• Pond House (new ferro cement building w/barrel vault roof- our main living space)
  • make form for plastering the gable edge
  • dig footings for reflecting pond/catchment
  • dig footings for entry
  • pour last (3rd) layer of concrete on the barrel vaults and apply water proofing
  • plaster/burnish interior and exterior surfaces
  • continue building rock retaining wall between pond and building
  • decide on design for wood burning stove/oven and build
  • decide on design for alcohol burning stove and build

• Barn (standing dead or recycled ohia posts w/recycled metal roofing)
  • organize new barn area (pare down)
  • dismantle remaining section of old barn (pare down)
  • complete last three sections of barn
  • move salvaged plywood and redwood lumber undercover at school room eaves

• Drying Area/Shower/Greenhouse
  • organize linens/clothing into containers
  • design ohia/paper bark post and w/lexan roofing structure

• Intern Area
  • plant vetiver grass barrier surrounding intern garden (to keep out chickens)
  • plant more pineapple, ginger, turmeric, perennial greens
  • plant coffee understory
  • cut down wili wili trees at entry where carport used to be

2- LAND

• Nursery
  • up pot peach palm, coffee, key lime,
  • plant in flats: african oil palm, american oil palm, chilean wine palm, neem, moringa, jabotikaba, brazilian cherry, pigeon pea, acerola, kapok,
  • starts for intern kitchen garden (perennial cilantro, eggplant, okra, cherry tomato, marigold, pepper varieties, basil, dill, parsley, fennel, beans,
  • starts for crops (peanuts, sunflowers, cassava…)
  • make cuttings of collards and root in cinder pile
  • make cuttings of sweet potato, root and plant in cinder pile
  • propagate cardamom, various bamboo varieties, mulberry, chaya, begonia, garlic chives, gotu kola, taro,

• Orchards
  • lay weed mat over patches of cane grass in orchard areas
  • plant banana kekei’s on north of each fruit/nut tree for water supply…
  • clear to drip line around each fruit/nut tree, design and plant individual guilds (including perennial peanut or sun hemp as nitrogen-fixing)
  • add cinder to any rough lava areas
  • harvest cacao and ferment (save some for nursery starts)
  • harvest coffee and dry, roast
  • broadcast hawaiian pumpkin, chaya in young orchards for weed control
  • weed spice tree orchard

• Garden
  • design and layout raised keyhole garden around pond
  • relocate wing bean, lab lab bean, long bean and tropical lima bean trellises

• Lawns/Pond
  • weed perennial peanut (esp. around taro and pineapple patches)
  • cinder to smooth out area around pond
  • plant acai palms around pond and pond house for 40% canopy cover
  • source water plants (wasabi, lotus, kang kong, water chestnut, reeds)

• Jungle
  • clear of weed trees the area along drive for guadua bamboo (timber) orchard

• Bamboo
  • weed all varieties of bamboo at border

• Pastures
  • build new (pallet) gate at upper (fallow) goat pasture
  • slowly replace wili wili fence posts (gall wasp damaged) with jakfruit, avocado, peach palm… seedlings

3- MISCELLANEOUS

• move ferro cement hot tub to area behind pond house and hook up chofu wood burning stove
• break down old pallets and store for firewood
• continue to work on farm map using aerial photo and GPS to plot trees
• continue to work on seasonal mandalla
• make more beeswax/kukui nut paste for sealing wood furniture
• set up aerobic composting system (try moringa) w/foliar sprayer
• create vehicle turnaround at carport
• experiment with sand water filter system
• find: pressure tank bladders, bike trailer,
• find seed/cutting source for:
• research: flywheel powered shop tool, pedal powered shop tool, sterling motor refrigeration, direct solar refrigeration, hydrogen fuel, high speed internet/phone options,
• create tropical medicinal plant database

4- ENTERPRISES

• read literature on how to operate still (essential oils, hydrosol, alcohol fuel, tinctures…)
• experiment: harvest and dry variety nuts (malabar chestnut, peach palm, jakfruit seeds…) , starches (cassava, breadfruit, yam…) and test with mill to make flour
• design aluminum bee hives/frames to eliminate problem with wood rotting
• build system to convert wood ashes to lye for soap making
• design and build bamboo and thatch structure for hot tub
• experiment: making charcoal from variety of woods (coconut husks, guava, pallets…)
• experiment: oil for lamp fuel, cooking, soap making, base for medicinals with variety of nuts/seeds (coconut, kukui, macnut…) using expeller press
• design and build solar dehydrator w/backup heat (wood)
• define and create backyard medicine cabinet (tinctures, salves….)

5- FUTURE (considerations)

• Land Lease (2.5 Acre 30+ year)
• define our needs
• explore contracts

Sustainable food production is different in Hawaii than in most of the mainland United States. In many parts of the world, growing all of one’s food without the use of machinery for farming or processing requires a large input of human labor. Personally, I find it hard to imagine trying to support myself by growing wheat or rice, for example, using my own physical labor. I would if I had to, but I cannot see myself cultivating annual grains just for the love of it.

However, in Hawaii, a family can create a sustainable subsistence farm and provide all of their own food without suffering or undue hardship. In this environment, growing all your own food is actually easy and fun.

I’ll give you six reasons:
1) We have a 12 month growing season. This means that all year round, fresh food is available without any need for food preservation or storage. There is no dormant season, and no particular harvest season. The harvest is spread out over the year. No canning, no refrigeration, no grain silos necessary.

2) In Hawaii, there is a large variety of high quality food plants available for cultivation. The reason is that over the past century, plant collectors have been importing the most interesting and useful plant varieties from every continent over the world. Over a hundred varieties of fruits, greens, nuts, carbohydrates, medicines, herbs, spices, and more, are available for us to cultivate here on our farm. This means that not only one’s vegetables, but staple foods, flavorings, beverages… the whole diet can be grown on the land. I cannot express in words the delicious taste experiences I have access to here on our farm.

3) We have relatively few pests. No deer, squirrels, rabbits, nor gophers. No poisonous snakes. No poisonous insects. We do have fruit flies, and some other insects, as well as birds, mice, wild pigs, and rats, but on our homestead, damage from pests is no big deal. Especially in tropical areas around the world, pests can be a big problem. Here on isolated Hawaii, we reap the benefits of the tropical climate without having to battle an abundance of other creatures for the bounty.

4) Many of the useful and edible plants here are tree crops. This means that one can grow one’s entire diet without tilling the soil ever. No plowing, no tractors, no saving nor sowing seeds, no bending over pulling tiny weeds. Once the orchards are planted, the trees need to be maintained, but the effort is less each year, and the detrimental effect on the soil structure is averted. When I plant a single breadfruit tree, for example, I can expect to harvest hundreds of pounds of staple foods every year for the next 50 years. Compare this to the work involved in replanting grains or tubers year after year.

5) There is no dry season. This reduces, and sometimes eliminates, the need for irrigation.

6) There is an abundance of other kindred spirits on the islands. It is a pleasure to have the support and friendship of other sustainable farmers in our area.

As an added bonus, the temperature never goes below sixty degrees. This means you can get by without walls, or even windows for that matter (a roof is definitely a plus, though). There is no need to chop wood for winter heating or fill your furnace with fossil fuel.

I’m telling you, I am no martyr. I consider myself a very lucky guy, living a sweet life. Don’t get me wrong; it’s physical work, but in healthful proportion. I highly recommend it.

I’ll tell you: I used to have lots of idealistic energy about teaching people how to live more sustainably, and creating a model of a farming lifestyle which is enjoyable. In the past, I have told people that our permaculture project is an experiment. I would have considered myself successful in my purpose if a hundred people emulated the way of life at our Farm.

In many ways, I think it’s too late for that.

I still have some of that energy, but less. If someone wants to learn, I am willing to share, but I am not shouting from atop my soapbox. I am finished being an advocate. I am going to take care of myself and my family.

Years ago, a common phrase in my mind in response to global problems was,”We just need to get together and take action”. Now, my more common response is, “It’ll all be over soon”.

To a large extent, I am trying to put myself in a situation in which I can avoid or minimize the negative effects of the current global collapse. I am trying to save my ass. I’m not so concerned about creating an experimental model. So there it is. My new mission statement is that I want to live a long and healthy life full of awareness and growth, and everyone else can go screw themselves.

I’m more cynical about education. For the most part, people don’t want to know how to grow their own food. There is something going on. When I talk to people, there seems to be a gap.

For example, many interns who stay on our farm seem to have a clear understanding of the global crisis currently unfolding, yet they almost without exception return to their previous lives without missing a beat. When I say farewell to an intern who has become my friend, and witness them resuming their regular life, I feel like screaming. It is reminiscent of saying goodbye to a friend on the sidewalk, and watching him waving and looking back at me as he steps off the sidewalk, oblivious, into a street full of rushing cars and trucks.

The words paralysis, numbness, denial, addiction come to mind. There seems to be an affliction which prevents people from fully inhabiting themselves, and living with all four tires on the road. Perhaps people are not fully making contact with life, the body not really living on the earth. It reminds me of my own experience of watching suspenseful movies:  I seem fully engrossed, but my body isn’t moving during the show, and when it’s over, I simply get up, have a snack, talk about something, and yawn and curl up to sleep.

I feel shock, and grief about this. People don’t seem to care whether they live or not. Even people who speak as though catastrophe is imminent don’t put their action in alignment with their apparent thoughts. I suppose the disease runs deep. I have forgotten how to feel grief, rage, fear, confusion, hopelessness, just to name a few. Instead, I generate disappointment, annoyance, stress, judgementalism, anal precision etc. as a substitute. The tendency is to generate states of being that dissipate and waste energy, and destroy focus and purposeful inspiration.

Often, I will seek out a vicarious or cathartic substitute. I will generate these events outside myself. That way I can witness from nearby the feelings that I cannot directly experience. So, I am not acting upon my unsettled feeling about the current world condition, but I watched the movie. I don’t practice yoga (or political action, or farming etc.) but I own several books about it. I often feel disconnected from my self.

Perhaps people feel attracted to disaster because it acts as a substitute for having one’s own feelings. People want something really bad to happen, because they hope deep down inside that maybe it will make them feel something. Or maybe I know that if I witness some chaotic event or some act of violence and talk about it enough that it will be very similar to having a present feeling.

Likewise, maybe if I am disappointed and annoyed in my friends and coworkers all day long, that at the end of the day wouldn’t that be a good substitute for a full strength experience of rage and grief? Rage and grief at god, the earth, my alienation, at all sorts of things that hurt and don’t make sense?

I am beginning to see how deep the source of the problem runs within each individual psyche. I see how long the journey to health is within myself, and I realize that it really is too late. And then, at the next moment, I walk my happy little life and forget about it.

For 14 hours per week of work per person we provide the following facilities:

• private sleeping space, depending on availability
• shared (with 2 other sleeping spaces) kitchen, living, dining space including furnishings and kitchenware, sink, electric fridge, 2 burner propane cook stove (provide 2 propane tanks but we do not provide the propane), filtered drinking water, lighting, AC outlet (for boombox and or laptop computer if you have one)
• shared land line phone for local calls with voice mail, rural route mail box available: RR2 3342, Pahoa, HI 96778.
• shared solar shower, shared composting toilet

We do not provide (but you will probably need):

• food (except food harvested from the adjacent garden, banana patch and chickens, and also the orchards when  abundant)
• linens
• laundry services
• propane for cooking
• long distance calls (bring a calling card, or your cell phone)
• flashlights
• rain gear
• vehicle usage (but we do have bikes in various stages of disrepair that can be borrowed) Hitch hiking is easy and accepted in our area, and the bus service is limited, but free.

Work is mostly expansion and upkeep of orchards, nursery, gardens, chickens, goats, and infrastructure. In the tropics, our farming practices are very different than on most temperate farms. For example, we often wield machetes, keeping the invasive species at bay. Work is sometimes guided by us, sometimes independent projects, and some regular chores. We are quite knowledgeable, and there is the opportunity to learn a good bit about tropical sustainable living during your stay here.

Adjacent to the worktrade kitchen area we are developing a garden, banana patch and free range chicken coop exclusively to support interns to produce and harvest their own food.

Interns are responsible for keeping the shared kitchen area clean and tidy.

Things to consider:

Everything grows abundantly in this lush jungle environment, including insects (mosquitos, centipedes, earwigs…), vines, mold, fungus, geckos…. there’s lots of creepy crawlies.

We consider our animal and human wastes essential for fertilizer so we use composting toilets.

We have outdoor showers which are heated by the sun. They are largely hot and private, but not absolutely so.

It rains most evenings here and occasionally all day. We get about 100 inches per year.

We are off grid so our electronic and electrical needs do not include cordless phones, coffee makers, rice cookers, dust busters, clock radios…. We do have a personal use laptop, electric refrigeration, plenty of compact fluorescent lighting and pressurized water.

Bring led flashlight, work shoes (we often wear rubber boots), long pants, sun hat, umbrella, sweater or fleece jacket, raincoat, water bottle, sheets, pillow, and towel. For longer stays a bike is a big plus.  We provide work gloves for all interns. If you have snorkle, fins, mask, boogie board, bring them.

The minimum amount of work that we require is 14 hours per week per person.

One hour of this total is to be spent maintaining and sprucing up the area immediately around the intern kitchen, and your sleep cabin, enhancing your “home spaces”. Some examples of “home space” chores: weeding your lawn, weeding around the intern orchard trees, cleaning screens, clearing the trails to your sleep cabin, cleaning the intern shower.

You will certainly learn during work sessions, but we consider these sessions your compensation for living in this environment, our focus is to attend to the needs of the farmstead. We love to teach and share, so learning opportunities are ever present; but/and the minimum work trade times are your chance to express appreciation by gifting to us your time and focus.

Throughout the rest of the week, there are a myriad of learning opportunities on our farmstead. Some people choose to work the minimum, and some work more; we are satisfied with either. And, we are quite willing to devote extra time and energy to support people who are more industrious or who have a specific area they want to explore.(e.g. learning to propagate bamboo or goat pasture management)

The lion’s share of the work that needs to be done on the land is “chop wood, carry water” kind of work. I notice that 90% of our work on the farm is unskilled labor. Weeding, carrying, shoveling, digging, chopping with machetes, pushing wheelbarrows are typical farm work. Jobs that require figuring, technical skills, and planting trees are what we call the “glory work”. For example, planting a tree takes approximately 2 minutes. Preparing the location takes twenty or thirty minutes of weeding and digging; then the tree needs to be maintained for the rest of its life. The primary maintenance for the fruit tree is pulling vines and chopping weed trees.

Being an effective laborer requires more practice than most people think.

A primary skill that interns learn here is developing a satisfying relationship with labor. It is possible to use your body in such a way that much gets accomplished, but one develops chronic injury in the process. It is also possible to work in such a way that refreshes and heals the body as a yoga practice would.

There are yogic ways to do farm work. If an intern doesn’t experience the pleasure of physical movement, s/he will never become a farmer, unless s/he is a martyr or a masochist. Learn to love the visceral experience of exercising your body in the process of laboring.

bikes

We have several bicycles in a variety of conditions. They are available in ‘as is’ condition. At the end of the day, we ask that you return the bicycle in same or better condition as when you borrowed it. This means regular maintenance, repair, and an occasional gift for the bike. If you are unsure what this means, speak with one of us about it.

ride sharing

There are those of us with motor vehicles, and those of us without. We aspire to being car free. For now, however, we do own a truck and try to make efficient use of it. This means we wait until our errand list gets quite long, and we generally invite interns so they can get to town and do their errands as well. Automobiles take money and effort to operate and maintain. I roughly estimate motoring our truck to Pahoa costs a total of $10 round trip, and Hilo is at least $20. We appreciate when passengers chip in for gas.

cooking fuel

Propane costs around $15 for a 5 gallon tank. We supply the tanks, you supply the fuel. We are estimating the cost is roughly $3 per person per week. You might use a collection jar and have all the interns chip in each week. However you want to arrange it with the other interns is up to you. There are propane stores in Pahoa, Keaau, and Hilo where you can refill them. It’s your shared responsibility to keep yourselves supplied with cooking fuel.

harvesting food from the land

Interns often ask whether they can harvest food for their personal consumption. It is not a simple matter to answer.

Our farm is still young and not all our trees are producing yet or producing fully. Certain foods are available to interns when we have abundance. These are breadfruit, bananas, cassava, avocados, eggs from the intern flock, any produce from the intern garden, perennial greens (katuk, edible hibiscus, shisoo spinach, chaya, chayote, moringa).

There are many other foods that are available ’sometimes’. These are foods that are not being produced in as much abundance on our farm yet. Examples of these are jakfruit, star apple, limes, lemons, bamboo shoots, rollinia, coffee, papayas, chickens, lilikoi. Please come and talk with us first, and we will create clear agreements with you around each of these types of food.

There are also ‘wild’ foods available in the area for hunting and gathering, such as coconuts, guavas, wild pig, rose apple, jungle avocados, wild mangos, and ocean fish.

If you desire, there is enough food around to become completely food self sufficient in this neighborhood. More likely, though, if you are enthusiastic you might harvest half of all your food from the farm and surrounding jungle.

chickens

There is a flock of egg laying hens in our intern area. These hens are intended for you to harvest and eat the eggs, and also to experience the responsibility of tending a flock of chickens. It’s a lot of fun, and the eggs are the highest quality. It is your job to make sure their water is replenished every day, (they get thirsty very quickly) and feed them something every day.

Please throw them all of your food scraps, and chop open one coconut per day for them to eat the coconut meat. (please crumble up your egg shells before giving them to the chickens) Our chick raising area is also nearby, and when there are chicks being raised, they need food, water, and some greens every day. Please let us know if any of the chickens are injured, sick, missing or behaving strangely.

mail

We have dedicated one of our rural delivery mailboxes for the use of the interns. The address is RR 2 box 3342, Pahoa, HI, 96778. The box is located about a mile and a half from our farm. Feel free to use this as your mailing address while you are here. When you leave you are responsible for forwarding your mail.

phone

We have dedicated a phone number and answering service for the shared use of the interns. The number is 808-965-5119. Local phone service is free to you. You are responsible for your own long distance calling. We recommend using a calling card.

farm library

We have a very nice library of books which are available to all who are staying on the land. All we ask is that when you borrow a book, to record it on our “check-out sheet” so we have good information about the whereabouts of all our books. Then, when you return it, check it off as returned.

tools

A similar arrangement applies to use of our farm tools: when you borrow a tool, sign it out. However, please check with us first; some tools are always available, some are never available for loan, and some require words of instruction or caution.

guests

Our guest policy: In order to avoid overcrowding our infrastructure, before inviting a guest, check with us and the other interns. We ask that guests staying more than one night work 2 hours per day, either during work sessions with us, or simply weeding around the intern homestead.

shower

There is a solar heated shower for the use of the interns. The water is plenty hot almost all of the time if everyone is conscious of their hot water usage. During the sunny part of the day, hot water is abundant, but when the sun goes down, there is a 60 gallon tank of hot water stored until the next time the sun shines. This means limiting your evening shower to 5 or 10 minutes, and taking very brief showers during stormy or cloudy periods. You may store your shampoo and soap in the shower, but please remove any clothing and towels to your private cabin.

pooper

There is a ferro-cement composting toilet near the intern kitchen. Please drop in some plant material (vines, leaves) when you are finished using it. There are plants with purple leaves which serve quite nicely as toilet paper. Otherwise, you may purchase your own paper. Please use toilet paper without perfumes and bleaches in the pooper.

You may pee anywhere that is not under a roof. It is advantageous to pee near a fruit tree, in order to utilize the nutrients contained within.

pets

no pets

intern garden

We want to support interns to grow their own garden produce. All interns are expected to share in the gardening work, and the produce from the garden is for all interns to share. We have a variety of seeds, tools, and garden supplies, and there is a fertile garden area adjacent to your kitchen. Please try to perpetuate and enhance the intern garden during your stay here. Work in the intern garden does not count toward your work requirement.

laundry

You may want to hand wash in buckets, or use the laundromat in town. We did our laundry in bucket for years. Ask us for handy hints.

conflict resolution

We genuinely support open and honest communication. If you are feeling upset, please come and talk to us, and we will make an effort to resolve the issue. If there is something that you particularly like, feel free to say thank you. And conversely, if there is something that you don’t like, ask if it can change. We like to stay in communication, rather than making assumptions.

length of stay

Generally, we would like interns to stay for at least one month.

The maximum stay is generally six months. We allow for the possibility of finding people who would stay for much longer.

shared space

The cleanliness of the intern kitchen is the shared responsibility of all interns. If there is a conflict among the interns around cleanliness, our general rule of thumb is that the kitchen match the standards of the cleaner person. Please store personal belongings and extra shoes and clothing in your private sleeping cabin, not in the kitchen.

pest control

Rodents and insects are ever present in the humid tropics, and will occupy a building if the conditions are inviting. Most importantly, please keep all food out of your private sleep cabins. Rats will eat holes in the screens to get in. Within the kitchen, we just do our best to reduce the presence of pest attractants.

There is a fruit safe right outside the kitchen. Please keep fresh fruits in there, rather than on the counters. We have provided a variety of jars and containers for the security of food items. Ask us for more or buy more of what you need. Ask if you need mouse or rat traps. Pesticides and poisons are not allowed.

electricity

We operate our own power plant for our farm. Sunlight produces the electricity. The energy is stored in batteries to supply electricity at night and during cloudy days. This means there is a limit to how much electricity is available.

The rules for electrical usage are as follows: The only devices allowed are a cell phone charger, small boom box, laptop, and lighting. If you leave a building for more than 5 minutes, turn off the lights. Try to limit the number of lights on at any given moment to about one per person. Try to use laptop and cell phone chargers during sunny days, and most importantly, unplug them when not in use. These devices draw power even when they are turned off. When a bulb stops working, we will replace it with another compact florescent bulb.

water

We operate our own water supply on our farm. We collect rainwater, store it in a tank, and electric pumps pressurize it and send it out to faucets and hoses. Water is usually abundant. The only likely thing to create a water crisis on our farm is if a hose were left on or a water line springs a leak. There is a network of water lines running all over the land, so be aware when operating sharp tools.

Every kitchen building has a water filter for your drinking water. There may be problematic bacteria in our rainwater, so always filter or boil water before consuming. The water filters need to be scrubbed clean every few weeks. Please ask us about the proper method and frequency of cleaning the filters.

general

If something seems amiss, let us know. For example, tell us if your roof leaks, or a light bulb is out, etc.

• green drink (katook, honey, ginger, lemongrass, mint, perennial cilantro, ice, water, lemon or lime w/ a quarter of the skin) blended
• malabar chestnut steamed and eaten out of the shell with a petit spoon
• steamed plantain with grated ginger (leave the skins on the plantains while you steam, remove skins and add fresh grated ginger)
• ripe (soft) bread fruit, steamed then mashed with coconut milk/cream, sprinkled with toasted coconut and topped with lilikoi
• steamed taro with coconut oil (or…shhh… butter)
• nourishing breakfast smoothie (goat’s milk yogurt, 2 raw eggs, coconut - hard meat, banana, honey, spices (cardamom, ginger, black pepper, vanilla, nutmeg), mac nuts, seasonal fruit (pineapple, mango, jak fruit…) (sometimes cacao) blended with ice
• refreshing smoothie: ice, water, available fruit (banana, jak fruit, lime), honey blended
• egg omelet with plantain and cheese (ideally goat’s cheese)
• pudding snack: ground cacao, mashed banana, black pepper, ground mac nuts
• kombucha “tea (black or green tea, crushed sugar cane and kombucha culture)” with lime and honey
• jak fruit seeds ground and added to anything (like pork or any starch)
• steamed moringa or steamed steamed edible hibiscus with pineapple or mango vinegar
• sauted veggies (eggplant and or wing, long, string beans), ocean water, with scrambled eggs added in the end
• steamed lima beans with ocean water
• pigeon pea dahl (onion, tumeric, ginger, chives, ocean water, hot pepper, cumin, corriander, coconut milk/cream, toasted mustard seeds)
• half TBS roasted coffee, half TBS cacao — both ground very fine, honey, crushed contents of 2 cardamom pods- all boiled together until it froths 3 times (makes one cup turkish coffee)
• bedtime drink: heated goat’s milk with honey, ground nutmeg and coconut cream
• ground pig, sage, chives, hot pepper, plantain or banana, sea water
• coconut water from green or brown nuts, also sprouted coconut right out of the shell
• sauce for plain stuff like steamed breadfruit or taro or greens: toasted mac nuts ground with chives, hot pepper, liquid (pineapple skin tea, or vinegar, or lime juice, or lemon grass tea, or coconut milk…), ocean water, spices- ginger, herbs like perennial cilantro, black pepper, toasted mustard seed (tastes like a tahini dressing)
• pork roast browned then cooked for hours with just ocean water, black pepper and goats milk
• breadfruit pancakes: steamed breadfruit (unripe) grated and added to anything in the fridge or from the land (spices, veggies, herbs, greens), made into paddies and cooked in coconut oil
• avocado eaten out of the skin with ocean water, vinegar or lime/lemon and hot and or black pepper
• pudding: avocado, cacao, honey.
• toasted and ground mac nuts with honey, ground cacao mixed together and rolled into balls, rolled in toasted coconut. refrigerate
• green papaya salad: garlic chives, hot pepers, shredded green papaya, long beans, lime juice, honey, mac nuts chopped, , ocean water, tamarind- all chopped with mortar and pestle until juicy
• heart of palm salad: palm heart from peach palm (clumping palm), garlic chives, pineapple vinegar, ocean water, black pepper, ginger, coconut shredded
• papaya with lime juice
• curried chayote (or hawaiian pumpkin or eggplant or okra): coconut milk/cream, hot peppers (lots of kinds mixed), garlic chives, ginger or galanga, cumin, black pepper, ocean water, cilantro.
• kim chee: asian cabbage and perennial greens, hot peppers, ocean water (fermented)
• pesto: cilantro, coconut oil, mac nuts, ocean salt, lemon/lime juice, pepper corns, garlic chives (if only we could grow garlic here!)
• guacamole- avocado, hot pepper, lime juice, tomatillo, chives, cilantro, black pepper, ocean water
• pineapple salsa- pineapple, chives, cilantro, lemon juice, hot peppers, (garlic)
• dried bean stew- dried beans,
• sweet potato salad
• banana ice cream- frozen bananas (or pineapples or jak fruit…) run through champion juicer w/coconut cream
• chocolate sauce- cacao, coconut cream, vanilla blended (add mac nuts)
• curried egg salad (we used to eat a lot of this)

future (or haven’t yet tried these recipes):

• lau lau (taro leaves and miscl stuffings (pumpkin, spices, maybe a protein like fish or pork) steamed)
• beet ginger kraut- grated beets, ginger grated, chives- fermented
• cold soup- chopped mint, papaya chunks, lime juice, w/pineapples blended as sauce
• tilapia fish cooked with lime (once our pond starts producing tilapia big enough)
• lime juice avocado banana ginger pineapple tea water blended dressing over fruit
• mac nut ground, lemon juice, ocean water, ginger, hot pepper. honey - blended dressing
• papaya, lime juice, toasted mustard seeds, black pepper, ocean water, blended dressing
• dehydrated fruits (my kingdom for a solar dehydrator that can handle this humidity!)

maybe a cow or two in a few yearshedges to hold a flock of sheep in the orchards

the driveway turned into an enclosed pasture for horses or sheep

corn crop for drying and millling

peanut crop

sugar cane crop

sweet potato patch

more taro patches from roof or sink runoffs

pond plants (water cress, water chestnut, reeds…)

more more more pineapple patches

an acre or two of guadua bamboo (for building)

an acre or two of a cash crop

ground cover for orchards (pigeon pea? tumeric? perennial peanut?)

other

guest house

solar dehydrator

bio digester (to replace solar panels and batteries in the future)

entry gate and sign at road with farm logo

medicinal garden

experimental one acre sustainable plot

bamboo building class

no more tarp structures

ladders at pigeon peas for harvesting

really tall ladder at peach palms for harvesting
for the intern homestead

cacao (chocolate) trees

coffee trees

spice trees (nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, clove)

sugar cane patch

pigeon pea understory

Just the other day, we got two young female ducks from a friend, and one of them flew off and got lost in a real thick part of the woods east of our land. I felt sad about her plight, and went out calling and quacking after her. I was practically swimming in an ocean of vines and logs and brush for an hour or so. She must have froze with panic in this strange and foreign environment, because I was unable to get any sign of her. I gave up and began work on our house, when suddenly I heard her call. I rushed back, but she clammed up when she heard me coming. I waited for a time in the warm sun on a high log, to see if she might forget I was there and start calling again for her friend. I felt a connection to her fear and helplessness. I really wanted to rescue her and get her into our pond with her duck friends. I eventually gave up, though, and resumed my construction project.

Then I heard the sound of wild pigs arguing in the woods south of our place, and grabbed my rifle and headed out. For me, wild pigs are food. Over a few fences and along a major pig trail, I pretty quickly came within sight of them. At first just shivering bushes and branches. Gradually their numbers became apparent through the underbrush in the woods. Several, no, many, and most of them big ones. Maybe five adults, and two junior style oinklets. They were lumbering. It is often hard for me to determine the sizes of pigs in the woods. But some of these looked big.

I began to stalk.

The alpha male snorted and charged at a somewhat smaller rival. The rival fled, thought better, and challenged another more his own size. Two much younger ones followed their mother. Some others were milling about, rooting for grubs, wagging their tails, meandering across the forest as they foraged. They were quite unaware of me. I realized that I was stalking a family. I wondered, which member of their family will be missing tonight?

My heart was pounding. In fact, I could feel my whole self was pounding. Some of the larger males continued fighting back and forth, while making their grunting shrieks. It was hard to see who was doing what, exactly. Still pounding. I spent quite a while holding still, afraid they would see me and run away, or worse, run toward me. I have heard stories of hunters getting gored by their tusks.

For some time, I stood, my consciousness intensified, in a dreamy state, stunned at the awareness of me, crouching here, the hunter, and this herd, this family, the hunted.

Slowly, crawling closer to the herd, I tried to time my movements with their fights and snorts, to conceal my stick crackling steps. I want to get closer for a good shot, but I really don’t want to get closer. When I get close to big pigs, I often realize that much of me wants to flee these big black toothy hairy beasts. I keep making sure that I’m behind a tree for cover, and also to scramble up if things get scary. I sat there, behind a Hala tree, aiming for a long time. Aiming and aiming and waiting and waiting. Heart pounding, amazed at what I am doing, about to do. I keep aiming through the underbrush at these black creatures, waiting for a certain hit, following them with my sights, until at some moment, my finger knows to pull the trigger.

My eyes, my hands, my finger, my pounding heart must have been aiming at the biggest one. He lay down and screamed and screamed, like he was real mad and scared, but didn’t move. The other 5 or 6 or 7 pigs bolted, paused to look, and bolted again in various directions. As I approached, I shot him twice more in the head, remembering the shooters admonition, “anything worth shooting once is worth shooting twice” (It turns out the first shot went through the lung and spine) Once the others had disappeared, I walked up to him,(he was still convulsing) and thought, oh, goodness, he is much, much bigger than I am. With his black bristly hair, huge head, and bloody tusks, even dead he looked dangerous. I felt dwarfed, tiny, no match for this warrior.

Once he stopped spasming and sighed into death, I made to drag him home. I grabbed his “ankles” with both hands and gave a heave and he slid about a foot. The reality of his size just sunk in; this would be a long drag home. By the time I had hauled him 20 feet, my chest was heaving, and the ground was all scraped up from my slipping sliding feet. He is way too heavy. I sized him up again; he looked wide and long. I felt in my pocket to find a small, much too small, folding pocket knife. I looked around at the clouds of mosquitos all around us; then back at the pig. There’s no two ways about it, I’m going to have to dig in and reduce the weight.

A few minutes later I was elbow deep in blood and heart and hot intestines, kneeling on the carcass to keep it belly up. Down past the kidneys, slicing away all around the colon. Carefully feeling, cutting, feeling all around the diaphragm muscle below the lungs. Loosening the organs into one big slippery, hot mass. Tugging at the colon from the inside until it let go. Reaching up and slicing through the trachea and esophagus from the inside, until finally I could scoop this jumbo size, slimy snake of viscera out of his big body cavity and onto the ground. I stood up, smeared the warm blood from my hands and forearms onto my shirt and pants, and sized up the situation. Okay, I lightened my load by about 40 pounds of excess baggage. I Put my rifle over my shoulders, and gave another heave ho. Geez, it feels just as heavy. I’m guessing well over two hundred pounds at this point. I thought, if I leave him here, will some pigs come back and eat him? I just accepted my situation and dragged at the pace I was able. At a rate of about 2 to 3 feet per pull, I got the boar over rocks, roots, logs, branches and a small crevice, and into a clearing behind my neighbor’s land and walked home to get a cart.

After a skinning and butchering session with my friend Ian, the meat is now soaking in ocean water brine in our fridge. Next week, we’ll stuff most of it through our manual meat grinder, bag up the rest, and then into the freezer. Then, feast for three months and repeat.

By the way, the next morning the lost duck was in our pond, frolicking with the others.

First off - we fly what is called Non-Rev which means very small cost to us because our son is a captain on U.S. West flying an Airbus. It also means that we get to fly after all the passengers are boarded and they have extra seats. That is the stress part for us. It’s shameful to dislike the people who show up just in time to board, but we do, as we think “there go our seats.”

We had checked pretty carefully regarding our chances to fly from Phoenix, where we were visiting our son and family, to Oahu, Hawaii and were able to get seat assignments. Leaving Oahu for the Big Island where our daughter and family has a farm, was stressful. Two flights that left did not have seats for us, but did for other Non-Revs that rated above us. Finally the last flight to leave that night at 7 pm had two seats available and we got them.

We arrived at the farm at 9 p.m. Hawaiian time and were shown our cabin (more about cabins later) and we fell into bed as we had been up since 3:30 a.m. Hawaiian time. Hawaiian time is 6 hours later than on the east coast.

What a wonderful night; sleeping under a comforter completely screened in and listening to the many very hard rainstorms that come through. The air smelled great and you could almost feel the amount of fresh oxygen in each breath. We are surrounded by a jungle-like growth and beauty.

Early Monday we were awakened by the roosters doing their thing and announcing “another day in which to exceed.” They have the run of the 22 acres and are constantly looking for things, edible. They, unfortunately, seem to be on Phoenix time because they begin crowing at 4 a.m. The farm animals consist of 8 goats, two horses and 30 or more chickens.

The farm has propane gas (cooking), electric from 20+ solar panels and the rainwater is collected which is then filtered for drinking. The showers are outside. The water is heated through pipes running through a sun collector and you need to add some cool water to make it a pleasant temperature.

They have built cabins that they rent or people can take part in the work-trade program they have established. Visitor work in payment for being allowed to stay there. That means putting in 15 hours of work a week for cabin use.

The cabins are structures made from tree trunks as corner uprights which are tied in with poles made from branches from the Wili Wili trees. The whole structured is then screened and the roof is a huge tarp with 3 foot overhangs on each side. The floors are cement or leveled gravel covered with a unusual black tarp. When you are inside it seems like there is a mural painted on every wall, the scenery is that beautiful. It is primitive, but a nice way to live in harmony with the earth.

The John is just a trot down the path.

Breakfast was a ‘Smoothie’ that consists of fresh organic goat milk yogurt, macadamia nuts, local honey, fresh bananas and coconut, honey, vanilla beans and passion fruit all blended with ice (all the ingredients were either from their land or from the neighborhood). Something I was looking forward to since our last visit 14 months ago.

Then Karin, Scott & Lauren came to our cabin and we exchanged items and talked about the many things they have accomplished since our last visit. They have arranged things so they rarely have to go to town because they live off what they grow on their 22 acres and trade with neighbors for things they haven’t begun to raise, yet. They arise about 9 a.m. and after a leisure breakfast begin their four or so hours of upkeep and spend the rest of the day enjoying their life. They like to say that they always try to be up “by the crack of noon.”

When we walked their 22 acres to see what they had accomplished since our visit last October we saw a large number of really big invasive weed trees that had been felled (albezias). They are the type of tree that are now used by Hawaiian canoe makers and they have a man interested in hauling some of the trunks. The remainder of the wood will just lay where it dropped and revert to fertilizer in short order. Seems that everything happens quickly in a rain forrest. Things grow fast and return to the earth quickly.

When we mentioned to Karin that the mail she was sending out needed another 2¢ stamp, she was completely surprised. She said “I never heard about that.” And, of course, not having TV, except to watch DVD’s, they wouldn’t. They live in their own world here.

No one here listens to the radio. In fact they don’t have one. So unless someone had mentioned it in an e-mail, they probably wouldn’t know if we had engaged in another war. They live even more remote to world events than the Amish in Pennsylvania. And I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s a very relaxing life.

Today, Gail and I fought the good fight! We weeded one entrance side of the driveway. The weed (stink maile) is a running plant that sends out streamers and every foot or so it roots again. To remove it you have grab a group of those streamers and pull them loose. Not easy as I found out because a sore back muscle developed, but was gone by the next day.

It’s really fighting a losing battle against the rain forest. You know it’s only a matter of time when the weeds will again try to take over and eventually they will win. Think of what happens when a mall closes down and in a year the macadam is broken through by clumps of weeds.

We spent two hours today basking in the Hawaiian sun. Oh, I forgot, I did tell you about the weeding project, didn’t I? We had a pleasant shower afterwards.

Delicious spinach-like green leaf called edible hibiscus as part of our dinner along with local beans and breadfruit which taste and looks very much like potatoes. We had cornbread ground and baked by our granddaughter made from their corn and tonight we are having a roasted wild pig that they shot, butchered and have kept in their freezer. Smells delicious and my job is to keep the fire burning.

On another day Gail & I got up and had tea and oatmeal and then gathered some tools and went down to do more clearing at the driveway entrance. We decided that it would be best if we started before the sun got strong. After an hour or more we felt we needed some refreshment and walked up to the kitchen where Karin had a Smoothie for us.

Plans are to add a small pond with a tiny island in the center to protect the ducks they intend to trade for. The chickens and their eggs are menaced by a small animal called a Mongoose that they know will become a duck problem. Traps are set to catch Mongoose and once killed the parts become food for the chickens. What goes around, comes around.

One sunny day everyone made ready for a mile and half walk pushing empty wheelbarrows to the top of a hill where we could see the ocean. There were seven of us (one 21 year old male intern from Montana and a woman from France) and when we arrived at the coconut tree grove Scott explained how to tell the good ones from the bad ones. We filled up all the wheelbarrows and sliced three open to drink the milk, which really looks like water. It was very refreshing and when drunk through a straw using a hollow papaya branch, even better.

The mile and one half seemed longer coming back with our load. At the chicken area we dumped our load and Scott split a couple for the chickens to dine on. They also enjoyed the papaya we brought for them and the horses.

Lunch was fresh greens, breadfruit, mango chutney, pork and goat cheese. All fresh and all most delicious. Gail and I did the dishes while they went to do some chores. Now, to spent some time reading.
Getting older has it’s advantages.

Tonight we will be having papaya sprinkled with fresh lime juice, pork, fresh eggs and greens since last night Scott and Karin got home so late that Gail made pasta as she felt we needed to eat and go to bed. She just can’t wait to get me in bed. Been like that for years.

Our usual morning…… Gail & I get up around 6:30 and walk to the kitchen. Make a kettle of hot water for tea back at our place and I cook a couple of fresh eggs and have them with a piece of bread. The eggs have the reddest yolks I’ve seen and it’s because the chickens are free roaming like chickens used to do. While this is going on I check in on the internet for e-mail. We usually cut up two oranges to take with us and sometimes papaya with a sprinkle of fresh lime.

Each morning when we decide to rise there are at least three chickens sitting in a log outside our hut watching us. What an experience it is each morning to have 10 or 15 chickens follow you to the John and then hang around watching you do your business only to follow you back. I guess things are kinda slow for them here, down on the farm.

Because of heavy rain we sat around and talked most of the rest of the morning with Scott, Karin & Lauren. Lauren, who is 13 years old and going on 21, is home schooled and taught by Scott, Lauren and this year a teacher from Oregon. She has had various teachers and is an unusually versed girl. She tends the horses, chickens and milks the goats and does it all with a big smile. A very happy girl who sings and dances while attending her duties.

After lunch, Scott took a new intern, from Canada, around to explain what he wanted her to do. One of her jobs would be harvesting bananas. To do so you cut the entire tree down with three cuts of a machete. The tree is much like a huge celery stalk and grows back quickly. Once the tree is dropped you cut the large group (rack) of bananas free and take it back to the barn where it is hung from a rope which allows each ‘hand’ of bananas to be cut loose from the rack with a special curved knife and stored in the fruit safe. Yes, each tree produces one stalk of bananas.

Lunch was next and then off to clear some small trees and dig up three banana trees and transplant them to another area. The idea is that when trees are cut down something is going to take over that area and it’s best to plant what will serve the farm best. The banana trees are dug out using a ‘o o bar’ which is a 6 foot heavy mental bar with a point on one end and a chisel-like blade on the other. You keep pounding the chisel end all around the tree until you are finally deep enough to begin prying it loose making sure you have as much of the root as possible with it. Load them in a wheelbarrow and off you go to plant them. Then a shower for me, a lay-down listening to the public radio station on my radio, followed by ‘messing’ with my banjo.

This followed by dinner and then watching some DVDs. To bed at 11:30. The DVDs were sent here by our first daughter, Kathleen, who lives in Lancaster, Pa. with her husband.

Up at 6:30 and a breakfast repeat of yesterday. Reading until the gang get up. Then in preparation for the Permaculture Students visit, Karin and I dragged about 18 black tarps to another part of their property. Each tarp is 12 by 50 feet and is used to cover over growth that they want to replace or clear. It will lie there for 3 months when most things below it will have died. After that we replaced two gates; one to the horse corral and the other where the chickens used to stay and is now used as a rotating paddock for the horses.

There were 13 in the permaculture group that toured the farm and they seemed quite impressed with the tour and the information presented by Scott.

Next day up at seven followed by a trot down the path. Roosters have been calling from farm to farm since 4 a.m. Soon Gail should wake and we will go up to the kitchen to boil water for our tea and I’ll have a small dish of oatmeal.

Gail and I went down to continue our weeding at the entrance to the farm and after reported in for our daily Smoothie drink.

Lauren is riding her horse over to a nearby farm for her riding lessons. Karin, Scott, myself and a young intern guy are to bike to the mailbox and then harvest some Ironwood trees to use as living fence posts. A four mile trip. We brought back over 100 very small trees and spent the evening trimming each and planting each in it’s own pot.

Monday the 15th it rained all day and we adjusted rather well by having breakfast, talking, going on-line for e-mail, having lunch and then walking to our place to read and rearrange this ‘tale of no cities.’

I just realized that we have to start getting things organized and packed to leave Wednesday morning and here it is Monday. I haven’t shaved since we arrived nine days ago. I really shouldn’t let my legs get so hairy, but living in the forest like we have been doing certainly brings out the beast in a man!

Tuesday - oatmeal for me and a smoothie for the two of us. Called both airlines to be sure they had us flight listed. We shoveled cinders that are to become the pond in the future, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow. After much sweating we were reassigned; Gail involved with the new garden clearing and future planting, I with Scott closing in the horse training circle with bamboo. Lunch was with an invited friend, Ann, consisting of her salad of yakon, tree tomatoes, orange and coconut, then wild pork burgers with homemade chocolate for dessert. Everything from their farms.

Wednesday - Up early again and packing to fly to Oahu. Plane to leave a 4:15 p.m. and Scott & Karin have borrowed their neighbor’s covered pickup truck to take us to the airport and then take care of a few chores in town. Raining hard all morning and we had to stand under the carport tarp to keep dry waiting for the truck.

At the airport we were told the flight was not crowded and we had no worry so we all went to lunch. We almost missed the flight because lunch ran a lot longer than anticipated. Karin drove quickly and we made it just on time. It was true……. the flight had open seats and for the very first time we were being called by name as we were going through Security. We ran with shoes untied and caught the flight.

Arrived about 5 p.m. on Oahu found a seat for our wait until our midnight flight leaves and hopefully with us on it. If all goes as hoped we are to land in Phoenix 8:50 a.m. Phoenix time. We truly decided that we were not going to be called for that flight as the take off time got closer and more and more showed up for it. It would mean a wait in the airport until midnight, next day.

We were called and spent five and a half hours trying to get sleep in our assigned seats. Gail got some and I didn’t because one leg would not settle down, so I walked a good bit on the plane. But, we were certainly grateful that we were on that flight.

come september, the first thing i noticed was my bean trellises looking neglected, the jungle successfully encroaching into my perennial peanut lawn, the coffee beans, bright red begging to be picked turning darker and darker brown on the trees….

i realize that i can have ANYTHING i want, i just can’t have EVERYTHING i want.

So, instead of eating taro, fresh beans and roasted feral pig for dinner, some nights when i eat at all, i am eating store-bought rice, black beans and packaged cheddar cheese… (with a freezer filled with pork roasts, the bread fruits ripening, the katok plants are falling over from the weight of their nutritious leaves). i have to admit that local food isn’t always as fast a food as i’m wanting or have the energy for.

i feel a sense of embarrassment about my swift decline away from my goal of eating sustainably. my goodness, i had just barely gotten comfortable (and perhaps self-righteous) at my 80%-from-the-land mark.

but i also recognize the importance of educating my daughter. i’m beginning to see clearly that just as relying on others to grow and ship my foods, build my house, provide my electricity and water etc. is not serving me or the planet, neither is letting the same system that tells me: “commercial agriculture is the only way to feed me, i need a bigger army and more weapons to ever feel safe, to go ahead and consider the insatiable-consumptive american lifestyle my birth right, i can find happiness by smelling “morning fresh”, a new car will get me a hot date…” how can this same voice be trusted to educate my dear one? does it have to cost feeding me with commercially produced agriculture?

how can i throw my daughter to the wolves who want her to tone herself down, who want her to believe what she is taught without question, who shame her into becoming homogenized instead of explode with her beautiful uniqueness and strong voice?

how can we have second generation of homesteaders if all our children are taught to chase the carrot of MORE?

oo, i try to resolve myself to focus my energy as best i can. i try to be gentle with the voices (inside my head) that scold me for being a hypocrite or not doing enough. and i continue to realize that eating sustainably and homeschooling are not mutually exclusive.