Yes, I know that title phrase is usually used for Happy New Year, but the makahiki season of abundance and goodwill is upon us here in Hawaii, no matter what the Julian calendar says. Above, my pretty poinsettias and white orchids decorate the screenroom lanai. The poinsettias will be transplanted to the garden after the holidays - they grow very well here and can be seen as hedges or even small trees!
Mike and I had a lovely afternoon walk along the shoreline cliffs yesterday, watching big
splashy waves and searching in vain for whale spouts. We decided to go
check out our favorite nearby cindercone in the ironwood forest. There we
switched from meandering sight-seer to hunter-gatherer mode upon our
discovery of a small abundance of Jamaican liliko'i that had recently
fallen from vines that had reached the upper branches of tall trees. Oh
yum! (Wish I had photos of this beautiful spot, but I was traveling light that day and left the camera at home.) I used some of the luscious fruits to create an extra juicy tartness to that night's
pork roast.
We took three of the meat pigs in last week... sold two and a half, and got one half for ourselves. It was quite the family project to turn the half-carcass into many wonderful roasts, racks of ribs, and belly slabs for future bacon. We saved the bones and feet for making nutrient-dense gel-broth, and the offal for future sausage making - without the liver this time. (I still cannot stand liver even though I know it's so good for you; someone else can have my share, pleaseandthankyouverymuch.) Nothing goes to waste and to that end, I will be experimenting with some variation of blood sausage or Filipino dinuguan. It's not as bad as it sounds to the uninitiated palate; much better than liver as far as I'm concerned!
Kerry was able to apply her knowledge of anatomy to find the best places to cut between joints and muscle groups.
While they took care of the butchering, I weighed the pieces, wrapped and labeled them. This piggy weighed 175 pounds before slaughter, and we got 86-1/2 useable pounds from our (larger) half of him. The big mama-sows will more than fill up the rest of our freezers, so we'd better eat up quick!
December's abundance: avocados from our neighbor; 5 dozen eggs from my
chickens (in one day!); liliko'i from yesterday's walk in the ironwoods. And the
star-shaped thingy is the seed pod from an autograph tree (
Clusea rosea). I used that on my Yule wreath that I made today.
I sew the same way I cook: making it up as I go. I can't wait to see how
this extra-warm (but with no sleeves) princess dress looks on a certain little grand-daughter. Shhhh, it's a Christmas
surprise... but I was so pleased with how it turned out that I had to
share!
My
tropical Yule wreath, 2013 version. The greens (and reds) were
collected during yesterday's walk and from my garden this morning. NOW
it's starting to feel like Christmas! Mele Kalikimaka!
