Subsistence Farming - Hawaii

we had quite a few days here; a serious of wind storms that lasted over 24 hrs and then took a break for a few days and roared on for another 24 hours. spooky. watching these tarp roofs flap many many feet into the air is enough to convince you to get a real house. the wind totally blew the tarp for what has been called the kitehouse to smitherines. we spend the day frantically getting the furniture out of there with our fingers crossed hoping the rain would hold off. it did. but now our main living space is overflowing with furniture.

the good news is that I have a screen house now for fruit fly vulnerable vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers) AND I won’t have to water them. the wind also did some damage to the tarp in the worktrade house so that took some time to repair.

this wind scares me deeply. i hated it in taos and i hate it here. i experience unbearable vulnerability. i want a cave to craw into. not having a single wall does not help. we are more deeply committed to building ourselves a “real” house with windows or shutters or some way to keep the outside out.

I just purchased a bunch of nvc dvd’s and cd’s so I could hear Marshall Rosenberg first hand. we are all enjoying them. there is something about the way Marshall speaks. I believe he could tell you to go fuck yourself and your heart would remain open. I can’t put my finger on it, but notice that I do not react to anything he says with defensiveness. its not that he is impeccable with his words; it is more that he is energetically speaking from a place of acceptance. Scott could tell me to put a tool away and I would want to scream where I can imagine Marshall saying the same words and I would not detect blame. what I wouldn’t give to be in that place….

for homeschooling, we are using Jane Goodall’s curriculum called roots and shoots for our ecology block. very fun, inspiring and thought provoking. Lauren is really enjoying it.
we had a bizarre incident a few days ago with 4 newborn chicks. Lauren looked into the nesting box and saw that 3 of the day-old chicks had their eyes and the side of their heads pecked out. can you imagine? and two were still alive. its the kind of behaviour you hear about from hens in captivity. the 4th chick is fine and now over a week old. we think it was caused by one of the other hens who was trying to lay eggs in the same spot (was her incentive for the sitting hen NOT to get off the nest to tend to her chicks and instead keep sitting?). apparently it is not normal hen behavior. that hen will be dinner if we find out who did it.

we have the foundation/slab completed on the next sleeping space in the intern area. Hopefully it will be complete when our next intern arrives. We are just waiting a few more days for the slab to set then errecting the ohia posts, conventional lumber beams, bamboo purlins, recycled metal roofing and then a door and screens. we’ve done that part in 2 days before.