Storm

Wow, we had quite a storm here yesterday afternoon and into the evening. Lots of rain which washed out roads. Even thunder and some lightning (very unusual to get t&l here). Went down to the bay to paddle this morn. Not happening, the flooding left us with a crevice in the launch area, washed out most of our sand and washed some canoes out into the bay. We will need a work crew and some repairs to the bay and the boats if they even hope to paddle Sat. Everyone down there said they have never seen anything like the storm we had yesterday. More thunder than anyone has heard and tons of rain. Well some places needed it but not all at once. I have heard reports of 3-7 inches depending on where you live. Mike called us from the B&B down in the Napoopoo area and said their power just came back on but all seems back to normal now and it is sunny and calm. So he was hopeing we could bring up some freshly roasted coffee today. I am getting on that right now as I have orders to fill and coffee to package for the market Sat. so gotta go. Take a look at the web site at www.konalisacoffee.com.

Milestones

Unbelievable that we have milestones already!! First milestone is one year. Yes, one year since we developed this crazy idea to come to Hawaii and coffee farm. Not in my wildest dream did I ever think we would be doing the things we are doing right now. Second milestone.....we were honored by our first visitors. Kelli & John were here for four fast paced days. (Ron & I are still recovering) But it was the best. Let's see we paddled Thurs. morn (saw dolphins), then visited the farm and picked coffee, bananas, papayas & avocados and then had dinner at Sandra's beautiful home. Fri was the trip to Hapuna Beach, a bit windy there but great swimming and on to Hawi for lunch at Luke's Place. Then the hike down to the black sand area of Pololu. On the way back we took 250 into Wiamea and on the way had perfect views of Maui, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, & Mauna Loa. The drive was indescribable, right K & J? Sat. everyone helped set up the market and R,K&J went for a bike ride. I don't know what Ron did to them but the afternoon snorkel got cancelled for a leisurely rest on the beach with dinner at Kona Inn on the ocean. Does that describe the absolutely great time we had with our lovely first guests? I hope so as we thoroughly enjoyed their company. Milestone number three would be papayas. Yes, I believe I just finished my 1000th papaya since arrival. Boy those fruits are tasty!!!

Around the island, literaly, the Ultra Man just finished. Yes, there were ladies in it too. In fact on my way to Costo Sun. afternoon the only ones jogging were three gals. The crews were finishing a grueling weekend of 6.5mi. swim from Kailua pier to Keauhou Bay, where they boarded their bicycles for the 100 mi+ ride to Volcano. They got a twelve hour break and then it's up the highway on the bikes to Hawi for a two day total of 261.4 miles. Then they get to exchange bikes for running shoes as they complete the 52.4 mile run back to Kailua. Awesome way to tour the island, huh!!

The Store.........

.......seems to be working fine. Ron worried that we wouldn't have enough parchment(what coffee is called before it is milled and roasted). I thought that would be the best of our worries, that we would sell it all! Turns out right now parchment isn't the problem, roasting enough is. But that's okay, you just keep those orders coming in & I'll let you know when I run out. You see, being so new at this we have no idea how much coffee to roast each week and that is the core of our coffee retailing. Our niche comprises fresh, fresh and fresher coffee so we roast as much or as little as traffic bears. Only we don't know the traffic patterns yet. So I thought I had enough coffee for this week and for Sat. market but I am really running low and company is coming so I planned another roasting day next Mon. to fill the rest of the orders. I know this is Chrismas shopping time and all retail says that this is the most active time so I guess if I get through this I will be experienced. Today I realized what a back order is. Be happy if your order went out yesterday. And by all means if you are ordering for Christmas get the order in soon. Also thanks for all the feedback on the website (www.konalisacoffee.com), it was wonderful to hear from you.

You can buy coffee now & Snow

No you don't need to buy the snow. Probably some of you in Michigan have already had some snow. Maybe, maybe not, but we have had it here. SNOW in Hawaii?? Yes, I forgot to mention that we saw it on our trip last week over to Hilo. Taking the Saddle road you pass very closely to the peak of Mauna Kea and they had to close the road up to the peak last Sun. because of snow up there. On Monday morn cars were parked early waiting for the opening as locals like to go up there and play in the snow, make snowballs and bring them back and put them in the freezer. A magnificent picture is to stand in the water at Hapuna Beach and look east toward the mt. in January and take a picture of all the sun bathers with the snowcapped mt. behind.
Now that's explained and I can talk about the website and coffee. You can take a look at our website at www.konalisacoffee.com. It's not finished yet but I don't have the patience to wait for help to complete it so it will remain a work in progess for a bit. You can click on Mona to get in and then click on the 'about us' link and any other link at the top. Only the Zen Cart isn't set up yet so you are welcome to order coffee by emailing me at konalisacoffee@yahoo.com. I also don't have the shipping prices in yet so I can quote those if you email me. Prices are on the website if you click on the products to the left on the 'company store' link. Next I was able to give many of you a sample when we were back in MI & TN and then some I was not. So, if you don't believe this is the best coffee in the world and you want to order anyway, I will send your sample along with the order. Just ask. That's all I can think of now. Oh, how do you pay for it, ya, that's a thought. I can take a check and by today sometime I am supposed to be having a secure site set up for credit cards.

 
 
 
 

Hilo

Ron's happy! He finally has his truck here. There is lots to be done as we transfer the business and property down in Captain Cook so we really need 2 cars now and especially the truck. To get the truck we took a little overnight trip to Hilo going over on Tue. on the Saddle Rd. Saddle road is the only cross island road and it needs loads of improvements. The west end is curvy and narrow but after the Mauona Kea State Park it's being widened so there's quite a bit of construction. Most of us islanders can't wait for it's completion. For the first time since our honeymoon we cruised down Banyan Dr. The banyan trees are bigger than ever and the hotels a bit older. We didn't stay there 30 yrs. ago so with a Kama'a'ina rate and a chance to chill for a bit we checked in. I took pictures of the lovely Hilo Bay and Coconut Island that I'll post when I get them downloaded later. Our main reason to stay was to visit the Hilo market as it's supposed to be the best on the island. I liked it and if it's not the best it sure is the biggest. Managed to buy a couple Chrismas gifts, some fruits (our first time to try rambutans) and veggies, had lunch at Ron's favorite place, Cronies, and then headed home along the Hamakua Coast. Wow, I had forgotten how lovely that drive is along the ocean. I think it's my favorite coastal drive here. Mostly high coastline views with smashing waves and thick tropical forest. We wound around at least 3 named gulches and then all of a sudden you seem to pass into another land as the landscape changes to look like possibly upper NY state, then in a few miles like southern Calif, and then maybe Colorado like as we head into Wiamea. Remember we have 11 of the 12 climate zones on this island and you can visit them all in a day. You wouldn't see much but you could do it. Best thing is to take some time here and enjoy the spectacular diversity. After we got back today we picked up our roasted coffee and packaged some of it. We are green at this and to tell you the truth have no idea what we are doing. We only planned on getting a coffee farm, not selling it!! Never thought, what the heck do you do with the coffee cherry after you grow it, did we???

Two clarifications needed, while I'm thinking about them. First I wondered why the old Japanese carried lanterns with them while they picked coffee. Didn't they do it in the daytime like we do. Well not exactly. They picked and picked until it was all picked and this usually went into the night. We are closer to the equator here than any of you so we have close to equal day and night year round.(In the winter it does tend to get darker a little earlier). And today hand picked coffee is still what you get in Kona. Everyone tells me it is about the only place left in the world still doing it this way. Even in Maui and Kauai they machine pick. The difference is beans don't ripen all at the same time. So a machine, and they use them in So. America and Africa too, strips all the beans from a branch both green and ripe cherry. Green beans make the coffee bitter. Our pickers are instructed to only pick the ripe cherry and we pick 3-4 times a season, by hand. So that's the story as to why Kona coffee is a mellow, not bitter coffee. That's one of the reasons and it only is available in 100% pure Kona coffee. I guess I'll get into more at a later time. And now I forgot what the second clarification was so I guess I will get to that at a later post too. Good Day all........

Coffee festival and other activities.

Yes, lots of activity going on. The Kona Coffee Cultural Festival runs from Nov. 2-11 and includes all kinds of local color. Fri nite Ron and I were in the lantern parade. A friend once mentioned that a Knoxville parade was Americana at it's best, but she never saw Hawaianna at it's best. I carried an old Japanese lantern and Ron a coffee pickers basket. Ahead of us was a Filipino group with drums, and behind us was a very vocal cheering group from a local school. We had an excellent singing group, dressed and sounding like the 40's-50's Andrews Sisters, of course Hawaiian costumes and a Japanese rock group. What is hoot it was, yet culturally complete. Then there was music and food at the Hale Halawi Rec center for the rest of the evening. Then it was head home to get coffee ready for brewing in the morn as we were setting up for the Keauhou market on our own for the first time. Ron had picked some bananas, papayas and avocados to sell along with the coffee, so we were on our way. It's a fun little market and only goes from 8am-12noon. Probably the hardest thing for me is getting up so early, but I'll need to get used to it. I was whipped when we got home but I wanted to go to the Holualoa walking tour at 3 and I did. Saw some beautiful artwork, ate more goodies and bought a Hawaiian cookbook and a painted Holualoa tank top. Last nite we went to the Kona Coffee Farmers Assoc. dinner and silent auction with friends. Linda and Al also just bought a farm here and we eagerly traded infomation. They both, like Ron, enjoy picking coffee. I guess I will have to try it sooner or later, but I was never to much into picking blueberries so I may stick to the racking and roasting part. Mark has part of the website up. I sent him some pictures, but he said the clarity needs to be worked on and then we will be good to go. Ron's truck is in Hilo, so tomorrow we are going over to pick it up and probably spend the nite to take a look at the Hilo Farmers market on Wed. Then it's back home to package the coffee on Thurs. Right now I can hardly type as I went ocean jogging this morn got completely wore out from the big swells. We had rain yesterday for the first time since we came back and are now having Kona breezes so the ocean was a bit stirred up and cooler in spots. There are underground fresh water rivers running into the bay and with all the water coming down from the mountains every once in awhile you hit a cold spot which makes you jog a bit faster. Today is turning out to be another beautiful sunny calm day so we are off to the farm to pick up some parchment to get milled and roasted for this weekend.