I've settled into a supposed energy vortex known as puna (or the 'punaverse'). I like it here. there's lots of farming, musicians, artists, foragers, tantrics and maniacs. and plenty of rain. apparently the rainy season is on the brink of tapering off, but freshly evaporated ocean waters pour on us now.
I had a great last few days in Hawi. Cedar, the goat, gave birth to 3 kids, and it was a joy to hang with them, watch them engage in goaty play, a bit clumsily. I milked the mother a bit, but she wasn't all that into it. I tried to force her into the miking stanchion but she really wasn't into that, so we just got a bit out of her to keep her from swelling up too much. the kids probably needed most of it anyway...
On my travels down here to Puna, where I've settled into a month long work trade arrangement, I befriended a really sweet quebequois couple who invited me to travel with them in their rental car. we cruised through the south of the island, sat with some sea turtles resting and eating in tidepools. we camped near the kiluela caldera (the currently active volcano), hiked around on fifty year old ground in kiluale iki (little kiluela), with warm to hot steam vents shooting out here and there. the rainforest environs were dense and misty and reminded me of the northwest. I've sense encountered mative hawaiin thimbleberries (longer and smaller leafed then their pnw cousins), black cap raspberry cosuins, and heard tell that there are 11 native vaccinium species (huckle/blue berriy relatives), and salmon berry cousins... so much shared ancestry of which I've yet to look into the lineage story.
The place I'm at is called La'akea. It's an intentional community, with daily check ins and weekly meetings (one for business / consensus decision making) the other for 'heart sharing'. Its a place with a 20 + year history of permaculture design. Unlike the last place I was at, this one is in the middle of jungle, sub-tropical rainforest, with managed gardens, orchards, plant guilds and animal (incl. human) homes etched into an abundance of wildness. In the first day of worktrading I herded misdirected sheep and harvest and dug into a jackfruit that was at least 40 pounds (its the largest tree growing fruit, sometimes weighing over 100 lbs (or heavier than the artist as of recently re-known as prince!)); also took cuttings of some tropical perennial spinach and sweet potatoes. It's a beautiful place, more like what I was looking for. It took me a while to get here, but so it goes, I'm here now and thankful.
besides being with people who share my values of living together and consciously managing and living within land, for all the beautiful plants thriving in the warm and wet, I'm thankful that I'm able to be near soaking wet and not freezing because of it, that they have bikes I can use (I'm in town, Pahoa, now, about 4 miles away), that there are natural steam rooms (hot steam vents shooting into caves) I can bike to. To be close to the ocean, to live near a beach with weekend drum and dance gatherings... and to be returning in less than 6 weeks.
I am still having acid reflux problems. I just went to a clinic and they reassured me (again) that my heart and lungs are healthy. So I await the onset of hawaiian insurance coverage and try another round of acid reducer pills along with careful diet. once the insurance comes through (hopefully in a week or 2 ) I'm going to have my stomach and esophagus checked out more thoroughly , unless the heartburn is by then solved (hopefully it will be so)...
...kind of a scattered bl'enrty.
I wish all health, love and bliss following.
jeremy
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
sunny side up!
Okay, so I'm out of the rains, and hanging on the beaches of the sunny / "Kona" side of the island for a few days to take a break from work, recenter myself, soak up sun and seawater.
Swimming, goggled, at "beach 69" (just south of hapuna, south kohala coast) I encountered a massive creature that at once startled me and brought a smile to my face. an elegant sea turtle, the size (but not shape) of a medium-large dog, cruising around through the shallows. its waving arms reminded me of wings (I thought later of how to small insects, gravity affects them mildly, "as if they were moving through water," someone once told me) and it tail legs just hung out behind. a graceful creature, unworried, not stressing. I could have placed a hand on its shell or head but I decided to just hang with it for a bit. I have trouble holding my breath very long while I'm swimming, so it was a lot of ups and downs as it just aqua-frolicked....
last night was so windy that I had to secure my tent with rocks and lean into the windward side of it with my body to prevent it from folding up and sandwiching me... across the way I heard some bellowing and laughing childrens voices. I peeked out of my distorted rainfly to see that their tent had overturned entirely, perhaps taking them for a bit of a tumble ride , hopefully well cushioned by bedding...
this morning I lost the bout with some beautiful goldenbrown coconuts, and gained some well chafed forearms, inner thighs and chest in the process. I tuckered out about 3/4 the way up the 15 or so foot tree. with more of the right muscles and some technique pointers... Oh, if I'd have a long pole and a saw to lash on it I could have succeeded!!
For my foraging pleasures I had to settle for a bite of noni (which I am still working up an appetitite for--it's kind of like juicy effervescent blue cheese fruit), reported to heal all that ails ya.
Last week I ventured to the Puna area, where I met lots of kind and warm people, fresh black lava rock (some less that a year old), Ohia trees growing up through it, more geologically advanced regions with actual soil and thick jungles... warm pools heated by volcanothermal power... a couple communities that both felt warm, welcoming and exciting to visit...
soon it will be time for me to choose between them, figure out a way to actually earn a bit of money, so that I don't return home close to broke...
now though I'm taking some time to relax and reorient and reenergize.
I've got another night at spencer beach, and then will probably proceed south to camp at Ho'okena, where I can take a day trip to kealakekua bay for supersnorkeling.
the internet time expires soon.
aloha
Swimming, goggled, at "beach 69" (just south of hapuna, south kohala coast) I encountered a massive creature that at once startled me and brought a smile to my face. an elegant sea turtle, the size (but not shape) of a medium-large dog, cruising around through the shallows. its waving arms reminded me of wings (I thought later of how to small insects, gravity affects them mildly, "as if they were moving through water," someone once told me) and it tail legs just hung out behind. a graceful creature, unworried, not stressing. I could have placed a hand on its shell or head but I decided to just hang with it for a bit. I have trouble holding my breath very long while I'm swimming, so it was a lot of ups and downs as it just aqua-frolicked....
last night was so windy that I had to secure my tent with rocks and lean into the windward side of it with my body to prevent it from folding up and sandwiching me... across the way I heard some bellowing and laughing childrens voices. I peeked out of my distorted rainfly to see that their tent had overturned entirely, perhaps taking them for a bit of a tumble ride , hopefully well cushioned by bedding...
this morning I lost the bout with some beautiful goldenbrown coconuts, and gained some well chafed forearms, inner thighs and chest in the process. I tuckered out about 3/4 the way up the 15 or so foot tree. with more of the right muscles and some technique pointers... Oh, if I'd have a long pole and a saw to lash on it I could have succeeded!!
For my foraging pleasures I had to settle for a bite of noni (which I am still working up an appetitite for--it's kind of like juicy effervescent blue cheese fruit), reported to heal all that ails ya.
Last week I ventured to the Puna area, where I met lots of kind and warm people, fresh black lava rock (some less that a year old), Ohia trees growing up through it, more geologically advanced regions with actual soil and thick jungles... warm pools heated by volcanothermal power... a couple communities that both felt warm, welcoming and exciting to visit...
soon it will be time for me to choose between them, figure out a way to actually earn a bit of money, so that I don't return home close to broke...
now though I'm taking some time to relax and reorient and reenergize.
I've got another night at spencer beach, and then will probably proceed south to camp at Ho'okena, where I can take a day trip to kealakekua bay for supersnorkeling.
the internet time expires soon.
aloha
Saturday, March 28, 2009
if you could smell me now
a slice of a portrait of the day :
I hope my clothes (and only towel) will soon be dry. The only remaining garments I have I am wearing: swim trunks and a beautiful nepali shirt, both of which have been spattered by an effective microorganism (EM) mix that I just foliar sprayed on hundreds of plants, especially the mango orchards, citrus orchards of lime, orange, tangerine, grapefruit and pomelo, also various other plants and bushes including breadfruit, dragonfruit (a twisting cactus) and the nitrogen fixing trees (leucania, gliricidia) that they are being trained to trellis up, surinam and acerola cherry, guavas, coconut palms, mulberries, kukui nuts, pigeon pea, cassava, hibiscus... the wind is supposedly 90% from the east, but I discovered that it likes to go in all directions this afternoon. the mix is a lactobacilis starter culture mixed with water, molasses, fish emulsion and kelp meal, allowed to ferment anaerobically for several days. great for the plants to take in through their leaves, supplementing their diet of co2 and sunshine, and I'm sure my epidermis is glowing.
...in the twilight. the sunset was orange through purple, the sky thick with fluffy clouds, the winds perpetual. a good day for clothes to dry, though I just got them on the line an hour and a half before dark.. . still I shouldn't count out the potential for rapid clothes drying in the sub tropics, even in late march, at the tail end of the rainy season.
...and this morning it drizzled and cold air rippled through the tents of the waimea farmers market, where I hung out with the uluwehi farmers and friends selling citrus (that I harvested
on thursday), carrots, beets, salad, basil, avocadoes... I got a ride from a fellow who makes kombucha, fills up beer kegs with it and sells it by the jar (today the flavor is jamaican liliqoi).
I spoke to, in little segments, between the rushing waves of her familiar by name enthusiastic customers, a woman who, with her partner, practices a form of no-till farming , using only a subsoil plow to cut narrow trenches within a cover cropped bed, just big enough to drop in seed. at least thats what I picture. she sold me 3 daikon radishes, each 2-3 feet long, the diameter of my ankles and weighing several pounds... she also sells lots of cabbage and has never made kim chee or sauerkraut. ...
which I've started to go at again. I made a great batch of dinosaur kale, garlic and coriander that was well appreicated my many mouths and bellies. and now there's a red cabbage/onion/ginger/garlic mix bubbling up (the first foamy escapees got on my fancy skirt that was the only available cloth at the time to throw over the top of the fermenting jar... the odor now blends with the EM spray the wind (and my own hand) brought upon me, to remind me that if I try to bike to a party some fellow interns are dj ing at that I hope my towel and clothes are dry so that I can stand under the outdoor solar-heated shower, and uncover some more socially acceptable odors hiding out underneath the dressings.) I hope to arrange a visit this mid week and bring some kim chee to these farmers which they will like and offer to supply me with veggies if I ferment them and split the earnings of the sales a/o hire me to work at their no-till farm.
I try to meditate this weekend, at a mostly empty farm (the interns have all split or are away until monday). it was great to zig zag a path between all the trees, spraying them insidciminant of size or type with invisible microbes that insist, 'thrive, thou, thrive'. I discovered some cherry tomatoes growing around a couple young guava trees. what a treat ( and a good idea to interplant viney goodies amongst trees in your orchard.) it was peaceful to just walk around with a simple gift, observing so many living greenies doing their thing.
I fed the remaining pregnant goat, Cedar, a bouquet of haole koa, pigeon pea and moringa. she was into it...
I meditate on what am I doing next. I begin to transition out of this uluwehi place, just as I begin to feel I know it a little. I seek out paying work gigs, I try to understand if it's my place around here in the north/north west region of the island or if I take off for Puna. .. or if my exploration here is done and its time to return home and apply what I've learned, to return stronger and reborn to the evolution of my work in the northwest, still in progress, dormant, yet able to wake and any moment and be hungry for guidance. ....
I day dream about designing homesteads on acreage and urban lots, of growing daikon and fava beans and siberian pea shrubs, oats, blueberries, and mulberries. of michorhyzzials, bokashi balls (EM) and nettle tea. treehouses, and well insulated greenhouses. ...
the mosquitoes sneak into this little computer/library building and get my knees and root-tops (the parts peeking out from my soil-feet)
I've got some leftover miso soup and quinoa and hopefully some dry clean clothes to change into.
I hope my clothes (and only towel) will soon be dry. The only remaining garments I have I am wearing: swim trunks and a beautiful nepali shirt, both of which have been spattered by an effective microorganism (EM) mix that I just foliar sprayed on hundreds of plants, especially the mango orchards, citrus orchards of lime, orange, tangerine, grapefruit and pomelo, also various other plants and bushes including breadfruit, dragonfruit (a twisting cactus) and the nitrogen fixing trees (leucania, gliricidia) that they are being trained to trellis up, surinam and acerola cherry, guavas, coconut palms, mulberries, kukui nuts, pigeon pea, cassava, hibiscus... the wind is supposedly 90% from the east, but I discovered that it likes to go in all directions this afternoon. the mix is a lactobacilis starter culture mixed with water, molasses, fish emulsion and kelp meal, allowed to ferment anaerobically for several days. great for the plants to take in through their leaves, supplementing their diet of co2 and sunshine, and I'm sure my epidermis is glowing.
...in the twilight. the sunset was orange through purple, the sky thick with fluffy clouds, the winds perpetual. a good day for clothes to dry, though I just got them on the line an hour and a half before dark.. . still I shouldn't count out the potential for rapid clothes drying in the sub tropics, even in late march, at the tail end of the rainy season.
...and this morning it drizzled and cold air rippled through the tents of the waimea farmers market, where I hung out with the uluwehi farmers and friends selling citrus (that I harvested
on thursday), carrots, beets, salad, basil, avocadoes... I got a ride from a fellow who makes kombucha, fills up beer kegs with it and sells it by the jar (today the flavor is jamaican liliqoi).
I spoke to, in little segments, between the rushing waves of her familiar by name enthusiastic customers, a woman who, with her partner, practices a form of no-till farming , using only a subsoil plow to cut narrow trenches within a cover cropped bed, just big enough to drop in seed. at least thats what I picture. she sold me 3 daikon radishes, each 2-3 feet long, the diameter of my ankles and weighing several pounds... she also sells lots of cabbage and has never made kim chee or sauerkraut. ...
which I've started to go at again. I made a great batch of dinosaur kale, garlic and coriander that was well appreicated my many mouths and bellies. and now there's a red cabbage/onion/ginger/garlic mix bubbling up (the first foamy escapees got on my fancy skirt that was the only available cloth at the time to throw over the top of the fermenting jar... the odor now blends with the EM spray the wind (and my own hand) brought upon me, to remind me that if I try to bike to a party some fellow interns are dj ing at that I hope my towel and clothes are dry so that I can stand under the outdoor solar-heated shower, and uncover some more socially acceptable odors hiding out underneath the dressings.) I hope to arrange a visit this mid week and bring some kim chee to these farmers which they will like and offer to supply me with veggies if I ferment them and split the earnings of the sales a/o hire me to work at their no-till farm.
I try to meditate this weekend, at a mostly empty farm (the interns have all split or are away until monday). it was great to zig zag a path between all the trees, spraying them insidciminant of size or type with invisible microbes that insist, 'thrive, thou, thrive'. I discovered some cherry tomatoes growing around a couple young guava trees. what a treat ( and a good idea to interplant viney goodies amongst trees in your orchard.) it was peaceful to just walk around with a simple gift, observing so many living greenies doing their thing.
I fed the remaining pregnant goat, Cedar, a bouquet of haole koa, pigeon pea and moringa. she was into it...
I meditate on what am I doing next. I begin to transition out of this uluwehi place, just as I begin to feel I know it a little. I seek out paying work gigs, I try to understand if it's my place around here in the north/north west region of the island or if I take off for Puna. .. or if my exploration here is done and its time to return home and apply what I've learned, to return stronger and reborn to the evolution of my work in the northwest, still in progress, dormant, yet able to wake and any moment and be hungry for guidance. ....
I day dream about designing homesteads on acreage and urban lots, of growing daikon and fava beans and siberian pea shrubs, oats, blueberries, and mulberries. of michorhyzzials, bokashi balls (EM) and nettle tea. treehouses, and well insulated greenhouses. ...
the mosquitoes sneak into this little computer/library building and get my knees and root-tops (the parts peeking out from my soil-feet)
I've got some leftover miso soup and quinoa and hopefully some dry clean clothes to change into.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
back to the old blog-posting-block
I've just completed a weekend of serving children at 'camp mana', a gathering filled with art, music, nature walks and gardening. I found out about it from its key organizor and envisioner, a woman named Vanessa, who picked me up hitchhiking.
the main emphasis of the camp is LOVE. the children are all honored and respected fully and never spoken down to. it was like a mini power of hope camp for little kids (age 4-12) and there were some really inspiring projects, including a senses-opening nature walk, and a garden-planting, followed by painting and collage art designs of each childs envisioned garden. also, capoeira (afro-brazilian martial arts dance), yoga, drumming and dancing and great food.
I co-facilitated music workshops today, at first feeling underprepared and out of control, losing confidence and focus, then making appropriate changes based on the observations and feedback, and eventually pulling it together to hold a space that was flexibile to momentary needs and accomplished some great explorations and sharing....it was a reminder of the importance of balancing the work and craft of preparation and building a skill base with willingness to surrender to the moment, to be authentic and present. and a re-inspriation to return to more of this work in the future. I was greatly appreciative of the more experienced teachers and humble, gracious leaders all around, and the children are all so full of life, wellsprings of creativity and curiosity...
(amalafoundation.org for more info...)
this all happened at starseed ranch which is adjactent to the niulii farm (over towards pololu, the offshoot of uluwehi). I stayed there the last few days, saw the pig fence finally get put up, helped install some photovoltaic solar panels so that the interns over there can have lights and a refigerator (lets see... amps x volts = watts.... more volts normally means less amps.... the 'solar system' we installed was 12 v direct current (meaning the current only runs one way, in a loop; whereas power lines use 110 v a.c. (alternating current), in which the current reverses rhythmically.. its starting to make a little sense...))
also I hiked down through some magically lush jungle to the site of a 100 + year old Loi (taro field) that is being restored to bring it back into use. I helped clear the channel by which the river will eventually fork to irrigate the field. one of the people working on it is a native hawaiian youth volunteer whos great great grandfather worked the the taro ("kalo" as the hawaiians say) loi. its great to hang out with him and the other youth (who are there as part of a youth / organic ag. program that Dash and Erica (the niulii farm managers) are hosting)... they are into working outside with reverence for the land...
had a great bonfire the other night with music and good company. reminder of the connection I feel to fire. we busted up limps of ancient mango trees to burn and people wanted to hear neil young songs. (of course I could help accomidate...) and there was some freestyling, beatboxing and much rejoicing.
Over the last weeks there has been the birth of 11 baby muscovy ducks hatched by a very hard working mother (whom we would feed chunks of coconut when she ventured away from her nest to feed frantically). Very sweet and fuzzy babies. Muscovy ducks are cool animals to have around: they are part canine, I think, with slight claws, wagging tails, and a mellow, hang out, lounge around presense / (when they're not humping each other)... they beg for food by making both bleating and wheezing noises...
Also, one of the 2 goats died, very suddenly, probably from complications of her pregnancy (she probably had twins, and we got to her too late to try and save them). This was very sad, and a reminder of how quickly a life can pass. we buried her under a huge pile of soil, where something special will be planted in the future. meanwhile, the other goat, Cedar, seems as healthy as can be. it took her a while to adjust to being alone. she really likes company, to be pet or really just to have someone there present with her.
and the calf was born on the other farm just a week ago, running away her first or second day out. they located her through some sort of psychic location skills. her mother pumps out 3-4 gallons a day, and that baby is a huge baby.
I've missed home a lot lately and wondered just why am I here and not there.
I'm not going to move out here. In case that was still a possibility in any of your minds, I would like to lay it to rest (here in cyber-ink). This is way to far away from the friends and family and land that I love. I have come to see more clearly that the pacific northwest is my home, and I look forward to being back.
My brother may fly out here to visit for a week or so, very soon. I really hope he does. we'll cruise around the island, camp, hike, swim, snorkel, sunbathe, hang with turtles and volcanoes, etc. if he doesn't, then I'll probably do that on my own,
then venture either over to the puna region, or to waipio valley (to forage and work with 'coconut chris' , a wild raw -vegan foraging master)...
and maybe I'll return earlier than planned depending on how things go. I havent been very driven to find work here on top of the farm work I'm already doing, but I'll find some here and there. ...
I miss you, loved ones. I'm thinking of you, imagining sharing with you more closely when we, smiling, meet again.
je je
the main emphasis of the camp is LOVE. the children are all honored and respected fully and never spoken down to. it was like a mini power of hope camp for little kids (age 4-12) and there were some really inspiring projects, including a senses-opening nature walk, and a garden-planting, followed by painting and collage art designs of each childs envisioned garden. also, capoeira (afro-brazilian martial arts dance), yoga, drumming and dancing and great food.
I co-facilitated music workshops today, at first feeling underprepared and out of control, losing confidence and focus, then making appropriate changes based on the observations and feedback, and eventually pulling it together to hold a space that was flexibile to momentary needs and accomplished some great explorations and sharing....it was a reminder of the importance of balancing the work and craft of preparation and building a skill base with willingness to surrender to the moment, to be authentic and present. and a re-inspriation to return to more of this work in the future. I was greatly appreciative of the more experienced teachers and humble, gracious leaders all around, and the children are all so full of life, wellsprings of creativity and curiosity...
(amalafoundation.org for more info...)
this all happened at starseed ranch which is adjactent to the niulii farm (over towards pololu, the offshoot of uluwehi). I stayed there the last few days, saw the pig fence finally get put up, helped install some photovoltaic solar panels so that the interns over there can have lights and a refigerator (lets see... amps x volts = watts.... more volts normally means less amps.... the 'solar system' we installed was 12 v direct current (meaning the current only runs one way, in a loop; whereas power lines use 110 v a.c. (alternating current), in which the current reverses rhythmically.. its starting to make a little sense...))
also I hiked down through some magically lush jungle to the site of a 100 + year old Loi (taro field) that is being restored to bring it back into use. I helped clear the channel by which the river will eventually fork to irrigate the field. one of the people working on it is a native hawaiian youth volunteer whos great great grandfather worked the the taro ("kalo" as the hawaiians say) loi. its great to hang out with him and the other youth (who are there as part of a youth / organic ag. program that Dash and Erica (the niulii farm managers) are hosting)... they are into working outside with reverence for the land...
had a great bonfire the other night with music and good company. reminder of the connection I feel to fire. we busted up limps of ancient mango trees to burn and people wanted to hear neil young songs. (of course I could help accomidate...) and there was some freestyling, beatboxing and much rejoicing.
Over the last weeks there has been the birth of 11 baby muscovy ducks hatched by a very hard working mother (whom we would feed chunks of coconut when she ventured away from her nest to feed frantically). Very sweet and fuzzy babies. Muscovy ducks are cool animals to have around: they are part canine, I think, with slight claws, wagging tails, and a mellow, hang out, lounge around presense / (when they're not humping each other)... they beg for food by making both bleating and wheezing noises...
Also, one of the 2 goats died, very suddenly, probably from complications of her pregnancy (she probably had twins, and we got to her too late to try and save them). This was very sad, and a reminder of how quickly a life can pass. we buried her under a huge pile of soil, where something special will be planted in the future. meanwhile, the other goat, Cedar, seems as healthy as can be. it took her a while to adjust to being alone. she really likes company, to be pet or really just to have someone there present with her.
and the calf was born on the other farm just a week ago, running away her first or second day out. they located her through some sort of psychic location skills. her mother pumps out 3-4 gallons a day, and that baby is a huge baby.
I've missed home a lot lately and wondered just why am I here and not there.
I'm not going to move out here. In case that was still a possibility in any of your minds, I would like to lay it to rest (here in cyber-ink). This is way to far away from the friends and family and land that I love. I have come to see more clearly that the pacific northwest is my home, and I look forward to being back.
My brother may fly out here to visit for a week or so, very soon. I really hope he does. we'll cruise around the island, camp, hike, swim, snorkel, sunbathe, hang with turtles and volcanoes, etc. if he doesn't, then I'll probably do that on my own,
then venture either over to the puna region, or to waipio valley (to forage and work with 'coconut chris' , a wild raw -vegan foraging master)...
and maybe I'll return earlier than planned depending on how things go. I havent been very driven to find work here on top of the farm work I'm already doing, but I'll find some here and there. ...
I miss you, loved ones. I'm thinking of you, imagining sharing with you more closely when we, smiling, meet again.
je je
Sunday, March 1, 2009
It has been a dynamic week.
monday, I helped build a picnic table,
tuesday, I prepped beds and planted out sweet potatoes; later, attended a talk on coppicing and keyline design given by some folks from vermont, who teach intermittently at the school Rae is starting up her classes with tomorrow (Yestermorrow, that is). This provided some interesting history for me...
on wednesday, we had the day off and the sky poured rain all night, all morning, all day.
on thursday, I helped haul thick heavy poles of kiawe wood, a thorny tree that grows a rot resistant hardwood. 2 truckloads, one of the trucks a huge dumptruck. most of them will be used for fencing (they can be stuck directly into the ground and wont begin to rot for 40+ years, so they say). a big pig fence is going up around the gardens at Niulii, so that production can continue, un-rutted by swine.
friday, after weeding with a hula hoe / hoop hoe, I learned a propigation technique called 'air-layering'. a 1-2 inch section of bark and cambium are removed from a (smaller than your pinky) branch of a young tree or bush, this section is wrapped in wet sphagnum moss and sealed tightly in a plastic bag or cellophane to keep all the moisture in. the sphagnum moss is used because mold won't grow in it. after some time, 3-6 months, the tree roots into the moss and you clip the branch off and stick it in a pot, and you have a clone of the tree. this is happening here with surinam cherry, guava, lychee, olive and hibiscus, amongst others.
this weekend I met some folks who are managing land elsewhere on the island, and also connected with a guy who's been on the island for some time and is really into fermented foods. he was selling kombucha out of beer kegs at the waimea farmers market. he gifted me some awesome lactic cultures called Viili (one I had in olympia) and Erik. I bought some crunchy brassicas at the market, so I was able to start batches of both kim chee and cheese yesterday.
Yesterday evening I went on a fishing expedition in the midst of strong wind and waves in the tide pools just to the north of here. with hand crafted poles of bamboo (with hook, line & sinker) 3 of us tried to get some bites, occasionally needing to retreat from our perches to dodge huge waves. I got soaked from above the belt line down twice. the largest fish we saw were maybe 3 inches long, but it was lovely to be close to the power of the ocean and to observe the details of the ebb and flow. also we had to make it across the pastures of curious cattle ( a bit intimidating to have a whole herd coming over to check us out ) that live and graze ocean side.
I am inspired to learn about shellfishing and seaweed gathering opportunities on the island...so far all I've seen are some tiny whelks, limpets and snails.
I'm beginning to make the connections I need to find some paying work here on the island.
I've been talking to Rae about what lies ahead, waiting for us. in June, the village bilding convergence in Portland and then perhaps a cross country trek to vermont, via michigan and possibly arizona/n.mexico...
I've begun to delve into a great book by David Holmgren, called Permaculture, principles and pathways beyond sustainability... it's very cerebral..this seems to work in combination with my hands on and observational experiences
overall, I have been participating in many parts of the process of homestead and food-relations...
working on my coconut-husking skills,
setting healthy boundaries (as to how much I will work...)
finding ispiration to communicate and germinate permaculture principles in the lives of my family, friends and homeland. ...
feeling inspired to participate in activites that shed the veils of mediation.... gathering food, saving seed, fishing, constructing, designing, planting trees, reforesting, managing water, facilitating self-regultating systems .... between one living entity and another.
many things continue to connect...
monday, I helped build a picnic table,
tuesday, I prepped beds and planted out sweet potatoes; later, attended a talk on coppicing and keyline design given by some folks from vermont, who teach intermittently at the school Rae is starting up her classes with tomorrow (Yestermorrow, that is). This provided some interesting history for me...
on wednesday, we had the day off and the sky poured rain all night, all morning, all day.
on thursday, I helped haul thick heavy poles of kiawe wood, a thorny tree that grows a rot resistant hardwood. 2 truckloads, one of the trucks a huge dumptruck. most of them will be used for fencing (they can be stuck directly into the ground and wont begin to rot for 40+ years, so they say). a big pig fence is going up around the gardens at Niulii, so that production can continue, un-rutted by swine.
friday, after weeding with a hula hoe / hoop hoe, I learned a propigation technique called 'air-layering'. a 1-2 inch section of bark and cambium are removed from a (smaller than your pinky) branch of a young tree or bush, this section is wrapped in wet sphagnum moss and sealed tightly in a plastic bag or cellophane to keep all the moisture in. the sphagnum moss is used because mold won't grow in it. after some time, 3-6 months, the tree roots into the moss and you clip the branch off and stick it in a pot, and you have a clone of the tree. this is happening here with surinam cherry, guava, lychee, olive and hibiscus, amongst others.
this weekend I met some folks who are managing land elsewhere on the island, and also connected with a guy who's been on the island for some time and is really into fermented foods. he was selling kombucha out of beer kegs at the waimea farmers market. he gifted me some awesome lactic cultures called Viili (one I had in olympia) and Erik. I bought some crunchy brassicas at the market, so I was able to start batches of both kim chee and cheese yesterday.
Yesterday evening I went on a fishing expedition in the midst of strong wind and waves in the tide pools just to the north of here. with hand crafted poles of bamboo (with hook, line & sinker) 3 of us tried to get some bites, occasionally needing to retreat from our perches to dodge huge waves. I got soaked from above the belt line down twice. the largest fish we saw were maybe 3 inches long, but it was lovely to be close to the power of the ocean and to observe the details of the ebb and flow. also we had to make it across the pastures of curious cattle ( a bit intimidating to have a whole herd coming over to check us out ) that live and graze ocean side.
I am inspired to learn about shellfishing and seaweed gathering opportunities on the island...so far all I've seen are some tiny whelks, limpets and snails.
I'm beginning to make the connections I need to find some paying work here on the island.
I've been talking to Rae about what lies ahead, waiting for us. in June, the village bilding convergence in Portland and then perhaps a cross country trek to vermont, via michigan and possibly arizona/n.mexico...
I've begun to delve into a great book by David Holmgren, called Permaculture, principles and pathways beyond sustainability... it's very cerebral..this seems to work in combination with my hands on and observational experiences
overall, I have been participating in many parts of the process of homestead and food-relations...
working on my coconut-husking skills,
setting healthy boundaries (as to how much I will work...)
finding ispiration to communicate and germinate permaculture principles in the lives of my family, friends and homeland. ...
feeling inspired to participate in activites that shed the veils of mediation.... gathering food, saving seed, fishing, constructing, designing, planting trees, reforesting, managing water, facilitating self-regultating systems .... between one living entity and another.
many things continue to connect...
Sunday, February 22, 2009
life feeding on life
I have been here at Uluwehi for a full week now and I'm finally settling into the basic rhythm here.
There is a lot that needs to be done on a daily basis, with such an extensive plant nursery, continual plantings, and loads of animals to care for.
Many of the animals here are largely foragers: the geese graze on grasses, the muscovy ducks forage for all kinds of food (they are especially fond of coconuts) and the black sumatra chickens seem to subsist entirely on free ranging forage. There are also 6 or 7 baby ducks that are in a separate pen with three females adults and one male (for selective breeding). These little cuties receive daily feed rations. Also, there's a fenced area with a whole bunch of ducks and chickens, complete with nesting boxes for egg gathering. The free ranging muscovies and geese make themselves nests that we have to find if we want to eat their eggs. A mama muscovy sits on a nest of 8 quite-possibly fertilized eggs, and a mama swan has a nest she tends to as well, with the help of her quick to hiss at you companions. And then there are 2 pregnant goats that are fed big piles of braches full of foliage fresh cut from trees, esp. laucanea, gliricidia and pigeon pea. A lot of consideration has gone into designing this whole system, and with something like 15 acres of land in cultivation or getting there, there's are thousands of niches to fill.
I spent several days this last week planting trees, particularly pigeon pea (cajanus cajan), a nitrogen fixing leguminous tree that yields tasty peas, fresh or dried (grown extensively in india, e. africa and central america ; and moringa (moringa oleifera), a multi-purpose, fast-growing tree originally from india, of which the leaves, seeds, pods, flowers and roots can all be used for food or medicine. also the seeds can be used for biofuels. the soil here has pretty good drainage and goes down several feet (as evidenced by viewing a cross section of the layers of earth from the ocean cliffs), so with not a lot of rain (even during the rainy season, which is now), and occasional strong winds, lots of mulch seems crucial.
also I planted some bananas (which are propigated by stalk cuttings (called keiki- hawaiian for baby, child, or offspring)) and coconuts (the nut itself shoots up a sprout and you bury it in the soil)... bananas are really incredible plants: grasses whose shoots can become thicker than your legs and towering several times your height. they seem to be a great source of green manure. also we used a bunch of the stalks and leaves the other night to cook a pig and some ducks in a pit (underground cooking oven) called an Imu. I got to experience this process of something similar to traditional hawaiian cooking when Dash from the vegeatable farm at Niulii (where I stayed a week and a half ago) shot a wild pig that had gotten into the garden. No one at their site had any experience processing an animal, and since one of the interns here had experience deer hunting, 4 of us we hopped into a truck and drove over there to help out. I got a close up anatomy / gutting lesson in the pouring rain, the primary source of light being two headlamps directed at the animal.
It is hard for me to descibe this experience. We reflected on the intricacy of organs and body systems making up this animal, allowing it to breathe, metabolize, pump blood. I felt all of these inside of me., all functioning in cooperation to allow me to be alive. and here was this beautiful creature, so recently pulsing with life, now still and dead, and being selectively taken apart into pieces to be fed upon. the intestines and chest organs went into the bushes to be consumed by birds, bugs, bacteria, rats, mongeese, and the choice muscles and fats remained attached to the bone, to be rinsed off and cooked to support our sustanence.
the process of cooking in the Imu consisted of: making a fire in a broad fire pit (probably 7 feet in diameter, heating up porous lava rocks until they are glowing and the fire burns all the way down; covering the hot rocks with a thick layer of split and peeled apart banana stalks and green banana leaves; adding the food , in this case the pig (pretty small, maybe 30 -40 pounds), stuffed with salt and citrus fruits and a sweet potato, and 2 ducks, that Tom decided we should add to the fire when he saw that the pig wasn't as big as we'd anticipated; to the food was added some Ti leaves and some kind of ginger leaves (very fragrant almost like lemon candy); then we covered it all in a bunch more banana stalks and leaves, then with huge palm fronds and whatever materials we could find. Ideally the final stage would be to cover it all with burlap or cardboard to keep all of the smoke and moisture in. On this occasion we didn't have anything appropriate on hand and so the meat got a bit dried out and burnt by the morning (but was still very delicious).
This impromptu process began at about 8 pm and it was quarter to 3 in the morning by the time the fire had burned down enough to add all the layers on top the stones. ...
today I gathered up the down and some of the smaller feathers of the ducks that we cooked on the fire. I am saving them to make a pillow. they are so, so soft.
The social community here has been good for me. and I'm working on making time and space for my developing meditation /movement practice. There are hundreds of interesting books ; I'm reading Introduction to Permaculture cover to cover as an aide for integrating what is being implemented here, to help me understand on different levels, to support the generation of ideas to try in the rainy, temperate climate that I call home (and love and miss).
o, precious life, vulnerable and miraculous. I give thanks for being here, being held and nourished by the earth and the atmosphere.
There is a lot that needs to be done on a daily basis, with such an extensive plant nursery, continual plantings, and loads of animals to care for.
Many of the animals here are largely foragers: the geese graze on grasses, the muscovy ducks forage for all kinds of food (they are especially fond of coconuts) and the black sumatra chickens seem to subsist entirely on free ranging forage. There are also 6 or 7 baby ducks that are in a separate pen with three females adults and one male (for selective breeding). These little cuties receive daily feed rations. Also, there's a fenced area with a whole bunch of ducks and chickens, complete with nesting boxes for egg gathering. The free ranging muscovies and geese make themselves nests that we have to find if we want to eat their eggs. A mama muscovy sits on a nest of 8 quite-possibly fertilized eggs, and a mama swan has a nest she tends to as well, with the help of her quick to hiss at you companions. And then there are 2 pregnant goats that are fed big piles of braches full of foliage fresh cut from trees, esp. laucanea, gliricidia and pigeon pea. A lot of consideration has gone into designing this whole system, and with something like 15 acres of land in cultivation or getting there, there's are thousands of niches to fill.
I spent several days this last week planting trees, particularly pigeon pea (cajanus cajan), a nitrogen fixing leguminous tree that yields tasty peas, fresh or dried (grown extensively in india, e. africa and central america ; and moringa (moringa oleifera), a multi-purpose, fast-growing tree originally from india, of which the leaves, seeds, pods, flowers and roots can all be used for food or medicine. also the seeds can be used for biofuels. the soil here has pretty good drainage and goes down several feet (as evidenced by viewing a cross section of the layers of earth from the ocean cliffs), so with not a lot of rain (even during the rainy season, which is now), and occasional strong winds, lots of mulch seems crucial.
also I planted some bananas (which are propigated by stalk cuttings (called keiki- hawaiian for baby, child, or offspring)) and coconuts (the nut itself shoots up a sprout and you bury it in the soil)... bananas are really incredible plants: grasses whose shoots can become thicker than your legs and towering several times your height. they seem to be a great source of green manure. also we used a bunch of the stalks and leaves the other night to cook a pig and some ducks in a pit (underground cooking oven) called an Imu. I got to experience this process of something similar to traditional hawaiian cooking when Dash from the vegeatable farm at Niulii (where I stayed a week and a half ago) shot a wild pig that had gotten into the garden. No one at their site had any experience processing an animal, and since one of the interns here had experience deer hunting, 4 of us we hopped into a truck and drove over there to help out. I got a close up anatomy / gutting lesson in the pouring rain, the primary source of light being two headlamps directed at the animal.
It is hard for me to descibe this experience. We reflected on the intricacy of organs and body systems making up this animal, allowing it to breathe, metabolize, pump blood. I felt all of these inside of me., all functioning in cooperation to allow me to be alive. and here was this beautiful creature, so recently pulsing with life, now still and dead, and being selectively taken apart into pieces to be fed upon. the intestines and chest organs went into the bushes to be consumed by birds, bugs, bacteria, rats, mongeese, and the choice muscles and fats remained attached to the bone, to be rinsed off and cooked to support our sustanence.
the process of cooking in the Imu consisted of: making a fire in a broad fire pit (probably 7 feet in diameter, heating up porous lava rocks until they are glowing and the fire burns all the way down; covering the hot rocks with a thick layer of split and peeled apart banana stalks and green banana leaves; adding the food , in this case the pig (pretty small, maybe 30 -40 pounds), stuffed with salt and citrus fruits and a sweet potato, and 2 ducks, that Tom decided we should add to the fire when he saw that the pig wasn't as big as we'd anticipated; to the food was added some Ti leaves and some kind of ginger leaves (very fragrant almost like lemon candy); then we covered it all in a bunch more banana stalks and leaves, then with huge palm fronds and whatever materials we could find. Ideally the final stage would be to cover it all with burlap or cardboard to keep all of the smoke and moisture in. On this occasion we didn't have anything appropriate on hand and so the meat got a bit dried out and burnt by the morning (but was still very delicious).
This impromptu process began at about 8 pm and it was quarter to 3 in the morning by the time the fire had burned down enough to add all the layers on top the stones. ...
today I gathered up the down and some of the smaller feathers of the ducks that we cooked on the fire. I am saving them to make a pillow. they are so, so soft.
The social community here has been good for me. and I'm working on making time and space for my developing meditation /movement practice. There are hundreds of interesting books ; I'm reading Introduction to Permaculture cover to cover as an aide for integrating what is being implemented here, to help me understand on different levels, to support the generation of ideas to try in the rainy, temperate climate that I call home (and love and miss).
o, precious life, vulnerable and miraculous. I give thanks for being here, being held and nourished by the earth and the atmosphere.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
settling in N. kohala through spring
I am on the biggest mountain of an archaepelago in the middle of the pacific ocean (measured from the ocean floor the largest mt. on the planet). Being transplanted so quickly, it has taken me a while to feel somewhat grounded here. Now, 11 days after coasting in on jet fuel, I'm in North Kohala (the Northwest corner of the big island) beginning a 6-week internship at Uluwehi farm and nursery, a homestead with orchards, gardens and nurseries, near the town of Hawi (pronounced Hah-VEE), and nearer to windy ocean cliffs of black basalt, all gnarly and full of cavities. The ocean spray makes rainbows. It's been very windy here: fiercely blustery, and the rains may come very suddenly and furiously, mostly falling in the evening and night.
It's sub-tropical, and an island, yet it is still clearly the united states of america.
~~ I stayed the first few days with a fellow named Rob who propagates and cares for native plants at his place called 'dancing cloud sanctuary' near Pa'auilo, NE part of the island. He introduced me to several native species such as Ohia and acacia Koa trees, I worked with him a bit at his place, and I accompanied him as he captured some 'koki' frogs that are dangerous to native bugs and plants. I also spent the day in Hilo at a festival in honor of Bob Marley, and later, swam and body-surfed in the turqoise ocean on the Kona side at Hapuna beach. I've been doing well at fending off sun-burn thus far.~~
Then I stayed and worked for a few days at Uluwehi farms 2nd site, called Niulii, that grows vegetables and fruits for Uluwehi's CSA. This is a very magical place to the east of here (on the same peninsula), with a soft blue view of the ocean, and river running through it. I stayed in a yurt that, amidst the nighttime rainstorms, endured rippling walls and slamming door. The rain came in a bit (sideways) through the half-mesh walls, and except for the resolute stillness of the earth itself, I could have been in the gulley of a ship out at sea. I am, I must remember, on a relatively small chain of islands in the middle of the biggest ocean on earth.
The place I'm at is really cool. They propagate and save seed for many, many kinds of plants. There's lots of chickens and ducks, a few geese, a few sheep, 2 goats. There's also a community preschool-kindergarten here on the land that creates a waldorf & montessori inspired learning environment. I've gotten to climb around in some citrus trees, using all four limbs and a makeshift sarong front pouch to harvest limes, oranges and grapefruit; feed goats cuttings off of NFTs (nitrogen fixing trees, mostly legumes and acacias, I think); mulch some glorious little durian trees, with slender green and goldish leaves (they say, "thank you. just wait and see what I've got in store for you."); the usual making garden beds, weeding and forking around mulch...
New fruits to me (there's a poster here of probably something like 100 'exotic tropical fruits of Hawai'i (exotic meaning non-native)') include atemoya (an indescribable combination of cherimoya and "mountain apple" (still unknown to me), jamaican lilikoi (very refreshing, otherwise known as passion fruit, growing all over, vining up trees and fences), jackfruit (juicy fruit gum really does taste like it... I ate some of one that the harvester had watched ripen for 6 months until the winds brought it down..the weight of a bowling ball and twice as big), Champedak (really awesome breadfruit relative, gooey, almost like a durian avocado combo), White sapote, sweet and custardy, rambutan, native to east/se asia, similar to lychee w/ a showy tentacled red party suit.... more are on their way to my mouth I'm sure. Plus I've had plenty of guava, papaya, bananas, coconut and citrus and the mangoes are beginning to ripen.
The farmers/homesteaders I'm worktrading with are part of a growing movement to make Hawai'i food independant. It seems kind of strange since almost anything can be grown here (though there is a list I'm slowly accumulating of things that don't necessarily do so well: it so far includes garlic, apples, pears, stone fruit and blueberries; but it's still pretty speculative... despite the year round heat, there's a row of shelling peas at Niulii. ) and the growing season never ends. But the vast majority of the food eaten on these islands comes in on barges from the west coast. Of course this place, like I said, feels very much like the us, whose people have predominantly forgotten the ways of food-sustainability. In the PNW, coast salish people lived for hundreds of years on an abundance of salmon, clams, seals, whales, salal, thimbleberries, camas, etc. So what we see now does not prove what is possible when it comes to healthy relationship to the land and to earth. Currently, we are barely scratching the surface of what we can do to co-create locally sourced abundance and it's one of the most crucial things we can now be doing.
I'll add some more stories and pictures (if my camera and this computer are able to fit together peacefully).
I send out my love to the 'mainland'. Aloha and mahalo.
It's sub-tropical, and an island, yet it is still clearly the united states of america.
~~ I stayed the first few days with a fellow named Rob who propagates and cares for native plants at his place called 'dancing cloud sanctuary' near Pa'auilo, NE part of the island. He introduced me to several native species such as Ohia and acacia Koa trees, I worked with him a bit at his place, and I accompanied him as he captured some 'koki' frogs that are dangerous to native bugs and plants. I also spent the day in Hilo at a festival in honor of Bob Marley, and later, swam and body-surfed in the turqoise ocean on the Kona side at Hapuna beach. I've been doing well at fending off sun-burn thus far.~~
Then I stayed and worked for a few days at Uluwehi farms 2nd site, called Niulii, that grows vegetables and fruits for Uluwehi's CSA. This is a very magical place to the east of here (on the same peninsula), with a soft blue view of the ocean, and river running through it. I stayed in a yurt that, amidst the nighttime rainstorms, endured rippling walls and slamming door. The rain came in a bit (sideways) through the half-mesh walls, and except for the resolute stillness of the earth itself, I could have been in the gulley of a ship out at sea. I am, I must remember, on a relatively small chain of islands in the middle of the biggest ocean on earth.
The place I'm at is really cool. They propagate and save seed for many, many kinds of plants. There's lots of chickens and ducks, a few geese, a few sheep, 2 goats. There's also a community preschool-kindergarten here on the land that creates a waldorf & montessori inspired learning environment. I've gotten to climb around in some citrus trees, using all four limbs and a makeshift sarong front pouch to harvest limes, oranges and grapefruit; feed goats cuttings off of NFTs (nitrogen fixing trees, mostly legumes and acacias, I think); mulch some glorious little durian trees, with slender green and goldish leaves (they say, "thank you. just wait and see what I've got in store for you."); the usual making garden beds, weeding and forking around mulch...
New fruits to me (there's a poster here of probably something like 100 'exotic tropical fruits of Hawai'i (exotic meaning non-native)') include atemoya (an indescribable combination of cherimoya and "mountain apple" (still unknown to me), jamaican lilikoi (very refreshing, otherwise known as passion fruit, growing all over, vining up trees and fences), jackfruit (juicy fruit gum really does taste like it... I ate some of one that the harvester had watched ripen for 6 months until the winds brought it down..the weight of a bowling ball and twice as big), Champedak (really awesome breadfruit relative, gooey, almost like a durian avocado combo), White sapote, sweet and custardy, rambutan, native to east/se asia, similar to lychee w/ a showy tentacled red party suit.... more are on their way to my mouth I'm sure. Plus I've had plenty of guava, papaya, bananas, coconut and citrus and the mangoes are beginning to ripen.
The farmers/homesteaders I'm worktrading with are part of a growing movement to make Hawai'i food independant. It seems kind of strange since almost anything can be grown here (though there is a list I'm slowly accumulating of things that don't necessarily do so well: it so far includes garlic, apples, pears, stone fruit and blueberries; but it's still pretty speculative... despite the year round heat, there's a row of shelling peas at Niulii. ) and the growing season never ends. But the vast majority of the food eaten on these islands comes in on barges from the west coast. Of course this place, like I said, feels very much like the us, whose people have predominantly forgotten the ways of food-sustainability. In the PNW, coast salish people lived for hundreds of years on an abundance of salmon, clams, seals, whales, salal, thimbleberries, camas, etc. So what we see now does not prove what is possible when it comes to healthy relationship to the land and to earth. Currently, we are barely scratching the surface of what we can do to co-create locally sourced abundance and it's one of the most crucial things we can now be doing.
I'll add some more stories and pictures (if my camera and this computer are able to fit together peacefully).
I send out my love to the 'mainland'. Aloha and mahalo.
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