day twenty nine

Lucky. That's how I feel right now. Along with proud, invigorated, excited, alive, and so happy. We have been here for a whole month and as much as I would like to complain some more about sharing the bathroom with a spider and wearing the same outfit every day, I can't. This month has been so thrilling, challenging, eye-opening and really, really fun.

Boogie boarding in the rough waves at Magic Sands Beach, snorkeling above coral reefs with sea turtles and schools of bright yellow Tang fish at the pier, cruising to town and enjoying a cup (or two) of award winning Kona coffee feet from the sea, can't bellyache about any of that. Spending a night making 270 Lau Lau's (pork and beef wrapped in a Taro leaf, wrapped and tied in Ti leaves and left to steam for five hours in what I'm pretty sure used to be an oil drum), trying Kalua pig, lomi-lomi salmon, Poi (or what Eric would call "Common Paste") and listening (and attempting to speak) to the locals talk-story in pidgin ("Choke lau lau, eh brah?")- this was just the weekend! All that and we toured three more coffee farms- Kona Joe's, Heavenly Kona, and Hula Daddy.

Our original plan was to only spend one month at each farm but we have decided to extend our stay at Holualoa Farm for a second month. The shack isn't so bad after all! Now that the coffee pickers are here and the first pick has officially started, there is too much excitement to leave. The pickers, armed with their baskets and holding hooks (to bring the high branches closer), begin at the bottom of the farm and work their way up. At the end of the day they all head to the mill to weigh their bags before the coffee gets processed. The pulper was fired up this week and we got to watch the first 700 pounds of cherries go through a series of machines removing the fruit from the seed.

Along with all the anticipation from the fresh harvest, it's been a great week. Sure, I busted the exact pipe Albert told me not to hit with the mower, cutting off the water supply for the entire farm (I knew getting on that thing wasn't a good idea), but we learned how to fix driscopipe. And yes, it was a sad day when Eric had to bury one of the calves (the one we aptly named 'Mangey Moose'). We came to learn about organic coffee farming, who knew it would be so all-inclusive?

So, one month down but many more ahead. We have a big week coming up- we hired coffee expert and author of The Hawai'i Coffee Book, Shawn Steiman for a private training on coffee cupping and we will also begin shadowing the Master Roaster at a nearby farm. It is amazing what happens when you take a chance and open yourself to new experiences!

"Lao lao luau" 9/28/2012

"Morning coffee" 9/30/2012

"Kealakekua Bay" 9/30/2012

"Pulper/ Demucilager" 10/3/2012

"Eric mowing" 10/4/2012