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
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
It's Official...
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
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
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Summer Pics!
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!
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!
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