Kona Earth

We can't change our minds about staying on the farm now. It took almost a year with all the paperwork and some back and forth with Kamehameha Schools but just a few weeks ago we purchased our mauka neighbor's farm! Gary wanted it for practical reasons such as a house for workers and more coffee trees. For me, it was the rainbow eucalyptus and the avatar-like ficus tree!

Last coffee of the season. It was only about 20 bags so we are experimenting and making kona naturals. The drying deck smells like a honey bread dough. Very yummy. Can't wait to taste it.

While Mike and I worked selecting branches that will hold our coffee next year, Gary battled the mud. Every year after pruning, we have to go tree by tree and pull off any suckers on the branches as well as choose three or four new limbs to grow to produce coffee over the next three years. The tree in the photo was one of the few that will not be giving us coffee this year, but really showed the ruthlessness of choosing branches. Gary's difficultly this year is all the rain we have been getting. Driving up to our pulper deck has become impossible. New tires on the truck didn't fix the problem, so as you can see in the before picture we called in the experts. Gary claims he can get up that road in two-wheel drive now!

Gary has posted a new blog post!

We have changed direction and are staying on the farm. Check out our newly remodeled website at KonaEarth.com

During downpours we will occasionally get a river though our front field. It is a great time to grab a boogie board and play in the rain!

Before we can put workers into the house on the new property, we need to give the water tank a complete overhaul. The tank was covered in weeds with a tree growing out of the top and the pump was running every two minutes. Gary replaced and moved the pump and the filters to a better location and then we all pitched in to replace the liner and lid of the tank. Now, all we need is some rain.

We have moved on from the tank and plumbing and are now in the fields clearing the aisles and pulling the weeds out of the trees. Gary and our friend Don have been mowing as close to the tree stumps as possible while Mike and I, using clippers and a billhook, have been cutting the vines at the base of the trees. In a couple of weeks, the vines will die and we will be able to pull them out of the trees.

Kona coffee flowers also called "kona snow".

The rains are back and the coffee and bees are loving it! Flowers and cherry everywhere.