Concrete Pathway Is Growing

The concrete pathway around the house is growing. To date, it's encircling the house  3/4s  of the way. What you're seeing in these pictures is the path wrapping around the back. The steps and railing are coming from the side of the house near the rear. The white pipe running under the concrete path right now does nothing, but in the future will carry the greywater from the kitchen to a banana patch. (I'm actually thinking agead! Time to run the pipe is now rather than later.) 

The pathway balloons out into a patio. The idea is to have a small table and chairs here. Right now you can see the seams from the individual concrete pours, but I know from prior experience those seams will disappear from view as the concrete develops a darkened patina. 

Here's a view looking from the other side. The white pipe in the foreground, like the other pipe, presently does nothing. But in the future may handle the greywater from the bathroom, again going to a banana patch downhill. 

Wind Damage in the Garden

The past week things have been really windy around here. Gusty trades but quite strong. Luckily no trees have come down, but the wind has been causing damage in the gardens. As expected, the banana leaves have been shredded, but it doesn't seem to bother the banana trees all that much. The veggies are a different story. 

Around the edges of the corn patch, a number of stalks have blown over. The corn is at a stage where it's already done the pollination thing, so I don't see that this is going to be a real problem. The corn patch is small and I will be hand harvesting, so no losses expected. 

The potato plants got whipped around, but most were small in size and took the beating pretty well. Of the larger plants, I see about 10% got snapped off at the base. So that's a loss since they hadn't produced tubers yet. 

The young cauliflower suffered the worse with about a 50% loss. The wind twirled the baby plants, severely damaging their stems at ground level. 

I took some close up photos trying to show the damage, but it's difficult to see. The tops literally got twirled around leaving just some fibers holding the tops to the roots. I mounded up the soil around the I damaged plants to help protect them. 

Some of the younger bean plants lost leaves but otherwise survived. Most everything else did ok. Luckily I didn't have the young tomato transplants anywhere they'd be vulnerable. I've been looking into setting up hoops for low tunnels in order to protect against excess rain and the drying sun, but they sound like a good idea for protection against strong winds too. 

More On The House - David's Project

After taking this past week off from working around the place, I'm back on the job this Monday morning. But it turns out that my plans have suddenly changed and I need to make a run to Kona, so David is getting things staged and started on this next project. Next project? Doing something to connect the neglected lanai on the end of the house to the new concrete walkway. 

Above -- this part of the house just accumulates junk. Don't know what to do with something? Go set it out on the lanai. Time to make changes. 

Below....view taken from on the lanai looking out. 

David spent time going over ideas of what to do with this lanai and how to integrate it into the living space. 

Truthfully, I wasn't full of grand ideas. David was loaded with them! After exploring many pros & cons, we've decided to try building a micro deck off the lanai with steps going down to the walkway.....which isn't there yet but will be. There isn't enough space to simply build stairs down to ground level because at the right edge of the photo above, the ground drops off extremely rapidly (almost a cliff). It's so steep right there that even the dogs can't climb the hill. So entertaining thoughts of adding fill would be sheer madness. 

David made some boxes to give me an idea where the micro deck would go. Once I gave the go-ahead, he poured concrete into those boxes to make piers to support the micro deck. 

Below, another view. Plus we dragged over some lumber before I left for town. It will be interesting to see what David creates, because I'm still not sure yet exactly what he has in mind or how it will turn out. With my time completely occupied for the next three days, it's going to be 100% up to David. I'm giving him free rein to create something that will encourage us to use this side of the house. 

Big Move...Off Grid...Year of Adjustment

Not us. We've already done this and survived. 

If you're considering making a big move or a big change in your life, thinking about going off the grid, then this short blog is a real good read. The writer tells an honest story of her first year in Hawaii. 

https://naalehu.wordpress.com

If you scroll way down to the bottom of the page after you're done reading the introduction, you will find a list of archives by date. Since Jane tells this as a continuing story, starting at the beginning makes for an enjoyable read. 

Thankful Thanksgiving

Just a brief note......

After sharing the day with friends, I'm well aware that I have much to be thankful for. In fact, not a day goes by where I am not thankful. That's 365 days a year, folks, not just this one day in November. I've made both good and bad choices going through life, and have had both good and bad luck, but it all brought me to where I am right now. I think that I am most thankful for the things that I can't control or have little control over. To be living where I have relative freedom. Free of significant discrimination and oppression. Plenty of food, safe water, adequate shelter, comfort. Reasonable good health. A caring community with aloha spirit. A group of good friends, both two and four footed. 

Yes, a thankful Thanksgiving. 

New Taro Varieties

Curious "K" wants to know which new varieties have been added to my farm. The new additions are all Hawaiian types. 

Apuwai

Manapiko

Manini owali

Lauloa ke'oke'o 

Niue ula'ula 

I'm planning on opening up new growing areas so that I will be able to add more varieties in the future. For right now I'm focusing on propagating the plants that I have in order to be selling potted taro next spring. 

Drivel - Maui Bird Refuge

Taking a short R&R trip to Maui. Primary focus of the trip is to get Hawaiian taro varieties for adding to the farm and picking the brain of the Maui Nui nurseryman for more taro growing and using pointers. But then we plan to spend two days relaxing and recuperating. My sore muscles are in need of a few days vacation. 

Success on the taro front. Was able to obtain five new additions and a brain full of information. 

Took a day to explore a marshland bird refuge here in Maui. I wasn't expecting it to be anything special, so I was pleasantly surprised. There are two significant parts to the refuge, though tourists seem to only discover one. So we had the inland area all to ourselves, the birds, and a feral pig....which we heard but thankfully did see except for its tracks. 

This refuge is one of the few places one can see two Hawaiian endangered birds. The Hawaiian black necked stilt (ae'o), above. And the Hawaiian coot ('alae ke'oke'o), below. 

There were dozens of each type quite visible in the various ponds. Saw lots of other water type birds, but I was most fascinated by the stilts and coots. I'm not an avid birdwatcher, but spending time wandering the area was extremely enjoyable. Well worth the time.