Early Morning Jam Session

A good friend shared tomatoes with us, and though they are seconds--not quite good enough to sell at the market--they are perfect! Absolutely ripe like you can only get with homegrown. Delectably scented. Tender to the touch.

After eating our fill of fresh tomato slices for lunch, as a salad for dinner, and with eggs and vegies for breakfast... there was still quite a pile of these luscious fruits left over. Time to do up a double batch of Mom's Tomato Preserves! (You can tell it's a great recipe by how stained the page is above; that doesn't happen with one that is used only once!)

First, I have to let the chopped tomatoes sit overnight covered with sugar. I used Maui raw sugar which ended up giving a nice golden glow to the finished product.

The next morning, the juices get cooked down, the pulp added back in along with sliced lemons (from another friend) and cinnamon sticks.

Doing this little canning project brought back deeply-ingrained memories of long steam-filled days in the hot Idaho summertime, putting up the bounty of garden, orchard, and forest. It made me re-appreciate the homesteading skills I acquired over the decades, and feel happy that I can still utilize these skills.

Homemade jam - there's not much better than that! Thanks, Mom, for sharing your recipe with me all those many years ago!

New Land!

Okay, some of you have heard the rumors... others, not a peep. It's been fun keeping it as our little secret but I guess we're ready to make it official:
We bought some new land here on the Big Island! Thirty-two acres in fact, way out in the boonies - just the way we like it and are most comfortable. It's only a twenty minute drive to get there but it feels like a whole different world!

I'm not going to tell where our little slice of heaven is located. Suffice it to say we have a distant ocean view! It's a mix of big old ohia, kukui, and mango forest, and overgrown fields. There are acres of neglected banana patches and pasture, one enormous old grandmother mango tree, about 100 avocado trees, and lots of trash to clear out. Perfect project! Because we're not too busy at all, right? Ha! 

This place is old homestead land from way back at the turn of the previous century. It is completely surrounded by State land. Somewhere along the way, it was used as a banana plantation (hence all the old patches). When we bought it at auction in January, it came with squatters (hence all the trash), nine dogs, and a horse. We told them the horse could stay, but the people and dogs are, thankfully, long gone now. Oh, and there's a sweet little kitty who Mike dubbed Blackie.

Doesn't he look a lot like Wynn? Just a little smaller and much more shy.

There are also a few beautiful meadows.

In the long run, this will make farming easier for us. Think pastured animals (pigs, cows, chickens) as opposed to barns and pens. We plan to do do mob-grazing to improve the fields, then pasture rotation to maintain them. We'll still continue with Korean Natural Farming, of course, but will be pioneering new applications for this method with pasture land. This will actually make KNF more translatable for the western mainland where there are plenty of wide open spaces still, unlike in Korea or Japan.

We are not planning on moving out there any time soon. It is way off-grid, which is not an obstacle for us. But we have a comfy home here already, along with a nice barn for the piggies and all the trees and plants we're growing. Plus, Lori, Dave, and Acacia just moved here from Alaska! No, what we're going to do is build a little shelter and a big firepit.  Camping, anyone? Yes, please!

Good times with good friends.

There are loads of these magnificent wild orchids in the woods.

 

100th Hubbell Bubble Chicken Coop!

Last Saturday we drove down to the shoreline... not to swim or sunbathe at the beach, or even to walk along the coast... but to help build a chicken coop for Kua O Ka La, the Hawaiian immersion school next to the Ahalanui warm pond. It was part of a series of Natural Farming talks that have been taking place there since October.

We have really enjoyed this series which has included such topics as the Hawaiian moon calendar, cultivating 'uala (sweet potato) and kalo (taro), and will conclude with the big 'Ulu Festival next month. This time it was a more hands-on project: building a chicken coop for the school.

 

There was a good turnout and everyone joined in, one way or another. 

Even the younger keiki got to try their hands at coop-building.

Many hands make light work... and the coop was just finished in only two hours!

Once the coop was completed, there was a little blessing. Hawaiian chanting always gives me "chicken skin" and this time was no exception, though the day was hot and sunny. There was also a special presentation: Mike was chosen for the first annual Natural Farmer's Award! He was so surprised! It was announced that this is the 100th Hubbell Bubble chicken coop built on the islands - and that's just counting the ones that the UH-CTAHR Extension Office is aware of!

There were representatives from both Kua O Ka La and the Kamehameha Schools in attendance, as well as a member of the Maui County Council. The word about Natural Farming is spreading!

At then end of the morning, it's all about the friendship and camaraderie of doing good work together. Mahalo to all who helped.

Rainy Day Walkabout

Okay, now that I have thoroughly revamped my blog page, it's high time I added a new post... or maybe even two.  Let's get down to it, then!

Last week saw more of our usual winter weather pattern, with rain, rain, and more rain. Maybe a little drizzle to alleviate the monotony. Since it is still warm, this doesn't really slow us down much, but sometimes we forget that it is still a pleasant temperature outdoors when we have the windows closed against the high humidity and blowing precipitation. After all, it can be dark and dreary looking... until you venture outside and feel all that life-force of the gardens and jungle growing like mad around you.

The chickens don't mind the rain one little bit. Whoever coined the phrase "mad as a wet hen" sure didn't know squat about birds!

And then there are a few who prefer the view from the top perch. Maybe they're scoping out the best scratching ground!

The piggies appreciate the cooler temps... and the fresh juicy sugarcane Mike cuts for them each day.

 
Spot is so efficient at slurping the juice from the stalks and you can tell she loves it! The leftover stringy bits, called bagass, become part of the bedding.

This little piggy just got bought by a 4-H youngster, but we're keeping him here until she has her barn ready for him.

And let me just add, I love my new chore boots!  Perfect for tromping in and out of the coops during feeding and egg-collecting, across wet grass and jungle, and of course stomping in the occasional puddle!

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

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!