me, trying to get a hold of my heels, and then the fangs sinking in. That's the stuff of which nightmares are made.

I haven't slept well since this happened, and am still in pain. I cannot walk or put much weight on my left foot. My arm aches from that tetanus shot, too. And now my tummy is starting to feel the effects of the antibiotics.

But, besides being tired and cranky, I'm actually doing better today. The redness and swelling have subsided quite a lot. The wounds are still open and oozing - gross, yes, but a good thing with punctures. And I'm sure glad I have a whole week before the next guests arrive... it may take that long to prep the hale.

I'm happy to say I will live after all. ;-)

The Hubbell Bubble Chicken Coop!

2010-01-24T15:43:00.008-10:00

I've written before about our chickens and their coop. We've adjusted the design a bit now & then, making changes as needed, as any good homesteader would do. Just because we're living in a tropical suburb, it doesn't mean we've lost our homesteader roots! Our vacation rental guests seem to really enjoy seeing a 'normal' yard being far more productive than the usual lawn & shrubs. We often hear comments like, "That's a good idea! I'm going to do that back home, too!"

Since we've become so involved with the Natural Farming group, we've had even more people curious to see our backyard chicken set-up. One of these people is Mike DuPonte, our local ag extension animal specialist. He was so taken with our coop design that, at his instigation, UH-CTAHR (University of Hawaii - College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources) has decided adopt it as their model to promote backyard chicken-raising! We're a little dazed at all the attention, but hey, if it helps, that's cool. And it is nice to be recognized for a good idea when one rolls around. ;-)

A few days ago, several of us got together to buy the materials and construct a 12'x12' display model of the coop. We put together the panels that will be assembled later at the Food Resilience Project in Kohala at the beginning of February. We'll be making another whole set-up for the Cho Global Natural Farm Seminar coming at the end of Feb.

UH-CTAHR is printing up a brochure with plans for distribution at both venues. I think they will also be available at the CTAHR offices after these events.

For those interested in learning about Natural Farming and Indigenous Micro-Organisms, here's a link to our local group's website: http://www.localgarden.us/
'R. Little Farm' is listed on this website - that's us (with a nod to our former homeschooling days). ;-)
Look under the "Secrets" section for the IMO recipes.

And here's another link for a good overview of what Natural Farming is all about: http://www.thainaturalfarming.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=38076

So now you know what's been occupying so much of our time these days. I'd say our new year is off to a great start!

Here Comes 2010!

2009-12-30T21:05:00.002-10:00

So, do we say "Twenty-Ten" or "Two Thousand and Ten"? I remember pondering this very question at the turn of the century... no one knew the answer back then but figured it would sort itself out by the time it actually rolled around. Well, here we are... now what?

In our family, 2010 is also known as "The Year of the Time Capsule". Way back when - 12 or 13 years ago, was it? - the kids and I made a project of studying each decade of the 20th Century. We saved the box that some of the materials came in; it was colorful and sturdy and would suit our purposes quite well. We wanted to create a family time capsule, to be opened waaaaay down the road, in 2010, an almost inconceivable time-span away.

We made up a questionnaire for each of us to answer, added some pictures, a copy of the local newspaper complete with the grocery ads, and also put in various objects (none of which I remember now). After reading everyone's entries aloud - to the amusement of us all - the whole thing was duct-taped shut and set in the basement for safe-keeping. A solemn vow was made that we would all gather again, knowing even then that Life would have led us far and wide by that time, so we could open the capsule together.

Every year I would write on the December page of the new calendar, "Remember: Time Capsule - 2010". And now, here we are, right on the verge of that particular year.

Our youngest, Kerry, has been Keeper of the Capsule since the break-up of our old farm. (We love these kinds of honorary titles in our family!) One day, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle and trauma of moving out, she gave a little gasp and rushed downstairs. She had all-of-a-sudden remembered the Time Capsule, still tucked away on its ledge in the basement! Ever since then, she has kept it safe in a closet or cupboard, taking it with her each time she moved.

We are pretty spread out at present: Mike & I in Hawaii; Lori & Dave up in Anchorage; Chris & Katie in Bonners; and Kerry in the Seattle area. But somehow, we will do our best to make the Opening of the Time Capsule happen with all of us present. Including spouses. That was specified even way back when the capsule was being created. I think it had something to do with some of the answers on that questionnaire...

Wishing you all a joyous New Year with many exciting discoveries of your own!

Remembering Winter Solstice

2009-12-12T14:51:00.004-10:00

For your holiday reading pleasure ~

Yule is an ancient fire festival, taking place on December 21st, the longest night of the year. It is a calling for the sun to return to us, to bring back the light and banish darkness, or at least to keep it from consuming us with cold and misery and doubt. And for our family, Yule was the best of the Winter festivals.

A huge bonfire pile would have been slowly built all year long, starting with last year's dried out Christmas tree. Every time a fruit tree was pruned in the spring, the boughs would go onto the bonfire pile. All summer long, barrowloads of scrap wood from whatever building projects were taking place that year would be added. The trimmings and thinnings, the branches blown down in storms, log ends from the woods, or broken pallets and crates - all would be heaved up onto the growing pile in hopes of a bright blaze come Winter.

When the weather turned damp and gray in Autumn, the pile would be covered with an old tarp. Days grew shorter and colder, darker and dreary. The procession of Autumnal holidays helped brighten our spirits and our homes. Pretty soon now, the glorious day would arrive! Snow might bury the bonfire mound in a blanket of icy whiteness. Some years, when the snows were particularly heavy and deep, we'd have to shovel a path from the house, into the field to the waiting pile - and then dig out the pile itself before the ceremony could begin!

As the Winter Solstice approached, invitations were sent out to family and friends. This was always our biggest party of the year!

Guests would arrive at dusk. Everyone brought food for the groaning board, so called because the table would be completely covered with delectables, both savory and sweet. Each guest would also bring something to add to the bonfire. This could be anything from a stick of firewood to a specially woven corn dolly, a gnarly twisted root found on a hike, or a letter to a dearly departed one - each would be added to the pyre.

Bundled up against the icy cold of mid-winter's night, we become mesmerized by the fingers of flame licking their way up the pile. It crackles and pops as fire begins to take hold. Pine needles sizzle and glow. Sparks fly to the starry night sky. We roast ourselves, slowly turning in place to warm first one side, then the other, alternating the heat of the flame with the chill of the northern night. Light and dark. Yin and yang.

We begin to circle around the now-blazing bonfire, tramping a path through the snow, and chanting, "Bring back the Sun, bring back the Sun."

Circle three times... and then break out the fireworks!

These are the ones we had stashed away since last summer, saved especially for Solstice. There is no better time for bright fountains, whizzing rockets, and crackling sparklers than on the longest night of the year, in the middle of a snowy field, each individual crystal of snow reflecting back each spark of light!

Back to the house now. Ablaze with Christmas tree lights and the lights of dozens of candles, the festivities continue indoors. A huge pile of snowboots, thick winter coats, scarves, hats, and mittens fills the entryway. Once you clamber over this barrier, adding your own layers to it, there are tables of all sorts of good foods, mugs of hot and spicy cider, music and laughter and conversation.

Many will eventually wander back outside to the still-blazing bonfire, drawn like moths by the attraction of its flames. The sharp smell of smoke drifts across the fields on this icy northern night, the most special night of our year.

The sun will return... tomorrow.

* * * * *
I wish you all a Blessed Yule, and a Merry Christmas!

Korea Trip - Part 4

2009-11-12T09:00:00.024-10:00

Over the mountains and through the mountains, lots of tunnels, past and through cities... we traveled on. The air was so smoky that we couldn't really see the mountains or the ocean. Instead, we passed the time on the bus eating crunchy persimmons and hearing stories about Dr Park's family (from Korea) and the history of Korea - fascinating and sad, both of them. At the Sacheon rest area I bought a headscarf like the egg farmer's wife wore; it will be perfect for keeping the scorching summer sun off my neck and shoulders while working out in the garden.

In the late afternoon, we arrived at the Goseong County Agriculture Training Center. Now this is the way to do it! This place had the healthiest, most relaxed animals we'd seen, by far! And again, no smell due to the IMO used in the feed and in the deep bedding (we're talking 3-4 feet deep!). A After a tour of the barns, we were given a video presentation - all in Korean but interesting anyway... and we were being videotaped the entire time, too. Would have liked more time here, but the Serbia-Spain group was arriving for their tour right after our visit, so... on to the next place.

The kiwi farm was housed inside a gorgeous tall, arched greenhouse with screened-in walls to help soften the off-shore winds. We were at the southern coast now, which is dotted with some 300 small islands, all very exotic and picturesque. Looking towards the coast, we see this view (by the way, this is not the kiwi greenhouse in this photo!):There was a mild evening breeze that day, with lovely ocean views, but when a storm does blow in, the roof can be closed up as needed. There had been flooding last spring that caused some injury to the vines, so he was very apologetic about the poor state of his crop. It looked like a bounteous harvest to us, and we all did our best to show our appreciation of his delicious, juicy fruit eaten right there in the orchard. Saw the IMO production and mineralized water set-up for the plants. We were served coffee, green tea, and fresh kiwi slices for a treat. Everyone signed the guestbook before it was time to move on. By this time it was dark. We headed for Goseong City, population 56,000. Dinner was a delicious duck soup at the Nil Pom (Constant Spring) Restaurant. The soup had "special herbs" in it, one of which looked like a stalk of rose bush, called calapansa or something like that (not sure of the pronunciation, or spelling). Apparently, just for flavoring and health benefits - not to be eaten. The meal was yummy; I liked the rice gruel too. Mike and I had a little evening stroll outside in the cool evening air while the others finished up.
A 10-minute ride through the city took us to the Prince Hotel, a nice room for the night. Like all the hotels here, the room was way overheated, so the first thing we did was open the window to let in some cooler air. The floors are heated so one never really gets the room cool, but the breeze coming in helps a lot. As it was, I didn't sleep very well, but a nice hot shower helped revive me enough for another busy day.

Once we were all packed up on the bus again, it was a short drive and a little walk, past some interesting little shops, for our breakfast meeting with Mayor Lee, Hak Lul and his entourage, at "a very famous restaurant" that I never did get the name of. We were seated right next to the Mayor, a young man who had spent 6 years in the US and spoke good English. He is a great supporter of Natural Farming and we had a lovely lively conversation with him over spicy fish soup and many seaweed side dishes.
A tomato farm was our first stop of the day. These very healthy plants were Unicorn variety. We learned that too much nitrogen attracts the whitefly - a common greenhouse pest - and that spraying with calcium-phosphorus solution is the remedy. In Natural Farming, we get this solution from eggshells or bones.
Next was a very high-tech glass greenhouse full of bell peppers grown hydroponically. There did seem to be a bit of powdery mildew here, most likely due to the higher humidity from the hydroponics. The plants were huge, the tallest pepper plants I've ever seen, and loaded with peppers!
We found out that we'd been on tv last night... and would be again this evening as well!! The videographer was getting some good footage of our official tour group, apparently.
Next up, we got to stretch our legs a bit as we walked past rice fields to a small persimmon farm in a lovely country setting. There we tasted the very best persimmons in the world! Excellent flavor in both the crunchy and soft persimmons. The sun began to break through the clouds, and we all began shedding sweaters and jackets.

And on to a zucchini farm run by an ex-gangster! He had some really nice looking plants, all trained to grow vertically. He gave us a great video presentation of his farm and the innovative ideas he's had for packaging and marketing his squash. This is also the guy who talked the Mayor of Goseong County into supporting Natural Farming in the first place!

After this whirlwind of farm tours, we spent the rest of the morning at the Goseong Dinosaur Expo. It was huge and fantastic! Life size replicas of the many dinosaurs whose remains have been found along this coastline of Korea. The museum was also filled with hundreds of schoolchildren who would call out "hello! hello!" to us... and be delighted when I'd reply "hello!" Their teacher said they were all second-graders and she was interested in where I was from. Hey, if you're not Asian, you really stand out in Korea and the people are so curious and polite, and they really want to practice and improve their English; I found myself having these conversations many times throughout our travels there. I love it! So I had a nice little conversation with the teacher while the kids were entranced by another dinosaur display, and then I got lots of photos of these excited little kids!

The views from the grounds were stunning, overlooking the bay:Across one arm of the bay, was a ship-building yard:

Had an excellent lunch at what we called the Happy Pig restaurant - I have no idea of its real name. Instead of the usual pots of broth bubbling away on the table, there were little grills this time, and platters of pork belly and shiitake mushrooms waiting to be cooked. Mike was in hog heaven sitting right in front of one of the grills and having a blast at the mini-bbq! Oh my, that was a delicious meal!

The long bus ride back up to Seoul took up the entire afternoon, with a few quick pit stops along the way. At the San Cheong Rest Area, there was a display of beautiful bonsai trees for sale:As we drove on and on, there was a gorgeous red sunset:
Crossed the Han River at 7:33pm. Seoul is an enormous, bustling city! We went right downtown to the Doota Shopping Center for a late dinner on the seventh floor, at their version of a food court:Then outside for a stroll along the canal. It used to be a sewage canal, but you wouldn't know it. Lots of people taking in the night at this ribbon of park. There was a sax player under one of the bridges - but darn, not enough light for a photo. Lots of city lights though, lots of color and life, and those humongous tv screens on the sides of building. Quite overwhelming for a country girl like me!Back to the Doota for a little souvenir shopping. Our city guide, June, was great at haggling for lower prices for us at each little shop. Thank you, June!

We spent our last night in Korea at the Dragon Hills Spa, a 'sauna hotel'. Sorry, no photos allowed here! The first thing you do is, of course, take off your shoes. You stuff them in a little locker and take the wristband key. They hand you a uniform and 2 small towels which you take into either the men's or women's changing rooms, which are on different floors of this 6-story building. I'll admit, I wasn't really looking forward to this, but it turned out to be rather pleasant, except for the lack of sleeping space. At first, Tanya and I, being the only non-Korean speaking women left in our group, clung to eachother with big wide eyes. But after an hour or so, I got to know my way around a little and felt more at ease. I loved the women-only area - it felt very liberating and nice. You find the bigger locker that corresponds to the number on your key and stash all your clothes and stuff in there. Then you can relax, naked, in any of the variety of saunas, hot pools, showers, or spa treatments. Or, if you want to go out into the common areas, you put on the uniform shorts & shirt, and there are more saunas, as well as computers, tv, snack bar, massage chairs, and just space for men & women together. The whole place is floored in huge marble tiles, warmed from beneath, and glistening clean. There was a cold room too, which felt absolutely delicious. I spent a while in there, catching up my journal. A young Korea man was impressed with my writing - just the act of it I think - and we got into conversation about the places I'd visited and if I liked Korea. (Everyone asks this.) Much of this conversation was done with smiles and signing and nodding, but we both seemed to enjoy it. I had a great massage chair treatment - it was so nice, I talked Mike into getting one too! The downside of this place is that there's really no where to sleep. There are stacks of vinyl-covered foam blocks; you take one of these for a pillow and just lie down anywhere - really, any piece of floor that's not already occupied by a sleeping body - and that's where you're supposed to sleep. Uh-huh. Yeah, that's not gonna work for me. We wandered all over every floor in search of maybe a cushion, bench, or chair to lie down on... all were already taken. (See, it's not just us!) Finally, finally, at about 2 in the morning, we stumbled upon a long couch out near the foyer and pounced upon it. Sure, it was kinda noisy and brightly lit... but we managed a few measly catnaps off and on for the remaining few hours of night. Mike got up a couple times to see if he could possibly unplug that damn video game around the corner, but no, it was hardwired; I bet it had been unplugged maybe one time too many.

And so, on our last morning, exhausted - but clean! - we ate a quick, not-so-good bowl of noodles for breakfast at the sauna hotel, and boarded the bus once more. Everybody agreed that, interesting though the experience was, a sauna hotel is not the best place for the night before traveling.

A morning of sight-seeing through the city by bus...

...and one more stop: the National Palace historic grounds & Museum. We had an hour to wander about this awesome place.
The stupa with monks under the sacred tree:
On to the airport for a quick rearranging of the suitcases and carry-ons. Goodbyes to the Parks (staying on for a few days) and the Chos, with many hugs.
Customs and immigration - no problem.
Check-in, boarding... and off to Tokyo/Narita airport, then back across the western half of the Pacific Ocean on the L---O---N---G flight home.
At last, many, many hours later... we arrived at our own front door... finally collapsed into our own comfy bed... and slept for 12 hours straight.

I am so very glad we seized the opportunity to do this trip, to have this experience, and to learn so much more about the Korean Natural Farming methods. Thank you, Mike! Now let's put what we've learned into practice and transform our own place!! :-)

oops!

2009-11-11T08:32:00.004-10:00

...there was going to be a link to the pics of our trip but all the captions disappeared, so I will keep working on that, as well as on the next installment of our trip story...

Korea trip - Part 3

2009-11-07T11:54:00.019-10:00

After lunch, it was a short drive to the rice factory. This little place can process 500 acres-worth of rice in a day! The woman who runs it (with her husband who was ill) gave us the tour. The place was very noisy because they are working full tilt during this harvest season. The result is 5x cleaned translucent white small-grain rice, all bagged up and ready to be cooked . The rice bran is bagged too - smells and tastes sweet.We left the bus parked there and walked on down the road. Oh, that bit of exercise felt good! Passed a woodworking factory where a couple men were hand-notching huge poles that would be used to create a traditional Korean house, like this one on display:It was lovely and cool inside, with wonderful open beam construction. This house is kept cool, or warm depending on the season, by it's thick red clay walls, as well as the low ventilation windows (seen below the 'regular height' windows in the photo above). Very elegant and graceful, and though it looks like a simple structure, upon closer inspection one sees the superb detailing: every notch fits perfectly, all the shutters are hand-carved into lattice work. It felt very calm and relaxing... much cooler than the outside sunshiny day... A little park across the road was full of exercise equipment and benches under the trees.But we must be off to the next stop: the Model Livestock Farm with pigs, cows, and chickens all housed inside big open buildings - and NO SMELL!! I know it's hard to believe, but with deep bedding (3-4 feet) and the IMOs added to both feed and bedding, their waste is decomposed so quickly that the stinky bacteria don't develop. The farm family had prepared another lunch for us: a spicy chicken and potato dish which we ate in a lovely little covered platform right over a little stream. We did our best, but had just eaten recently... and it was spicy! I did like the potatoes though.

One more stop for the day: the Gokseong Train Village, a cute little tourist spot. The rose gardens were extensive with over 300 varieties of roses from all over Europe. We got to meet the man who designed this garden, as well as the most recent graduates of Mr Cho's training program waiting for us in the garden. Mr Cho was moved to tears at this surprise. He's getting old and had been ridiculed for 40 years in his own country, until just recently when younger, more progressive leaders (like the 2 mayors we met and even the President of Korea!) have taken in his message of Natural Farming and developed these model farms and co-ops throughout the southern Counties of South Korea.
And then... past more flowers and spirit poles... and on to the trains! Cycle-cars for everyone! Mike & I shared a car with Mrs Park and Donald Ikeda, one of our own Councilmen. We all had great fun, lots of laughs, and more good exercise. Here's the view from our car:And then... we met the Mayor of Gokseong County, Mr Jo Hyeong-Lae. This was a very official meeting, with Mr Ikeda presenting a formal invitation from our own Mayor to be sister-counties with Gokseong. I was chosen to hand him our gift bag from the group, I think because he was looking directly at me the entire time he gave his welcoming speech!After the ceremonies were over, and all the hand-shaking was done, we wandered around the trains and to the old movie set that's there.

Dinner downtown at the Hundred Flowers Restaurant, reputed to be one of the best in Korea! We had so much food today - and here was some more, all of it delicious. Crabs, all kinds of little shellfish to suck on, raw Korean beef, slices of sweet potato, zucchini, and so much more. Mike & Donald had a jolly time drinking shoji, a local rice alcohol. We all slept well that night!

Awoke to an overcast, cloudy day. Quite a bit cooler, but feels very nice. Breakfast at the Jeon Highway Stop, special-ordered to be "not too spicy". Mrs Cho, sitting across from me, showed me the proper way to eat my rice & vegies with a fried egg on top: with a spoon, and all mixed up, in case you wondered. The chopsticks are for the soup (!), to pick out the solid bits before you slurp down the broth. O-kay. Mike found the road map we'd been looking for and got the bus driver to mark out our route. Ms Cho circled the towns we've been visiting, too. Perfect!

Back on the bus, Mrs Park handed out little trick-or-treat bags to commemorate Halloween - how cute! It was a pretty festive mood as we headed into the mountains. It looks a lot like North Idaho, surprisingly! Our first farm was a chicken egg farm. I didn't care for the way these chickens were all crowded together. Good baby chick set-up though. Beautiful views!
Lunch at the "Good" Restaurant - don't know what it's actually called but this sign assured us that we were on the right track:Lunch was as tasty as ever, and the presentation was great. We even got to sit on chairs this time!Across the street was a landmark historic fort and it's attending village, dating from the 1360's. This is the best-preserved fortress in Korea from the time when Japan invaded way back when... This is where the dynasty turned them back, so it is considered a very important place. We got to look in for just a bit. Today it's filled with vendors and so fascinating! Tried some malt taffy-like candy - it was good; and some crunchy roasted beetles, supposed to be a real treat - they were interesting but I'd just go with the taffy next time, thanks.
To be continued...

Korea Trip - Part 2

2009-11-05T11:00:00.021-10:00

Slept like a rock at the Green Hotel, and felt rather like we slept on one too - that was one hard mattress! But we were so tired that even the flashing red neon sign outside this "Love Hotel" couldn't keep us awake for long.

The next morning was cool and foggy. It felt great! On the bus early and headed to another traditional Korean breakfast banquet. This morning it was a delicious soup with chunks of tofu, fish, and sweet squash - just slightly spicy and very warming - plus all the usual side dishes. Lots of great conversation too, as the fellow tour members all get to know each other better. By the time breakfast was over, the sun was burning off the fog.We headed into Gokseong County and pulled up at the Gokseong County Agriculture Technical Center where Mr Cho KyungHun, the Team Leader, gave us a warm welcome. They had a big banner gracing the doorway. This county is one of the leaders in the Natural Farming methods (along with Goseong County which we visit later). Licorice, angelica, ginger, garlic, and cinnamon are the ingredients used in the preparation of Oriental Herbal Medicine (OHM), used for plants, animals, and people - and by the way, it is delicious stuff! We sampled some of the fermented crabapple juice too - yum.
We had a very informative step-by-step tour of the Center. Rows upon rows of clay jars of all sizes hold various liquids, rice mats cover piles of IMO on the dirt floors, a vat full of fermented fish juice bubbles away in the back...There was a wonderfully illustrated series of posters explaining each step of the process for each of the IMOs, OHM, FPJ, FFJ, etc. I will write more about all these methods we're learning in a later post, after I get you all through our trip.

Our next stop was the local Farmer's Market which is held every 5 days. It was amazing! Loads of all sorts of vegetables. Stacks of shoes of every kind. Baskets & brooms, buckets & tools, clothes & blankets. Piles of fruits & fishes, meats & seaweeds, herbs & seeds, and so much more.
We all wandered about immersing ourselves in the marketplace and taking loads of photos.
It's hard to chose only a few pictures...
The marketplace was fantastic, and though I didn't buy anything, I sure had a fun time mingling with the crowds of Gokseong County.

Onwards! A short ride to a melon farm, owned by a woman farmer. Not much was translated for us non-Korean speakers in the group (there were 8 of us in this category), but the melons looked good, almost like cantaloupes but they're green inside like a moon melon... I mean, honeydew. She had them growing vertically to better utilize the space inside her two greenhouses.
Next, another apple orchard inside a "vinyl house", ie a plastic-covered greenhouse. These huge apples were growing on 2-year-old trees that reached the ceiling! The farmer plucked one off the tree to make a point, and then gave it to me with a little bow and a big smile. :-) It was so crunchy, juicy and sweet - and as big as two apples! I shared it with Mike.
Back on the road, I saw a few goats tethered to graze on the banks of a stream. We've noticed that there haven't been many pastures or yards of animals here; they tend to keep them in inside open-sided barns. Even the Natural Farmers that we saw do it that way, which doesn't exactly seem natural to me. We will think of a better way.

Lunch at the Han-Bo "Happiness" Restaurant, with hot red peppers drying outside. Another delicious spread of food awaiting us at two tables this time, instead of the usual one long one. I especially enjoyed the egg dish, the small salted shrimp, and the abalone. This day was so very busy, exploring more of Gokseong County... I'll do the rest in the next post.
Stay tuned...

Korea Trip - Part 1

2009-11-03T11:16:00.022-10:00

After a L---O---N---G flight across the rest of the Pacific Ocean to Tokyo, it was another 2-hours to Incheon. Easy trip through immigration and customs, pick up the luggage, and out to the little tour bus that would become so very familiar over the course of the week.

(I think I'll break my no-photos-on-the-blog page rule, and throw in an appropriate one now & then. Great apologies to my dial-up readers... I will eventually post our trip photos in my Picasa album, but I'm having some trouble with it so give me a few days to get it figured out.)

Inside, the bus was wildly decorated in pinks & purples, gold trim, tassels & curtains - definitely exotic! Everybody's luggage was piled up in the first rows, so we couldn't see the driver at all, or out the front window. There were tinted windows all around, and fold out seats to fill the aisles for the other 4 people not shown in the above photo. It was already dark so there wasn't much to see anyway on our long ride to the coast.

Slept really well that first night, at the Sunrise Hotel. Beautiful room with a spectacular morning view overlooking the bay full of fishing boats.

Mike & I had a lovely morning stroll along the boardwalk; Dr Park joined us for some of it and others did tai chi on the ocean's edge.

After packing our bags into the bus, we headed around the corner to breakfast at one of the many fish restaurants in this Sunrise Cove area. The owner was the same friendly man who'd smiled at us on our walk. There was a huge banquet laid out for us, complete with their specialty: live octopus boiled right before our eyes! Okay, I want full credit for this one: When I was served my portion of octopus head, cut into quarters with a pair of scissors, thus turning the delicious broth all inky, I was able to actually summoned up my inner Bourdain/Zimmern... I took up a piece with those slippery metal chopsticks they use in Korea, brains sticking out and everything... and I must say, it was surprisingly delicious! I ate the whole thing! Also had chrysanthemum leaves with sesame seeds, but that doesn't sound nearly as exotic now.

Korea has a great highway system, each section with its own toll-gate, and all criss-crossing eachother. Tunnels take you right through the mountainous regions. Once you pull off the highway, the roads are still good but very narrow, which is why we have a small tour bus: so it'll be able to navigate the country roads where the farms are. There are lots of rivers, and irrigation canals in some areas. Rice and vegetables grow everywhere and anywhere that's big enough to grow something, even in the cities.
Our first farm visit was in DamJin at Mr Choi's apple orchard, all covered in bird netting. These trees are only 2 years old and already producing big juicy Fuji apples! He also has a huge IMO making machine that does the work of several weeks in a couple hours. We got to see this in action, and by the time we returned from our orchard walk, the finished product was coming out. Mr Choi also has quite a large array of solar panels to generate electricity, both for the farm and for income as he sells the excess power back to the utility company.

Loaded with a bucket of apples for the road and packets of fresh apple juice, we were on the road to the next place: Mr Kim's persimmon farm in the "Path to Heaven" area. It is an absolutely beautiful place farmed by this gentle man who led us up the hill through his orchard, and gave us a little talk under the trees about his methods and relationship to the land. Meanwhile, all around us honey bees buzzed and a half-dozen workers quietly harvested the ripe fruit by hand. We all got to wander about and find our own persimmons to munch on - super soft, tender and dripping with juice on the first bite... or crisp and crunchy, like an apple.
One more farm today. As the sun was setting we pulled in to Mr Park Sang Oh's strawberry greenhouses. Unfortunately, there had been a recent leak in the irrigation system and Mr Park really needed to attend to that, so he couldn't spend much time with us there. We peeked in at some beautiful lush strawberry plants (not fruiting at this time if year, too bad). Mr Cho gave us a little talk about Natural Farming, translated by Dr Park.

We headed out just as darkness fell. Went to have dinner at the Double Bridge Barbeque Rib restaurant and soon Mr Park joined us to give his farm talk and share a delicious kahlbi dinner. There was so much food! We learned that Mr Park is the president of a 53-member farmers co-op, and they all do this Natural Farming method! The restaurant specializes in food produced this way... no wonder it was so tasty! Dessert was persimmon tea (more like soup) and it was superb, spiced with cinnamon and a little ginger.

And finally at the end of a busy day, we pulled into the Green Hotel, a seedy little place - well, not too little: we were on the 5th floor! - what they call a 'Love Hotel'. You can guess what that means... and if you need a hint, here's our bed for the night:

Hot pink & silver wallpaper, shall we say 'interesting' little night stand objects for our 'pleasure', a too-hot room, and a faint odor of cigarettes... We aired the room, turned on the a/c, and fell sound asleep.

To be continued...

Home Again, Safe & Sound

2009-11-01T14:50:00.010-10:00

An Nyung Ha Se Yo! ...which is actually slurred together to sound like: anyoahsayoh (accent on 'ah').

We made it home safe & sound, though sorely sleep-deprived. Until last night, we had gone 78 hours with a grand total of maybe 5-6 hours of sleep, none of it deep and not all at once. We are still working on catching up and readjusting to Hawaii timezone. It felt soooo good to sleep in our own comfy bed, I can't even begin to describe it.

The trip was wonderful! We both loved Korea, learned tons, made friends. I took 512 photos which I am already working on. And Mike took 404, some of which were short video clips. (Don't worry, I won't post them all!) I'm really glad we got to do this, to immerse ourselves in such a foreign culture. And I'm really glad to be back home again, too. I will write all about it after I get a bit more sleep.

One bad thing: my camera got cracked somehow on the way home. :-( As our girls both said, good that it was on the way home. Mike says he is getting me a new one for my birthday! :-)

Okay, that's it for now... need... sleep...

South Korea, Here We Come!

2009-10-21T13:02:00.002-10:00

An Nyung Ha Se Yo! That's 'Hello!' in Korean. Gotta practice our few phrases, y'know.
Man Na So Ban Gap Soop Ni Da. (It's a pleasure to meet you.)

We are sure getting all excited about our trip to South Korea!!! The reality of it all is just starting to sink in. Only a few days before we leave! Those of you who know me will realize that this means we are, of course, just about all packed. Our at-home support team is all lined up, so the chickens will be looked after and things will run smoothly at the hale while we're gone. No worries!

We're flying out of Hilo this Sunday morning, on Hawaiian Airlines to Honolulu. From there we switch to Japan Airlines which is supposed to be the cream of the crop. We have a layover in Tokyo but not enough time to go out into that big city, darn it. Maybe next time - hehe! Then it's a shorter flight to Incheon, the big airport outside Seoul. To return, we reverse all this, and will arrive back on the Big Island on Halloween.

It's a 19 hour time difference from Hawaii, which works out to -5 hours & the next day. There's that pesky International Date Line in there just to confuse things further, don't you know. We were told to pack an alarm clock, and I'm sure we will need it!

From Incheon, we'll be heading south into the countryside and farming communities of ChoongNam, DangJin, DamYang, GokSeong, SoonCheon, JeonNam, GoSeong, GyungNam, and then back to Seoul. We get to visit persimmon & strawberry farms the very first day! It will be Ah Joo Jae Mi It So Yo! (Very interesting!) This is supposed to be the best time of year to visit, weatherwise, but it'll probably still feel rather cool to us. Kinda like San Fransisco temps. Sounds lovely!

Yong So Hae Joo Se Yo (please excuse me), but we will most likely be incommunicado for the duration of this trip. Our cell won't work in Korea so we're not even bringing it. We're not bringing the laptop either. But we WILL both be taking LOADS of photos! And I promise to write again very soon after we return.

An Nyung Hi Ga Se Yo! (Good-bye!)
Liz

It's Official...

2009-10-07T12:23:00.005-10:00

We bought our tickets to South Korea!! Whoo-hoo!! :-D
I was as surprised as you are now when Mike said, "Let's do it!", but I wasn't going to say no, now was I?

At the end of the month, we'll be joining a group of Big Islanders to do a Natural Farm Tour in this country that we'd never even thought about visiting before. What an opportunity! It'll be a 6-night whirlwind tour of many farms across the southern countryside, staying at little local hotels, eating traditional foods, and learning a lot more about Natural Farming.

We got interested in this all of this when we attended a Korean Natural Farming Method workshop that Rozett's, a local nursery, was hosting. Dr Hoon Park was the main speaker, and there were a couple others as well, all practicing this method here on the wet side of the Big Island - so we know it works locally. He spoke of and demonstrated various techniques for creating IMO, Indigenous Micro-Organisms, which is an integral part of Natural Farming methods. This workshop was so interesting that just about all the 60 people in attendance stayed for the entire 4 hours - and it was scheduled to be only a 1-1/2 hour class! I took over 20 pages of notes!!

One very interesting fact that was revealed is that the Big Island of Hawaii had a larger population, and was completely self-sufficient, in ancient times. Now, we are so reliant on shipping goods here that there is only a 3-day food supply in the grocery stores! That's insane! You know that I have a well-stocked pantry, good farm girl that I am, and we are learning to grow more and more of our own produce, as well as finding places to glean wild fruits from the jungle. But there is so much more we could do to make our little 1-acre farm more productive - and that's where these IMO's come in.

It's a long, involved process that I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that by increasing the micro-organisms and using them to speed up the decomposition of organic substances, we are thereby creating enzymes, and making nutrients more available to the plants. This in turn balances the ecosystem and increases the productivity of the garden. Everybody wins! It's all done with whatever natural stuff you have on hand: egg shells, old cooked rice, fish scraps, chopped sugar cane, weeds, bones, vinegar, ocean water... They all have their specific uses in Natural Farming. It's a very good compliment to the organic farming we've long done, an enhancement really, to make everybody grow that much better.

IMO is even used to keep down the smell of pigs & chickens. It's true! We visited a pig farm in Kea'au that uses this method. Even with 20 pigs, there was absolutely NO smell!! I couldn't believe it! We will be integrating this method with our chickens; in fact, one of the farms we'll visit in Korea is a chicken farm.

Back to the trip: Dr Park will act as interpreter and has made all the arrangements for our guides in Korea, the farms we'll visit, lodging, meals, transportation, etc. The l-o-n-g flight over is on Japan Airlines. We'll have our passports stamped 'for real' this time. (We begged the officer at the Canadian border to stamp them for us to commemorate our many trips across the border when we lived in Idaho; he laughed but did it anyway.)

Let the lists begin! hmmm, I need a folder for all the papers... and I better call someone to look after the chickens... and we oughta get some iodine tablets... and... and... :-D

Summer Pics!

2009-10-03T13:50:00.002-10:00

At last! Here are some of the highlights of our summer 2009:
http://picasaweb.google.com/elizacacia/Summer2009#

Still keeping this blog free of photos which can take ages to download for those on dial-up. I know, I've been there. Very grateful for our high-speed!

In these pics you will join us for our 3rd of July Backyard BBQ Bash... drive all the way up Mauna Kea to watch the sun set... meet new grandbaby Kirsi... spend time with our adorable grandchildren in Idaho... check out our first ever harvest of garnet yams... hike through the woods... and take a look at some of the flowers blooming now in the garden.

Enjoy!

Writing

2009-09-28T17:02:00.004-10:00

It's not that I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately... it's just that I haven't been doing it here.

I'm part of a writing group that meets every couple weeks here in Pahoa. We take turns hosting and meeting at eachother's houses. It's an intimate group of 8 or so, each with a distinctive style and voice. We usually take turns reading something of our own creation, then gently commenting around the circle, always with respect for the author. Since we've been meeting for several months now, we have a pretty good feel for each other and are able to give and receive useful feedback. Many of us are writing life stories, but we have each had such different lives! Some of us write poetry in various forms. There's a magazine writer who is working on a book of local lore. A retired professor with the heart of a Sufi poet. A performance artist preparing for poetry slams. Sometimes the works shared are humorous, others are sad, or practical, or evocative, or scary... I always come away from our meetings with such a good feeling, growing confidence, and inspired to write more!

I have a dear friend here on the island, but she lives upcountry so we don't get together often enough. Maybe only once a week or so. We do however send emails back and forth each day, and sometimes several times a day. Once in a rare while we'll pick up the phone, but mostly it's emails. We exchange recipes, list what we've done that day, give and seek advice, offer comfort, gossip... all the usual friend stuff. When we finally do get together in person, we're all caught up with each other's news, so it's easy to carry on from there.

My daughters got me started on Facebook a few months ago, and now I'm hooked. Many of my former 4-H kids have found me there, as well as some other Bonners Ferry friends. Several nieces too! I'm finding it a delightful way to keep in touch with those who I might not ever hear from otherwise, like my step-sister (hi Jenny!). I'm not out to collect vast amounts of online "friends", but I do appreciate the ability to keep in touch this way with folks I actually know. It's quick and easy to leave a little note on someone else's page, or to leave a short update on my own. With a few clicks of the mouse, I can check in with my girls and other FB friends. If a longer communication is desired, we generally switch over to email or - gasp! - pick up the phone. All this really helps me feel less isolated here on this rock in the middle of the vast ocean.

And then there's my journal. I still write every night before bed. This is something I started years and years ago, so there are many, many books now filled with a line or two, a paragraph, or pages of what happened each day. I will write a book about all those experiences someday... For now, they come in handy to look back at just when a particular occurrence took place: Was it just 2 weeks ago that we last went to the pool or has it been longer? When was the last big rain? What was the name of that beach where I almost drowned? It can be interesting to reread the days of my life. Sometimes I want to reminisce about my child-raising years, or relive the trips I've taken, or look back on our first weeks after moving here to our new home in Hawaii. And then, I find the right journal entry, and there it is...

But I haven't abandoned this blog either!
Ke aloha,
Liz

Transition Complete

2009-08-22T10:07:00.004-10:00

I used to say that this blog was documenting my transition from one life to the other, but that transition seems to be well completed now. This is definitely home, and it feels so good to be back to it!

We were gone for 3 weeks, visiting 2 of our 3 kids: Kerry in Lynnwood, and Chris & Katie & their beautiful kiddos in Bonners Ferry. (Lori's turn next time.) Had some wonderful fun times with Jimmy & Kirsi, our adorable grandchildren who I just can't get enough of. Our good friends, Karen & Weezil, were great hosts, providing us with the whole top floor of their old farmhouse, a minivan to use, lovely fresh produce for the garden, and much solace and good company throughout our 2 weeks there. They taught us a game called Rummikub, which we'd play just about every night before bedtime. We were able to connect with several other friends, too, for which I am truly grateful.

(You will notice a marked lack of news about the rest of the relatives and the old farm; this is not accidental. Most of you already know what happened anyway.)

We definitely lightened our load even further on this trip! Had a huge sale - broke all my old yardsale records! - and now have only a tiny unit with the last few treasures that we simply don't yet have room for here. Much was given away, and a few last armloads of books traded at the best bookstore I've ever come across anywhere, Bonners Books. I managed to use up all my credit there too, which means new books coming over soon! Mike built 4 wooden crates to fill a 4'x4' pallet, 4' tall, which will ship out from Port of Seattle on Sunday and make its way to Port of Hilo within 2-3 weeks. One of the crates is filled with books! Now that we have the dehumidifiers to keep the damp under control, it's not so nerve-wracking to bring our treasured tomes to the island.

Another few days with Kerry, much cooler temps and a really nice time, and then HOME AT LAST!!!!! YES!!!

We gave ourselves a few days to decompress, rising early each morning to watch the sunrise over the ocean (our inner clocks still on west coast time). Hacked back the jungle and mowed the lawns right away - it's just astounding how much things grew in only 3 weeks! Lots of banana peppers, tomatoes & kale in the screenhouse; chickens all healthy and happy (mahalo Ivy & Tim!). Vacation rental guests were nicely settled in (mahalo Willow!). And our studio was just exactly as we left it.

And now life is getting back into full swing. This weekend we will be attending a Gourmet Camp-Out with our International Dinner group. A great chance to try out our new camping gear! It'll take place at Kalopa State Park, way up on the Hamakua Coast. We've never been there before but are looking forward to hiking through huge old trees, visiting & eating with friends, sleeping in our tent, and just generally having a good time.

Lots of grandkid pics will follow, but not today... I gotta get going. It's another beautiful day here on the Big island, after a rainy night and morning, and I want to get outside!

A hui hou,
Liz

Playing Tourist

2009-07-09T09:51:00.005-10:00

My mom is in the middle of her 2-1/2 week visit here, so we've been going to all the scenic view points, waterfalls, museums, beaches, shops, and so on. It's been great fun playing tourist, although day after day rubbing elbows with real tourists is rather wearing. Ahh, well - life as a local, eh? ;-)

We had a big Backyard Barbeque Bash on the 3rd to kick off the Independence Day weekend, so Mom got to meet many more of our new friends at that time. That was a fun party and our first big to-do since we moved here! 26 people attended, 3 bbq's and a hibachi, loads of good food & drink, lots of laughs... but no fireworks. In Hawaii, one must buy a permit to set off even the sidewalk variety fireworks or any type of firecrackers (and there are more of them than I ever imagined!); no aerials allowed. We thought of going in to Hilo in the evening for their big display, shot out over the Bay from Coconut Island with the County Brass Band playing accompaniment to the spectacle. It's supposed to be a pretty good show and someday we'll do it. But we had been up at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) for most of the day on the 4th. We did all the sights around Crater Rim Drive; had lunch at the edge of Kilauea Crater; did the wine-tasting at Volcano Winery. So that was enough fun for one day and we just turned in early instead.

The next day was our regular First Sunday Beach Day. It started out with drenching downpours, but Richardson Beach Park is invariably the first spot to dry out; little by little the clouds thinned out and finally disappeared and we had sunshine before long. It was a great day for swimming in the ocean! Mike stayed out snorkeling for a couple hours, and he has the sunburned back to prove it! Only one big old honu (sea turtle) that day; usually there are a dozen or so at Richardson's.

I guess we needed some kind of excuse to get all the way back up to the Waipi'o Valley overlook. Happy to report the area is as gorgeous as ever. And Laupahoehoe Point is still hauntingly beautiful, with a new information board about the tsunami that wiped out the town in the 1940's. Up in Kamuela/Waimea (yes, the town has 2 names), we were disappointed to find that the Parker Ranch Museum has closed. We peeked in the window, into the darkened interior and it looks stunning; I wonder if they will reopen at some point?

It hasn't all been running around sight-seeing: I scheduled in some relaxing days at home, just hanging out & catching up. We've done the Ahalanui Warm Pond once already and will go back there again before Mom's vacation is over next week. And today I'm baking bread and catching up on correspondence. Later this afternoon, we'll drive up to Fern Forest to see the big Akatsuka orchid greenhouse and have dinner with friends.

Meanwhile, I've also been making all the necessary arrangements for our own upcoming trip back to Idaho one more time. Gotta see those grandkids!! Haven't even met little Kirsi yet, and we are sooo looking forward to seeing Jimmy again, and Chris & Katie, too, of course! We'll be spending time in Lynnwood with Kerry before & after the Idaho portion. So those will be the fun parts of the trip.

The other major reason for going is to retrieve the rest of our belongings from the old farm. We can't keep our stuff there any longer, so we will be doing a ton of transporting, sorting, packing, and I don't know what-all. Neither of us is looking forward to this aspect one bit, but it has to be done so we'll grit our teeth and get through it somehow. Thank you to our long-time good friends, Karen & Weezil, for allowing us to stay at their place for the duration; it'll be good to see them again, too.

Okay, that's enough for now. Write back!
Aloha, Liz

PS: I've added the 'followers' widget to the sidebar, for those of you who would like to know when I've updated here. Plus, it would be fun for me to know who's reading! ;-)

Summer Solstice

2009-06-21T09:54:00.003-10:00

It has been interesting to be here in Hawaii in June. Our first time ever! Last year during this month we were in Bonners Ferry & Seattle, and prior to our moving here, our vacation times ranged from the end of winter to mud season. So it really is our first ever June on the islands.

And it has been hot! Well, not today - so far - but in general. Today we're getting a succession of quick rain showers, with bright, already-hot sunshine in between. The trend is generally clearing though, which will be good for the beach croquet potluck party we've been invited to attend this afternoon.

We've been having to skip our morning walks many days. If we don't get started early enough, it's way too hot for our usual 3 mile route. On the days we do get going early, it's a lovely way to get up and moving. Saying good morning to the neighbors and folk we meet along the way is a big part of what makes this so enjoyable.
Our crossing guard friend, Manny, is an elderly local fellow who mans the crosswalks in front of the Keonepoko elementary school down the street. We always wave or talk story with him when he's out there. Now that school's closed for summer break, he's not out there twice a day of course, but it turns out that his morning walking route and ours overlap, so we do get to see him now and then still!
A couple days ago, Joe, one of the maintenance workers for the water system at the top of our street, stopped his rig to hand us a bag of mountain apples, "for a snack while you walk." These are a popular tropical delicacy, very thin-skinned and juicy. The skin can range from bright apple red to pale pink, or even brownish-red. The aroma on first bite is of rose petals! Amazing! And the texture is like a crisp and juicy pear, with one very large brown seed inside. Very refreshing and delicious.

One thing we have really noticed is that the sun moves much further to the north than we thought possible at these low latitudes. Not like north Idaho of course, but still. As the day progresses, the sun will shine through the windows on each side of the house. Good thing we didn't further thin out the kukui tree protecting the northwest window. The setting sun filters through its big green leaves and makes the nicest patterns inside. After today, old Sol will slowly make its way back southward to set behind the flanks of Mauna Loa.

I hope you are enjoying this longest day of the year!
And happy Father's Day, too!
:-)

I'm baaaaaaack!

2009-06-08T11:53:00.002-10:00

Okay, okay, I'll try to get this going again. I cannot believe how many hits I got during my long absence!! Awesome and encouraging.

There's no way to fill in all the details of the past 3 months, but those of you who have kept in touch know what's been going on with us during that time anyway. Suffice it to say, winter is long gone, spring has passed too, and we are well into summertime weather. Whoo-hoo!

I love the days when the tradewinds are a-blowing, cooling us and refreshing both air and spirits. When the trades die down, the island simmers in the heat and humidity, and the vog (volcanic haze) rolls down the mountain to choke out Hilo Bay. Fortunately for us, we were led to this wonderful little spot on the east side of the island, where the sun rises first and the freshest air blows. It doesn't take much of a breeze to clear away the vog from here, but we do feel for the folks elsewhere on the island chain, especially when the Kona winds blow from the south-southwest. Then the vog is carried right up the chain. Intersting to be so dependant on the winds and which direction they're coming from.

The garden grows like a weed, like a jungle. And the jungle grows like mad, too! Our liliko'i (passion fruit) vine has been flowering for a while now but only recently began setting fruit. We are so looking forward to bucketsfull of the luscious, juicy, tangy, sweet-tart goodness that is liliko'i. Every couple days we get a owlful of cherry tomatoes, a handful of strawberries, several calamondons. There's plenty of greens each day: bok cho, mizuna, chard, kale, broccoli, Okinawan spinach, sweetpotato greens, and more. We eat pretty well from the garden. We got about a dozen figs in the spring, and are still awaiting any sign of banana flowering. Oh, and homegrown papayas - yummmmm.

The chickens are all laying so well that we have to keep lining up customers to buy the extra eggies. Not a problem. My friend, Devany, is a food writer and will be doing a feature on our hens and their pretty three colors of eggs. I'll let you know when she posts it.

We have a couple weeks in between guests right now, hoping to get some more projects done before Mom comes to visit, before hurricane season really gets going, and before we leave for 3 weeks on our own vacation. Towards that end, Mike is laying pipe out to the screenhouse & chickens so that when the rains stop for a week at a time (or longer) the birds will still have water. Extremely important! Other projects lined up & ready to go are making hinged windows for ventilating the studio better, finishing touches on Mike's shop, and maybe even getting some trimwork done inside... Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? ;-)

We have really settled in here. We do our 3 mile walks almost every day. I've just about figured out how to garden in this climate and with this (lack of) soil. We are finally getting some good friendships going. I feel very happy to be here now.

Voggy Volcano

2009-03-14T18:05:00.002-10:00

Today we got to do something we have been excited about for some time now: helping at the hula kahiko (old style hula) performance up at Volcano Park. After the last performance in February, we talked with Marcia Hee, the woman who coordinates the whole thing and asked if we could help since it's one of our favorite parts of living here. She was delighted, and we were even more delighted that she actually called! So we got up early today in preparation for this event. What fun!

Well, it was soooooooooooooo voggy that we weren't sure we'd even be able to get out of the car. In fact, I stayed in the car while Mike tried to find out if the performance was even going to happen at all. He came back needing a Benadryl duw to his allergic reaction to the sulphur in the air. Oh dear, what were we getting ourselves into?

But the wind shifted just a bit, just enough to allow us workers to get everything set up inside the Kilauea Visitor's Center instead of outside on the hula platform. Not the same as those wonderful outdoor performances, I know, but better seating anyway, though a limited amount of it.

Mike & I were put in charge of the signs, all needing to be redone a bit and put in different than usual spots, due to the change in venue. Then he stayed outside to redirect foot traffic (the Benadryl worked wonders), and I went inside to help people figure it out from there. Also helped an older Japanese couple who had questions about the park and had a hard time making themselves understood - no problemo for me though - I'm pretty good with all these wonderful accents we hear on the islands.

As the auditorium filled up, I had the not-so-fun job of guarding the door and telling people they had to wait to see if there would be room for them inside. Most of them were nice about it, and in the end, we managed to get everybody in, many standing along the sides & in the back. Then the performance started. I stayed in the doorway to help stragglers find a place or wait for a place. Mike came in for a bit, then left to chat with a friend. It was very hot & stuffy indoors with so many people all packed in together; we reopened the doors and waves of heat poured out. Maybe the a/c wasn't working?

I managed to see glimpses of the performance and 2 entire dances, helped keep the doorway cleared for the keiki (children) dancers to come & go, each one so adorable.

At then as people were leaving, I gathered the little survey forms - only about 18-20 were turned in out of about 300 people. Mike & Wes (the friend) had already taken down most of the signs so that was easy.

Next, we both were recruited to help pass out drinks & snacks for the dancers & kumus (teachers) & drivers. I was busy pouring and refilling cups with pineapple-gingerale punch; there were boiled sweetpotatoes to munch on, peanut-butter brownies, & cookies - all much appreciated by the young dancers after their hour-long performance. They were all so sweet. We got to talk story with one of the driver-dads, and we even got hugs from several of the girls.

Marcia, the coordinator, was very enthusiastic about our help and happy that we wanted to do it again next time. She gave us each a ti lei and many hugs. Said she kept coming across our card (that we gave her last month) and so remembered us and remembered that she really liked our energy. Of course, that made us feel good!

After all that, we had lunch at the Volcano House. They have a wondeful buffet room overlooking the Kilauea Crater, today filled with fumes. Huge gusts of wind rattled the windows as rain clouds got lost in the crater - all very dramatic and exciting!

Now we are glad to be back home where the air is clear and warm, very windy though. Opened up the house to air it out, and just hanging out for the rest of the afternoon, taking a little R&R time for ourselves.

Hoping you are each enjoying your weekend, too! :-)

Late Winter Update

2009-03-06T21:58:00.004-10:00

Aloha all,

Such a chilly winter this year, all the way down to the 50's - brrrr. (heehee, couldn't resist)
Not as much rain as last winter, but it is raining again now. We have finally figured out how to cope with the high humidity: 2 dehumidifiers, one for the bedroom closet, and one in the studio at night. No mildew since we started this routine. Of course, this means the windows are closed a lot more than before, but we've had enough days when the humidity goes down below 60% or so, and then we open up everything to air out the house. This works for us and our books and such.

Earlier this week, Mike & I disassembled an entire 14,000 water tank up in Volcano Village, bolt by bolt, and piece by piece. It took 2 days of hard work, but now we have it all at home to play around with or hold onto until needed. Mike has an idea of using one tier for a concrete form to build the fish ponds for his aquaculture project; could be reused over and over again this way. The other half might become a swimming pool or maybe we'll sell it. Also got a pump, 3 filters, and a u/v light for treating the water. Pretty good deal!

Went to the Big Island Association of Nurserymen plant sale in Hilo today. Picked up a stephanotis (the Hawaiian wedding flower) and another orchid for the entry garden. We met up with a group of friends there and all decided to go out to dinner at the Nihon Japanese restaurant near Liliuokalani Park. Much talk and fun around the long table. Many of this group also attend the monthly International Dinners we take turns hosting (though we have not had a turn yet). Last weekend it was Peasant Foods of the World - we brought a thick chicken stew with dumplings made with our own chicken (a young rooster) and vegies from the garden.

Our chickens started laying wonderful brown eggs last week! Yay! Actually, these first eggies are from the chickens we're 'babysitting' for Bowen while she's on the mainland for medical tests, etc, but still... Our own chickens will be laying in another month or so. We feed them coconuts, food scraps, lay crumbles, and bugs. They seem to thrive on this diet. Once the aquaponics is going, we'll have azola (a freshwater plant) to add to their feed too. This is a pretty amazing little weed with 30% protein available for animals, including humans. It is much used in India and Africa for livestock and chickens. Sounds promising and it'll grow here, too.

In the gardens, each day we harvest a fig to share, a handful of cherry tomatoes, plenty of kale and bok choi, a couple strawberries, maybe a papaya, a few calamondons, and carrots. Quite a mix! Lettuce is coming on, broccoli and green onions too, and I have a bunch more seeds that need planting asap. Been planting a lot of sweet potatoes in raised beds outside. The liliko'i vine is really taking over the side fence, as we hoped it would - haven't seen a flower on it yet, any time now...

In between all this (and more), I've been working on a baby quilt for Grandbaby #2, coming this spring! A fun project, but it's taking so much more time than I thought it would. Lots of hand-stitching. I hope it's done in time...

I'll end with these thoughts:
The question is not who is going to give me permission, the question is who is going to stop me? Don't wait for someone to tell you that you can, just do it! ~Ayn Rand

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. ~James Thurber

And Hello 2009!

2009-01-06T22:03:00.003-10:00

We have been enjoying a respite from the rains with a couple gloriously sunny days! Mauna Kea was showing all bright with her mantle of snow. Awesome! This morning was full of rainbows, which of course means there was rain again, but only a light drizzle so far compared to the firehose deluge last month.

Mike found us a couple used dehumidifiers and what a difference that has made! It does mean the windows are closed more often, but we get all aired out when we can, and besides, we spend a lot of time outside anyway. Now we're not always worrying about our books, clothing, furniture, and everything else in the house. We're learning!

The crab spiders are back with this cooler weather. It's funny, we always thought there were hundreds of spiders here all the time; then we realized that we used to only come over during the winter. Turns out, that's when the spiders are around too. When summertime comes around, it's so much easier to walk outdoors: no big, sturdy spiderwebs to break through! I must look a sight waving a long stick in front of me (to knock down the webs) as I wander about the yard, casting my anti-arachnid spells. Those of you who know me know that, though they certainly are fascinating little critters, I don't particularly care for spiders much.

Another wintertime regular, much more beloved than spiders, has also returned for the season: the humpback whales! Saw my first one of the year last weekend, splashing and spouting in Hilo Bay. We don't see nearly as many along the Puna coastline as we used to see from Lahaina, but they do often cruise by close to the shore. The steep rocky cliffs make for deep water close in. Some folks say they've heard whalesong at night while camping along the shoreline! The Hawaiian word for whale is 'kohala', and the Kohala District in the northwest part of this island is so named for the big rolling hills that look like the backs of whales.

The coqui chorus is going strong tonight, which means it's time for bed. I love falling asleep to the serenade of these little treefrogs with the big voice. Just so long as they don't park themselves right outside my bedroom window!

Aloha, Liz

Good-Bye 2008!

2008-12-28T16:24:00.006-10:00

It's been raining like crazy these past few days, even more than the usual rainy amount we get on this wet side of the island. Got another 4" just today, and it wasn't even raining nearly as hard as it has been!! Everything's growing madly - it's a jungle out there! Some of our screenhouse plants are not enjoying the extra humidity levels though (it hovers between 86-98%) and are succumbing to various humidity-related diseases, especially the tomatoes. We're still getting a few but I think I'll replant them with a more resistant variety. I need a bigger screenhouse already! The green beans have reached the ceiling and are cascading back down and the snap peas are following suit. It's an 8-foot ceiling, by the way!! We need a step stool just to pick vegies for our dinner!

The baby White Pearl chicks have graduated to the big pen with the others. Everybody seems to be getting along just fine, establishing their pecking order and squawking over the coconut halves that Mike splits open for them every couple days. It'll be another few months before we start getting eggs from these birds.

I had to pack away most of our books to protect them from the high humidity. I'm having a heck of a time keeping the mildew in check in the studio side of the house. The older hale/guest house side doesn't have as much trouble with this, probably because there's less stuff in it, but also because it has dried out over the years. This is the first winter for living in the studio and it hasn't quite dried out all the way after the drenching it got during construction! It's odd for me to not have a bookcase full of favorites and references ready at hand. We bought some shallow plastic storage bins, fixed weatherstripping along the rim of each to create an airtight seal, and added in silica desiccant along with the books. I can still get to them, but it's a bit more hassle. Better than losing them to the moisture though! We've done this for other susceptible items as well; it really helps. In our 'real' house, we are going to build a 'dry room' big enough to be a library too. Don't know when that'll be, but I'm having fun drawing up plans for it. :-)

Still not missing the snow. There's snow on Mauna Kea, almost a foot last I heard, and everyone's excited to see it. Hope everyone's surviving the winter weather in whatever form it takes in your area.

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year in 2009!
Aloha, Liz

Going Into Winter

2008-12-07T09:25:00.007-10:00

Aloha One & All~
I have a few minutes while the brownies are baking (for the beach day potluck) to get you caught up with the latest. After a long bout of the flu and subsequent sinus infection, I'm feeling much better these days, almost back to my normal amount of energy. The winter season is definitely here with our nighttime temperatures dipping down to - don't sip anything hot - 60*. I know, I know, but it really does feel chilly! With the humidity up to 97% at night, it gets to us. I guess we're thoroughly acclimatized.

Last week we attended a very interesting talk at the Lyman Museum in Hilo, 'Growing Vanilla in Hawaii'. Actually, the speaker went into various cultivation methods that he's seen around the world. He and his wife (who was sitting right behind us) run a good-sized vanilla farm up north in the Hamakua mauka (upcountry) area. They are also a homeschooling family, so we had fun talking to them about that as well. It's amazing how much time goes in to vanilla production! For example, did you know that a vanilla flower only blooms for 4 hours, during which time it must be fertilized by hand? It takes 9 months to grow a vanilla bean from the time it's fertilized,and another 9 months for the curing process. So although vanilla is productive year-round, it's no wonder the cost for the real stuff is so high. And well worth it too, in my opinion, since the imitation product is made from wood pulp - yech!

I'm taking a Hawaiian Herbal Medicine course, taught by David Bruce Leonard who wrote the book Medicine at Your Feet. This class is just what I've been looking for! I am finally learning who all these green growing things are and what they can be used for. He takes us on herb-walks, too, and forest hikes, as well as classroom time. And the emphasis is not just on endemic plants or just on Polynesian introductions, but on everything that grows here which makes so much more sense from a food and herbal perspective. So I'm finally recognizing some of the 'weeds' in the yard and finding uses for them which, of course, brings them out of the weed category. And I'm finding some cool new places to hike!

Our chickens are all growing fast. Haven't lost a single one which is something of a minor miracle in these parts from what we've heard. Mike's mongoose-proof fencing is working like a charm, and we often hear very frustrated mongoose swearing at us from the jungle! We can see where they've tried to dig through the cinder to get under the fence, but with that extra skirting around it, they can't get through. Every few days, Mike will chop a coconut in half and lay it out in the chicken yard; chickens love coconut! And they've learned that the greens we toss in are not going to attack them after all but actually taste pretty good. Silly birds. Fresh eggs are still months away - sigh. But fresh produce from the screenhouse is ongoing! We've had 4 pickings of green beans already, and loads of lettuce, mizuna and cucumbers for salads. A few stray strawberries now and then. The bok choi is all done and the peas have yet to bloom. I declare this screenhouse experiment a complete success!

Pahoa had its annual Christmas Parade yesterday. This brought home to us the fact that we've lived here for over a year now. Events are starting to repeat themselves. Picture of last year's parade are on my Picasa page; I didn't bring a camera this time. But here is a wonderful little local news video of the parade: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/puna/20081206pahoaparade.htm
(You can see us standing in the background once in a while! We're leaning against the yellow building across the street from the judge's stand, along with good friend Willow. At the very end is the easiest to see us.)

Oh, the brownies are done - time to get ready for Beach Day! Gotta smear on the sunscreen, fold up the beach chairs, and sort out the snorkel gear. I don't miss the snow one bit!

Aloha,
Liz

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T17:54:00.003-10:00

I'll be roasting a turkey tomorrow, along with Portuguese sausage-cornbread stuffing. Mike requested mashed potatoes & gravy, and my favorite pumpkin pie for dessert. Also on the menu for the feast are fresh green beans and a green salad from the screenhouse, chunky cranberry sauce, my well-loved cranberry bread. Mike's brother Matt will be flying in from Maui to join us for the long weekend so we're hoping for a let up in the rain long enough to do some fun sight-seeing while he's here.

We have guests arriving the day after Thanksgiving - get this: They are from Bonners Ferry too, but didn't realize we also were until well after the booking! We have mutual friends back there and have heard eachother's names before, and maybe we do know eachother but never put the names with the faces... It will be fun to find out! After these folks leave, we have a bit of space with no bookings; if it stays that way, we plan on getting some house projects done.

Oh, a couple days ago we took a trip to the nearby Rozett's Nursery and came away with two new fruit trees to plant: a Brown Turkey fig, and a calamondon. The latter is a small citrus that is a cross between a lime and a kumquat, very juicy and sweet-tart, excellent for juice and pretty darn good in a gin and tonic, too. Good thing it produces year-round! And the flowers smell heavenly so we're planting it upwind of the bedrooms. Mmmmm....

Here's wishing each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving, wherever and however you're spending it!
Aloha,
Liz

We've Got Chickens!

2008-11-08T12:53:00.002-10:00

Well, actually what we've got is baby chicks. Three of them are Auracanas, the kind that lay those blue-green eggs. And the newest ones are Pearl Leghorns, they look just like Easter chicks! We got 4 of those. Since these babies are a couple weeks apart in age, they are in separate brooder cages for now, the older ones on the porch and the littles in the livingroom. Eventually, they will all occupy the coop together. In the meantime, we are baby-sitting some young hens while their person is away on the mainland for 5 weeks. So there are definitely chickens in my life again!

The screenhouse grows like the jungle that surrounds it, giving us plenty of greens these days. Tomatoes and cucumbers are setting fruits; the green beans are blossoming and have reached the roof already! Snap peas, carrots, basil, broccoli are all doing really well. Everything else is pretty small still, but it's all getting bigger every day. The rain barrel drip system is working great. The only glitch was yesterday when it didn't get turned off after the timer rang; by the time we thought about it again - you guessed it - the barrel was empty and the beds were very well watered! We were very glad to hear the rains last night!

This evening we will be attending the first get-together of our International Cooking Group. I think there are 20 or so people due to show up, all bringing dishes from host Noel's chosen region: Shanghai, China. I'm in the middle of a major lumpia-making project, so if this post seems a little disjointed it's because I have to keep jumping up the turn them as they cook. I made a test batch a couple weeks ago - thought it would be a good idea since I'd never made them before - and they turned out ono (delicious)! A little plum sauce for dipping and, my oh my, what a yummy appetizer.

The bookings for the vacation rental keep trickling in. We just had a local family and their inlaws from O'ahu, with a cute little 1-year-old girl. Today, a guy who used to live in Pahoa arrived with a couple colleagues for a longer stay while they all attend a teacher training conference. Then some of Mom's friends from Bellingham will spend a night with us! And right after that we have some folks from Bonners Ferry coming to look for land to buy!! That gets us through November with flying colors! After that, there's a big blank until mid-February, but I have a feeling it won't stay that way for long: we seem to get lots of bookings just a few weeks ahead. And we already have a whole batch for the springtime. Interesting business we're in these days... I really enjoy meeting our guests from all over the world.

We'll be taking the homeschool group on a hike to Kaloli Point next week, weather permitting. It's not necessarily that rainy weather would stop us - we're all used to the 'kisses from heaven' - but if there's a storm or big waves from something out at sea, I wouldn't want to take kids out there. It's a lovely wild area of cliffs and rocks, tidepools and freshwater springs, all backed by jungle and the old ancient trail. My kind of place!

May you each find your kind of place and fun things to do!
Aloha, Liz

More Pics!

2008-10-20T09:12:00.001-10:00

Bike Ride to the Coast - and one of our favorite spots to hang out on a hot afternoon.
Volcano Park Backcountry - an area we never knew about, a new favorite spot!

Enjoy!

Screenhouse Pictures

2008-10-17T17:41:00.001-10:00

By popular request, the photos are now ready. Come and see our latest project!
Already the plants in these pictures - taken last week - are at least twice as big! They love it out there and so do we. :-)

October Full Moon

2008-10-13T13:38:00.003-10:00

Okay, I can't keep away forever! Got just enough replies to my plea for conversation, so here I am again, ready to send out my news.

Life is good. We are doing well. I am doing well. This little place feels more and more like home. :-)

It's so fun being able to garden year-round! Sure takes the pressure off, as opposed to getting it all done in a 3-month growing season. We've been filling up the screenhouse with tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, mizuna, lettuces, bok choi, cilantro, eggplant, a watermelon, strawberries, green onions, basil. They are growing like mad once they get transplanted into the wonderful jungle compost and cinder mix. The screenhouse is a lovely place to spend a morning or evening, puttering about, watering and weeding, all tucked away in an opening in the ohia trees with huge tangly ferns all around. It's like a greenhouse but with screened walls; no need for extra heat, just for rain and bug protection. There's a nice little rain barrel for the drip-watering system.

Sometimes I truly forget what time of year it is. The season changes here are so subtle, not like in Idaho where it kinda hits you over the head with its drama! The rainy season approaches and we will notice that. The rains aren't as bad as the cold, for me, but hopefully it won't be quite as inundating as last year. One of the signs of fall and winter here is the return of the humpback whales - and they've been sighted already! Yesterday, we drove out to one of our favorite areas, Kaimu, to enjoy the old lava fields, the ocean, and look for whales - didn't see any but it was a perfectly lovely day anyway.

Let's see, what else occupies my time? I'm taking country line-dance classes. What a hoot! And what great exercise! At least it's not all country music. Still active with the local homeschool group: helping with Teen Lit Club, which I love (currently reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde); and mentoring parents who need a little boost or ideas to make it work. We'll be leading the group on an adventure hike out to Kaloli Point in a couple days, to explore tidepools and watch for whales.

The vacation rental business is still trickling in; we get about 1 booking a month these days. In between reservations, we take down the connecting door between the hale and the studio and spread out a bit: I set up my worktable in the Sunrise Room and get out the sewing machine, paints, or crafts, and enjoy a nice workspace. I do my morning stretches in the Orchid Room, our old bedroom - such a pleasant place in the early mornings where I can watch the sun rise. The studio is nice too, so when we contract back into this smaller space, it's fine. It's an interesting way to live...

The volcano starts and stops; Pele is turning over in her sleep. The lava flow continues it's course to the ocean and as long as it does so, all is well. It's when the flow stops that everyone becomes jittery. We had a little earthquake a couple nights ago but - having grown up in California, and also having lived close to the train tracks in Idaho - we never even felt it!

Life goes on. I'm reminded of this old saying:
What to do when times are good: chop wood, haul water.
What to do when times are bad: chop wood, haul water.

Aloha,
Liz

It's Been Almost 1 Year!

2008-09-14T09:01:00.003-10:00

Aloha to anyone still reading this blog.
On September 27, Mike & I will have lived in Hawaii for 1 year! We have learned a lot in this time, and are still learning all the time.

I haven't been keeping up on it much lately, as you will have noticed. Decided to go back to the old route of writing letters to those who write to me.

Here's a short summary of our latest news:
We are thoroughly enjoying our first summer in Hawaii. Not nearly as hot as we thought it might be.
Mike is building a screen house for growing vegies, etc.
Planted a Valencia orange tree and a liliko'i vine. Still have lime and abiu trees to put in the ground.
My 'birthday orchids' are reblooming!
Even getting our first ripe strawberry!
The avocados are almost ready.
Still getting a trickle of guests for the vacation rental.
Recently discovered Google chat and truly enjoy 'talking' with my daughters that way!
Hawaii County Fair is next weekend; I wonder what that'll be like?

So if you're wondering about our further adventures, send an email, call, or (gasp!) take pen to paper! If you write to me, I will write back.

Aloha & blessings,
Liz

Wedding Photos!

2008-08-04T16:43:00.002-10:00

I finally got all the photos downloaded, organized, uploaded, and linked. There are 8 albums of them on my Picasa page. Hope you enjoy them. They sure bring back some happy memories :-)

Home-Grown Pineapple!

2008-07-28T17:46:00.002-10:00

I just picked my very first home-grown pineapple from my own garden!
There have been others but I'd never been around to enjoy them; our guests got to have those ones. So this is my very first one!

It is soooo delicious, juicy and sweet. One of the best I've ever eaten - of course! ;-)
About 9" long, not counting the leaves at the top. Just enough for slices to go alongside dinner. :-)

We will plant the top again. That's how my pineapple patch was started - by planting the tops of those we'd bought and eaten. So cool! There are two more coming on, so this will be a repeat performance. :-)

In other news, Mike has finally put up a rain gutter on the side of the house where our new entry is. Yay! No more last-minute showers on us as we run into the house during a rain! Hey, every little bit of dry helps!
Oh, and here's a downpour to test it out... So far, so good.

Yikes! This squall is getting blustery - gotta go close windows. More later.

Mangos or Mangoes?

2008-07-20T14:19:00.002-10:00

Well, that is a question, isn't it? I've seen it spelled both ways around here and they both look silly to me, so which one is correct? No matter how it's spelled, mango season is upon us and mango trees all over Puna are loaded with this lusciously sweet and juicy fruit. And for the most part, they go unpicked! The smell of rotting and fermenting fruit hits us suddenly as we drive along the beach road or through the jungle. I'm amazed that more folks aren't out there taking advantage of this free food source. What a waste! The cost in the grocery stores ranges from $2-4 a pound!! In Hawaii!!

Needless to say, Mike and I go out and glean these wonderful fruits as much as we can. There's a tree down the road that we've been picking from, so sweet and yummy. Mike went and bought a long pole picker, the kind with a wire basket and little grab-hooks on the end. Now our evening walks include fruit collecting. Yesterday evening while we were swatting mosquitoes and picking mangos, we met some more of our neighbors who were delighted that the tree next door to their place was being picked. They told us this was a 'piri mango', one of the local Hawaiian types; good for eating fresh or for pickling if the fruit is picked green. We go for the ripes fruits and cut the flesh into cubes to eat. And I've been stashing some bags of cubed mango in the freezer for later. (The neighbors also told us where there were some more good trees just waiting to be picked.) yummmmm....

All our media mail boxes have now arrived and, amazingly, all the books fit in the one bookcase we have! Just. Okay, there are a few on the bedside table (of course). And all my cookbooks take up a shelf in the kitchen - that's normal, right? (I didn't even bring all my cookbooks yet.)

We had a lovely long bike ride today, down the main street in our neighborhood a ways, and then out on the old railroad grade that runs towards Hilo. This is one of our favorite bike rides. It's a dirt and rock road now that stretches on a fairly even grade through what looks like African savanna: wide open grasslands with lovely big shade trees here and there. I keep expecting to see a herd of giraffes strolling off in the distance! Instead, we see the blue, blue ocean on one side (makai) and the distant volcanoes on the other (mauka). Today we could see the smoke, ash & steam plumes from all three vents: Halema'uma'u up at Kilauea Crater, Pu'u O'o Crater further down the rift, and finally the huge plume down at the ocean entry near the Kaimu-Kalapana area. What an awesome sight!

Love and aloha,
Liz

Back Home Again!

2008-07-10T08:33:00.002-10:00

Wow! What a trip! It is sooo nice to be back to our island home - and it really does feel like home.

Lori & Dave's wedding was absolutely perfect, with the two of them just beaming at eachother the whole time. It was really nice to see so many of you, my friends and family. It was just at that most ideal part of springtime when the lilac hedge is in full bloom and there are flowers just everywhere! Even the weather cooperated, just in time.
Moving out of our Idaho home was extremely hard and painful - but it's done now, and that's the end of that.
We found Kerry's cute little studio apartment in Seattle in only 3 days! Spent another week getting her moved in and set up. Managed to have some fun times, too, riding the bus, going into downtown, exploring some of the parks. She's now taking classes at the Bartending Academy, making new friends and connecting with old ones. Going through that hard time of adjusting to living on her own.

As soon as Mike and I landed on the Big Island, we knew we were in the right place, and as we drove to our hale and studio, the sense of coming home after an ordeal settled into our hearts. We wake up each morning thinking how amazing it is that we are living here! Everything was just as we left it, nothing gone amiss, only this: the grass was a foot high and going to seed, jungle-y vines were taking over the fences and creeping into the yard, and my fuzzy Mexican oregano was stretching far and wide along the entire back fence garden! Several days of weeding, mowing, and chopping have got the yard and garden looking well-maintained again.

The avocados and pineapples coming along nicely, making our mouths water in anticipation while just looking at them. Even the little cherry tomato I quickly stuck in the ground the day before we left has grown to a quite large plant and has little green tomatoes forming already! I bought a couple bell peppers, an eggplant, and another tomato and transplanted them all into containers. Also have a couple trays of various seeds started. I know it's pretty late in the season to begin a garden, but it's worth a try, and remember, we don't have a frost date here!

The weather has been beautiful here, although for those who rely on rain catchment systems, it isn't so nice. That's one of the reasons we bought in this particular subdivision: it has it's own water system. The ocean water has been so clear, just great for snorkeling and calm enough that I enjoy swimming out there too. Lovely tradewinds blowing gently.

Went to see the lava flow along the coastline for our Independence Day fireworks display, courtesy of Mother Nature and Madame Pele. There was a lot of fountaining and gushing lava into the ocean, which sends up huge billows of steam and sparks of molten rock. Don't worry, we were probably 1/2 mile away in the County viewing area. Lava was also pouring down the pali (cliffs) above the old Royal Gardens subdivision that has been inundated with flows since the 1980's. And the sky was lit up with the glow of reflected fire - so beautiful in this setting (as opposed to, say, the night-time glow of a forest fire).

Just got the word that the bins and crate that we shipped out of Seattle have arrived in Hilo already. Still have 7 media mail boxes to come.

Until next time,
Aloha, Liz

Just Before We Go

2008-05-20T12:01:00.002-10:00

Thought I'd better make one more entry here before we're back in Idaho (temporarily!) and on dial-up. I posted a few more photos, too:

*May Field Trips
*New Countertops
*A Walk Through the Garden

We've mostly been working on getting things wrapped up enough before heading back to Bonners Ferry for Lori and Dave's wedding. (Lots of planning and such for that, too, although I think we're pretty much as ready as we can be from a distance.) Many of our recent field trips were to do some of the things we always meant to do but never got around to, and to do them while Kerry is still with us. After the wedding, she'll be moving to Seattle, and we'll help her get started there before we head home again. This is definitely a working vacation. Already Mike and I are looking forward to coming back to the island!

I love the new countertops that Mike built for me. He had phone support from Matt but did all the work himself - and they turned out beautifully! And they are truly appreciated. The finished wood facing edge is so smooth. We'll install the door pulls after our return, and do trim-work throughout the studio, and paint the siding, and finish the outside trim, and repair the water pump, and..., and..., and... You know how it goes.

We've had a few guests staying at Hale Pomaika'i this spring, a party of 4 just left yesterday. It's so fun to be here to meet the people who choose our vacation rental, and to help them with planning their daily excursions. We have had very positive responses from every one of them. I find that I really enjoy playing hostess/concierge. I hope we will be able to continue doing this in spite of the downturn in tourist travel to Hawaii. It's about as exotic a location as you can get without a visa! If only the economy will get itself straightened out...

Mike and I have transplanted those that needed it: bouganvillea, ulu, hibiscus, Okinawan spinach. The latter is interesting: its leaves are lance-shaped and green on top, purple underneath; it's very mild, eaten as a salad green or in stir-fries.

Packing is proceeding apace. There are suitcases and duffle bags lining the floors, as is usual before a 5-week trip. And for Kerry it's a one-way trip, so ALL her stuff gets packed. Lists abound, you can be sure! We pick up a rental car tomorrow so we can just store our car here at home. Leaving early on Thursday, with an overnight at a hotel in Spokane (due to our midnight arrival). Jim is picking us up on Friday and letting us use his minivan while we're back in Bonners. Still no idea on the status of our house on the farm, or what we'll do with all our stuff there. But, wedding first, and lots of family coming for that! It'll be a great time!

Aloha, Liz

Finally, Photos!

2008-04-27T17:59:00.003-10:00

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for... the latest pics of our studio that we're now living in.
There are 4 new folders on my Picasa site:
**March Studio Progress
**New Driveway
**My Garden and Beyond
**Merrie Monarch Parade 2008

The tradewinds are back and clearing away the vog. Actually, it never did get bad here in Pahoa, but on the days we were in Hilo and Kona, it was pretty awful. It does affect me more than Mike; I had a bad sinus headache the day after that 2-days-in-a-row ordeal. Better now with our lovely fresh air. The volcano keeps puffing away up at the craters, and oozing out down by the ocean entry in the Kaimu-Kalapana area. Isn't it interesting what one gets used to?

We enjoyed the Maku'u Farmer's market this morning. Hadn't been there in a couple months or so, and it was really fun rubbing elbows with the locals and tourists, meeting friends and neighbors, gathering veggies for the week. I'm also gathering veggies from my garden: chayote, green beans, basil, oregano and parsley every day! You know I'm happy with that! :-)

Earth Day was a big to-do in Hilo. Up at the University there were a hundred booths, loads of entertainment and music, lots of freebies and info. Very much fun! And then last week, we met up with the homeschool group to do the Panaewa Rainforst Zoo. Also a good time. This is a little local zoo just outside Hilo that focuses on rainforest animals. They have a big white tiger named Namaste who was a no-show the day we were there. He was probably sleeping under the bamboo. ;-)

Aloha for now,
Liz

Lovin' It!

2008-04-19T08:24:00.003-10:00

Okay, so it's been 2-1/2 weeks since we moved into our little studio addition... and we love it! :-)
I think Kerry was on to something when she said it's because we built this place ourselves. We've always lived in houses we designed and built ourselves, and now we are again, and truly, it does feel like home. I love the way the light plays across the walls and fills the entire space with a glow. I love the view of the ohia and kukui trees and looking over the top of the viney jungle ferns. I love sitting outside on our deck right at tree level, and the birds that break out into song and dance every morning and throughout the day. I love the smooth bamboo floors. I love being further from the road and the lesser amount of road noise. It's working out well with our paying guests in the hale, and it's so much fun to be here to greet them when they first arrive. And I'm having fun creating a new entry garden for our new entry.

But it is small. The biggest problem is that the countertops are not in yet. I'm working off of a 2'x18" piece of plywood that is now warped from humidity... so we'll be remedying this asap. I think we'll fly Matt over from Maui to take advantage of his professional expertise in finish-work; it'd be cheaper than hiring the local firm to install it the way we want. Plus, we get an extra visit in this way! I've picked out the laminate I want already and we'll get that locally, of course. After that, it'll pretty much just be trim and finishing touches to do... but since I've never had that done anyway, it'll really feel like home. ;-)

I plan on posting several more lots of photos as soon as I have enough time to download about 150 pics from my camera and sort them all out. Hopefully this weekend, maybe later today... unless we decide to go do something fun - swimming, take a hike, get the bikes down for a ride... Anyway, I'll let you know when they're ready.

Wedding plans are proceeding and things are coming together on that front. We had to completely rearrange our tickets to the mainland after all the airplane collapses in the last weeks. But fortunately Mike got us all rescheduled, refunded and rebooked - and we're arriving in Bonners on the same day as originally planned! That's a relief! Kerry's bridesmaid gown arrived in yesterday's mail. It fits perfectly and is absolutely gorgeous! We're very happy with the company we used. (Let me know if any of you need a lead on custom-made formals for a low price.) Now Mike and I have to find our wedding day outfits...

Mostly, we are relaxing and enjoying our new home and island life. We're taking a breather, now that the building rush is over and before the next flurry of activity. There's only a month before we go back to Idaho for the wedding and moving the rest of our stuff and getting Kerry set up in Seattle and all that. Until then, we hope to enjoy our tropical surroundings to the fullest and especially to do 'all the fun stuff' with Kerry while we still have her with us.

Aloha, Liz

It's Moving day!

2008-04-02T14:16:00.002-10:00

I'll catch you all up later, but wanted to say: we're officially moving in to the studio today!! I got to use my new kitchen for the first time last night :-) And we'll be sleeping in our new bed tonight! Paying guests are arriving tomorrow... and it looks like we'll make our deadline after all! Whew.
;-)
Okay, gotta go, time for the 'puter to be unplugged...

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T13:52:00.002-10:00

Easter Sunday started out rather rainy - not like this winter, just normal tradewind rains - but has since turned into a lovely day with sunshine, clouds, and light breezes. I got a bit more weeding done after breakfast. Mike's been working on the studio. And now I'm trying to catch up pictures on Picasa and news on this blog. New pictures have been posted: "More Studio Views".

Last night we had our good friends (from Idaho who moved here before us) over for a 'sneak preview' of the studio, dinner, and games. Even the little ones seemed to have fun exploring and climbing the furniture. Kerry, Pohaku and Cedar got out the giant frisbee to throw around on the front lawn. I gave Molly and Willow a tour of my garden plantings. And Mike and David finally got a chance to catch up with eachother a bit. We all enjoyed some lively discussions using the Socratic method of questioning that Kerry, Willow, Molly and I had been reading about in our Literature Club. A good time was had by all.

Much of my time of late has been spent with wedding planning. It is, shall we say, an 'interesting' process trying to coordinate info and ideas between Hawaii and Philadelphia. Thank goodness Julie has joined in, bridging the gap from her home in Bonners. It's been a real blessing.

The big news item from the Big Island is, of course, the volcano. Yes, the eruption has resumed. Yes, there was an explosion up at Halema'uma'u (the crater where Pele lives), inside Kilauea Crater. And no, they have never seen anything quite like that before. And no again, no one seems to know why it happened or what it means. The town of Volcano has not been evacuated as some news is reporting, but there are evacuation plans forming, just in case. The lava is flowing again and it's a bit closer than the old flow field, but still on the other side of the rift zone from us. The reason this is considered safe (a relative term, we all know) is that it has found a clear path to the sea, so it should keep going that way. We'll see... And, no, we still have not gone out to see it but plan to soon, maybe this afternoon.

We have 1 more week before our first guests arrive, and April is getting pretty booked up already! It's nice to have the inquiries and reservations trickling in again. Our new driveway gets pushed in tomorrow and then we can clear out the carport, etc on this side. We'll have our own entry to the studio to maintain privacy for our guests and for ourselves. I'm pretty sure we'll be 'camping in' for a bit before we can actually move in. All part of the adventure!

Mahalo nui loa to those who wrote to me and called recently. It gets kinda lonely here sometimes out on this rock in the middle of the Pacific. Love and aloha, Liz

Ides of March News

2008-03-15T21:41:00.007-10:00

Things are happening so fast now I hardly have time to keep track of them!

The new bathroom is just about done! Floor laid, cabinet, sink, tub and toilet installed. The tiles around the tub/shower turned out beautiful; it was Mike's first tile job so he's justifiably proud of it. The whole interior of the studio is taped, textured and painted, ceiling fans are up, lights wired, temporary kitchen sink set up, stairs to the porch are being built... It's great! Just waiting on both electrical and plumbing inspectors to give their stamps of approval so we can proceed.

We got a small dumptruck load of crushed rock (3/4 minus, according to Mike) delivered today; it'll get used for tamping under the pier blocks, the stairway posts, and a few muddy spots here and there. Also, the guy who delivered it, Ashley, will be helping us clear our driveway and turnaround area on the next lot. This needs to get done before our own deadline of the end of this month. Our first vacation rental guests arrive at the beginning of April, so we need to clear out the carport before then.

We took plenty of photos all along the way and they'll get posted soon. If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll get on it sooner (hint, hint). ;-)

And besides all this, the volcano is actively flowing lava again! We've been so busy that I'm the only one who has seen it, and that was at a great distance one evening after Sufi-dancing. The volcano is coming to life in other ways too: Halema'uma'u, the crater within Kilauea Caldera and home to Pele, has opened up a new rift that's putting out massive amounts of sulphur dioxide and steam! And it glows at night!!! Exciting times!!

And the tradewinds are back, bringing lovely breezes and showers again, so our drought is over and the grass is no longer crispy. I picked my first batch of green beans from my second crop this winter! (Ha! I've never been able to say that before!) All the carrots were harvested a week ago - so yummy and crispy. The avocado is in full bloom, there's a pineapple beginning to develop, and little squashes and chayote are forming for future delectables.

This afternoon, we took some well-earned time off and drove into Hilo to watch a matinée. We saw 'Mad Money' which was a fun one. As we say hereabouts, "I'd pay a dollar to see that." And that's how much it costs at The Kress! Afterwards we went out for pizza at Big Island Pizza, and sat at an outside table to enjoy it and watch the airplanes making their big turn before landing at the Hilo airport. It was a lovely change for pace for us after weeks of working hard. :-)

Until next time... aloha, Liz

PS: I haven't been hearing much response lately and I'd really like to know who all is reading these letters, just to know if someone's missing out. If you want to leave a comment, use the little icon underneath each blog entry. Or if you're family, you know my email. :-)

New Pictures Posted!

2008-02-29T14:57:00.002-10:00

There are 4 new albums on my Picasa page:

~ February's Studio Progress
~ The Great Outdoors
~ Chinese New Year Festival
~ An Inside Look into Our Everyday Life (which is really just whatever didn't fit in the other ones)

Let me know what ya think.

Oh, and by the way, you may have heard about Kilauea's latest excitement, but I want to tell you that the newly flowing lava is not headed our way... so far, so good. I would like to drive out to the Kaimu/Kalapana area at night to watch it flowing down the pali - supposed to be quite a sight!

Sheetrock and Flooring and Vog, Oh My!

2008-02-22T09:02:00.004-10:00

The rains finally stopped just a couple days after our visitors left. We've been enjoying warm, sunny days for a week now! It's lovely to dry out. Gorgeous pink and orange sunrises every morning, starry skies at night - perfect. The big ol' Hawaiian moon has been glowing down on us all night. Didn't get to see any part of the lunar eclipse on Wednesday though: there was a cloud bank just above the horizon blocking our view. By the time it was high enough, of course it was all over. Oh well, maybe next time - in December 2010!

Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa have both been beautifully snow-capped and showing themselves every day. Today the vog is so thick we can't see either of them. Usually the vog - the volcanic haze - goes over to the Kona side of the island. When the tradewinds stop, like today, it'll come over the eastside and settle in the Hilo Bay area, but kinda stay overhead of us here in Pahoa. Not today though; today we can see it, smell it, and even kinda taste it - and it's bad, sulphur-y. Yuck. We need a little wind to clear it away, and some is due to blow in this weekend.

Work on the studio progresses apace. Mike is having fun with taping and mudding the sheetrock these days. No really, he's having a blast! He's built his own scaffolding from some of the extra pieces of wood laying about, the better to reach the high ceiling. Yesterday was another Hilo day for us; we bought our 2 ceiling fans, a toilet, and went to several more flooring shops until we finally found what we were looking for at a price that wasn't exorbitant. We'll have a light-colored bamboo snaplock 'engineered' floor for the whole studio, except the bathroom, which will be Tarkett fiberfloor. It's all coming together! And it looks like we're still pretty much on schedule for moving in by the end of March. I'm so amazed at how fast it's going!

We started carving into the jungle to create a driveway on our next-door lot. The land is level, not too many big rocks or pukas (holes in the ground; this is an older lava flow, after all) so we may be able to do all the clearing by hand - our preference if at all possible. Our goal is to keep all the ohia trees growing, and just take out the 'weed trees' and some of the guava, etc. It'll take a few more days of work to hack our way back as far as we want the driveway to go. Then we'll go over it all again, cutting off the stobs and pulling out a couple old rotten trunks, add a load of gravel to smooth it out for driving on, cut into the fencing surrounding this yard, and put in a gate to connect the two properties. That'll be the studio's entrance as well as a start for our 'real' house, as we call it.

I'll post some more photos soon. We had fun at the Chinese New Year festival in Hilo, and there'll be some pics of the studio, too. Until next time, aloha.

Studio Update

2008-02-07T15:12:00.000-10:00

Yay! All the windows are in, thanks to Dad's help. And the electrical inspector finally showed up! AND the building inspector gave us the go-ahead, too! At last, we can get going on this project again. :-)

We've got 2 bookings confirmed for April so there's a deadline coming up for completion. Shouldn't be a problem, says Mike. We can always 'camp in' for a few days, says me. ;-)

Flash Floods!

2008-02-04T13:36:00.000-10:00

We've had rain for 4 days and nights with about a 15 minute break a couple days ago. And again right now, it's finally let up for the past 25-30 minutes. We're not talking comforting pitter-patter of rain on the roof here: this is monsoon-like deluges! Someone up there has turned all the firehoses on full blast and walked away and totally forgot about 'em. The kind where you actually hear the silence when it stops.

On Saturday we drove in to Hilo - in the downpour - and noticed on the way all the ditches beginning to overflow, people's yards flooding, a few fire engines pumping out a couple homes. Once in Hilo itself, we saw the big drain canal gushing with muddy brown water creating standing waves! Many of the streets downtown were closed, even the highway. These are still closed too, with 3 feet of water slowly receding, and high surf crashing in to take its place. We went above Hilo to Rainbow Falls, a picturesque waterfall usually, but this time it was a torrential monster. We could actually hear it from the parking lot, still inside the car! And it was enormous and scary! Such raw power of Nature!

There has been much damage over the weekend from this storm, and it's not done with us yet! They say this stalled storm will linger over the islands through Thursday at least. That's as far as the forecast goes, so who knows what'll come next? But we are all safe and sound in our neighborhood. Only one little drip in the studio that Mike managed to fix by rescrewing one screw so the plastic seal connected properly. And lots of extra soil being washed into our driveway that I'll probably scrape off and add to my garden beds. Hey, I'll take what I can get! :-)

Oops, here comes the rain again. Excuse me, I need to run around closing up windows again!
Sure beats shoveling snow and scraping ice!! ;-)

Happy January!

2008-01-24T15:39:00.000-10:00

Aloha one and all! I'm back at last and ready to get y'all updated. First I want to let you know that I've added 2 new albums of photos which will almost get you caught up with our building progress. Just use the address on the sidebar here to get you to my Picasa page; the newest albums are called 'Building the Studio-3' and 'Pahoa Christmas Parade'.

The holidays seem like a long time ago already, and it doesn't even feel like how we think of wintertime at all. So now that I'm feeling well again (after a horrendous cold that lasted over a week) I'm just charging right ahead with Spring! Planting seeds, transplanting, weeding and watering when it goes too long between rains ~ not often, but it happens occasionally even on this wet side of the island. There are baby squashes setting on the vines. The chayote has climbed w-a-y up the ohia in the frontyard but has yet to set any fruit. The second crop of green beans is coming up nicely. Everything's growing so well and the flowers are blooming like mad now that the days are getting a little longer again. We had rain for 5 weeks straight, every day and night. Didn't like that so much, but since then it's been lovely, really a nice mix of weather: some rain, some downpours, some sunshine, some clouds, rainbows.... yeah, like that :-) So if that's our wintertime weather here, we can certainly handle it.

The studio-ohana is coming along nicely. Bob Dakujaku is a great guy who did the plumbing and wiring for us. He's been so nice and great fun to talk story with. The plumbing inspector was all smiles when he came out, even gave us a bagful of rambutan, a spiky red fruit - delicious! Now we're waiting on the electric inspector to get here, do his thing, and give us a pass so we can proceed with putting up sheetrock. Mike's still keeping busy with all the fiddly bits that need doing. He created some great skylights in the livingroom, so we don't have a dark cave in here anymore! Yay!! Right now, he's working on finishing off the doorway between the existing house and the studio, and the new doorway into the Lagoon Room. Oh, he just walked in to inform me that he got the sliding glass door installed just now! Yes, he keeps busy :-)

The Shanghai Circus came to Hilo and we were excited to be able to see them in real life! With balancing acts, Chinese acrobatics, jugglers, contortionists, kung fu demonstrations, wire acts, and so much more... they were totally fantastic! I highly recommend them if they ever come your way! Then yesterday, we all spent the day in Hilo again, ordering kitchen cabinets, comparing flooring options and countertops, choosing fertilizer for the fruit trees and palms, discovering a cute little lunch place (Millie's), getting our library cards, and finally, picking up groceries on the way home. What a long day. I sure slept well last night!

More Photos!

2007-12-16T17:08:00.000-10:00

Letting all of you know that I've added more photos at last!
Use the link on the sidebar to get to my Picasa albums. (Oh wait, it doesn't come up as a real link, does it? Well, copy & paste; that'll work.)
The newest albums are 'Building the Studio 2' & 'How Does My Garden Grow'. They're best viewed as a slideshow, so you can read the captions.
More coming soon, so stay tuned!
Aloha!

Holiday Greetings!

2007-12-13T21:18:00.000-10:00

A big Kona storm hit last week with winds gusts up to 70mph! A Kona wind blows from the southwest instead of from the east. This brings a lot of extra-moisture-laden air up from the tropics and also allows the vog from the volcano to settle over Hilo area, except that these winds were blowing way too hard for any settling to occur. We spent much of one night restrapping the canopy over the open part of our roof where the studio addition ties in. Very exciting and more than a little harrowing with lightning flashes and thunder booming all around as well as the big winds! So no more cutting off the roof during the rainy season! Fortunately for us, we didn't have any damage beyond a few smaller branches; not everyone was so lucky. We lost power off and on for a while, and the water system lost their main pump so we didn't have water for a couple days, but everything's back to 'normal' now, with trade wind showers (read: downpours) blowing through, and all utilities working again. Mauna Kea still has a mantle of snow above us all.

We spent yesterday looking for something to use for a focal point inside for the holidays - think 'Christmas plant' rather than 'Christmas tree'. What I had in mind was a decorated palm tree, and there's actually one variety called a Christmas Palm, but it was nowhere to be found. There are plenty of fresh cut Northwest trees shipped across the ocean in container loads, but since we're living in a tropical locale, I wanted something entirely different. Besides, to me a Douglas fir looks so much better when you've been tramping around the woods behind your house for an hour or two, through the snow, looking for that perfect specimen to bring down the hill and into the house. And I'm having a hard time now and then with NOT having all the aforementioned traditional family-oriented holiday activities this year, so there's another reason to do something new this time around. In the end, I chose a huge 4-foot wreath, big enough to hold my ornaments, maybe some lights, and not take up too much space in our cozy little livingroom. I think it's just perfect!

Pahoa puts on a darn good annual Christmas Parade, and we had a blast watching it last weekend, even in the rain (tail end of that storm). There were marching bands, many, many decorated floats from various groups and clubs, bellydancers, pirates, horses & llamas dressed up as camels led by three wise women, all the while being narrated by the funniest emcee talking in pidgin most of the time. Santa arrived on his outrigger canoe! It was great! They passed out bubbles to the crowd beforehand, so we could blow to our favorite parade entries; there was a pretty steady stream blowing the entire time which lent a festive atmosphere to all of downtown Pahoa. Well done!

The Winter Solstice is coming right up. Solstice has always been a pretty big thing with our family. That's when we would have our big holiday gathering with fireworks, family & friends, and a huge bonfire to bring back the sun. Some of our new friends here have invited us to join in their celebration of this ancient winter rite. We're all very glad to have that to look forward to soon!

Here's wishing all my readers a lovely and loving holiday season, whichever way you choose to celebrate it!
Aloha, Liz

End of November Update

2007-11-29T16:16:00.000-10:00

Quick, while it's still November, time to update my blog! It's not that nothing is happening: We have been busy with Life and I haven't taken the time... At the moment I'm trying to cool down with a tall glass of lime-water, after spending a long hour in the Outback (beyond the fence) pulling out tanglefoot fern and in-sensitive plant (see previous blogs for descriptions of these). The mosquitos and biting gnats are fierce this afternoon. So it's a good opportunity to finally spend some time here again. I've transplanted several of the birthday orchids into my garden areas, some wired to ohia trees and some set in between big lava rocks. This is a perfect climate for growing orchids inside or out, and they seem to be enjoying their new locales. The tomato seedlings have just about all succumbed to rot from too much moisture here. But my squashes and chayote are growing well in their beds, the green beans are starting to climb the chainlink fence, and I can hardly keep up with the basil! Still need to transplant the bananas, ulu, and cacao, hence the work in the Outback.

Mike's brother, Matt, flew over from Maui for Thanksgiving weekend. We had the big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and for an island touch I cooked the local sweet potatoes - they're purple inside! A wee bit drier but with the usual delicious flavor. For dessert, we had a pumpkin pie and a pineapple cheesecake. It took us several days but the 15# turkey is but a fond memory. While Matt was here we had great weather the whole time, perfect for doing a few sight-seeing things, soaking in the warm ponds, and getting most of the beams up on the roof of the new studio.

We didn't get the huge storm that hit the other side of this island and some of the other islands yesterday. In fact, it was a lovely day, overcast a bit with nice tradewinds. We spent the afternoon at Panaewa Park with friends from the homeschool group. Mike & Kerry both got a little worn out playing soccer with Pohaku, and I had a wonderful neck & shoulder rub from Molly, and we all got in some good visiting.

Kerry's job search has yielded nothing so far and she's starting to get discouraged. But we have been finding other ways to occupy our time. We're both taking a tai chi qigong class twice a week, just up the road in Pahoa Town. We've been learning some interesting Chinese Traditional Medicine, practicing good gentle exercise, and meeting new people who live close by. That's a big plus right there. And soon she'll be getting her first aid/cpr certificate from the Red Cross, and is looking into the possibility of CNA training, too. Seems like something will come through for her sooner or later.

We found some gorgeous 16" ceramic tile just north of Hilo through craigslist, drove up and bought 4 boxes of it for the studio bathtub surround. I guess we'll be learning how to do tilework before too long! Well, it actually may be a while before the finish work gets done. The roof beams have slowed down Mike's rapid progress. He's at the part now where each beam must be measured separately and tied into the existing roof; very time-consuming work and a very long slope to work on. Meanwhile, that part of the roof is protected from the rain by a high canopy. It's working well, but we're all looking forward to getting the tin up so the whole place can dry out.

Work, work, work!

2007-11-09T10:24:00.000-10:00

All of you who were holding your breath waiting for pics can go ahead and gasp for air now!
Photos have been posted at this site: http://picasaweb.google.com/elizacacia

Work on the studio proceeds apace. The floor is all done, the first inspection has occurred, the Trex porch is on (our 'deck' has a porch!), and at this very moment Mike is sawing off the roof overhang - VERY noisy as his saw cuts through the corrugated metal. Remember, there is no insulation in the walls in these climes, and windows are single pane, so every noise comes right on in even with the doors and windows closed. Thank goodness for those noise-cancelling headphones that we got for airplane trips! They really help during some of the more noisy bits of construction.

We had our first snow! Yes, even in Hawaii! At 13,796' elevation, Mauna Kea (white mountain) does indeed get snow, although the locals say it didn't get any at all last winter. It's very pretty and just far enough away that we can appreciate it. Mostly though, we've been getting lots of rain. It is the rainy season after all. But seldom does it rain all day long. Or over all the island at once. So we just enjoy whatever comes our way.

Kerry passed her PADI SCUBA certification yesterday! Yipee! It has been a life-goal for her for years now, and although there was a bit of a rocky start to the program, she has ended up really learning a lot and enjoying the experience. She says she'll definitely do more diving, and soon! Winter brings in some of the best dive conditions for this island, so I guess the timing was pretty good after all. (We kinda wondered with all this rain and runoff and flash flooding.)

My garden now has 2 kinds of bananas, the baby cacao tree, and an ulu (breadfruit tree) awaiting planting. Oh, and a coconut palm that we got from a local school at their Arbor Day giveaway. I thought Arbor Day was always in April, but apparently it's in November on the Islands. It makes sense when you think of the right time for tree-planting; since this is the start of the rainy season, it's time to plant trees... and gardens. All my many seedlings are growing rapidly and, as they get big enough, being transplanted into the free-form beds I'm creating. I've also been hard at work - and it IS work, believe me - clearing the Outback, as we call our land beyond the chain-link fence. It's full of shoulder high tanglefoot fern and sticker vines - I refuse to call it sensitive plant anymore but that's what it is. Every part of the plant from roots, to vines, leaves and even seed pods, is covered in little thorns that scratch you, or worse, break off and irritate the skin. 'Insensitive plant' would be a better name! The tanglefoot fern is almost fun to pull out in comparison! I'm making paths through this jungle to get to the spot where I want to create my tropical garden, with the fore-mentioned trees and other jungly fruits & vegies.

Lest you think we are working at the expense of playtime, let me put your mind at ease. We take our morning and evening walks almost every day, especially enjoying the flocks of little birds, the sunrise/sunset colors, and getting to know our new neighbors a little. We've been spending time at the beaches and took the whole day off on my birthday to meander about along the coastline, exploring every little pocket beach and even discovering more lava-tube caves to explore further. The warm ponds are only a 20 minute drive from here, and we take advantage of that every now and then; not nearly often enough I'll grant. And we're all doing a lot of reading when it really is too rainy, or too sunny, to do anything else. Now that's luxury!

Above and Below on the Big Island

2007-10-22T08:56:00.000-10:00

Two days ago, I planted some seeds to start a container garden... they've already started to come up! Marigolds, cucumbers, chard, & tomatoes in little pots; an entire planter of mixed lettuces; and another container with basil & parsley starts from the farmer's market, along with cilantro from seed, and garlic that was sprouting in the kitchen. A nice little beginning to keep me going until the big garden beds decompose enough to be planted. That should take about 2 months in this climate. It seems odd to be starting seeds in October; I would never have done that in North Idaho! But it is prime planting season here in Hawaii, so lucky me! I have to get used to the idea of planting just enough to eat from fresh, as opposed to enough to can and freeze and store away for the long Winter and on until next harvest season. Here, we'll be able to eat from the garden all year long, so I guess I only need a couple tomato plants at a time, huh? And how long a row of green beans??

I also bought a cacao tree from which I hope to get the pods to make my own chocolate. It takes about 3 years for a cacao to begin to produce pods, and these pods grow directly from the trunk! They'll start out yellow, turn orange, then red and will have these fruits in all stages at the same time; sounds colorful and exotic. There's quite an involved process getting from cacao pod to bean to nib to actual cocoa and then on to chocolate. It's all so fascinating and I love the idea of being able to produce my own. I have the keiki (young) tree in a pot for now until we get an area cleared out back. Cacao want to grow in the shade of other taller trees - it's an understory jungle tree - so we'll tuck it between some of the big ohia.

We had fun visiting Volcanoes National Park with the local homeschool group this past week. Explored all around Crater Rim Drive: the Jaggar Museum, the Visitor Center, took a guided walk with a ranger who had grown up in the Park during the 70's when the caldera was full of lava curtains! But the highlight was exploring the Thurston Lava Tube. The first half of this huge lava tube has been smoothed out somewhat and lit up for an easy walk. The fun part comes at the mid-point of the tube where most people go on up the stone stairway to ground level and continue their hike back to the parking area. That's where we open the gate (it's okay, you're allowed), turn on our flashlights, and explore the second half of the tube where it's been kept in a more natural - and very dark - state! This section twists and turns as it crawls deeper into the earth; there are drop-offs, chunks that have fallen in, ledges and cracks. Ohia roots dangle overhead and rainwater drips through tiny cracks in the lava. It is awesome! And, I'll admit, a little scary to me, although Kerry absolutely loves it inside this earth-womb. The littlest kids and most of the moms opted to stay up at the surface in the sunshine, but all the teens and big kids (including Mike) went all the way to the furthest reaches of the tube, another 330-some yards; even little Kyla at 5 years old, was all smiles and excitement on this, her first trip inside the earth. I went partway in and then took a scared little Cedar back out to Mommy; then went back for another go, and ended up helping a tourist in the midst of a panic attack back to the surface. I understood her completely: been there myself, so it was interesting to be able to help another soul through it.

Progress on the ohana/studio has been slow but is picking up speed now that we're done running around every day. The delivery of our first load of materials arrived on Wednesday, as scheduled. Everything was off-loaded, accounted for, and moved under the carport before it rained again. Mike has drilled holes in the concrete and in the foundation blocks for rebar to connect the two and keep them in place. Right now, he's setting each block on its own mound of mortar mix so it'll rest level, then filling the hole with epoxy and sliding the rebar into its hole... it'll all set up and stay put even in a hurricane should one pass by! The siding on that side of the house will come off and be saved for reuse later. Then the beams and joists and all that can go up. I'll keep you posted.

So, everything is here now, and only 2 casualties: my golden elephant figure and my favorite mug from my good friend Karen :-( I was sad about that, but if this is all we lost I must have done a pretty decent job of packing and the sea must've been fairly calm to bear our cargo along smoothly. :-)

The only glitch now is the Post Office; they have completely screwed up our mail now. If anyone has sent us anything and it has been returned, keep trying. You have our correct address, and if it is on a lucky day it will get through to the Pahoa PO and then be delivered to us. Otherwise, it seems that somewhere along the way, it gets caught in the wrong slot or who knows what; we know that there are bills, checks, and dvds gone missing. :-( If anyone knows of any tricks besides calling the local PO, filling out their paper and online forms, let us know!

I know I should be posting photos here, and I plan to, but I need a chunk of time when my local computer genius (aka Kerry) can help me decipher the instructions for doing so. Don't hold your breath, but pics are coming eventually! ;-) And don't worry Mom, and anyone else on dial-up, I won't overload it!

Boxes And Bins And Cargo, Oh My!

2007-10-14T14:16:00.000-10:00

Our Blazer & freight arrived - already! - all those boxes and bins from Idaho. Yay! Only one casualty so far: my little golden elephant broke his trunk; other than that, so far so good. I will be slowly making my way though the rather large stack in the spare room for some time to come, but it's a fun process. The hale begins to feel more like it's really our home with each little addition from our previous home. Of course, the challenge is finding a spot for it all!

Mahalo nui loa to Honolulu Freight & Kona Trans for the safe passage of our possessions. :-)

Another Gorgeous Day!

2007-10-12T08:34:00.000-10:00

Two weeks here and construction on the ohana/studio addition has begun! Mike has been acquiring many of the tools he'll need for this project and has met with his chosen building materials supplier. Yesterday, he rented a cement-cutting saw - quite an amazing contraption with a place to attach our garden hose so it keeps cool while cutting - and after many false starts and a few minor repairs, the slab was cut to accommodate the foundation blocks. That was Step 1. Now we await the first delivery from the supplier; it's supposed to arrive 'sometime next week' and have everything needed for the foundation and floor framing. While we wait, we have to figure out what to do with all these chunks of concrete laying about... maybe use 'em to border raised beds?

Kerry has easily slipped into the Hawaiian lifestyle in the week she's been here. Of course, she's been coming to the islands since she was 6, so that helps. She has already connected with the local Dive Shop and signed up for the next set of SCUBA classes, which start just next weekend. This has been a longtime dream of hers: to become SCUBA certified. So she's been swimming laps and treading water every chance she gets to build up her endurance. This is a great activity for her since she's been bothered with shin splints lately and hasn't been able to do much hiking or running (which she normally enjoys). Another Island goal of Kerry's is also being met: she's learning Japanese! Found some cool online courses to start with; if we find something local, she'll do that too. Her third goal for her time here is to find a job, and with the way things have been falling into place for her, we have no doubt that the right one will show up soon!

We start each day by sharing a papaya. Still getting plenty of avocados, lemons, and guavas from our yard, and other fresh produce every Sunday from the Maku'u farmer's market. We've picked ulu (breadfruit) from the tree at the Ahalanui warm pond, one of the places where we like to swim. As soon as it's cut from the tree, it'll start to drip its sticky latex sap; this can be used for boat caulking (it's that sticky!) or to bind deep cuts. To cook the ulu, I cut it in half, boil/steam until tender (an hour or so), cool it enough to handle, then peel and cut out the core. Then this time I cut it up into bite-sized chunks and semi-mashed them. Sauteed onion, garlic and hamburger, added in the ulu, along with 'a little dis, a little dat'... and ended up with a yummy dinner - it was ono (means delicious).

Five more boxes of media mail arrived all in one day, but some of our mail is still being redirected back to Idaho!?! Go figure. We'll try again to stop the previous mail-forward request (from May) and get the post office system straightened out - wish us luck! So glad Chris is at one end to intercept and forward the stragglers before they end up yoyoing back and forth forever! Thank you Chris!

A couple nights ago, Kerry and I were invited to a women's new moon circle at Suzannah's house in Hawaiian Acres, upcountry. (She's a mutual friend of a friend, but that friend didn't show up.) Her moon lodge is a platform way up high amongst ancient ohia trees, and there was the most awesome nightview of the stars and of the glow from Madame Pele's latest lava flow! It was so nice to make some new friends. We enjoyed singing and chanting together, lovely cups of tea, and peaceful deep lulls in the conversation, but the real bonding came in descending the ladder - two of us needed some extra help and encouragement there, and then there were big hugs all around and a light Hawaiian rain when everybody made it down safely! Kisses from heaven.

PS: I love hearing from those of you who have written to me or posted comments. Feel free to continue!

We Made It!

2007-10-04T07:22:00.000-10:00

Whooo-hooo! We made it! It took a week to get back online but I'm happy to say we're here at last: on the island of Hawaii, in our cute little home. Although it's been raining more than not, it's a lovely warm tropical rain, sometimes a downpour, but always nice and warm.

Most of this first week has been spent settling in, transforming our hale (pronounced hah-lay, house) from 'vacation rental mode' into our home. Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy this kind of project! We bought some wire shelves for each of the closets for a little extra storage space that allows the air to circulate, a very important consideration here in this humid climate. And of course, we had to get more bookshelves! One box of media mail has already arrived, the rest could take up to 5 weeks from when we sent them. Our car and freight are somewhere out in the Pacific, on their way over still.

My little pineapple patch was completely overgrown with ferns and a kind of 'clover' viney thing. It didn't take long for me to get it all weeded and looking healthy again. The one pineapple that was ripening had been harvested and enjoyed by one of our guests, but there will be more. Every time we eat a pineapple, we cut off the top, dry it for a couple days, then plant it in a little mound of cinders. It takes a year or so before they start producing. Each plant will give 3 pineapples, one at a time, and they each take about 10 months to mature. We have yet to eat one of our own home-grown, but only because we've never been here when they ripened.

I started a future raised-garden bed and a compost bin. The soil here is mostly cinders, kind of a volcanic gravel with a thin layer of humus & dirt on top, very fertile but hard to work with. There are also larger chunks of rock that we dig out with a prybar and add to our blackrock walls. There are rock walls lining our driveway, around a bed of ti plants, and along the fenceline in spots.

I made my first batch of guava jam with 4 huge guavas from our jungle next door; I got a whole quart of delicious jam! Also in the jungle are at least 3 varieties of wild orchids blooming rampantly, very pretty above all the ferns and other greenery. We have a nice crop of lemons ripening a few at a time, and loads of avocados on our tree. It's avocado season - yay!! The 3 varieties of gardenias in our yard are blooming, as well as the star jasmine, making heavenly fragrance waft in the windows.

Yesterday, Mike & I packed a little picnic lunch and drove down the road to eat it at one of our favorite nearby shoreline spots called Honolulu Landing where the ancients would draw up their fishing canoes. It's so nice to be able to be near the ocean again; that's something we both missed a lot during our time in Idaho. After enjoying the ocean for a while, we drove towards Hilo to the Panaewa Rainforest Zoo to meet up with our friends, Molly & Willow, who moved here from Bonners Ferry a few years ago. Their homeschool group was having a field trip day at the zoo so there were lots of little kids there, too. It was great to see all these people again; we're sort of 'honorary grandparents' of the homeschool group here, which is a fun way to pass on my accumulated knowledge about homeschooling.

I could go on and on but I need to have breakfast and get outside into the sunshine (before it starts to rain again!). We'll be picking up Kerry from the airport this afternoon, and look forward to having her join us in our Hawaiian home.

Last Days

2007-09-22T18:13:00.000-10:00

The frost finally hit my garden 2 nights ago, much later than usual, but since it was only a spotty frost there are still loads of flowers in bloom, all looking very pretty and bright. Makes it a bit hard to leave this lovely garden I have created over the years. Most of the vegies have been harvested and eaten up, the surplus given away to friends, and the remains added to the compost pile. Our friendly neighborhood black bear and its younger cousin have been visiting recently and trashing the fruit trees, and this morning I saw a deer eating from the apple tree right outside our bedroom window. I admit it, this is the kind of thing I will miss.

We turned the furnace on 2 nights ago; it was quite chilly that night! Since then, the days have been mostly showery, but with sunshine coming through at times and warming us eventually. The weather has definitely turned to Autumn temps, and we feel we are leaving just in time. If only the rain holds off while we're loading the UHaul tomorrow...

Boxes, bins, the coolers, file-boxes are all packed up, taped up, labeled and ready to be loaded up. That's the next step. Our last chance for internet connection will be Sunday morning, before we move the office to the shop where Chris will be running things for Hubbell's Heating. Then we'll be offline until our new hookup comes through on the island; I think the wait is about a week, after our arrival on the 27th. I'm not sure I can wait that long... I may end up taking advantage of the internet cafe in Pahoa-town.

We've all been taking turns with the melt-down process, when the whole situation becomes overwhelming. (Nice of us to take turns, don't you think?) My turn was this morning. At the same time, there's not a doubt in our minds that this is the right move for each of us at this time. It's just that when we've been in the same place for such a long, long time, the deep roots we've put down are difficult to loosen up for transplanting. It really helps to know we'll be back in May for wedding preparations!

Okay, so we're off on Monday night to start the next phase of the journey. After closing down the house, we'll spend the night at Grandpa's house in town, then leave at the crack of dawn for Spokane. Kerry's flying to San Jose to visit family & friends there (lucky girl!) while Mike & I drive on to Tacoma and stay with Tom & Lynrae. Next day, it's up early again to unload our cargo and drop off the car at the freight company in Seattle before noon. Eventually, we'll end up at a hotel near the airport and fly out the next day. The whole process will take a few days, but sooner or later, we'll get to our new home in Hawaii!

Two Weeks To Go!

2007-09-10T12:33:00.000-10:00

Time flies. It zips, zooms, and whizzes right on by. With only 2 weeks left, we are busier than usual this harvest season, but for the first time in many, many years it's not with putting up the harvest and preparing for Winter. Instead of closing down the garden, I am also closing down the house, and Mike is closing down the business. Well, his part of it anyway; Chris will keep going under the new name of 'Hubbell's Heating'.

I have sold or given away all my houseplants and the house seems naked without them. I keep hearing purring outside my window but Cleo is the only cat left on the farm. She'll be moving to her new home soon, maybe this afternoon if she comes 'round in time. (I think the others are letting me know they're doing well and are happy to have a safe home in our absence.) Kim & Joe are going to adopt my chickens too, bless them. As soon as Joe gets the coop finished, we'll figure out a way to wrangle and deliver 'the girls'. Oh, and Mogley bought our boat so it's almost still in the family!

My last big yard sale of the season was last week and it was a huge success. Thank you to Grandpa for the use of his carport and yard in town for my sale :-) So now that the boxes and bins of yard sale stuff are out of the way, there is a growing pile of boxes and bins ready for our move. We're packing light but it still adds up. And I've just started in on the kitchen.

My friend Karen is throwing a good-bye party for us this evening, before things get too hectic around here. And I have a tea date with a sweet sister-friend, Helewise, tomorrow. I'll sure miss my close friends here. I hope to eventually create a new network on the island, and to keep in touch with those still here on the mainland. In reality, I know that time and distance take their toll, but I appreciate knowing and having this circle of support while I do have it... and then releasing these angels as they drift away. It's okay... it's all good.

Less Than a Month!

2007-08-29T16:43:00.000-10:00

The countdown calendar has begun! And I thought I wouldn't feel that time was running out until we turned the page of our wall calendar to September! Lots more sorting and packing around here, and actually, I've done just about all I can do ahead of time. So for the past week I've switched gears temporarily and have been spending a little time doing the things I enjoy most around here: gardening, playing with grandson Jimmy, fishing and boating with Mike, and going up into the mountains.

I had a lovely day last Friday with Jimmy, now 3, here all day while mom Katie held a yardsale. It is such a joy to my heart to have this little guy around. Even when I'm just listening in on his imaginative play it brings back such a comforting feeling; I always enjoyed hearing my kids at play with some elaborate set-up of blocks, cars, horse models, 'schoolbus people', etc. And having conversations with a 3-year-old is pure delight (unless you're in a hurry!). I am definitely going to miss being able to have him over so often, and I intend to take full advantage of our proximity while we're still here.

We have finally found homes for our fur-babies! Blessings on Kim who wants to adopt all 5 for her 10-acre farm. Kerry and I will be delivering Edward and Orion tomorrow, the rest a few at a time. We couldn't wish for a more perfect place for these kitties; they'll have run of the horse stalls, pastures, yard, garden, and hay barn... kittycat heaven! Kim loves cats but her husband says not inside, so it's a perfect fit for our outdoor pets. Thank goodness.

We've been getting the Blazer ready for shipping by buying all 4 new tires, and replacing the windshield. Wow! I forgot how clear the view could be up ahead! We didn't have any cracks - well, not until Mike pushed on it! - but there were plenty of rock chips. The transport companies tell you that the windshield must be completely intact before they'll ship it. So that's done now. Our pages of lists are slowly getting checked off as we get closer to Moving Day - September 25th.

Oh, by the way, our Hawaii house is just fine. The Hurricane That Wasn't wasn't a problem, the earthquakes only knocked a few things over, and the lava is still miles away.

Going into the Great Unknown

2007-08-14T04:57:00.000-10:00

Hurricane Flossie is heading for the Big Island, expected to hit early this afternoon (Hawaii time) bringing high winds, torrential rains, and flash floods. We're safe from flooding in our area, but high winds could possibly do some damage. I love a good storm, but it's sure hard to just be watching it all from a distance.

So while we're worrying from here about our house and our friends over there, a 5.4 earthquake struck the isalnd! The epicenter (in Kalapana) is just about in our area (Pahoa). We heard the quake shook for 10 seconds in Hilo which is about 25 miles away. That's enough to do damage, but we haven't heard any more news yet.

And we know that the volcano has been sending lava from a whole new area! That's been going on for a couple weeks now, very exciting but not for us to worry about - so far. We keep monitoring this through the Hawaii Volcano Observatory website: http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/hvostatus.php

I wonder: will we even have a house to move into?

Sure we wanted a change of pace, but really, this may be going a bit too far!

We've Got Our One-Way Tickets!

2007-08-02T05:46:00.000-10:00

Hope everyone is enjoying this glorious summertime! Even when the days are over 100*, we are finding ways to appreciate the abundance of the season. As long as I keep it watered, my garden grows like mad and provides us with loads of delicious vegies, beautiful flowers, and wonderful herbs. I'm drying a year's worth of herbs to take with us and keep us well-stocked in that department. We just eat up the vegies; no canning or freezing produce this year! And the flowers are loved both indoors and out.

Here's our Big News:
We bought our one-way tickets! Moving Day, when we say good-bye to our Idaho home, is September 25. So I guess this adventure is really going to happen!

Here's the plan:
1. We load up a UHaul trailer, our luggage and ourselves and drive to the Spokane Airport (2-1/2 hours away). K gets dropped off there (with her two pieces of luggage) - she is greatly looking forward to a long week with her cousins in San Jose before heading out to the middle of the ocean.
2. Meanwhile, Mike & I continue the drive across eastern Washington and over the Cascades to the Port of Seattle to send off our boxes and the Blazer.
3. We will also need a rental car for the actual transfer day, and a hotel for a couple nights.
4. Then, on the 27th, off we go! It's a straight shot to Honolulu. And, after a brief layover, on to Hilo.
5. After gathering up our luggage, another rental car awaits us and we drive to our house, arriving by evening.
6. K joins us a week later!
7. Our crates and car will take 2-3 weeks to arrive; they get to go by ship to Honolulu, then barge to Hilo. The books are travelling via Media Mail - it's the cheapest way to get them there, though it does take about a month.

We aren't really bringing much stuff with us. Our Hawaii house is already fully furnished since we've been renting it out as a vacation rental. But there are some things we've been unable to find on the island - like a decent nut-chopper! - and other items we 'have' to have with us. Then there are the tools and kitchen equipment and so on that we already have and can't really afford to buy again. We'll be building the ohana right away and then moving into that, so we will need to outfit it. But it'll be small and won't require much - simple island living, you know.

Meanwhile, I've been going through every box and bin, every drawer and shelf, every closet and all the outbuildings, paring down 32 years of accumulation on this farm. It's an overwhelming job at times, so I try to do at least a little each day. I had my second big yard sale of the summer last weekend, and it was a huge success! Got rid of lots of good stuff. It feels so good to lighten our load!

Some of the preparations are not so exhilirating though: Snape, the 7'-long red-tailed boa, has already found a good home with his original owners who were overjoyed to have him back. That felt good. However, it's much harder bearing to part with our furry friends. We're working on finding loving people to adopt our kitties. Got some leads and some maybes, but so far we still have all 5 cats. I don't think the chickens will be quite so agonizing to part with, although they are really sweet girls and we will sure miss the fresh eggs - until I get new hens, which is high on my to-do list once we're settled in.

I'll keep you posted as things progress.