WOW, we are farmers.

The days of hard work - first our "real jobs" that involved sitting in front of a computer for eight hours five days a week and then getting the farm work done - whew, way too much work at our age.  Nevertheless, with the help of our woofers - corn, squash, tomato,  lots of cucumber and zucchini as well as broccoli, beats, carrots, fennel , basil, Thai basal, nice round onions, soy beans and coffee plants  - whew.  What a bountainful place we live.   Linda's flowers are producing - we are selling Tuberose ( and organic vegetables) to a local restaurant  and the Obake anthuriums (Google it) are blooming nicely.  The Hibiscus starts are taking and the Orchid  "Tree" is going.  We dug up two HUGE  Bird of Paradise clumps and planted ~200 keiki's in the pasture.
(Linda has a plan for a flower farm)...........We are feeding the chickens organic vegetables from our organic garden and we soon will have organic eggs that sell for $6.00/carton.  Dang.  As expensive as cigarettes.  

We be Haoles

Haole first became associated with the children of Caucasian immigrants in the early 1820s. It unified the self-identity of these Hawaii-born children whose parents were as much culturally different as they were similar.^[2] With the first three generations of Haole playing key roles in the rise of the economic and political power shifts that have lasted through the current day,^[3] "Haole" evolved into a term that was often used in contempt. It evolved further to racial meaning, replacing malihini (newcomer^[4]) in addressing people of Caucasian descent who move to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland by the 1860s.^[5] A 1906 phrase book sometimes translates it to "English (language)".^[6] Today it is often applied to any who are of Caucasian ancestry, or to those who think or behave in a foreign manner.

Reference - wikipedia

Living in Hawaii affords "white bread" the opportunity to experience prejudice first hand.  This is different for those of us that grew up in communities where individuals of different color and race were talked about and treated differently. 

Having others think badly of you or treat you with disregard or even disgust is a new experience for us.
And it is good - because in reinforces our beliefs that everyone is to be loved and respected regardless of their physical appearance or position in life.

Prejudice is archaic and has no place in the evolution of consciousness.   Love and acceptance for all!

Road to Hana

Back in the mid 1970's when Linda first lived on Maui the road to Hana was unimproved.  If you met another vehicle on the road, both vehicles had to drive off the pavement in order to pass.  Now you only have to pause to let other vehicles pass on one way bridges.  Going to Hana is is a wonderland - bamboo forests, rain forests, waterfalls and road side stands.  Another way of life -  far away from Wal-Mart.  Luckily, life in Hana has remained unchanged and undeveloped.  Linda's favorite all time beach is past Hana - Hamoa.  Incredible beauty in the land and the inhabitants of Hana.

Road trip

We enjoyed our first company on Maui and indulged in favorite tourist adventures.  This is some of what you will experience when you travel to this magic island.

So here is the deal - Haleakala Sunrise - totally worth getting up at 3:30 am to drive to the top of the volcano - Haleakala, to freeze your okole (rear end) off to see a spectacular sunrise.  Truly - wear four layers, hat, gloves and borrow the blankets from the hotel.  Do these people look cold? That is because they are!   No flip flops and shorts allowed.   The sunrise starts with an Hawaiian chant that sends even more chills down your spine with the awesome beauty of Haleakala crater. 

If you are young of heart and physically adventuresome - plan a three day hike through the crater. 
The vistas are breathtaking and you can enjoy the comforts of basic cabin facilities if you plan ahead.
HIGHLY recommended. FIVE stars for the ultimate Maui experience. 

What to do on Christmas

The Christmas season in Hawaii is not the mainland.  We are dreaming of a wet Christmas and had six inches of rain the past ten days.  We have green, green, green and red mud.  Surprisingly, the weather cools off in Haiku where we live.  With 100% humidity and 58 degree temperatures in the early am, we are closing windows, throwing on long sleeved shirts, socks and flannel jackets.  We hope for a break in the rain during the day to get some "farming" done.  One day we just went out and worked in the rain; it was muddy; yet fun.  Every day is full of rainbows and our homestead seems to sit directly under a rainbow most days.  We went to the Grand Wailea for Christmas lunch and we mingled amongst the rich and famous for an almost affordable lunch, $25.00 valet parking and a very nice beach. The landscaping was fabulous - inspiring Linda to get the red ginger planted and work on creating our jungle paradise.  Christmas Eve day we volunteered at the free dinner at Baldwin Beach.  Lots of aloha and generosity for all.  The story is that locals, haoles and homeless people all come together in the spirit of Christmas.  We like that.  The food was ONO - the best.  72 turkeys were cooked in an imu local style and it was to die for.  Baldwin beach is just fabulous and we felt blessed to be a part of the Maui ohana. Christmas evening dinner was getting together with new friends for prime rib dinner and fresh salad 100% from the garden, including organic avocado dressing.  Linda created a Christmas centerpiece with flowers from the yard - so much fun!

Happy Holidays and Mele Kalikimaka!

We be blogging again!  Sorry for the down time. Got busy moving cats and dog to Maui and a number of other lame excuses that will be left to speculation.

Maui Hale Mauka has a face lift!  Curt completed the cat dormitory, with louvered windows so the cats get the wonderful trade winds without a chance of escape.  Tigger and Jax were introduced to each other and there was lots of howling going on for a few weeks.  They seem to have come to terms now.  Kalani and Gracie have had the first litters and there are some happy soon to be Maine Coon owners in Hawaii.  There has not been a Maine Coon breeder in Hawaii for many years and there is a great deal of enthusiasm with the breed coming to the island. 

The organic garden has met with success and failure. The squash all were destroyed by squash vine borers.
Curt consulted with the extension office here on Maui and we have a plan for the next planting.  The cherry tomatoes do well, as long as you pick them before they are super ripe.  The larger tomatoes were destroyed by fruit flies.  Curt attended a fruit fly class and set up several traps in the yard.  Lettuce, kale, peas, radish Swiss chard, egg plant and hot peppers did very well.  Linda has transplanted about fifty papaya trees that she started from seeds and the passion fruit starts are bountiful.  The first papaya trees we planted have fingertip sized fruit already.  Curt has hired an excavator to clear a piece of land for garden #2.   We still have producing avocado trees and the four tangerine trees are starting to ripen. 

The steers were moved to the back pasture and they are almost friendly now and will eat fruit out of our hands. 

When life hands you lemons; make lemonade!

The orchids are just fabulous and so easy to care for.  Linda has planted pikake and tuberose - the yummy white fragrant flowers that go in leis.  She recently got a handful of hibiscus in different colors to start.  Her plans are to create a hibiscus garden with every variety on the island. 

Big project day was replacing the ceiling in the kitchen and living room - lots of mold and rat droppings - yuck!

Many thanks to Curt and Michael who finished the kitchen. Nothing like moving the kitchen set up to the bedroom and sink outside for a week.  Amazing what a difference it is to have enough storage and a work area.  As suspected the area behind the screaming yellow cabinets was full of black mold - all gone now; yippee!!

Curt and Michael secured a fence around the yard to keep the dogs away from the road. Olivia is Goliath's new buddy - a totally sweet Pit Bull puppy.  They romp and play like kids at the park.  We also have a new toilet in the laundry room (I know weird, but in Hawaii they put toilets in laundry rooms).

Linda acquired a used piano and found her old Bernina sewing machine on EBay - it works great.
She hopes to start sewing again soon - starting with window treatments.  She is collecting orchids, ginger and antheriums for her "some day" plant nursery.

Linda is working now doing telepsychiatry and has to regulate the cat company in the room. 
Despite some annoying technical difficulties at times, she enjoys her new job.  Curt is writing software and moved his office to the bedroom.  It is great working from home!

We keep hearing how cold it is on the mainland to ya'all better make plans to come to Hawaii!

We be farmers

We have expanded our farm with the additional of one giant coffee tree and 175 keiki's (baby trees)  Fortunately we had the help of our new wwoofers - Michael and Heather.  They have joined us in creating this new life on Maui. They are hard workers and a delightful young couple. 

 http://www.wwoof.org/

We planted a fig tree, lemon, lime, bay leaf, koa and palms.  The garden is up and we have flowers on the tomatoes already.  We have harvested ~400 avocados and some local boys picked a couple hundred more.Linda's orchid collection is expanding and she has too many papaya, macadamia and lillikoi starts. 

The cat dormitory is nearly done and we will be returning to Colorado for our first round of pets.  Many thanks to friends and family that have put up with the critters for two months.  We are looking forward to not having so much manual labor for awhile!