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!

Exploring Kilauea Iki

Mike and I took some time for a little lunch and hike date today, just the two of us. We headed up to Volcanoes National Park, one of our favorite places to hike on the island. The sandwich place we like in Volcano Village is apparently closed on Sundays... and it was a little rainy for a picnic anyway... so we ate at Uncle George's at Volcano House, overlooking the big Kilauea Crater. Here's the view from our table by the window:

Studying the map I'd brought, we were able to find a trail that we had not hiked before: Kilauea Iki Trail. It starts at the Thurston Lava Tube parking area and heads down, down, down to the floor of the Iki crater. There was a lot of foot traffic on this trail, and so many of the people making their way uphill as we were descending were huffing and puffing.

I lost count of the switchbacks as the trail wound its way down the cliff.

 

It looks like a beautiful Japanese rock garden where the trail reaches the base of the cliff. There are the rockfalls, of course, and the hard lava floor broken into huge slabs as the lava cooled... and then there are scores of ahu (piles of rocks to mark a particular spot, or as in this case, a trail) dotting the area - pretty and interesting, as long as you can find the actual trail. Of course, we had no trouble finding our way to the crater floor.

Due to time constraints, we made it only about halfway across, to the first steaming crack. But that just means we get to return for further explorations!

 
We left ourselves an hour for the return (uphill) trip - but it took only half that time. It was quite a morale boost that I only needed to stop for a breather one time coming up that long steep trail!

We had a really fun day exploring this beautiful area.

Pig Roast Lu'au

 

We had a big party out on the ranch last Sunday. We were celebrating the fact that we had NOT been driven out by the recent lava flow (now ceased) and had included people from various circles of friends. It's always fun to see connections being made and find out who already knows who. The party was loads of fun! Of course it would be with so many good people gathered in one place!



But it was WAY too windy to be exactly comfortable... and later it turned quite chilly. We couldn't set up any pop-ups, and had to tie guy wires on the canopy. Still, there was no rain, so that was a blessing. And no mosquitoes either. 

Mike and Dave spent the entire day beforehand preparing one of our own pigs for the roasting spit. He weighed about 100 pounds before butchering and we probably got close to 80 pounds of meat from him. He was stuffed with lemongrass and rosemary from the ranch and chilled overnight. The next morning at 6:00 am, they brought him up to the awaiting roasting area and got the fire started. Once a good bed of coals was created, they were raked into four smaller fires, one in each corner of the roasting area. Then the spit motor was started and cooking proceeded. We figured it would take about 8 hours, but with the heavy winds blowing away the heat of the cooking fires, it actually took a bit longer to cook than planned.

But it was worth the wait!! The piggy was DELICIOUS!!! Bits of the crispiest skin to munch on were passed around to the eagerly waiting crowd. Lori even brought an apple for its mouth!

Everyone contributed something delicious to the feast, and with three tables full of scrumptious food, no one went away hungry. We have so many good cooks among our group of friends that potlucks are the favored way to entertain - which suits me just fine. I love potluck gatherings! (Sadly, I did not get any photos of the other dishes; I guess I was concentrating on the star of the show.)
 

Most left fairly soon after eating because the wind never did let up. Only our kids stayed for the campfire afterwards, but that was kind of nice actually. Gave us time to relax and wind down.

We spent yesterday cleaning up and breaking down the party site, and carving up the remains of the carcass. I lost track of how many bags of roast pork I put into the freezer for future meals. All the bones, skin, cartilage and 'mystery bits' are now in large stock-pot portioned freezer bags for future soup stock and gel broth. That little piggy was bigger than he looked!

All the borrowed tables, chairs, pop-ups, and tablecloths are now at our house, under cover. They will be returned soon, but not today. And of course, there are a few items that need to find their ways back to their proper homes (see Lost and Found, below).

Thanks to all who attended, helped out, or contributed in some way to our party! You all made it fun for us as well!




The Lost and Found Department:
* Several of those very handy tablecloth clips were still clipped on some of the tables. Not sure who brought them but they came in mighty handy what with all the wind!
* Someone left their bug spray, almost a full bottle, so you may want it back.
* There's a tall square plastic container with blue lid - it once had cookies in it, but of course, they didn't last long. Yum!

Oh, and we are missing our bottle opener.


Update: The table clips and bug spray have found their homes once again. Still have the plastic container... and still missing our bottle opener.

Piglets for Sale!

Only four piglets left to sell: two uncut males and two females. (All the rest have been spoken for and we are keeping two for ourselves.) These are from our fourth generation of Natural Farmed hogs, born-and-bred right here on our farm, and of the highest quality. They already weigh between 35-40 pounds apiece! Any of them would make excellent breed pigs, or of course, they'd be great for meat.

More information on these not-so-little piggies here on my farm blog.

Hiking in the Desert

The drought is officially over, at last, and we have been getting lots and lots and LOTS of rain. Yep, our normal winter weather has returned with a vengeance. I hear there's snow on Mauna Kea again--quite low down, too--but we sure can't see it from here with all these low dark clouds.

After a week of nothing but drippy wetness, high humidity, and chilly temperatures, I was very ready for a change of scenery. We decided to take advantage of the cloud cover and explore the Ka'u Desert.

The Big Island of Hawaii is unique in many ways, not least because it has 13 of the world's 15 climate zones. In theory, if you get tired of one climate, it's only a short drive to another. We drive through this desert area on our way to South Point or when we beach camp at Ho'okena... but we had never taken the time to stop and explore. Usually it's a scorching hot area, but with recent rains (not as much as we've been getting in Pahoa, but still...) the desert was fairly green and full of flowers.

We found the trail head alongside the highway, and began our explorations of this remote part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The high cloud cover was welcome and the vog plume from Halema'uma'u was blowing off in a different direction. The air was cool, the winds moderate. Perfect hiking conditions!

It was so quiet. There are far fewer birds out there; mostly it's the wind you hear. The scenery was stark and beautiful. Ohia grew twisted by the wind into fantastic shapes and covered with bright red Lehua blossoms, thanks to the recent rains.

At first, the Ka'u Desert Trail winds through 400-year-old a'a lava. Then suddenly, it drops to a pahoehoe flow that gradually gives way to sand. The particles are black and green. I bet it's scorching when the sun beats down.

Acacia is a fun hiking companion. Her long legs and high energy easily keep up with the big people, and she has that wondering wandering spirit, just like her Grammy. What's beyond that outcropping? Where does this path lead? Can I get to the top of that hill? Parts of the trail are marked only by ahu, or rock piles. Acacia quickly learned to scan for the next ahu to lead us further along our way.

This is also the area where ancient footprints have been preserved in volcanic mud. We were underwhelmed upon seeing them, semi-preserved under a pavilion. It's hard to tell what you're looking at, but the idea of the ancients trekking through this same area way back when resonated with us as we meandered about and found further prints in the solidified old mud. These latter have been circled by rocks that hikers have placed to protect the artifacts, and they seem to have fared somewhat better than the ones under shelter.

There are several wadi (I'm sure there must be a Hawaiian word for this geological feature, but I don't know it) where it's clear that flash floods rush through. The rocks are scoured and even undercut in some places.

We enjoyed a little picnic - two, in fact! It's hard to resist when a friendly rock invites you to sit a spell.

The path goes on and on, part of a backcountry trail system. I have no doubt we'll be back for further explorations on another overcast day.