Got to Get Back Into Posting!

It's been a whirlwind two months since my last post. I've been to the mainland for three weeks in Sept/Oct . We had a great time in the Spokane area. We went to the Gun Show, Home Show and Quilt Show. We ate a lot of great food at great prices and lived in the house where we lived while going to college in the 70's.

Back on Island we've been doing a lot of farm work pruning cleaning up and planting banana, cacao and cupuacu.

I'll post some photos as soon as time permits but I wanted to check in .

Starfruit in Season

Its a branch busting year for Carambola here on the farm.

Today I went out to pick and found this large branch had snapped under the weight of so much fruit. I think I'll have to brace the branches and thin as much as possible to keep other trees intact

Great Jakfruit Article with Recipes

Ropa Vieja de Jaca Recipe

The photo above is from the tree close to the fruit stand

Inga or Ice Cream Bean

The Inga tree is putting out a lot of pods with the sweet fluffy pulp between the seeds. I don't think Ben and Jerry's have to worry as the flavor and texture isn't that great. I was reading up on this tree and found the Inga Foundation dedicated to providing alternatives to slash and burn agriculture they use planting methods to create fertilizer through mulching the cuttings and leaves of the Inga Tree. I'm going to propagate more trees and use them to intercrop with cacao and cupuacu.

Long-stem Planting

A new technique from Australia that looks interesting. A good way to use those seedlings in the nursery that never got planted. Screen shot on right

Long-stem Planting

What Happened to July?

Its been a month since my last post . I'll have to try harder to stay current, It was a big month with a lot of construction on the highway. Lychee and Mangos the big summer fruits were in stock, but not a big year for either on Kauai. I'll just post some photos and call this "Images of July"

The tree close up is young Mammey Sapote fruit and flowers

Mulang trees in Bloom

Summer nights have the aroma of the Mulang (Michelia champaca) trees now. 

We've had a long hot dry spell here on Kauai. 

Sugar Baby Watermelons !

Dylan Strong continues the farming tradition of his family here on Kauai . 

We've been enjoying his heirloom tomatoes and this morning he brought in some wonderful looking Sugar Baby Watermelons! 

These taste really good! Summer has officially come to Kauai when you start to see watermelons.

Kilauea Community Garden Coming Soon

From the Garden Island Newspaper article by Andrea Brower

"Recently, a four acre parcel in Kilauea, located on Wai Koa Plantation, was leased to Malama Kaua‘i for the purpose of establishing a community garden. Malama Kaua‘i thanks residents Bill and Joan Porter, owners of Wai Koa, for their very generous contributions that are making this project possible.

Plots will be available in Fall of this year for families, individuals, businesses, and schools that have a desire to grow nutritious foods for themselves and others, learn about organic gardening, connect with the ‘aina, and foster community. For people that are inexperienced, and for those that simply want to enhance their skills, workshops and training programs will be available on site. Local experts on composting and soil remediation, vermiculture, site design and permaculture, pest control, and other gardening topics have committed to contributing to the ongoing success of the project by being available to share their mana‘o with both plot managers and the community at large.

For a detailed list of needed materials and resources visit www.MalamaKauai.org

If interested in obtaining a plot, e-mail Mel at acukauai@gmail.com

More extensive articles on the subject of gardening will be available in this column in the months to follow.

• Andrea Brower is project supervisor for Malama Kaua‘i and can be reached at  andrea@malamakauai.org or 635-1659."

St Anthony's Rick Rack Blossom

Walking to the stand the other day and I noticed this blossom. This epiphytic cactus has been going wild in a Mango for over ten years and this is the first time I've spotted a blossom. I'll try to catch a fresh bloom, they are supposed to have a good aroma too.

I got the start of this from Mike Machado over 25 years ago.

Hawaii Plant Index

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr
Here is a good resource for plants growing in Hawaii with photographs.

 Pictured is Broussonetia Luzonica , which is on my wish list.

Highway Construction Begins on Anaina Hou

Work has begun on the Anaina Hou project next door.

More info here....

We're Open

Medinilla Magnifica in full bloom
Had a great vacation and now were back looking forward to a good summer. 

Lychee, Mango and local Pineapple right around the corner....

Traditional Tree Initiative

A great resource book now available online here

Temporary Closure for Maintenance

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Due to  Kuhio Highway improvements along our entry we will be closed from 

May 1, to June 8.

 We hope to use this time to do necessary maintenance and also improve our garden orchard area in time for summer.

We are excited about the new Anaina Hou  project next door and think that after the dust settles our new neighbors will provide a complimentary  business  to ours.

The highway access will be safer as well.

Thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you and serving you in June

Mahalo,

Joe

Mangosteen!

Just got a whole lot of Mangosteen in. Pretty neat to be able to make
such a rare fruit available to the public.

The Kauai Channel Web Cams

I found this page that has various webcams across Kauai .
Check the traffic and weather before you set out for Lihue.
This is a screenshot of one of the many views, I haven't been able to figure out how to embed the streams.

Cool Tiki at Brians Tire, Kapaa

I saw this neat tiki in the office while they were fixing a flat.

Good tire service here too

Hawaii Fruit Net Videos

Ken Love from the Big Island of Hawaii has just posted some fun videos about Hawaiian fruit. Ken also has a great website full of tropical fruit resources

Check them out.

Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm

A wonderful exotic  fruit resource and destination in Queensland  Australia. Alison and Digby have created a wonderful farm and also generously share their wide knowledge of  exotic fruits. 

Mike Strong (left) of Kahili Farms with Digby and Alison Gotts owners of the Cape Trib Exotic Fruit Farm touring Mike's orchards  here on Kauai in July 2000.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Me and Oliver Shagnasty a few years ago.

Lupitas New Tee Shirt!

A new custom hand painted tee shirt design by Lupita Poppler

Random Photo

Here's one from the archive. A coconut head carving from the garden.

Bee Removal at Banana Joe's

We finally got the bees out of our roof last week. They had been living there for the past few years so it was quite a production to get them out safely. 

Lucky for us Oliver Shagnasty and his assistant Manda Tollefson did a great job in getting them out of the roof and into a new box headed to a different location.

I made a video of some of the process as well as taking some photos. We're so lucky to have health bee populations here on the farm. The hives we have at the back of the place insure we get good pollination and Oliver makes sure we get our own honey to sell at the stand and put on our toast.

His new product is a honey/macadamia nut butter/coconut spread and it is onolicious!

Garden Island Chocolate

A new product in the stand! Finally a quality 100% Kauai cacao chocolate product.

Check out Koa Kahili's site and see some great  photographs of cacao as well as some interesting chocolate facts

Clear Winter Weather in Hawaii

Working in the back room of the Fruit Stand I kept seeing cars pull over on the highway, people get out and take pictures. I thought what the heck I'll check it out. I guess its easy to take for granted the fact we live in such a beautiful spot.

It's been really cold in the mornings here lately down in the low 50's. It's dark when I get up and the past few mornings I can see my breath 

Happy New Year!

It's been a year since I started this blog. I've resolved to post more and fill in the gaps.