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!
No comments:
Post a Comment