Happy New Year almost

New Years Eve means we have been on the farm for 1 year. We officially moved in on the 1st of 2008. What a great year! I think I've learned, played, worked, met new and interesting people more this year than in any other year in my life. The experiences an exotic island can sustain are unlimited to someone like me from the Midwest. Just one example is the number of fruits I knew compared to now. If I could name 50 fruits before, I have heard of at least 500 now. And no I cannot name them all and I am still on my way to trying them all. Haven't found too many I don't like and some are fantastic. Like sapote, and there are several kinds of sapote. Just like there are about 50 varieties of bananas and 50 varieties of avocados. I didn't know that, did you?
Okay now it is 10:30 and most of the world has already had New Years. We just got back from a New Year Eve party enjoying the company of several couples. One from So. Africa & Amsterdamn. and another from Poland & Germany. The hosts hail from Maryland & Florida. But all or us are farmers. Whoops now the fireworks have started and I have the hiccups. Fireworks are a tradition here. Locals love it and I think we are infor a night full of noise. See you tomorrow.

Clear here

The last few days have been very clear. Ocean views from our lanai are exquisite. Ron hurried and called our neighbor to see if she had heard that the volcano shut off. That wasn't happening, I guess the winds have just shifted. Good thing the whales should be coming down this way soon.
I also saw a pretty inclusive article on the history of Kilauea's eruption history here: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2008/12/07/volcano//volcano.txt

Sorry for the need to cut and paste. I haven't been able to make this blogs link button work. This is a pretty easy blog site to navigate so I know it's just me. Maybe I'll figure it out later.

Chocolate

There are many things good about Hawaii and chocolate is just one of them. I'll just talk about a few here and start with chocolate. Our coffee organization took a visit to the 'Original Chocolate Factory'. Chocolate grows between 15-20 degrees latitude either side of the equator and our 'Factory' is at 18degreesN. They are at the same elevation as our farm, 800'. So I guess we could grow cacao trees. The trip to the factory/farm is a worthwhile sidetrip while you are here so I won't go into too much detail except to say that the chocolate is yummy. And priced just right at $40 per pound!!! In a way chocolate is harvested and processed a bit like coffee in that you have to take the slimy beans out of the pod and ferment them, dry them and then roast them. You get genuine US grown and made chocolate and coffee only from Hawaii both very unique industries.
I read today that Hawaii ranks as the #2 healthiest state. The rankings were done by the United Health Foundation and the American Public Health Assoc. I had read earlier this year that Hawaii ranks #1 on the mental health/happiness scale. Easily explained. We get all the chocolate and coffee we want here!!

Last week or so my visiting friend & I had the chance to take a snorkel tour on one of the nicer boats leaving from Kailua pier, called the BodyGlove. A nice two level catamaran with ample room to wander around and enjoy the short sail out to Turtle Point. Really there weren't near as many fish there as other spots, but we did see a turtle. And I saw my first Crown-of-thorns starfish. Quite a large starfish with about 16-18 tenticles. And venomous so I have heard. No worry we were snorkeling near the top of the ocean and he was down on the coral feeding. After the snorkel we had our second meal. We had a continental type breakfast on our way out to the point and lunch was waiting for us after snorkeling. BodyGlove also has lots of water toys and, for additional fees, will take groups on snuba and diving. We stayed on board then and let the kid in us emerge by using the water slide. Nothing like a long plunge into the clear aqua blue ocean to wake up the kid in you. In fact it is not a one plunge slide. So much fun it called for another run.
While I'm thinking of it a good thing to happen here right now would be rain. Thru the summer we are used to almost daily rains, usually in the afternoon. Winter has arrived the the sky has shut off. With all the lushness and foilage and of course 'needy coffee trees' just a week or so without rain and we feel, dry, dry, dry.
Enough of the good things, but in truth I can't find anything bad about anywhere I have lived. Michigans snow is beautiful. I just don't care for it anymore. Tennessees everything still reverbs in my senses. But now I totally like living without air-conditioning.

Link

Seems like I did not put that last link in correctly. Trying it again. If this doesn't work, well I copied and pasted it and it worked fine. Is it just me??

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/scenes_from_antarctica.html

What happened to the coffee farmers??

Now, I just bet all of you are wondering that aren't you?? But it has been awhile since my last blog. I keep telling myself to come here and write and then it finally occured to me that I can save what I write and come back to it later to finish. So this may be a very unconnected bit of ramblings. And where do I start. Guess I'll just go back to the end of last month when Natalie was here. Natalie is a friend of a friend who seemed to become one of my daughters while she was here. We enjoyed her short stay so much and hope she comes back someday. We did a whirlwind trip of the island in 3 days, visiting 2-step snorkel area, walking on the lava coast and writing her name with coral on the black lava cliffs. (This is a local custom.) Then we took a trip across the saddle road to Hilo, 2 sets of waterfalls and of course the mighty volcano. See what you can do in a weekend and still do the market. A couple days later friends from Michigan arrived. In fact they are still here. We've shared island trips with them and they have picked coffee for us and it has worked out great. (Just so you know, coffee picking season is from Aug-Nov.) We'll be sharing Thanksgiving with our outrigger paddle club on the bay and then they are off to the cold mainland. They actually have taken trips out and saw most of the island. Luckily one of the day trips we took with them was to the green sand beach. It is definitely on our list to recommend everyone go to. It's just so unusual and the sand is totally green. Olivine is the mineral, I believe, that makes it happen. It's down at South Point, a pretty desolate, windy but dramatically striking area. One of the most facinating things we did was to swim with the dolphins. Locals tell me that we are more likely to have dolphins in Kealakekua Bay during time of full moon. The morning we were down there was the day after and the dolphins where jumping and spinning in the bay so we decided to go in, swim out to where they were and watch. They were quite comfortable with us there, bringing there babies right up near us. Let me tell you, if you can't tell already, that it is a mighty awesome experience. One sight I have to tell is watching three dolphins circle around, dive down, and come up perpendicular and parallel to each other. Then they start rolling. Suddenly I realized that I was witnessing them prepare for their spin. I got to see the whole technique from beginning to end as when they reached the top I quickly looked up and watched as they spun out of the water, something most people only see from shore.

Okay, where am I now? Yes, it's whale whatching time and tomorrow Dorothy & I are taking the 'Body Glove' snorkel trip. I've never snorkeled on the island north of Kailua-Kona and this boat takes us north. Well, north is where our wintering humpback whales have already been spotted this season. We have our fingers crossed that the captain knows where they are and after snorkeling he'll take us on a mission to spot them before returning back to the pier.

Time to post this, getting a bit long but before I go I have a wonderful friend here who is a professional photographer. And of course he knows many other photographers and I just have to share this site of pics he sent me. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/scenes_from_antarctica.html Another awsesome place.


Then May you always have Love to Share, Health to Spare, And Friends Who Care.

Recap of pictures below

Random photos. I posted some random thoughts in pictures. They are of a sunset(viewed from our driveway); Rascal, the puppy we took care of for two months; Ethan, our grandson, wearing his new Aloha shirt; our updated coffee label; Toonces, our cat, ready to ride on the neighbors scooter; new crop of coffee drying on our drying deck; passionfruit flower (it smells lovely too); an orchid blooming in our garden; and last but not least, Charlotte, our resident spider.

I finally got a good picture of Charlotte. She has been hanging around on her web for the last couple of months. She built her web connected to the plumbago bush and the rail heading into my office. So I get to check on her everyday. I'm not sure what she does all day but she must like it there as she hasn't moved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where's the Beef?

Fantastic event here on the island last night. We drove up to the Waikaloa Hilton with Cheryl & Rog and ate our hearts out. We feasted on the annual 'Taste of the Range', a food fest with Hawaii Island Grass-Fed Beef. There were at least 50 area resturants featuring mostly their best beef recipes also with some lamb, pork and even a goat dish. Parker Ranch is the largest privately owned cattle ranch in the US and all their beef is grass-fed, raised without added hormones and without antibiotics. Yes, we do eat more fish than beef but when we do have beef it is the best. While speaking of Parker Ranch I have to mention Paniolo. They are the cowboys we still have here and we just had a celebration and of course a parade. Doesn't take much to cause a parade to happen here. But 100 years ago a Hawaiian cowboy/paniolo by the name of Ikua Purdy stunned the American West by winning the 1908 World Roping Championship in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The paniolo history is interesting and adds to the mystic while visiting Parker Ranch. Since I love history, here is the short history of cowboys in Hawaii. Captain George Vancouver brought cattle as gifts to King Kamehameha in 1792. The first horses arrived in Hawai'i about 1804. Vaqueros were invited to the islands in 1832 by Hawai'i's king to teach Hawaiians how to ride and rope wild cattle. Since these islands are in the middle of the ocean people either came or were brought here from all over the world. I suppose those vaqueros were from either Spain or Mexico. Portuguese were brought here to foreman the sugarcane plantations. In 1900 after a devastating hurricane hit Puerto Rico thousands came here to work in those plantations.

Wild Ride

Heading out with the outrigger canoes last week our steersman asked if we wanted to go south with the group or head north and surf the waves. The stroker yelled 'let's surf' so off we went up to the surf spot. I had heard and seen others teams talking about and trying to ride the waves and I was looking forward to the excitement. After paddling about a mile we found our surf spot and tried catching a good wave. As we caught our first wave we paddled as hard as we could and rode it a bit, then paddled back to look for more. Next wave didn't take us far. Then....steersman, Robert, yelled 'hit it' and off we went paddling hard until we were going so fast that I couldn't even paddle anymore! Steersman was yelling at #4 to lay down on the ama and since I was #2(in case names are forgotten the steersman calls out the number seat we are in)and couldn't paddle because of the speed I also leaned down on the 'ioku as we sped along. What a fun wild ride! People onshore were watching us and taking pictures. I guess thats because we were yelling and laughing so much. That was my first wild ride out there and the rest of the paddlers said that was the best wave they had ever caught. 3 of the crew were seasoned paddlers so I guess I was just lucky. Tomorrow I go again and can only wish for another great wild ride.

Cherry pickin' time

Been wanting to blog lots lately. I get thinking about it and then I can't decide how to say it all in less words. So this could be long. It's supposed to be 210 days from a blossom till the coffee cherries are ready to pick. But which blossom? Sometimes you get 10 blossoms a season. Usually though only a couple are really big, but we haven't figured out if all the cherry from that blossom ripen all at once or what. You pick a tree many times going over and over it for several weeks and even a month or two. So needless to say we are still picking. Well I have to admit, not me. We have pickers and Ron picks a bunch himself. I kinda just take care of the roasting, packaging. I help some with the pulping and raking, though. And today I did two things. I made a lilikoi reduction to go with the fish we had for dinner and this morning I stood on my head at yoga class. I was so excited with that. I don't think I have ever done that before in my life. While the teacher was explaining I was on my hands and knees saying,'ya right'. Then decided what have I got to loose? I only held it for a few seconds but it was just the thing my back and hips needed. Everything seemed to realign in my body. Hope I can do that again soon!
We don't always work on the farm, although there really is a lot to do this time of the year. But, last week and then the week before was went with friends and did evening sunset cruises with pupus(Hawaiian for finger foods/snacks/appetizers)and cash bar. Slow tourist season, I guess, and good kamaiana(locals)rates. It's beautiful to be out on the ocean anytime of day and especially when you can get a lovely sunset. Even if you can't the views are spectacular. This morning there had been a full moon and from our lanai it just looked so peaceful glistening on the ocean with small little clouds sprinkled around it. A picture you can't really take, you just have to remember it!! Well this could be longer but I am freezing setting here in my tank top. I really cools off some evenings with a breeze coming down from the mountain and makes it nice for sleeping. It's always nice for sleeping but we just have to pull the covers up tonight.

Seasons

I'm finding the seasons here quite distinguishable. Being from Michigan and actually seeing everything change from cold to rain to warm to snow, I thought I may not like perpetual summer. So far not so. Everything here definitely has it's growing season. Some faster than others but they all have their time. It's easy to see now why almost any time is a good time to visit Hawaii. If you come here in the summer I think you get to taste more of the fresh fruits and vegetables. Right now we have dragonfruit coming in. We eat it like a melon and it looks like a magenta kiwi inside only much bigger. Pineapples have been ripening and have been part of our breakfasts besides drying a few. Lilikoi are dropping like flies. You don't harvest them, you just pick them up when they fall. I made juice out of them and froze most of it. Mangoes are just about done and I have some of those frozen. Smoothies taste great with them. After all that work now they tell me all I need to do is take some chopped up fruit and pour vodka over it and let it set. (For how long? A long time is okay, I guess). Then you just pour a glass of 'happy Hawaii' anytime guests arrive.

Of course the big deal here is that 'picking' season has finally arrived. Today we have about 6 pickers out in our coffee orchard and we will be weighing and counting this evening. We will sure find out how much cherry we are able to process today. Ron had been picking some as it slowly came in and in one month we got about a total of 700 pounds. We will surely get more than that just on one day today. Then we will go into drying and raking mode. They probably will not get it all today so pickers will be back Monday to finish up. Meanwhile we have more cherry still on the trees that needs to redden up so we can hardly calculate how long picking season will last. We have guests coming in Nov. that want to pick so we can only hope we still have beans ripening up till then. I think they will be glad it's only a few.

Five of us took last Sunday and went up to Wiamea to see the "King & I' at the community playhouse. Vog had cleared out and the views were spectacular. We could see Haleakula on Maui from the road there and everything was so green against the Kohala Mts. Later we had dinner at "Cafe Pesto's". My first time there and a definite go back and nice place to stop in Kawaihai when visiting.

No matter the season new places to snorkel keep me busy. Our closest beach area here called Mahini beach is my next stop. Maybe tomorrow. I need things to take my mind off something I discovered. Even though this may be paradise, they still have root canals here. Yes I have to have one and it looks like next Wed. is the day. Never had to have that done before but one thing I know is that when I walk out the door after the procedure I will be looking at the beautiful Pacific and that's, I think, something to look forward to.

So much happens in summertime........................

I don't know that I have the time to write all about it! Ron bought a tomato plant last week from a vendor next to us at the market because tomatoes are hard to grow here----huh!! Well it's in a container and it has doubled in size already. It's like we have a conveyor belt of fruit pouring in. It's a shame to waste it but we are overwhelmed. After spending the spring and summer months in Michigan praying and tenderly coaxing our greenery to grow and ripen before frost, it's amazing to watch it grow here. In fact, try to stop it! Ron calls me the wicked witch of Hawaii as I tend to grab, pull, cut and stomp on foliage and plants I don't want and they 'just come back'. One good thing, all this 'extra'(so they say)rain is producing a bumper crop of coffee. Ron is spastic over all the coffee trees that are falling over, heavy with cherry.
I did get him to take a day off and go to the 'Two Step' snorkel/swimming area with me. He even got out on a body board and floated awhile while I did my jogging exercises in the bay. Then Tues I went to the Honounou NP area with some neighbors. A lava area that Ron & I were able to walk across last winter was filled with water and a nice pool and waterfall area was created because of the extra high tide occurring. We were having a blast when a huge surge came in and swept quite a ways inland and I was enjoying the ride until I realized that I was being carried out into the open sea. I immediately tried to swim back and the force was too great. A young boy was right next to me and we grabbed on to each other until the surge let up. It was actually shallow enough to stand when we grabbed onto some rocks to steady us. Meanwhile my friend had been pulled out much farther and her husband was trying to pull her in. I was luckier than Marci & Chuck who were scraped up a bit from being bounced into the rocks by the huge incoming tide.
Later that evening Marci and I and 4 other friends met for dinner and a movie. Mama Mia is showing and I remembered how much I liked the live version, so we made it a girls night out. Let me tell you we thought the movie was as funny and raucous as the live show. We shared many belly laughs and James Bond "007" singing in Elvis style bell bottoms was a hoot!!
Ron took a bike ride yesterday and he makes a loop which takes him down to the bay and back up to the highway. He saw some friends heading down to the bay to swim and watched as dozens of dolphins were swimming and spinning around. Today he ran with Mark, his friend from Michigan, who has been here for a few weeks. They came for dinner one night and told us they are thinking about moving here. In fact Wendy has taken a teaching job here to try it out. She'll be teaching at Kealakehe Middle School. See, it's possible, y'all can just move here too!!!

Moving along

My July is almost gone and this is only my 3rd post. Well summer can be a busy time here. I am slowly learning what season brings which fruits. Papayas are pretty much year around but they have even slowed down. Mangoes are very prevalent right now. And we love them. They are great cut up, frozen, and then used in smoothies. I think the season only lasts a couple of months. Next batch I get, I will be dehydrating. Bananas seem to come whenever. We have had mucho pineapples right now. I've been told they take 18 mos. to 2 years to go from planting to harvesting. So I have saved some starts and will be planting them today. Come in early summer 2010 and you will have the best pineapple you have ever tasted. Macadamia nuts have started to fall. That is how they are harvested. Like most nuts you wait until they fall and then pick them up. But then they have to be husked and the shell is almost impossible to crack. We do have a special cracker, so we get to eat them too. I also dehydrate them as they last longer then. Avocados are slowly ripening. The variety that Ron likes best doesn't come in until about Oct.-Feb. but we should have some that they call butter avocados by Sept. I like them too. We can't keep the Hawaiian pumpkin vines back. They also seem to produce year round. We love them and they sell well at the market. Lilikoi (passions fruit) are proliferate now. I love the fragrance of the juice. All I need to do is ask around and find a good recipe to save them or freeze them. Not sure how long the vines produce but you have not seen anything so beautiful as the flower of the vine. We sorta have dragon fruit. Our fruit just doesn't seem to get very big. It tastes kinda like kiwi but it's red inside. We heard they are very hard to grow and they are also very hard to get pollinated. A reason ours are so small, I think. It's probably all true because I've seen one dragonfruit sell for $5 and it's only as big as a large apple. Oh, and yes we do have coffee!!!!.....................COFFEE is moving along too. The trees are loaded with cherry. In fact many are toppling over, they are so heavy. Most of the coffee cherry is still green though. Ron has picked some in the last couple of weeks, but not the large crop we need. Our coffee flowered at least 6 times this year and the cherry ripens about 7 months after each flowering. The really big blossom was in Feb. so the big crop will come in late Aug. to Sept. Yes, we have dried and roasted what Ron has picked but it's still not enough to open the online store. Just a few bags to have around here and to take to the market. He ended up picking well over 100 pounds but after processing I think I ended up with about 36 pounds of roasted coffee. So, yes it takes a lot of fruit to make one pound of coffee, and a lot of waiting and work to take it thru all the processes to get it to our coffee cup. But, of course, I wouldn't drink any other kind of coffee and the hands on picking and care is what makes Kona coffee one of the best coffees in the world. ............................We keep waiting for the big fruit crop to ripen, some of the cherry is turning yellow and will follow with red. We also had a large blossom later in Feb. or March so we will get two big picks and four or so small picks. We have had rain at some time in the day, every day in July so far. This is the most rain I've seen since we've been here. But I do believe we are supposed to get lot's of rain in July and Aug. When we returned from TN & MI is was still not as hot as I thought summer would be here. Well add humidity to the equation and I think I would say that summer starts in mid July in Hawaii. It's been a bit sticky here with all the rain and we started using the fans in most the the rooms. So I would say that summertime here is fantime. ............Ron is out riding his bike now and the sun is shining bright. I do my ocean jogging now at TwoStep bay and got Ron to go with me last week. He took a body board and floated around while I exercised. Mark Daniel, a running buddy of his from Flint is here visiting and we took him outrigger paddling with us last Thurs. He said he really enjoyed it but didn't feel he got the 'sinc' of it yet but could see how great an upper body workout it can be. He is off doing the Volcano run this weekend but will be back to do a few intown runs with Ron next week...............And last Wed. they had a Kamiaina (you get local prices)sail on the Red Sail with a sunset cruise including drinks and pupus (snacks) so we took off with Al & Linda for that. It was great to be out on the ocean. We saw the sun, but not actually setting. It came down and set into either the clouds or the vog, not the ocean horizon but it was still beautiful, big bright and red!! Well time for me to take off and get my clippers out. The plants near the driveway need cutting back and I think I hear the dog barking, meaning Ron's back. No, we do not have a dog. We are dogsitting a friends MinPin for two months while they travel back on the mainland. His name is Rascal, he's only about 8 mos. old and he and the cat are finally making nice. He's lots of fun and cute but reminds us that we are not yet ready to take on the whole responsibility. Baby/DogSittng is the best idea. A little fun and then he goes home..........

We did it!!

Well two different things.....but Ron and I are both proud and excited about them both! Ever heard of the little devils 'coqui frogs'? They are about as big as your thumb nail and chirp a (co like 'go'--key)sound in the evening especially after a rain. If you have ever been in Hilo you have probably heard them and they are an unwanted pest. One sounds cute but I can't imagine thousands chirping at bedtime. A few have found their way over to this side so Ron & a buddy went coqui hunting. You need to go after dark to hear them, decide which tree he is in and spray a mixture of citric acid and water on the tree and ground. Well Ron has been successful on all his hunts and our neighbors, Tom & Rosemary, who live in a round house are forever grateful. Unlike snipe hunting, you can believe Ron if he wants to take you on a coqui hunt.

This morning I went by myself down to Two-Step in Honaunua Bay and did my ocean jogging. Except for not seeing Jane, Marie, Nanette, Claire, Krysta, Cindy & Connie and missing out on all the towny gossip, I had a blast! Not being a swimmer, let me tell you, it was a bit daunting to decide to go alone. But, of course, alone I wasn't. If you can imagine, here I was, jogging around talking to all the snorkelers. One came up and said "spectacular"!! I think I have found a new jogging route, it's 5 times closer to my house. And I think next time I will take my snorkel mask. Everytime I go down there I forget how I believe it to be the best snorkel area I have ever seen. My experience is pretty much limited to Kauai, Hanauma Bay in Honolulu, Mazatlan, Mex.,Paradise Is, Nassau and St. John Is, in the Virgin Isles. But the water here is the clearest and the deepest with tons of fish and not all small. Marci can expect a call to join me next time so maybe we can start our own group........

Memories

Aloha, aloha, aloha! Wow we are back here in Hawaii and pretty much getting back into our routines. Tonight there is a 'coffee talk' at the UH Extention building. Ron & I are going and meeting up with some friends to do dinner after. There is always much good info and workshops for us coffee farmers and quite a helpful community. I am back to my Tue morn yoga classes, will paddle tomorrow and maybe even try a new spot to do my ocean jogging in this week. With gas prices so high,$4.50/gal here, I don't like to drive all the way to the Kailua pier unless I have other errands or a Costo trip to add. So this a.m. I just did a nice walk down Painted Church Rd. and Ron did a bike ride with a neighbor, Michelle. I'm anxious to see how my new spot will work. It's down at 2-Step in the bay and lots of locals and tourists go there to swim and to snorkel. I will have company eventhough I may look wierd doing my water jogging there. There are usually dolphins there so maybe I can have them accompany me. And it's only 2 miles from home. We had loads of trimming to do. Bushes, landscaping and all plus weeding in the coffee fields. Ron even picked a little coffee and some is already processed. We should have new crop coffee ready to send out in about a month or so. Yeah!
But first back to June, which is when we were able to catch a few memories. There are so many things we love about living here in Hawaii but it sure wouldn't be for everyone. Seeing so many of our friends and relatives brought memories back of why we liked MI & TN so well. Flat, flat, flat running in MI sure does help one along. And of course the cool, cool mornings just seem to push you along. Getting out with old running buddies and using the Clinton River Trail near my daughters reminded us how good running can be in MI in June. We even took our grandchildren on the west end of the CRT which is then called the West Bloomfield Trail and they loved it. In fact Casey did quite a bit of running with us while we were there. She seems to like to run as a cross training for her soccer. Then in TN, eventhough it was hot, hot, hot we realized how many wonderful friends we had made in such a short time. Grandkids there are both teenagers but we still can have great conversations with them. All on all it was great fun to see everyone and evethough we are back at work here on the farm we are already talking about our next trip to the mainland.

Synopsis of the last few weeks in May...........

as I can guarantee I won't be blogging in June. Exactly a week from today we take off to TN for the first leg of our trip to visit with family & friends. Two weeks ago we got the opportunity to take a trip to Sedona, AZ. We had never been there and it sounded like a nice r&r for us after the winters care of those coffee trees. You can't deny the beauty of Sedona, especially as you drive in and view those huge red rocks. Only 2 hours away, the Grand Canyon is also quite an experience. I think besides the size I was most struck by the colors of the Grand Canyon. No matter what venue I took to view, it seemed like a painting in front of me and i had to blink to remind myself I was looking at natures painting. The weather was good although a bit hot in the sun. Sometimes you couldn't help being in full sun if you were hiking and that's where I got sun-blistered lips. It took getting back to Hawaii here to heal them up and put some moisture back into my body. As I quenched myself with the ocean water I also looked down and again saw how clear our water is here. All the colors of the sea coral are visible while swimming, snorkeling and paddling. So I guess, to me, it's what color do I prefer. I'll take the greens and blues anytime!!!!

I read an article about the volcano the other day trying to crystal-ball this latest eruption. And that is all scientists can do. It's all unpredictable. The article said that Kilauea erupted/smoked almost continuously from 1832-1924. From 1924 to about the 60's not much happened and then some lasting from 4 months to 18 months until now. Right now this is the longest lasting one in almost a century. What it seems to have done is make this May a bit cooler and rainy and also very voggy. Forget the beautiful bright views. Views are still there just not as dramatic because, to me, they look blurry. Ag consultants from UH are finding that some fruits are delaying to ripen. Fruits like figs and mangos need more sunlight to ripen. Luckily coffee doesn't seem to be bothered by Madame Pele'. That is, I'm sure, why coffee grows so well in Kona. It really likes the weather here. After all, they planted coffee here in about 1825 and it grew and flourished no matter what Kilauea was doing.

2 more birthdays.............

and they happened on the same say last week. One was for 8 yr. old Chloe our 5th grandchild who lives with her mom, dad, sisters and brother in Michigan. Chloe is one hardy little girl. She seems to be able to go her own balanced way and takes it all in stride. A hard thing to do with two older sisters but she has learned to do her own thing and enjoy herself doing it. While she was in my care after her brother was born she took quite a fall, hitting her head on a stair edge and causing lots of blood to gush from her forhead. She was far calmer than me on the way to the hospital and was a perfect patient. She also loves soccer but favors art in school. She says whe has artwork to show me when we see them next month. Chloe was born on her aunt Sheila's birthdate. Sheila is my eldest(she is going to get me on that) daughter. But she got lots of talent being the oldest. She is musical, mathmetical and very creative. She is very giving and teaches many of her talents, like victorian stitch quilting. But most of all she likes to beat Ron, and other friends at scrabble and any other word game you can think of.

Time to blog

Last week while paddling we thought we saw a pod of dolphins, but then realized they weren't swimming like dolphins. After stopping and taking a closer look it was a whole school of manta rays. They were probably feeding on some plankton and when they swim on top of the water one wing seems to stick out and looks like a dolphins but then they flicked their tail the mystery was over. May 3rd was our first anniversay here and we celebrated up to the Hilton with friends for dinner and went to a Sugarland concert. It was outside and it only rains about 10 inches a year up in Wiakoloa where the Hilton is located. Well just before the concert started I think they got the whole spring rain. We had a small water resistant covering with us and we didn't get soaked, but close. How wonderful to be in weather where it really doean't matter. The show went on, we were in barefeet and our clothers dried before it was over. And Jennifer Nettles and the rest of Sugarland put on a great show. Great songs and very entertaining!
I also don't think it is as warm as it was when we arrived last year. I go in the ocean to water jog weekly and the water seemed to be the coldest in April. We need some warm spring weather to warm that ocean up. And I also believe the rainy season is finally upon us. As it should be. Winter is dry and now the rains are coming and is that coffee ever growing. The green beans are getting larger and larger and we think that we will be picking very, very soon. We see a few scattered red beans even now. So I'll bet Ron tries a picking before we leave for TN & MI in June.
Meanwhile today we are heading off for a little R&R. Taking a week in Sedona, AZ. Finally convinced Ron that those beans could ripen on their own.

Sydney......................second born grandchild

I sure didn't forget you! I just get overwhelmed when I get ready to take a trip. I also enjoyed talking to you on your birthday. Sydney is such a character. Oh, a fun & whitty character. She always has something up her sleeve. She seems to have great talent for understanding. Sometimes even more than you would think her years permit. She is always asking questions becuase she says she wants to learn things the right way. She will keep with the questions until she thinks she has it right. (I didn't tell her yet that Mimi & Papa don't really have all the answers!!) Her passion is in creating videos and movies. She is an aid to the girl scout leader and teaches the troup the art of making good video. Not long and we will be visiting with you and and I am looking forward to being in one of her videos.

Kilauea

Everyday we look out to the ocean to see how much vog we have. (Vog is very different from SO2). Yesterday we had some breezes and it cleared out to a beautiful day. Today I can see Keei point from my kitchen window but I can't tell the difference from where the horizon meets the ocean as I look south. I still think it's exciting that for the first time in 84 years the volcano is acting out. Early Wed. morning the crater exploded again. I had been glowing. They say it's not lava that you see but incandescent particles seen best just before dark. That small explosion Wed. sent pink ash out over a small area. Meanwhile the park is back to opening everyday. There is really no danger from magma or lava or the gaseous plume. The only problem would be with the SO2 and that seems be only over on the east side. Yet Wed. they did record some very high levels of the gas over high mountain areas of Ocean View but they came back down within hours.

Link to the live webcam situated to show the Halemaumau crater
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam3/

Casey

Casey had a birthday last week, I talked to her and she passed on to me her grades. All in the 90's and some over 95. We certainly are proud of her. Not only that but she is a great little gymnist, but most of all she loves soccer and all the training the comes with it. Right now she appears to be the only grandchild that likes to run. She likes running because it keeps her in shape for soccer and she tells me she is looking forward to get back out on the track in Michigan after not being able to do too much running this winter. Even with all that vigor my take on Casey is that she is sweet and shy, determined and cute. Oh and did I say a brave little risk taker for only 10, and then............ As a grandmom I guess I could go on and on couldn't I??

Volcanoes and coffee

Fortunately Volcano NP only closed for 2 days and now they are raving about the reddish orange glow over Halemaumau crater seen best at dusk. The glow is not lava but a color caused by gasses and other chemicals beneath the surface coming out thru the rupture. What an amazing happening!! There is a picture somewhere and I will look for it and post it later if I can.

I ran across a cute video on youtube and posted it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE9p9weUWJ0&feature=related (copy & paste)
Now at the end he says go to KonaMountains website. Oh don't do that just go to www.konalisacoffee.com for a taste of our coffee processing.

I am trying to keep up with our slowly deminishing inventory and have put aside green for customers who have asked me to. Still not sure when I will run out but I will run out. But the greatest news is we had some good weather and a great blossom and the trees are loaded with beans. Ron is out irrigating today as he's worried that we aren't getting enough rain to help those beans grow. Picking season will tell the story. That is in August and we are still signing on pickers.........just in case you were wondering!!!

Just took off a batch of mac nuts from our dehydrator so I'll package them and bring them with me to the mainland in June. Today I will dehydrate some extra bananas and I have a pineapple that we picked last week that looks like it is ripening beautifully. Doubt we can eat the whole thing so I guess I will dehydrate some of it to. We can bring dehydrated/roasted items back to the mainland so depending on how long it keeps and how much more we get in I hope to bring some with me in June.

Link to area of Hawaii where the volcano is venting

http://starbulletin.com/2008/04/09/news/art2c_large.jpg

Lavaman & NP closure

Lavaman is the name of our Olympic distance triathalon here in the island. Held last Sunday so Ron & I spent the day up there volunteering. Arriving at 5:30am to help with body marking/numbering. The body marking was staged at what we call "A" beach near the Hilton in Wiakoloa. All transitions are done there. The swim starts at 7:30 in the bay (1.5k), they pick up there bikes there in the parking lot area for a (40k)ride, a loop down to the Four Seasons and back leaving their bikes to do the (6.2) mile run. We left body marking to take ice to the bike turnaround point and stayed and gave out bottles of water before returning with tubs and trash. The last few runners were still taking off but the party had begun with music and dancing on the beach and one of the biggest food spreads I have ever seen and the food kept on coming all catered by the Hilton. I think the winning time was 1:54 something and Bree Wee, a local, was fourth in and first woman in 2:04 I believe. Fun day and then Monday was had company for dinner, then I did yoga on Tues morning and I was so exausted by Tues afternoon that I slept the rest of most of the afternoon. It was that getting up at 4am on Sunday that upset my inner clock, I'm sure!!! Today was back to normal as I managed to get in my early morning hour ocean water jog.

As I drove home from town I listened to our daily Civil Defense update on Kiluea. As a precautionary measure they closed the Volcanoes NP, the Kiluea Lodge and Military Camp and the Volcano Charter School. Lava is not the problem, of course, but the fumes are. It is thick as pea soup over there as the gas plumes flow out from both Halemaumau and Puo'o crater vents. Winds coming from the southeast somehow keep the smoky stuff over there and some heads up towards Hilo and the Hamakua coast. Usually 'the Trades'/tradewinds blow it south and Kona winds send stuff called vog up our way. Vog is a mixture of volcanic gas, dust and moisture in the air. By the time is does get to us it just makes our area hazy in some areas. It has been very voggy this week after a few clear days last week. Today we are supposed to get some rain. Rain seems to clear it out and the coffee trees can use a drink too! No one seems to be able to predict why all this volcanic action, fumes and molten spatter is acting up. Could be that the magma is rising and there will be a breakout of lava in the Halemaumau crater which has not happened since 1924. The high levels of sulphur dioxide levels are almost unheard of so I believe that it's just trying to clean itself out, spurt some lava and then go rest for another 60 years.

Shelby

A couple of days ago our oldest granddaughter had her 15th birthday. As I was talking to her she was in a car blindfolded and her friends were taking her on a surprise venture. She asked me if I knew where she was going but I didn't. I believe that is the first thing she has ever asked me for in her life. Shelby seems to always be happy with what she has and never asks for much. She also is a lovely ballerina and performs in many local shows. She also is a talented writer. She has been writing books since the age of 10. Ron & I love to read her books as they are quite interesting & creative novels. Shelby also is a great animal lover so we can't wait for her to get here and see Toonces our $300 cat. Happy birthday, Shel, and we are so looking forward to seeing you, your sis & mom and dad in a couple of months. She did tell me on the phone that she was now old enough to drive and that she did know how so I may be in for a big suprise this June.

June flights are booked

And we will be visiting the mainland from June 2-24. There are a few things I don't seem to be able to find here in the island and will want to pick up on my trips back. In case anyone is shopping and see those wine pourers I like would you pick them up for me? They are the flat silver ones that you roll and put just inside the bottle top to stop any dripping.
Day before yesterday I went to my first yoga classs since I have been on the island. I believe I found one of the best instructors ever. There are quite a few yoga studios here, kinda expect that in Hawaii. But until paddling and ocean jogging slowed down a bit I never took the time to check them out until I saw this one 7 minutes walking time from my house. Hooda is the kind of instructor I like. She shows the moves and then walks around the room helping with the moves and showing alternives and corrections. Then at the end, during relaxation, she sang. Sounded like a yoga chant and at first I wondered where the music came from as there was no background music during the class. I got a great class in a gorgeous, quiet setting and met some new friends.
I did my computations on how much coffee we have left. We weighed the parchment and reduced that by about 1/3 as that is how much weight is lost during milling and roasting. We figure we have about 300 pounds to last us until when next crop is ready in Sept.-Oct. I am saving some back for our regular customers and of course we will be gone in June and only time will tell if supply will meet demand. We hope so. Meanwhile tourists keep pouring in to see the volcano erupting. I actually think they are downplaying the story. It's both an awesone and frightening event and I believe they are leaving the scary stuff out. I don't mean that the lava will get to anyone as it moves so slowly that you have plenty of time to get out of its way. But it's the smoke and dust. Our days over here have not been the clearest and the NP data shows that the sulfur dioxide fumes are at the highest ever calculated. Right now the VOG blows southeast of the eruption spot and the only towns it is bothering is Volcano and Pohala. I think most of us would just rather fire-goddess Pele would make up her mind what she wants to do and get on with it instead of spewing and gushing with the smoke.

Wouldn't you just know....................

So, today, a snippet of recent scoop. Madame Pele exploded two nights ago. The summit of Kilauea spewed rocks from a gaseous explosion which was at first thought to be an earthquake. (We did not feel it here.) It was the first volcanic discharge since 1924 in the crater and the the first eruption in Kilauea caldera since 1982. Scientists are still uncertain as to what's next!! Meanwhile last week we did travel to the Puna area to view the new lava flow. I had not known that some 30 years ago there were small farms growing fruits, mainly papaya's, right where we walked. Where we walked was total lava. Very different than the lava near us. It was still shiny, I suppose because it is a fairly new cover. Yet, there were still small homes built there in land reclaimed. I believe the day we went that the whole population of the island including locals and tourists where there too so we couldn't get a parking spot close. As we hiked in and it got dark we could see the incandescent orange glow of the lava. We didn't go in all the way as we learned that the flow had taken a new course, as it seems to be doing daily, and went underground again before reaching the ocean. Earlier in the day we hiked to the black sand beach and saw a few whales playing. Then we stayed the night at the Ala Kai bed & breakfast (www.alakaibb.com) , which was a real treat right on the ocean. Breakfast was served with a bright morning sunrise and tons of fruit from the island. And speaking of fruits of the island. Never do I cease learning of a new one almost weekly. We brought a 'sapote' home with us from the market Sat. and tried it today. How about eating a pear sweetened with brown sugar. Maybe a bit more custardy, but that is the flavor. Then there are rambutan, lychee, carambola, lilikoi, guava. All new to me and I like them all. Tomorrow our apple bananas are ripe and I'll dehydrate some more. The last batch went to Nic & family with our own mac nuts (dehydrated also). Next Jackie gets a batch and I owe Sheila & family some bananas as they got macnuts and coffee last week. We have about 10 pineapples ripening at different stages and I am anxious to feast on one. I am told they are called white pineapples and are much sweeter than the gold. Avocado season is just about over. Ron is sad as he has really grown to like them. But now we see tons of mangoes hanging from the trees.......not the same trees.....mango trees. I understand that they should be ripe by May or so. We are coming back to the mainland (Mich. & Tenn.) in June so I hope we don't miss most of them. Wish we could bring them back but Ag rules won't let you carry them on and if I packed them I think we'd have mango juice before we got them to you. But you can always come and sample them here!! Just a while ago I headed down to Paleaku Gardens (about a 6-8 min walk from here). I was headed to a yoga class which unfortunately for me was cancelled. I'll have to go next week, but the caretaker was kind enough to show me a bit around the complex. Lucky for me as it is both beautiful and spiritual. You cannot tell from the road how lovely it is as it opens to a commons area where they have retreats and weddings. They charge for tours (I think $5) and I recommend it and will be taking guests down there if they'd like as they have a unique garden there called the galaxy gardens. You can see a sample of what's there at www.galaxygarden.net . There also are small temples ,obelisks, or statues in areas representing every religion on the world right down to native Indian, etc. Then they also have star gazing nights, as the garden is also an astronomy center. Neighbors did the gazing one night and said it is spectacular. Ron & I plan on viewing at the next one.

Always controversy

We thought we had left politics behind when we retired but no matter where you go it finds you. We haven't been here long enough to make hard decisions on many of the local issues here but are involved in one only because we are coffee farmers. Our video from the KCFC.org we belong to made it to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-lKZb64l4. There is a bill in our local House looking to pass a law that to be labeled Kona coffee you must have at least 75% Kona beans in the package. Currently it is legal to package a 10% blend. Truthfully it seems to me not to matter as the package is labeled either 10% of 100% and the price also reflects the difference. And the taste definitely reflects the difference. So this is one thing I hope not to get too involved with. But most of the members are quite determined to continue to support the new bill to the end.

Spectacular

Yesterday the lava reached the ocean. This hasn't happened since last June when a small earthquake near the current flow at the time changed the course. The old Pu'o vent quit smoking for a few months. Later as scientists expected the lava found a new route. It headed very slowly towards an old abandonded subdivision in Puna. Two diehard men still lived there and were interviewed occasionally on the news until last week lava closed off the road they rode their cycles in to their homes. So they hiked in the back way as the lava continued to cross the road. Meanwhile the NP system feverishly was rebuilding an old road that was used approx eight years ago for tourist viewing of the old flow. We had some visitors here that told us they were there last week and could easily see the new flow. Now the flow has made it's way to the ocean so Ron & I are off Sunday for a visit to the volcano, new lava flow and hike to the ocean to see the spectacular plunge into the ocean. They are reopening the road Saturday and of course the best time to see the glow is after dark. So Sunday evening that is where we will be hiking with our flashlight to view what happens no where else in the world.

Haley

Last week I had the idea to not only say happy birthday to my family here but to write a bit about each of them on their birthday. I'm already a bit late for the first one of the year, Haley. But I figure I'm going to try to keep up with this all year and to paraphrase an email just received from Jackie, you're last "hahahaha". Haley turned 12 a few days ago and is a very talented young lady. She sings, plays french horn, acts, and was student council president last year. Most recently she had a part in Suessical the Musical at school. She has tried out for both acting and singing parts in the local community also. Plus she emailed me last marking period that she had received all A's. She really loves swimming so I am looking forward to having her here to go snorkeling with. I must mention soccer as we went to not only her games but all the kids games when we were back in MI and look forward to seeing some more this spring/summer. Just a few nice things to be said about one of my granddaughters, since I am a bit far away but it wouldn't be the same if I wasn't able to keep up with all of them on their day to day affairs. I know she had a fun birthday because she told me so!! Her 'great' mom also tells me little funnies that they say and bring up. Haley told her mom that she wanted to visit a coffee shop. Nic asked her why because she didn't think she ever had coffee. Haley said 'well it must be good because I love the smell of fresh roasted coffee'. Wait till she smells Kona on a roasting day!!

This weeks musings & coffee update

Funny how when you know what you are looking for it is much easier to see isn't it?? Heading out on an early morning paddle our captain steered us out further from shore. The purpose of our float plan would be to see more whales out there. Between us and shore at about 10 o'clock a blow spout when up as there was several whales between us and shore. Our stroker lost count he was so excited so we stopped and watched until they dove of with a wave of their tail. I believe it is called a fluke. I learned that once you see that they are diving and will be down for about 20-25 mins. before they come back up and you see the blow spout again. Ron was wondering why we hadn't seen the whales from our lanai but Sunday morn during breakfast he pointed to several spouts and with our binoculars watched as they entertained a boat of either whale watchers or snorkelers. Whichever they got a great show and so did we. The boat was actually a big zodiac style which is a large tube looking boat somewhat like the river rafts only with an outboard motor and much larger. From our vantage point you could see the whale as he was underwater near the zodiac and he was much larger than the boat. Now these zodiacs carry probably 20 people or more so you can imagine how large our humpbacks are.

I also want to mention that we do coffee farm sometimes. Well Ron more than me. Well, I mean he is out there pruning (yes, his buddies are teasing him that he really is running the farm 'one handed'). But the pruning is for next seasons crop. We are also getting another blossom in another area and more on some of the trees that already had a blossom. We can only hope that this means a good crop this year as we are already running low on parchment. Parchment is what we take to the mill to get milled and roasted for retail. We are not sure but it looks like we won't have enough to take us thru to the next picking. We will be coming to the mainland for awhile in June-July and hope to bring some back with us but maybe not. Moral of this post is if you are thinking about ordering any coffee from now until August or Sept. let me know now so I can save it for you. We only sell coffee grown and processed from our farm (some farmers will buy cherry or parchment from others and sell it). The former owners had picked their crop and we bought the product with the farm so we don't know how much we will have next year when we produce it ourselves. And sometimes, as all farming goes, it depends on the seasonal weather conditions. So far we seem to have had ample rain. We only irrigated a bit in Jan. and then the rains came and right now the trees look healthy and beautiful. Ron is doing a topnotch job pruning and the orchard looks great. There are coffee berries, green, and about the size of a small pea already growing. We can hardly wait till picking season. More fun!!

Whales

Yes, we finally saw some of those famous humback whales of Hawaii today. We drove up the Kohola coast a bit to the Mauna Lani and saw a few spouts and tails flapping. We then drove up for some beach time at Waianea Beach and all the good spots were taken so we went a bit further to Hapuna beach. There even the overflow lot was being used so we headed back down to Anaehuumalu, better know as 'A' beach down by the Hilton. Ron sunned and I swam a bit and we sat on the sand watching the whales seeming to play around as they were flipping tails and spouting and breaching. It was time for lunch so we headed down to the Four Seasons. They have an awesome location and we sat right on the beach at the beach bar and saw more whales. We tend to forget how pretty it can be up there and always sunny. It truly was a nice day.

I have to add a addendum to the blossom tale. Ron told me that on Thur morn as he walked out towards the orchard all he could hear was the hmmm hmmm hmmm of all the honey bees out there. They love those coffee blossoms. Sadly the hard rain turned them brown, no more snow. But now we saw blossoms on some of the higher elevation trees on our way back today.

I've had some requests from Canadians on my website for our coffee, so in the morning I'm off to the PO with an order to see how much to send them 2 pounds. We get a lot of Canadian visitors here and it will be nice to be able to get an idea if it's feasable. And happy birthday Haley, your birthday present will be on it's way also.

Fragrant mornings................

waking up to the sweet smell of coffee blossoms wafting thru my bedroom window the last few mornings has been my new favorite thing. Now that the blossoms are open fully and the scent stronger I can lie in bed and smell them and I would say they are a mixture of gardenia, jasmine and orange blossom. So our Kona snow is fragrant! I took a walk down our road and all the coffee plantations on the makai side of the road are in a strong bloom. We do get several blooms a year but this looks like the big one and in seven months we will get most of our picking done because those cherries will be ripe. Rain has finally come and we have a good soaking of the trees roots and of course now we have to go on a weed chasing expedition. We have a good chance of sharing the pickers. I made a wrong turn out of Lowe's yesterday and took the high road back home and none of those trees up mauka where in bloom yet. Yes the lower warmer elevations do bloom first.
That was the good news, a little accident the other day slowed Ron down some. He was pruning coffee trees and laid on the loppers a bit to much and cracked a bone in his left hand. He sees the ortho on Tues and hopes to get a small splint cast. Right now he has his arm wrapped and in a sling to keep any swelling down so this week he held the ladder for me while I climbed up and picked avocados. A first for me. I also picked some papayas on the way back. Tomorrow I'm out to pick some Kona limes. Our limes here are orange when they are ripe and reeeeally tangy! They make a good vodka & tonic though and also puts some extra zest on the avocados and papayas.

http://www.konalisacoffee.com

Kona Snow

We're gonna have coffee!!! In 7 months that is.

Blossoms

We have blossoms!! Coffee is in bloom and it is luscious. They call it Kona snow and now I know why. It actually looks like new fallen snow hugging to the edges of each branch. Coffee is related to the gardenia plant and has a fragrance close. But as I walked down by the trees I also got a sense of orange blossom scent. Pictures are coming. We are getting a bit of rain this evening which is good as we have been low over here on the leeward side. The last 4 days Hilo (on the windward side) has been getting pounded. It was reported that on Sunday they received 9.5 inches of rain. We got none. Rivers were swelling over and the surf was surging. About 150 homes were flooded. That is the prime reason (besides coffee grows better over here) that we don't live over there. Too much rain!! It's great for a visit, as it is so lush and green with many gulches and beautiful high surf areas. We like the dryer side better except for when we have to irrigate the coffee.

Moonglow

While driving in the early morning taking the winding Napo'opo'o route last week, I seemed to be in full daylight. This, of course, was due to the full moon that night. The moon was glowing onto the water of Kealakekua Bay and shining on the slope surrounding the Captain Cook monument. I don't believe I ever understood the meaning of moonglow until that morning. What a way to start the day!! I was on my way to paddle up at Keauhou Bay and hoping to spot some whales. Friends have been telling me of seeing the whales out paddling and even from shore. So far the only one I've seen was before Christmas and it was way out. But it did breach for us! Reports are that there are numerous whale spottings up at the Mauna Lani beach. So we are going to take a drive up there soon so I can report on the whales.

Saturday turned out to be a remarkable day at the market. We sold out of everything. We have been trying to estimate how much to bring each weekend. But each weekend brings a different crowd and we never seem to out guess our customers. We always take stock back and that is carrying coffee in and out. So it would be nice to figure out a pattern. Last Sat. we thought we had plenty but sold it all. Sure was nice not to have to bring merchandise back. The first 'Chef Series' was the draw. The market is promoting a 'cooking & eating Hawaii grown foods' series put on by local chefs and using foods sold at our market. There were bigger crowds there last Sat. and all the vendors said they did better. We will be looking forward to next months chef and will hopefully be better prepared. Check out the coffee at
www.konalisacoffee.com.

I am such a whimp. Because it has been cool the last few mornings I have not gone up to water jog in the ocean or paddle this week but I did walk 3 miles yesterday. Fortunately I ran into a neighbor I had not met yet and walked with her for awhile. That's the reason I scheduled a massage appt. for tomorrow. She pushed my pace up a bit and my back is squacking at me today. Or was it the 50# bag of coffee I lifted later that day. No matter Keri said she would fix me up tomorrow.

Ron's pruning is continuing. He says it will most likely continue for awhile. Like the next month or two. We finally got a few good dumps of rain. One good one Sunday eve and one yesterday. Amazingly we had a couple drops of hail with the rain. It started out raining hard but the sun was still shining. Pretty soon some dark clouds came in and it cooled down really fast. After it rained I headed up to the store and my car showed 66 degrees and that was at about 2 pm. but the store is at about 1500ft. We are at 800 ft. Next we are finding out about tropical pests. TERMITES! We were warned about them in TN but never had them. It's a given here. You just constantly treat for them. We have them and we are getting our house tented Friday. We'll be spending the night up in a cottage at Ka'awa Loa Plantation while those critters get fumigated. Al loaned us his pet crate as the kitty goes with us. We don't want him fumigated as his job is to keep other pests away. So goes it for life in the tropics as we learn more about it every day. One thing Ron is looking forward to is blossoming. The story is that after a good rainfall you get new coffee blossoms which starts the cycle for the nexts years coffee cherry. Although we hear it's either 5 or 7 months after blossom that you harvest. I think it depends on elevation so we will be counting.......

Extraordinary learning morning here...................

...........at the market today. Kawiala, who is a solo singer slack-key guitar player at the market every week, drinks our coffee and chats with us on break. He is a chemist by trade but now does what he enjoys a bit more. His music and CD's are beautiful. While talking about dehydration processes here he mentioned that he worked on the mainland for a company 'Coffeeberry.org' that dehydrated the whole coffee fruit. Coffeeberry.org now has a patent on this process and freeze dries it for health food and drink additives. Coffee fruit is full of polyphenols and anti-oxidants. My what we do by accident!?!! Ron & I love to just pick our coffee (berry/cherry?) and bite into the whole fruit and after chewing the sweetness out of the pulp which you can either eat or spit out but leave the beans in your mouth and suck on them as they have a sweet coating. Sometimes visitors ask if you can eat the cherry and we show them this process. Now we have a health food angle to tell them about, too!! All this and I remind myself that I didn't even know how coffee grew until about a year ago. I saw Juan Valdez picking it on TV, but his trees seem short and I didn't know if they were trees or vines. Maybe this has been an extraordinary week but I also experimented with the coffee by having another coffee roaster roast my coffee. All the coffee I sell is roasted in a drum roaster which gives it the smooth smokey flavor. So I tried his air roasting method and roasted it medium. Couldn't wait to bring it home and try it. Well I absolutely loved it even more than the coffee we now roast. Ron is not sure as he says I always brew it stronger than his liking. Now I am thinking about adding this roast to our line. It will take awhile but it will be fun thinking it through. Next I am going to try the air roasting to a darker flavor and then a lighter flavor. Hey, all that experience in wine tasting is finally paying off.

Today........................

was, we believe, the coldest day we have seen since we moved here. We now sleep with a light blanket but with the windows open. This morning we closed them for awhile. I also decided to pass on water jogging. We are going to reflect on today when next summer comes as it was totally perfect. Soon it warmed up and we were off to town to shop for a few things. We stopped at Fujimama's for lunch and did a little town people watching. Town was busy today as a cruise ship was in and we decided we enjoy town even more now that we don't live there anymore. Have to recommend Fujimama's. The resturant is from Tokyo and they have opened a second one here in Kona. I had a green curry with MahiMahi and carmeled onions, shitake mushrooms and peppers. Whalla!! Should have tried the shushi but what can I say when Ron ordered a burger. (They do have one of the highly rated burgers in town, so there was reason to try it). We stopped by a fellow coffee farmers place on the way back for Ron to take a look at his operation. He does much more marketing than us and has much more equipment to do it with and he is always ready to help and add some advise. We get local honey from him and sometimes sell it at the market along with our coffee. Our coffee for this week got roasted today so when I came home I packaged up the beans. We haven't had any rain since Christmas Day so Ron decided to do some irrigation. (This is supposed to be the dry season anyway.)We are not sure when to irrigate as Ron claims, just like running the New York marathon, everyone has a plan on how to do it best. We feel like we are experimenting this year and hopefully find some of the better methods and employ them. Do those trees need moisture now or not?? We will see how much they need when we get that water bill....right?? I think I hear the dinner bell ringing! See ya another day....

A few of my favorite things

I've been told that I'd better get blogging. Yes I know I have been slacking haven't I? Well I continue to enjoy it here so I suppose I should share some of the whys. We have our sign "Cornerstone Farms" out on the road and when we put the open sign up we seem to immediately get guests. We are amazed and flattered that so many visitors want to see the farm and get a small tour of how coffee is grown and processed and we enjoy showing them around and talking up the Kona coffee area. It's fun meeting people from all over the world. So far we've had visitors from several European countries, Japan, Quebec and other areas of Canada, plus many states back on the mainland. We always feel home has come to us when we get tourists from Michigan and Tennessee. We find even more things to talk about and catch up on.

Continuing to paddle and jog in the ocean is still on my list. Altough I was soooo glad that they started a winter paddle at 8a.m. instead of 6:30. This morning we saw several whale spouts but the whales were out quite far, not so the dolphins. They were swimming right next to us.

Ron mentioned the other day after having dinner with Linda & Al how glad he was that I met Linda while working down at the pier. Al is a new coffee farmer just like Ron. So we all understand that we need to take a break together and enjoy some beers and talk some story.

Our backyard, I believe, will always continue to amaze me. Last week Ron saw a large white bird high up in a tree. Using our binoculars we were able to get its markings and determine that he is a Hawaiian hawk. They are on the endangered species list but we think he lives in our yard because we have seen him fly over before. Hopefully he is doing his job and keeping the varmits away. Today I was reminded by a friend while paddling about our spectacular sunsets. Denise says she is going to start making her own postcards with the shots she has taken and I thanked her for the idea. Sunday we watched an outrigger, cruise ship, wave runner, more single paddlers, fishing boats, and smaller dinner cruises all go by us. What fun!!

So those are just a few of my current favorite things. I sure am glad I have them to rely on because I do get lonesome for my family, kids, grandkids (especially), sister. The trips back to the mainland are already becoming special to me and I am looking forward to the spring/summer visit already.

Happy New Year..........and Sharks!!??...

The new year rolled in here just like everywhere else with fun and lots of noise. Fireworks and firecrackers seemed to go on for hours. Long after we celebrated with the Keauhou Canoe Club. NYeve we partied with the paddling group and dropped the ball at midnight (New York time, that is). Our ball consisted of Katy standing on the shoulders of the biggest guy there and dropping a coconut as we all counted down. We're Hawaii, we have to improvise!! Earlier that day I took a jog in the ocean. As Debbie stopped to talk on her swim back to shore she told me about the shark sighting near Keauhou Bay and the closure of Kahaluu Beach the previous day. I felt a little freaky being the only water jogger that day and hurried back to shore. Thinking about it though, really there are always fish in the water, maybe sharks too. I love the ocean and Ron loves to bike. So I'll continue to go in the water hoping the sharks stay away from me and Ron will continue to ride his bike hoping the cars stay away from him. I also couldn't believe the morning radio news. Must have been a slow news day as the local station here reported about a shooting at the Hooters in Knoxville. The story they told was the shooter then would not put down his gun when cornered by police and was also shot dead. We seem to miss so much news was out here in the middle of the Pacific and was surprised to hear that snippet. Our new friends Al & Linda have become Hawaii football fans and wanted us to meet them at the Oceans Tavern to watch the game and share pupus. It was a good time but a sad ending to the one to the teams best football seasons. Ron was just happy that Michigan finally won a bowl game and so did TN. Therefore not a bad football day afterall. We heard MI got 15in of snow in places in Oakland & Lapeer Counties over the New Years night. Snow is beginning to seem surreal to me but have heard there has been a bit on and off on Mauna Kea. In fact, most disturbing, but a Michigan family is still searching for a lost relative who was hiking on the mountain during one off the snow storms. An last but not least Ron is out picking coffee again today. He spead some fertlizer during the last week and both times we got some rain afterwards which was a good thing of course. The trees are looking beautiful and we look forward to blossoms soon. Did I tell you that coffee trees are a relative of the gardenia family and when they bloom scents of gardenia prevail?