Su Ba

I’m working with volcano soil.  Farm #1 has soil made from long term degraded vegetable matter and volcanic ash. Farm #2 has soil that is degraded volcanic ash. Each farm has its challenges, but the best results I have seen with both is lightly tilling in compost between each crop (I till the top 3 to 4 inches) while also tilling in last crop’s mulch. I apply a 2 to 3 inch mulch layer to each crop, which by harvest time, is down to 1/2 to 1 inch.   So my answer is shallow light tilling in of fresh homemade compost between each crop and using mulch.

I have some of the garden area developed where it does ok using no-till, but it took perhaps 10 years to get to that point. I maintain a constant mulch on this soil, a mulch that includes compost. And only certain crops will produce well using no-till. After 5 years of no-till, I see that the soil is getting rather dense in spite of the worms, microbes, etc, and the veggie plants are not all that robust anymore. So I believe it is time to introduce the tiller and add a generous amount of compost again.  I plan to till down 6 inches and let the soil re-establish itself again.

By the way, I get a lot of rain on Farm #1. The past two years have been over 80 inches annually, and we get a light rain practically every night. So leaching is a definite issue. But Farm #2  is just opposite, getting little rain and seldom has leaching issues except occasionally (every 3 years) when heavy extended rain occurs. On both farms, nitrogen loss has to be watched. So I use applications of homemade fish emulsion and/or manure tea whenever the plants show signs of needing a nitrogen boost.

By the way, contrary to what I hear people often say, volcanic soil is not all that "rich". If one is growing pasture or non-fruiting trees, you don’t have to do much to it. But if you want to produce all your own food, then one needs to add nutrients to the soil.

By the way #2…. The compost I use is homemade. I put everything into it, and I mean everything as long as it organic compostable material, along with lava sand, heat treated coral and bones that have broken up using a hammer or running over the pile with my pickup truck (hammer vs truck depends upon how big the pile is). So it has a broad range of nutrients. And by using fresh grass clippings, animal manures, and dead animals, it has a goodly amount of nitrogen. No, I don’t  age my compost 6 to 12 months before using. It loses too much nitrogen that way. I coarsely sift it at about 3-4 months, tossing the chunks back into the next compost bin. I love my compost!

My favorite hoe = none at all. I try to keep a nice mulch atop the soil, thus eliminating the need for a hoe.

For spot work, I use a hand held half-moon, though it’s a model with the weld off to one side instead of in the middle of the blade. It slides easily just under the soil surface, cutting the root.  It’s lightweight and easy to keep sharp.

Paul Wheaton, this is your site. You make the rules.  You’ve created an informative site and a safe site for people to come share. Perhaps it’s time to extend the safety umbrella over the staff too. If people misbehave, give them a warning and explanation. Expect an apology. If they continue to misbehave, lock them out.

Since I’m a medical professional, I believe in cutting out the cancer so that the organism can live. I had to remind myself of this when I fired an employee. It turned out to be the right decision. Difficult for me to do , but extremely beneficial to the rest of the staff.

Burra, that’s great what you’re doing!!!   Too many times those bits end up the garbage.

Our local soup kitchen uses meat bits for making fried rice. Fried rice is a very popular meal here in Hawaii, and the cook can put all sorts of things into it. There is no set recipe. It’s just whatever is available, plus plenty of rice and seasonings. Fried rice is a good way to use up those little bits of meat and veggies that you don’t have enough to make a stand-alone meal.

Sure, I’ll jump in………

Veterinary medicine was my lifetime passion until 9/11.  Veterinary medicine provided an excellent education and experience that I still value today. But 9/11 hit me to my core, so I decided to retire and take up homestead style farming, build our own house, feed ourselves (hubby and I), and escape from the madness of the Eastcoast (Washington DC to New York City corridor).  Farming was what I had always wanted ever since I was a kid. Even tried talking my parents into letting me attend agricultural high school, but alas, that was forbidden. But I never lost my love for growing things or for learning about old style homestead farming.  

Transitioning to our current lifestyle was difficult and challenging. And most difficult of all——we had to lower our expectations and  shed most of our Eastcoast lifestyle.

So now I homestead. It supports us just fine and provides enough extra for us to be comfortable. The farm isn’t fancy. We don’t have lots fancy toys, but we don’t desire them. Nothing is fancy in our lives, but that’s not what our lives are about. Hubby helps out when needed on the homestead, but he keeps himself busy having a private cat sanctuary.

When not otherwise occupied, I volunteer at the local dog & cat spay/neuter clinic each month. And I put about 20 hours a week into volunteering for my community by growing veggies (not on my farm), manning a booth at the town farmers market, teaching home food production, and helping at the local food hub (soup kitchen, food giveaways, etc).

I just checked back and saw the hog panel trap. Had to laugh about that one. Here’s the story……

We have had a pig population explosion in my area. Most of the neighbors have been actively going after them. My neighbor across the street purchased a number of these panels (actually, we call them cattle panels) and made a large, rather nifty looking trap. But the experienced folks among us just smiled and said "we’ll see what happens".  Well. The neighbor came out one morning and found 4-5 pigs in his nifty trap. So he retrieved his gun. Trying to get a clean shot was difficult because the pigs were zooming around, bashing the fence. He finally got a shot off (he missed!) and the pigs panicked, jumping the fence. Four foot high wasn’t high enough to hold a panicked pigs. Every one of them jumped the fence and took off, never to enter that trap again. It’s been months and the neighbor finds lots of pig tracks outside the trap, but none inside irregardless of what tasty bait he uses. Lesson learned: Hawaiian pigs can, and will, jump!   Therefore unless your trap uses 6 foot high chain link or horse fencing, you better have a roof on it. And believe me, they will bash through that chain link if it isn’t heavy gauge.

This week I caught 2 sows (not at the same time), both about 45 pounds. Same trap, same location. Bait used : avocados, cooked rice, dry catfood. I saw two others hanging around the trap when I pulled up in my truck. And on my own farm (I’ve been catching pigs on a farm not too far away), I know that 3 have been traveling through. So it looks like I have more pigs to trap. Neighbor across the street says he has 2 large boars and a big sow hanging around.    The meat from these two sows is going to the local soup kitchen, which hands out a free meal plus free food not part of that meal. Local farmers and gardeners drop off veggies and fruits for handing out. Sometimes fishermen will donate fish. It’s a great system of sharing. It’s Hawaiian tradition to share your excess.

Thank you Riona!  

We have a new "head farmer" for the 3 acre garden area. Our previous person who started out with us at the very beginning was offered a real job with The Nature Conservancy. And although we miss that person dearly, we are all also so glad that she acquired skills that helped land such a good job.

Our new "head farmer" has had growing experience already, having taught basic gardening at one of our local schools. So we basically offered him the hat and let him go to it any way he wanted. He’s been teaching us how to prune the eggplants for better fruits, and will be introducing us to new (and hopefully better) varieties of veggies. He was tickled pink to see that we had a powerful rototiller and promptly started working on it, getting it working again. It needed a tire, new pull cord, and some other minor repairs. He told me last Wednesday that he just got a big box of assorted seeds in from Johnny’s Seeds, and was quite eager to get to sowing seed. So in the upcoming months I’ll be able to give more details as to which varieties produce better for us.

Right now we are harvesting onions and like both of the varieties we are trying. The first to harvest was Texas Super Sweet. We all agree that we will grow this one again. The other is Ringmaster, a white one. It is taking longer to bulb out but the onions look great so far. We agree that this is one we shall grow again next year. Next year plan to add a red variety.

Because I spend much time at the OKK garden and greenhouses, I had cut back considerably at my own farm. But due to changes in Hawaii farm exemption rules, that is changing for me right now. To keep my 20 acres as a farm, I need to be working it all as a farm. Therefore I am shifting some of the OKK veggie production to my own land. I’m primarily putting in crops that do not require a lot of time to deal with. So far I’ve planted about 100 tomato cuttings and pumpkin plants along the fencing and rock walls. I’m planning in putting in about 100 more , or even more if needed. And about the same number of sweet potato cuttings in the shadier areas. I’ll eventually put sweet potato cuttings about everywhere that I don’t already have a crop in (or using the ground as pasture). These plants will primarily be used to harvest the greens, not the tubers, so they can grow in the shade areas. I’m currently growing papaya seedlings and figure I’ll end up putting 50 to 100 seedlings to plant. Another farmer gave me bags of pigeon pea pods. So I’ll be able to sow pigeon peas to fill in the empty spots.  And next week I’ll put in a few dozen chayote plants, letting them climb up the dead trees that exist here and there. And then there are always bananas…..’I’ve plenty of clumps that I can divide to create more banana trees.  I might end up with a rather strange looking farm, but at least it will all be edible farm products.  Looks like our local soup kitchen may end up with an abundant donation of greens, tomatoes, pumpkins, and bananas. Don’t know yet if they can use pigeon peas.

Just a little update……

Well, our group is still plodding along. Some of the original community workers/volunteers are still working in this project, a few old timers have left to work on something else, and new people have joined us. But the project stays interesting. We keep adding more crops, and new items that we haven’t tried before. We keep tweaking our methods.  Sometimes it fails, sometimes it works out better than before.

Today at the farmers market we had a few new offerings that we haven’t had for awhile. Kaffer lime leaves, Tongan spinach, and no-chill apples. I think the apple variety was Anna. Grown at low elevation, they are small and tart, but make nice apple crumble and applesauce.

People sometimes ask how much veggies can we sell. Well, we start out with 9 six-foot market tables and usually sell out now by 12 noon. The tables are loaded with aluminum roasting trays which we get from Costco. So they are big turkey roaster size. We normally cannot get all the veggies out and onto the tables at the beginning, so the excess stays in the cooler until there is room.

Using the aluminum tray as our measurement, this is what we sold today…..
Apples - 2 trays
Bananas - 1 tray
Basil - 1 tray
Beans (yellow snap) - 1 tray
Beans (dragon tongue) - 1 tray
Bean (winged) - 2 trays
Bok choy - 2 trays
Broccoli - ! tray
Chard - 1/2 tray
Chinese celery - 1/2 tray
Cilantro - 1 tray
Dill - 1/2 tray
Edible gourds - 1 tray
Eggplant - 6 trays
Garlic chives - 1/4 tray (did not sell all)
Kaffer lime leaves - 1/4 tray
Limes - 2 trays
Malabar spinach - 2 trays
Mexican oregano - 1/4 tray
Moringa (dried) - 1/2 tray
Moringa (fresh) - 1/2 tray
Onions (bulb) - 2 trays
Onion (green) - 1 tray
Oranges - 1 tray
Papayas - 8 trays
Parsley - 1/2 tray
Pipinola - 6 trays
Pumpkins - 2 trays
Spearmint - 1 fistful
Tongan spinach - 1 tray
Taro - 1 tray
Tomatoes - 5 trays

As you can see, there were a number of crops missing from the tables. We are still growing them but are between harvests at the moment. Or they were seasonal crops simply currently out of season.

Burra Maluca, it’s been awhile since you posted, so I hope your health is improving by now.

Over a decade ago it was discovered that I had H. pylori (this was shortly after my brother was diagnosed with esophageal cancer plus was H. pylori positive. He begged me to get myself tested.)   My endoscopy revealed Barrett’s esophagus and hiatal hernia. The antibiotic treatment took care of the H. pylori. I felt like I was 10 years younger afterward. Such an improvemen!. But still today I need to be mindful of my diet due to reflux, which will aggravate the Barrett's esophagus.

By the way, I had tried the old suggestion of drinking a little apple cider vinegar and it was painful.  Instant heartburn. Made my condition hundreds of times worse. For me, it did more damage than any healing.

I wish you better health, and send your way a heartfelt Hawaiian hug!

Other than buying milk and yogurt weekly locally (and possibly an ice cream treat occasionally), I only go grocery shopping about 4 times a year (Kona is a 2 hour drive away, so a shopping trip is not something you’d want to do frequently). I don’t bother with bags. I load everything in the cart, take it to the truck, where the stuff gets transferred into cardboard boxes for the trip home. The kind of boxes I use are easy to collapse and reassemble. I get them for free amid the cardboard being discarded from my local store, where I happened to buy my milk and yogurt. I can reuse those boxes for a lot of trips.

I figure it costs me $40 in gasoline for a shopping trip. So to get the most bang for the buck, I load the truck to the max. We hit Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, the garden supply store, livestock supply store, the thrift shops, and whatever else while we are in Kona. And if there is any space leftover, we fill in the gaps with whatever we anticipate needing, such as potting soil, field fencing, lumber, paint, etc.