Harvesting Honey

I told y'all about our bees, right? We got them back in February and they have mostly been just doing their thing all summer. We are quite happy to have these hard-working insects on our ranch. They are certainly earning their keep by pollinating the rainforest, wildflowers, and tree crops out that way.

Recently, we were able to pull our first honey from the hive. You might be surprised at how many steps there are to harvesting honey. I wasn't able to get the first parts photographed since I don't have a bee suit (and am not willing to be stung for documentation purposes). Mike, however, does have a bee suit, and actually, he is the one who works with the hives. So, what you don't see here is the smoking to calm the bees during check-ups and harvest, the lifting of the lid, prying out the frames to find those that are ready to harvest, and transporting them back to our house where the extraction process happens. We'll begin the photo essay from there...

Each frame is heavy with liquid gold, hiding inside beeswax. Don't worry, we leave plenty for the bees to survive on. Plus there's the bonus of something or other blooming year-round in the tropics.

Before we can get to the honey, we have to open up the caps that seal each cell of the comb. The first time we did this, we used a homemade scraping tool. We have since moved on to a pin roller which makes the job much easier and also leaves fewer of the cappings in the honey, and a lifting fork for the bits where it might be too uneven for the roller.

Next, the frames, three at a time, go into the hand-crank extractor. After you're done spinning the honey out of one side, you turn each around to get the other side extracted. The extractor has just enough room on the bottom to hold the honey from these three frames (about 2-1/2 gallons) before it needs emptying, so we'll drain it out the spout before doing the next three frames.

We'll have to lift the whole thing up high enough to get a five-gallon bucket underneath. The honey pours out of the valve near the bottom and runs through a strainer to catch the cappings and other bits of wax that got loose. This wax, along with the wax scraped from the spent frames, will be melted before being used to create candles, salves, etc. We'll need a sunny day to do this - but it's the rainy season, so we are storing the unrefined beeswax in the freezer for now.

Once the pure honey is in the big bucket, we can fill our honey jars...

... and since it's been such a good harvest, we have extra to sell!

Kaimu Rainforest Honey - like our label? These one pound jars sell for $5. If you are on-island, you can bring your own jars for a discount. Local, raw, pure, unfiltered honey from deep in the wilds of Puna. Mmmmm... or should I say Bzzzzzzz...

Natural Farming Symposium

We've been a little busy lately... so what's new, right? Well, this, for one:

Today is the last day of this first annual event so I finally have a chance this morning to catch my breath. The turnout has been fantastic with 150-200 in attendance according to my unofficial count. Australia was well represented, and many flew in from the mainland to participate, as well as from neighbor islands. It's been lovely to catch up with our Natural Farming friends and to make new friends with those who are just starting on this path.

The pig panel: Mike D, Mike H, Neena, Atto

Mike was on the pig panel where experienced piggery operators talked about the KNF way of raising pigs humanely, with no smell, no flies, and zero runoff. The idea is already implemented around the globe, well adapted in Hawaii, and finally gaining a toehold on mainland US. Microbes, living soil, embracing instinctual behaviour... these are a few of the key factors in our success. 

Julius, me, Emily, Kaika

And on the chicken panel was yours truly, in good company. Two of us raise laying hens and two raise broilers. Two are commercial producers. All utilize Korean Natural Farming. (And at least three of us were awfully nervous beforehand. But we all survived and did just fine.) Good Q&A afterwards, and I sold a bunch more copies of my book, too.

Dana speaking about Hawaiian cultural connections with growing food

Today is the last day of the symposium, a day mainly comprised of farm tours, and though ours is not on the official tour (showcasing larger operations and school farms) we do have several people coming by for the unofficial version. Then, this evening is the final soiree, with our State Senator, and the premier screening of In Search of Balance - "a documentary highlighting the health benefits of IMOs and Natural Farming."

Kudos to those who worked hard to put on the symposium. Even old-timers like us have been learning a new trick or two and I think everyone is coming away enthused to do more.
Spread the knowledge - and all those good microbes - everywhere!

Hot Enough For Ya?

You know I have another blog, right? The one about the piggery? Well, rather than writing another whole post about the latest from that arena in our lives, I'll just link to the one I wrote over there. Here ya' go: What?! No Piglets? That title alone should be intriguing enough to pique your curiousity.


In other news, we continue to survive record-breaking temperatures coupled with high humidity here on the island. (For those who follow weather reports, consider adding a couple degrees to Hilo's high temps and you'll be a lot closer to ours out here in Pahoa.) This has been the hottest summer on record for Hilo. The 31 days of August gave us 15 that tied or broke records for high temps! And September is starting out just as bad with six of the eight days so far matching or making new highs. In other words, ugh.
 

I know we're not alone in having to deal with an outrageously extra-hot season. It's been incredible throughout the west. And at least we don't have to deal with forest fires. (Though there have been a couple big wildfires, one of which threatened a town, houses, and harbor, and closed highways... It can happen here, on the dry side). But summertime here lasts far longer than on the mainland, and there's no end in sight according to the predictors of such things.
 

Then add this to the mix: We have endured the largest number of hurricanes in the Pacific as well. At one point there were FOUR Category 4 hurricanes in our vicinity AT THE SAME TIME!!! Though the last two (Ignacio and Jimena) passed by without actually reaching the islands, huge storm waves have been pounding the coastline for weeks, along with some major flash-flooding happening. The waves have been amazing! All the beach parks have been closed for a couple weeks now, due to flooding and dangerous surf. So cooling off with a refreshing ocean swim has been out of the picture.
 

Oh yeah, and the tradewinds, which usually cool us to a more manageable range, have been blocked completely by the big storms out there. And so we simmer slowly under ceiling fans, or go somewhere (anywhere) in the car so we can blast the air conditioning way up high. Aaahh, bliss.



Well, I didn't mean to only talk about the weather but, you know, it is the main topic of conversation in these parts right now (and I had all these cool storm wave photos to share!). It affects us every single day as we make extra checks on the animals, keeping an eye on the water levels in catchment tanks and water troughs. I set up our old campstove on the lanai table and do most of my cooking outdoors so as not to add any heat or humidity indoors. I water my newest transplants a little more often as they tend to dry rapidly in these conditions. Eggs are gathered several times a day instead of just twice - don't want them cooking out there in the hot sunshine!

But other than roasting and sweltering and simmering day after day, we're doing well. I have a lot more to share with you in other posts, later. For now, go read about our piggies and I'll go see what the chickens are squawking about. Aloha!

A Maui Weekend

A family mini-vacation... a weekend getaway... call it what you will, last weekend was delightful! Lori & Dave invited me to tag along (traveling nanny!) in a last-minute island-hopping excursion to the beautiful island of Maui. Of course, I jumped at the chance, not only to see a neighbor isle again, but also to spend such quality time with Acacia!

View from St John's, upcountry in Kula

We stayed at a little condo in Kihei and crammed as many activities as we could into our short stay on the island. These included dips in the pool, a visit to the Maui Ocean Center, a trip upcountry to Kula and Keokea, a nighttime walk down Front Street in Lahaina (our old stomping grounds), and of course, the beach! Oh, that soft fine sand, so different from our pebbly salt-and-pepper sand on the Big Island (our side of it anyway).

Obviously, I took lots of photos... (and yet, I still managed to not get any of the fantastic food we ate... too hungry after all the activity, I suppose). Here are only a few of the shots I got, but I think you'll get the idea. ;-) A good time was had by all.
Mahalo Lori & Dave!

Labyrinth at St John's, Kula

Morning dip in the pool

That's the island of Kaho'olawe in the distance

A look of total bliss

She sings to the waves

 

Walking down Front Street - lots of memories!

 

Our First Cow!

Last Sunday, we bought our first ever cow! She's a sweet little 6-month-old Angus heifer.

First thing she did was sneak out under the electric wire, the little stinker. We rounded her up, eventually, and lowered the wire. Later, Mike also added another wire so now there are two strands around the 2-1/2 acre pasture area. One is low enough to keep the cow in, the other is high enough to contain the horse.

No name so far... the right one hasn't come along, but something like Houdini might be appropriate. She seems to disappear into the shadows so well that we've walked right past her while searching for our "missing" cow. But now that she seems to have found her happy place in the middle of the pasture, under some well-placed trees for shade during the middle of the day, it is easier to know where to look for her.

Of course, before we could bring our heifer to the ranch, we needed a livestock trailer. Mike designed this one utilizing bits and pieces we had on hand: hog panels, roofing tin, 2x4s. The whole thing slides right onto our trailer and then is held in place with screws through the cross bracing into the floor, as well as the yellow strapping you can see in the photos below. There's also a ramp that does not show in these pics, but it hinges up to become the back end of the trailer.

We're still looking for a few more cows so we can really get our herd started. In the meantime, it's starting to feel like Serenity Ranch is coming together at last!