CBB. No this isn’t the latest text acronym. The Coffee Borer
Beetle is a small pesky pest that is wreaking havoc on coffee crops all over
Kona, HI. The beetle has been drilling itself into coffee cherries all over the
world for a long time and made its way to Hawaii in 2010. The beetle has affected
every coffee farmer in Kona, destroying a percentage of their crop resulting in higher coffee prices.
Eric and I have officially engaged the CBB in combat. Our
combat vehicle consists of a John Deere Gator (I'm giving the Gator another shot) loaded with a pressure washer
that sprays an organic fungus concoction from a 50-gallon drum (see photo below). Eric and I have been
spraying every tree on the farm (3,200 to be exact) with the fungus that
hopefully will kill the CBB and prevent it from laying larvae. If all goes to
plan, our part of the battle will be over by lunchtime tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving! There is a first for everything. Eric and I just put our Thanksgiving turkey into the ground and covered it with dirt! Okay, there is a little more to it than that. We went over to Albert's home at Farm #1 and helped prepare an 'imu' which is basically a Hawaiian underground oven. The imu starts with a big hole in the ground. Rocks are heated over a fire for several hours, then covered in shaved banana tree trunks. Then everyone helps carry over the dishes- multiple turkeys, multiple hams, various other meats and my personal favorite, lau-lau's! All the food was then covered in Ti leaves, burlap bags, a big tarp, and finally dirt is piled on top of the whole thing. Pretty darn exciting!
Tomorrow, we will dig up the food and celebrate the holiday with new friends, and lots of new dishes to try. Although we are very far away from our families (and missing them dearly), we have so much to be thankful for.
Each other. We both took a chance and made this happen...together. Family and friends. This has been a very big year for Eric and I and our families and friends have been so supportive of us. All the folks we have met along the way. We have formed new bonds with many people and learned so much from them. Coffee, peanut butter, nature valley bars. Without them, we would not survive. Wherever you are, we hope you take time to appreciate the farmers around the world (especially the organic ones) that dedicate their lives to growing our food...and our coffee.
It's definitely different but change is good. We are now at 2,100 feet elevation, on a family owned and run, 8 acre organic coffee farm. There is a small Bed & Breakfast, a large brown dog, and A LOT going on. We've got a very animated, energetic boss that may be the most unique person I've met. He is committed to producing top quality Kona coffee and with multiple coffee awards under his belt, the hard work is paying off. He speaks and teaches as though he is still in the German Air Force, has travelled to 60 different countries, and hasn't worn a pair of pants since he landed in Hawaii eight years ago. We've got coffee in all different stages- on the trees, out drying in the sun, green ready to roast, and coffee in boxes ready to be shipped all over the world. There is a daughter that needs to get driven to school, there are guests coming and going at the B&B, gardens to weed, concrete to lay, aquaponics systems to build...is your head spinning too? The good news is we upgraded from the shack. We now have a room in the barn- fully carpeted, a lot of electricity, actual walls and a door. The bad news is Eric is allergic to something in the room and evidently two life-size adults do not fit in a twin-sized bed. It's a longer walk to the outhouse, but I am getting a lot more sleep on the top bunk. Lesson learned this week: when putting yourself in a new situation, adaptability is key, a good disposition is everything. *And now, the moment you have all been waiting for... The lucky reader that just won-a bag-a Kona is: Irene Kipp! Congrats, Irene. A pound of delicious coffee is on it's way, just in time for the holidays! Thank you to everyone that subscribed! Keep reading planting seeds. You never know what you might get out of it.*
This morning I awoke to the sound of coffee cherries gently dropping into empty buckets. I opened my eyes to the vibrant blue sky and bright sunshine. In the near distance, a picker softly sung, what sounded like a Spanish opera song. These are the mornings I will miss the most. Tonight will be our last night at Holualoa Farm.
I remember stepping off of the plane after the thirteen hour flight from New York. We were exhausted and figured there was about a 50% chance that we'd actually get picked up. I remember our first night at the farm. Eric spent the first couple hours setting up booby traps on our shack door while I silently contemplated whether or not we would actually survive the night. Feeling like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park, every noise had us up shining a flashlight out into the darkness. Neither of us slept. We've come along way. Eric and I have completely immersed ourselves into the gratifyingly dirty world of coffee farming. Over the last two months, we have literally poured our blood, sweat, and (mostly my) tears into this farm. We have tended to all thirty acres of coffee-land and helped process the first harvest of the season. Although we volunteered, we are not leaving here empty-handed. We are leaving with a sense of accomplishment, stronger muscles and an even stronger work ethic. We have learned that a farmer wears many different hats and their work is never done. With our new set of skills, we're ready to see what awaits us at the next farm...from everything we've heard, things may get interesting! *BTW, if you haven't done so already; subscribe by email to be entered into the 'win-a bag-a Kona' giveaway. Last day to enter is November 8th!*
Many of you have been asking about our living conditions here on the farm so we decided to throw together a quick tour of what we call WWOOF Camp. Join Eric as he guides you through the luxurious accommodations that we have been enjoying for the past month and a half!
Barbie. So Monday morning, a six mile visit to a coffee farm
on our moped turned into a 100 mile joy ride to Waimea and back. However,
we ran out of "joy" around mile 80 so I guess technically it was an 80 mile moped
ride and a 20 mile pickup truck ride. The first 80 miles of the trip we’re
going smooth. It was great scenery, beautiful ocean views and we even found a
secluded beach with sea turtles (see video below). To celebrate the success of
the first leg of our trip, we stopped for a hearty slab of carrot cake and a
few cups of joe at the Waimea Coffee Shop. I don’t know if it was the sugar
high from the carrot cake or the caffeine boost but on the way back down the
hill, I spotted what seemed like a good opportunity to set a moped land speed
record. Well, Barbie must not have been in the record setting mood because just
as we hit about 55 mph (which feels like 200 mph on a moped) she decided she
had enough fun for the day. Twenty miles
from home, in the middle of the hot, black Hawaiian desert and with 2%
battery remaining on the phone, our fun had also come to an abrupt stop. Luckily Albert picked up and before the phone
died, mid-convo, he got our location and came to get us...three hours later.
The Gator. Yesterday after lunch, me, Casey and Albert took
the Gator up to about 2,500 feet, to the orange trees. It’s
a steep, rocky, wet ride up to the orange trees but it’s well worth it. They were some of the best oranges we have ever had. After 15 minutes and a few juicy
oranges, we headed back down to the farm except this time we took an alternate trail; an
even steeper, rockier and wetter trail. Why Albert decided to take us on the steeper, rockier and wetter trail and not the one we had barely survived on the way up, is a bit of
a mystery. Anyway, about halfway down the hill, we were blocked by a giant tree
that had fallen across the trail. Unable to turn around and climb back up the
mountain, we had no choice but to walk down and take the tractor,
the blue Isuzu and a few chain saws back up and clear the trail. Once we
cleared a path, we headed down; Albert in the tractor, me in the Isuzu and
Casey in the Gator. Long story short, the Gator got away from Casey, coasted down
hill about 100 feet and ultimately crashed into a coffee tree. Fortunately, Casey wasn’t in it and thankfully wasn’t hurt.
Unfortunately, the front suspension and frame of the Gator weren’t as lucky.
In the interest of Casey’s health and the prevention of any
additional property damage, Casey has officially retired from operating any John
Deere machinery.
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!
Ah, the gloves are off, the buzzing noise is finally gone and there is quiet on the farm again. This week has been all about preparation.The trees are starting to burst with lots of bright red cherries which can only mean one thing; time for the 'first pick'. Any day now, a crew of coffee pickers will come in and harvest the ripest cherries for the first pick of the season. Our task for the week was to prepare the fields before the pickers get down to business which roughly translates into, you guessed it, weeding. So far, Eric and I have clocked 42 combined hours of pure weeding. Its kind of been a tough week.
Our days off were well spent. We drove to the Southern end of the Kona Coffee Belt and toured three more (of the 700) Kona coffee farms: Greenwell Farms, Royal Kona, and Kona Blue Sky. We managed to not get a flat tire driving over a couple miles of unpaved lava rock desert and spent a day at Mahaiula Bay. We treated ourselves to lunch at The Coffee Shack- a little cliff side cafe with an amazing view of Kealakekua Bay. We attempted to watch a sunset down at the beach but instead spent an evening wrangling three small cows that escaped through an open gate. We again attempted to watch the sunset at the beach and wow was it beautiful (and much nicer then chasing cows around)!
Although some days are more challenging than others, we help each other get through them. Eric motivates me to go back to work after lunchtime and I save him from falling off a roof (yup, he was tied to one end of the rope and luckily I was tied to the other). Eric weed-whacks for the team while I get the primo job using the industrial size John Deere mower (who thought that was a good idea?). I make Eric grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and he humanely gets rid of the creepy black pincher bugs from our shack. This must be what marriage is about.
Anyhow, row by row, acre by acre we will continue on for one more day until a much needed, well deserved break.
As we get thrown about, insides jiggling, taking the 'Gator' past the high Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, over the citrus scented grass, past the banana orchards, halfway up the 300 acres of land, we make it to the green fields of Coffee Land. Rows and rows of coffee trees lined along the high hills over looking the sea. That's what this is all about. In the 22 mile long, 2 mile wide Kona coffee belt, it is all about coffee.
Before heading to Kua Bay (the most beautiful beach we have ever been to), Eric and I took Barbie (the only pink moped on the island) out to visit a couple other coffee farms up the road from us. We drove South to the family owned and run Kona Earth and stayed for a private tour given by the owner himself. Then headed North to visit the very well manicured UCC Hawaii, whose coffee is a household name in Japan. These farms are on two different ends of the spectrum but both visits were very eye opening. It seems out here there are some guidelines but for the most part everyone has their own way of doing things and ways of differentiating their coffee from the other farms. I will say, both farms were conventional (not organic), so there was a lot less 'weed-eating' going on than what we're used to. There is definitely something special about the coffee and as we are finding out, something very unique about the people of the Big Island.
The other night, we were invited to a small BBQ- Hawaiian style. Although it was just before the time we typically go to sleep (still trying to get the time difference thing down), the chance to eat something other than a PB&J sandwich was too good to pass up. So, in anticipation for the big event, we showed up right on time. "On time" here is relative, so we were extremely early. There were no plates, no forks and no napkins in sight but there was fresh Ahi sashimi over cabbage, grilled eel and Kala fish, steak, crabs and oh yes, spiny lobsters. People of all different ages and backgrounds gathered around a round, white, plastic, table, sharing food caught on a dive the night before. Now thats a BBQ! The folks all lived within a mile of us and all had their hands in coffee somehow. The young ones spoke about the farms their grandmothers pick coffee on. The men talked about the Coffee Borer Beatle damaging the crops. Eric and I talked about all the coffee we plan on drinking.
I think we have made it over the hump and are now feeling much more adjusted to the working and living conditions. The days continue to be filled with new tasks and challenges. Today, we started in beautiful coffee land, moved on to planting pineapple plants and ended at the compost pile. There, we emptied a truck filled with buckets of fish parts into a pile of mulch to make new compost (see video below). For this job, Eric got to use the biggest tractor on the farm, I got to use a pair of rubber gloves.
After a nice a hot shower, it feels good to finally be clean again, but more so to reflect on all the hard work that goes into running an organic farm and the effort we have put into the farm so far. We'll see what tomorrow brings, the only thing predictable about our days is that they start with a cup of some of the best coffee in the world.
