Lava to Lilikoi: Gardening in Hawai`i

MOVING DAY!!!

2009-01-05T04:30:00.000-10:00

In honor of my 50th post, I have switched to my own domain and website!

I hope you noticed my occasional sign-off as “Lava Lily.” The reason?? My brother has been helping me set up my new site with my own domain. We made it so people could remember it. “Lava to Lilikoi,” the full name of my blog, is a bit much for people who are not accustomed to Hawai`ian talk!

Check out www.lavalily.com for the 2009 unveiling!

This site on Blogger will remain up so you can read through the archived posts, although they will be on www.lavalily.com as well.

By the way, you will find all sorts of other fascinating topics in the new “Lava Lily” site. Check out my “personal” page to find out what I enjoy beyond gardening. Also, check out my professional page to see what I do in my “real” life.

PLEASE NOTE: If you normally receive this blog via FeedBlitz or RSS Reader, you will need to re-subscribe to the new address. Please continue to enjoy the saga of lava gardening!

A hui ho! (See you later!)

An Art Filled Thanksgiving

2009-01-04T05:00:00.001-10:00

Most mornings, I take time to read a few pages from motivational books. Just this morning the topic was making every day a day of Thanksgiving – not about only the big spectacular events that happen to us in life, but the fact that I had a bed to sleep in last night, that there are items to make my life better, that I have senses to enrich my life.

It is in that spirit that I bring you this post, even though Thanksgiving Day is more than five weeks past. Giving thanks for our wonderful blessings and relationships is not only a good way to greet each day, but to start out a new year.

For the past two years, I have had the enjoyment of sharing Thanksgiving dinner with friends in the home of an older gentleman who retired here in Ocean View. He and his late wife came here a number of years ago and started creating their special place on four bare acres. Now it is a place of beauty, and gives me great hope for doing the same on my acre of lava.

Water lilies seem to do well here. I see them in other gardens, too.

I had forgotten about Morea Iris until I saw his. I may try to plant this in my yard. I used to grow bunches of it when I lived in California. It is also called “Fortnight Lily” because it blooms every fortnight (that’s two weeks, in case you forgot).

There is a beautiful fountain in the courtyard entry to his home.

There was no water flowing because of the children who were also guests.

Nothing could phase the beautiful sleeping Siamese. He wasn’t exactly a good “watch dog” or even an “attack cat.”

There are quite a few bananas being propagated and protected.

Around every corner of the house is a path leading to another spot of beauty.

Here is another spot with one of my favorite plants.

It seems like creating a dry stream bed is the thing to do here, where we don’t get much rain to create a wet stream.

What they created outside is beautiful, but that isn’t what attracted me most. They were able to travel all over the world in their respective professions. The inside of their home reflects their love of art and the unique.

Take a glance down the hallway at the beautiful art work. Each room and corner inside the house is a treasure, just as it is outside.

And oh, the books! If you know how much I love books, you’ll know why I appreciate these, along with more artwork. I like to books that are not “arranged” but are obviously read and loved.

Each week, several friends gather in his home to perform classical music for their personal pleasure.

I can’t begin to explain all the many nooks and crannies both inside and outside of their lovely home. With a full tummy and the joy of good fellowship with friends, I left through this entrance to their estate.

There are too many things to see and do in life, and not enough time to do it all, but this lovely man and his wife seem to have done their best to get it all in.

Aloha, and mahalo for including me in your Day of Thanksgiving!

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Goobers!

2009-01-03T05:00:00.004-10:00

Although I am not from the South, my father was born and raised in Mississippi –truly a Southern gentleman. When it came time for me to go to college, I chose to go to Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. I married and had my first two children in that city.

Everyone knew the old Black man who walked the streets of Jackson calling out, “Goobers! Get your fresh goobers!” That’s the name people in the South give to peanuts - “goobers” - and that’s what I had grown up calling them, too.

But that isn’t my earliest memory of “goobers.” As a child, anytime we went to visit my father’s family in Mississippi, we had goobers. I remember my Grandpa Jones pulling them up out in his front yard and hanging them somewhere to dry. I learned to love peanuts in all ways – raw, boiled, salted in the shell, roasted.

One of the first things to go in my new patio was a section for fresh peanuts. Above you can see the sweet little plants as they were starting to grow.

Here is a picture of the first crop out of the ground.

And of course, who hasn’t heard about George Washington Carver and his many ways of using peanuts?

Such a delicious and versatile legume!

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Spathiphyllum - my "peace lily"

2009-01-02T05:00:00.006-10:00

I managed to find several pots of these wonderful plants at our local Home Depot. One house where I’ve lived in Hawai`i had an entire bank of them by the front door. I became enamored with seeing these growing so beautifully outside. I’d only known them as a hardy houseplant before moving to Hawai`i.

Since that time, I have read they can make an excellent ground cover in tropical landscapes. I think my yard qualifies!

My particular variety is the Spathiphyllum hybrid cultivar Double Take. I’m anxious to see how quickly it will fill in around the bottom of my ti plants.

I love the fact that the plant is called “peace lily,” also. In this time of economic stress and war, we need “peace” wherever we can find it!

A hui hou! (I’ll see you later)

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Hau`oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T06:00:00.004-10:00

Didn’t we just celebrate a new 2008?

Since I have committed myself to writing a short blog each of the next thirty days on the topic of “change,” this is a good way to begin. I will spend those days looking back at all the changes that have taken place since this time last year, not only in my garden, but in my life and in the world.

I tend to set very energetic goals, but I doubt if I’m alone in that. I did reach some of my goals this past year, and I'm pleased with that. The ones I didn't reach may need to be revised in order to make them more attainable. Yet how many of us have reached every single goal we set at the beginning of last year?

It is time now to look toward 2009 and make plans. I’d love to hear what my readers have in mind. We will all get ideas.

Hau`oli Makahiki Hou!
Happy New Year!

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Change - A Theme for January

2008-12-28T08:05:00.014-10:00

The pictures in this post were selected to represent some of my posts over the past year. In writing this blog, I have been encouraged to put more effort into my gardening. After all, I had to do something worth writing about. So I thank all of my readers for inspiring me to be creative.

Now, I have taken on a challenge with a group called “NaBloPoMo,” or National Blog Posting Month. The idea was taken from “NaNoWriMo,” National Novel Writing Month, which is held every November. If you are a novel writer or a would-be novel writer, and would like more information, check out their website.

And if you are a blog writer, you might investigate this other bunch of writers who come up with a different theme every month. The only requirement is that you post every day for thirty days. I may be certifiably crazy, but I’m going to take part in January. I suggested to the woman who initiated the group that since our President-Elect Obama is about “change,” we might want to consider that as our theme.

So I’m going to post a little something every day for thirty days. I promise they won’t be long, but I’m aiming for at least 100 words each day. I will be posting a longer post each weekend, just as I have been since May.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it, especially since Spring Semester begins on January 12, 2009. I have a hunch I may be scrambling for ideas mid-month, so if you have ideas that might fit into the theme of “change,” I beg you to send them to me!

We have not reached the eve of New Years Day, however. This is a good time for us each to look back at what we have accomplished in 2008.

To begin with, this is my 44th post. Interesting that it coincides with the arrival of our 44th President of the United States. It is highly unlikely that I could have planned it that way!

Since my first post on May 29, 2008 there have been many changes in my lava yard. If you don’t have anything else to do over the holidays, you might go back and starting with that first post, read and look at the pictures.

As I went back over my past posts myself, I notice that many of the plants I talked about in the earlier days are no longer part of my yard. They have been killed off by the sulfur dioxide from our Kilauea Volcano. Even this week, as I was working outside, I could smell the sulfur in the air, strong enough to drive me back inside to protect my lungs.

Some of the plants have grown to be twice their size. That wouldn’t be such a remarkable feat in areas where there is “real” soil, but here, I applaud every half-inch of growth.

It’s been a constant process of dumping in compost-soil mix. Rain and regular watering wash the soil down into the crevices of lava rock, leaving roots bare.

Probably the main thing is that I have been able to see a fairly barren piece of lava start to take shape. I can see little areas where I want to focus over the next year. It takes living with a place to get a feel for its spirit – and there is definitely a spirit presence in this acre. That spirit is guiding me through my planning stages.

Until next year (2009) this is Lucy, the Lava Lily, wishing each of you the most joyous and prosperous New Year!

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2008-12-25T03:00:00.000-10:00

MAY YOUR DAYS BE MERRY
AND BRIGHT!

Mele Kalikimaka!
from
Lucy - the Lava Lily

Poinsettias in Paradise

2008-12-20T18:00:00.005-10:00

One of my favorite times of year here in Hawai`i, is what we call “winter.” Yes, there is a difference between summer and winter here. Even in Florida, Southern California, and Arizona (all states where I have lived in the past), there is a distinct change between the temperatures in July and those in January.

Here, there is no noticeable change in temperature from month to month all year. From late November until mid-March, however, there is a change in what is blooming along the roadsides and in our gardens.

For example, the road I drive to the college where I teach seems like one huge embankment of poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima). “Pulcherrima” means “very beautiful,” and it is. There is no way to compare these with the little pots of poinsettias you can purchase in grocery stores. Against our rich forest green, the brilliant reds are almost florescent. Then throughout March, I look for those little drops of red in the midst of jungle growth that keep hanging on. When they are all gone, I know that it is winter is over!

My first experience with poinsettias took place back in the early 70s when I was a student in the ornamental horticulture department of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). We made a field trip to visit the Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, CA where over 70% of the poinsettias in the United States and over 50% worldwide actually begin. It seemed like there were acres of greenhouses filled with poinsettia cuttings in all varieties and stages of growth. Please follow that link to view the history of that ranch as well as the history of poinsettias in general.

Poinsettias flow over onto the ground and almost seem to take over everything else.

I love the way they intermingle with the yellow hibiscus. Such a dazzling display of color!

This is a sight few of you will see at Christmas outside of Hawai`i.

Poinsettias are originally from Mexico and named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Ambassador to Mexico in the 1920s. The rest, as they say, “is history!" The following paragraph is taken from this article. I suggest you read the whole thing (it's short).

During his stay in Mexico he wandered the countryside looking for new plant species. In 1828 he found a beautiful shrub with large red flowers growing next to a road. He took cuttings from the plant and brought them back to his greenhouse in South Carolina.

I remember when I lived in Southern California how people would plant the small potted plants they bought at Christmas time. Many of the homes there had nice stands of poinsettias, but none reached the size or proportion of the ones here.

If you are interested in what to do with your Christmas poinsettia plant, go here to read up on it. Another good site on how to choose and care for your poinsettia, and what to do with it at the end, go here.

Many of the poinsettias have found their way into the wild tangles of growth.

Others are a featured part of a home’s entryway.

You can see why I’m obsessed with taking just the right pictures to illustrate this stunning plant.

I really do empathize with those of you who are suffering under ice storms and record-breaking snowstorms. I have lived in Alaska, Illinois, and Rhode Island and gone through similar experiences. But I couldn’t go back to it, now that I’ve seen Paradise!

I couldn't end this post about poinsettias without showing you a picture of the Summer Poinsettia (Amaranthus tricolor Perfecta) I planted in my patio. It has grown considerably since I showed it to you in October as a small cutting. Here it is from the side, with all the keiki (babies) coming up at the bottom.

Here is a beautiful shot of it from the top.

Whether you are celebrating Hanukah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Kwanzaa, or any other festival at this time of year, poinsettias are a celebration in themselves!

This is Lava Lily wishing each of you a most joyful and safe holiday season!

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Holiday for Gardeners

2008-12-14T09:27:00.006-10:00

My brother gave me a terrific Christmas gift – an ACE gift card! Of course, now I have to decide how to spend it! Do I need new cedar chips for a walkway? Do I want new tools, more cinder, mulch, or soil? Maybe lumber for more shelves in my shed?

Gift cards are great for the giver, but when you have a problem with making decisions like I do, the burden of shopping now shifts to the receiver. Gift cards might not always a good idea in this economy, since so many stores are going out of business, but ACE should be around forever.

Thanks, Bro! I think I’m able to handle the challenge! Besides, this gives me a segue into the topic for this post.

Most of you have probably completed your holiday shopping. On the off chance that you are still wondering what to get for that gardener on your list (or even for yourself), here are a few suggestions.

Gift cards of any kind are generally a good idea. We don’t know what the other person really needs or wants, so it gives them the opportunity to make their own choices. Save yourself the gas and the mailing costs. For your gardener, you might look at ACE, or check with Home Depot or Lowe’s, or any store where the gardener shops regularly.

Start with an Amazon Gift Card. Just click on this and shop! I was amazed at the variety of garden and patio products you can purchase through Amazon, and mostly at a discount.

And of course Amazon has books for the gardener. Check out the list of just a few of my favorites on the right-hand side of this page under "Useful Books." There are garden books on everything you could ever imagine, from beginner to expert.

You might browse through one of the local garden shops or hardware stores. Pick up a sturdy basket or 4-wheeled cart like the one above, then begin to pile in various small garden tools, seed packets, books, and more. Tie a big red bow on the top for a flourish. A friend gave me one of these carts for my birthday and I absolutely love it!

If you live near a college or university that offers horticulture courses, you might even pay for a special friend to take a class. That happened for me in the early 70s at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I took a course in landscaping designed for the home owner who was an amateur. It was such an exciting thing that I ended up taking horticulture courses for the next three years!

One of my favorite gifts from friends who live locally is a cutting (or a dozen cuttings) that I can put out in my own yard. It’s a constant reminder of that person every time I water or weed. Recently I had one of those friends stop by and he was amazed at how certain plants had grown that he and his wife had given me in exchange for eggs.

I’m not at a point of being able to give cuttings out of my yard yet, but some day I hope to do that. I can, however, pick up potted plants at the nursery to take. These plants can look nice in the home for a while, later to be planted outside in a more permanent home. Our local garden club meets the Saturday after Christmas. We’re bringing pupus and a plant for the gift exchange.

Finally, there is nothing like a personal gift of time. Coerce your favorite gardener into sitting down for a chat with you over a cup of tea and your homemade cookies. Walk around the place with your gardener and let her/him show you around. As bleak as we may think our garden is, we are always still proud to show our accomplishments.

You’ll think of other gifts, and who knows? You might even get the gardening bug yourself, if you haven’t already been bitten.

This is Lava Lily, with a wish for all of my readers to have a super bloomin’ holiday!

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Remembering!

2008-12-07T05:00:00.005-10:00

It was December 7, 1941 when my parents showed me the St. Louis paper that told the story of the Pearl Harbor attack.

My memories are probably much different from that of other people who live here in Hawaii, but they are still very strong. I was a 7-year-old in Southern Illinois. My father tried to get into the military as a chaplain, but at 32 years of age, he was considered too old.

His younger brother served, however, first as an enlisted man. He had many stories to tell about frozen feet from marching through the snow, of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, hiding out in barns, but I won’t go into all of those here. He went back to college and grad school, later became a chaplain in the Army. This later took him to Korea and Viet Nam twice. He stayed in the Army until he retired.

Another of my uncles went into the Navy right out of college as an officer. He served as an officer on a ship that went to China.

The memories of how we lived through those next years will never go away – not for me, and certainly not for the people who were living in Hawai'i at the time. Although none of us wanted the tragedy of war, we all pitched in and did our part.

In the spring following the Pearl Harbor attack, rationing was put into place, and lasted until 1945. This site shows pictures of the ration books, and describes other measures that our country took in order to do their part for the war effort.

Each car had a stamp on the window that indicated how much gas that person could buy. There were A stamps that allowed the owner to purchase 3 to 4 gallons per week. If someone’s car was essential to the war effort, they got a B stamp and 8 gallons per week. I can still remember the C stamp on our car which meant unlimited gasoline for physicians, ministers, mail carriers, and railroad workers. My father was a pastor, so he was allowed more gasoline. Then there was the T stamp for trucks, and the X stamp for congress members and other VIPs.

Foods like sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods were all given a specific stamp value. When the government turned to its citizens to encourage them to plant "Victory Gardens," nearly 20 million Americans answered the call.

Going through boxes in a recent move, I found some old ration stamps for sugar I had kept. I remember that with a child's logic, I named my new dog “Sugar” because he would get under the house and was “hard to get.” Children, as well as adults, were encouraged to buy stamps for war bonds.

I also found an old book on victory sewing that showed how to make dresses for little girls out of men’s old shirts. I wore many skirts and jackets made out of my father’s worn out suits, even as late as my high school years.

Another fond memory was of learning how to knit by making little 4” X 4” squares that would be put together into blankets. These blankets would be sent to England through a campaign called “Bundles for Britain.” A good friend from the UK was among the children evacuated from London. I often wonder if he got one of my blankets!

Actually, this started before the Pearl Harbor raid in 1940 by a young New York society matron, Mrs. Walls Latham, as a charity for the citizens of England. She began “by organizing her friends to knit garments for British sailors on the frigid North Sea.” They also “collected items such as medicine, clothing and blankets from American citizens and shipped them to Britain.”

A poster campaign ("Plant more in '44!") encouraged the planting of Victory Gardens. These are copies of two old posters from that era, but they carry just as valid a message today. These gardens were “not a drudgery, but a pastime, and a national duty.”

Probably one of the most memorable events from that era are the many Victory Gardens that were started, which meant more supplies could be sent to our troops. Read more about the history of Victory Gardens here .

In my raised beds, I am working on my own Victory Garden. As I build more beds, I’ll be able to plant more. Right now, I have tomatoes, string beans, mustard greens, collard greens, red chard, and peanuts, plus I have eggs from my chickens and my freezer has a freshly butchered and frozen pig.

Not only do I encourage you to plant even just a few seeds in a revival of the Victory Garden, but I hope you encourage our president-elect Obama and his family to grow a Victory Garden on the White House lawn. He would not be the first president to do so. Please go to Eat The View and sign a petition asking him to start planting.

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How Do You Dance Your Life?

2008-11-30T05:36:00.000-10:00

Some of you may know that not only am I a gardener and a college psychology instructor, but I am a retired United Methodist minister. When I served a church in Tucson AZ, many of the funerals I conducted were victims of AIDS.

Because of my close connection with this population in my church, I have a special place in my heart for those who suffer from this disease. It is in honor of those who have the disease, as well as in memory of those I have buried, that I write this blog.

There is a special dance from the early church community called the TRIPUDIUM. I learned about it nearly twenty-five years ago when I took a workshop from Doug Adams, who was a professor of religion and the arts at the Pacific School of Religion.

I had no idea that Doug had left this earth until I looked him up on Google. I’d like to give you two other websites that will give you a sense of who he was. According to these articles, the memorial celebrations outdid Doug in creativity.

The following information on liturgical dance is something I learned from Doug that will stay with me always.

TRIPUDIUM actually means "three step" or "jubilate" in Latin. Later, dance in church was suppressed as being too sinful, and thus it came to mean "the Jubilation."

It was a style of processing to church, symbolizing the progress of not only the individual, but of the whole church and community.

It is a process of three steps forward and one back - three forward and one back. Often someone could call out three signs of HOPE on the forward three steps, then call out one sign of SETBACK on the backward step.

In other words, the SETBACK becomes part of the dance. It isn't outside the rhythm.

HOPE - HOPE - HOPE - SETBACK
HOPE - HOPE - HOPE - SETBACK...

We don't want to include the back step in the dance. But it's all part of the dance! It gives us a more optimistic spirit, helps us see setbacks in the context of life, of ongoing progress.

Another interesting fact is that this dance was not done in single file, but in processions with many abreast with arms linked, row after row. It is done in community - not alone. It is a deliberate moving forward together, as well as in the times of setback.

The people would move through the streets and into the church and around in it during the songs of the service and back out through the streets as a recessional. The dance was a communal act of worship and celebration.

The Greeks believed in afterlife, so they danced a ring dance to make safe passage for the deceased. The Greeks appreciated dance as an aesthetic experience. Everything was a dance for them - victory processions, weapon dances, displays of power, ball games, wedding processions, and funeral processions!

The early Christians drew on this custom. They circled the grave with lively funeral dances to celebrate the person’s birth into everlasting life. Rose petals were dropped on the open grave, as they sang, “Ring Around the Rosie…Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.”

When life and mortality seem difficult, I invite you to put on some music and dance the Tripudium, shouting out three signs of hope for every setback.

This particular version of Lee Ann Womack's song "I Hope Your Dance" seems appropriate today.

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2008-11-26T08:27:00.004-10:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Be sure to compost
what you can't make into soup!

Aloha!

Madam Pele's Art Work

2008-11-23T12:27:00.015-10:00

This blog began as a way for me to document my life on an acre of lava. In a way, I was partly joking about it. What in the world could I grow on an acre of nothing but lava rocks? My friends know that I have lived on good California, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Alaska, Arizona, Illinois soils, where I could grow almost anything , given the local climate.

Neither my knowledge nor experience were much good here, but I love living in Hawai`i too much to leave, so I had to learn how to make the best of it.

Several times in the past, in addition to the resistant lava, I have mentioned “vog.” In this post, I will describe the two types of lava we have here and also talk about the vog that destroys plants and lungs. There will be quite a few links in this article, so please go check them out. They say much more than I can.

The picture above is one of my early experiences with lava. At the time, I had a 2004 Miata, hot red as you can see. Since then, I have gotten rid of it and now use a older Mazda Tribute that can haul a little more lumber than the Miata!

One day I was backing up to unload some bags of soil from our local Ace Hardware. I misjudged where the path turned and ended up sitting on top of this lava heap. A good friend and neighbor came with his SUV and a sturdy tow rope to pull me off. That was the day I began to think about getting rid of the Miata!

That picture also shows one of the two types of lava, what the Hawai`ians call a’a. You pronounce it like ah-ah, with a quick pause at the hyphen. It is primarily rocks of various sizes. It will wear out the fingers of garden gloves very quickly. My fingers have toughened up a little bit, but it can still cut.

Last week I talked about the progress of my patio. Here’s another shot of that spot before we started work on it, and it gives another good idea of the a’a lava.

This picture of one of my coffee trees shows how I need to plant anything. I dig a hole, pour in lots of soil, either bagged from Ace or made at home with pig dirt and manure my lovely chickens provide for me. Then I pile rocks around it to help keep the soil contained. It still filters down through the rocks underneath.

Here is a view up the driveway from my house. You can see the spread of lava in what I jokingly call “my front yard.” I’ve put triangle palms along each side of the drive, and there are a few other scattered plants. I have four more ready to plant.

Since a’a is the only kind of volcanic rock I have in my yard, I am including pictures I took on a hike over the volcano at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. These shots will show you the other type of lava, pahoehoe, roughly pronounced as pah-hoy-hoy. It is the Hawai`ian term for basaltic lava and it looks like big swirls of melted black chocolate. Yum!

Here you can see the path we took with the volcano in the distance. People were always on the path to get in to watch the live volcano flow. There are warning signs all over about what kind of shoes to wear (and not wear), the sort of protective clothing, and the like.

A flashlight is always recommended in case you are hiking at night, or if you get lost and end up there at night unintentionally. There are barricades along the sides of the path, but they end after a certain distance and you need to rely on your eyes to know where to go. If you plan to go, please read this link.

Here’s another view along our hike. You can see how easily you could lose your way, once the barricades end.

At last, we see a live lava flow! This is where you need to use caution. We seem to lose people every year who get too close to take pictures, and the “bench” breaks off beneath them. Not exactly the way I’d like to go to HELL, even though I may be going there someday! The molten lava reaches a temperature somewhere around 700 to 1,200 degrees C (1,300 to 2,200 degrees F). That’s HOT!

Here is another shot. I stayed back far enough not to fall in, of course, but the heat was still almost unbearable. I was about five feet away from this. Most of the flow was beneath the surface.

This shot was taken recently as I was driving on Highway 11 toward the park not far from my house. You can see how much the vog affects the visibility.

So what is VOG? Here are several websites with good descriptions and excellent pictures.

http://www.konaweb.com/vog/index.shtml - good one for visitors

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs169-97/ - probably the best one

http://lavainfo.us/ gives us updated information on the status of vog. There is also a brochure in pdf format that excellent, giving the color codes for the vog level. I keep one handy on my desk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vog - good description and explanation of vog

http://hawaii.gov/gov/vog - this is ok – sent out by HI gov't

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24471365/ - about the newest outbreak at Halemaumau

http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nat_haz/volcanoes/vog.php - good one on coping with the vog, which we all need to observe. There was actually an evacuation warning given to Ocean View one day, but I was already on my way up to Kealakekua to teach for the day, so I didn't have to do their evacuation.

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/hazards/FAQ_SO2-Vog-Ash/ - questions and answers about vog

I apologize for giving so many websites, but these can give you much more accurate information than I can. Also, if you plan to visit this area of Hawai`i, you will need to know.

As you approach the park, even before you are actually inside the park itself, you will see “steam vents” popping up all over the place. Here is a shot I took just inside the park. You can see them off in the distance.

I will end this post with a couple more websites that will be of value to anyone wanting to know more. This first site shows a good picture of a’a and pahoehoe side by side.

Of course, what would we do without Wikipedia? Here is a fairly complete description with great pictures of lava, both solid and molten.

Madam Pele is the Hawaiian Goddess of the Volcano, and while I have a hard time working in her garden, She has also given me an exercise in patience, love, and reward.

Until next Sunday, Lava Lily says “Happy hiking and gardening!”

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Patio Progress

2008-11-15T18:00:00.001-10:00

I was afraid this might not get posted, because someone ran into a pole nearby and put my internet completely out of service for a bit. That's one of the hazards of this rural life. But I’m back online and ready to give you the latest update on my lava yard.

How in the world did I manage to get this far into my year of blogging without telling you about my patio? Actually, it’s in the process of becoming a patio. It has a long way to go, but it’s one area where I can walk several steps without tripping over lava rocks, so it almost qualifies as a patio.

Here you can see the area I wanted to re-create into a place where I could sit and have a cup of tea while I enjoyed the breeze. It is just a few steps away from my back stoop. I had strung a rope between two trees to serve as a clothesline. But I stumbled over lava rocks and through weeds to get to the line, so it really didn’t get used much.

Here is another shot of the area I had in mind for a patio. You can see how rocky it was. I have since continued that brick path around to the back steps.

Back in March of this year, around the time of Spring Break for the college, my two daughters (Debbie, on my right in the picture above and Inga, on my left) along with Debbie’s husband, Harry, came to visit. Harry made my chicken coop while the girls busied themselves with my future patio area.

They thought if they moved a few surface rocks, they would find soil. Instead, they found more rocks! I could have told them, but it probably helped for them to make that discovery themselves. Inga had brought a bag full of garden gloves from the Dollar Store in Boise. They went through many gloves before they were finished.

They call this lovely mobile “Working At Mom’s.” Each glove is worn through the tips of the fingers. Inga put a small lava rock into each glove to help it hang. It gently blows above my small raised beds and acts as a scarecrow.

Inga has a true sense of garden style, so she was the guide on this project. They both began to pile up rocks to make mini-walls, gathered up leaf litter and mixed it with my pig dirt, then they hauled buckets of it all to create little pockets for gardening. Here are a few shots of their progress. I had already planted a few pink plumeria around the edge of where I wanted the patio to be, so they worked around those.

Here you can see the half-barrel and white Kadota fig they bought for me.

This Agapanthus has since found a new home in another of the little pockets of soil near the hydrangea they lugged home from Lowe’s.

There are many fallen branches of the old ohia trees on my acre. The girls found one branch they really wanted to use as a bench, but it was too heavy, even when they tried to lift it together. So they called on Harry to help. He is a strong guy, so he just lifted one end, then taking it end on end down the slope, he got it settled into place. It’s a wonderful spot to sit.

Just behind the bench is another of my huge old ohia trees. Here, is a picture of a Jackson Chameleon crawling along the trunk. Many people catch them to have as pets, but I prefer to let this guy make his home around my patio.

I have already gotten a couple of tasty figs from this tree. Here is a closer look.

At last, a picture of the entire area in its more recent stages of creation. When this shot was taken, nothing has been planted other than a couple things in pots. I had added a folding table from WalMart and a rickety wicker chair that still works just fine and adds charm.

Kaimana loves to sit on the table, and he also loves to lounge on the log bench. You can see behind him where I’ve put a nice gardenia plant in a large pot.

I’ve had requests to show several different views or angles. So the next few pictures show the patio as of this week.

I just planted some cosmos and columbine this morning, so that will show up in a later post, I’m sure. Here is a beautiful little purple ivy geranium growing from a cutting.

And as the sun sets, “Working At Mom’s” casts a nice silhouette.

Until next week, Lava Lily says "reduce, reuse, and recycle."

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The Velvet Touch

2008-11-08T18:00:00.025-10:00

The revival of the Ocean View Garden Club has given me something fun to look forward to on the fourth Saturday of every month. Every second meeting is held at someone’s home. In August, we visited the home and delightful garden space of Carole and Heather Baker.

Our October tour took us to a bit of paradise I get to visit every month for a massage. Velvet Replogle, a Licensed Massage Therapist, advertises herself as “Velvet Touch Massage.” After you see her garden, you’ll know that her “touch” affects more than just a human body.

The opening photo for this blog gives you an idea of the serenity you feel as you enter their beautiful space. Velvet and her husband, John, have done miracles with the rocky landscape.

They have been living on the property for five years. Even though they did plant some of the trees before that, you can see that it has become a spot of beauty in just a few years. It gives me incredible hope that my acre of lava rock will eventually be a place of beauty.

In this post, I will make only a few comments, because you will get more of a sense of what Velvet and John have done to their acre if I simply show you the pictures. I do want to remind you that they have been in several past posts. One was about the vermiculture and their compost setup was included in my post on that topic.

After seeing what they did by not having a bulldozer come in and level off the property, I’m sorry that my own acre had been ‘dozed so that a house could be built on it. The house had already been built when I bought my property, however.

In the next few photos, you can see how John has created paths and steps that wander around the gullies and trees. I get the feeling that I’ve been wandering for miles as I walk up and down, around corners, over hill and vale. It reminds me of how the gardens in Japan would give me the sense of them being acres and acres, when it was only a few yards.

Here are a few shots of their home. The steps and path seem to be a natural part of the terrain.

A close up of their window.

As their paths wander around, there are glimpses of color and little delights tucked here and there.

And an occasional angel, of course!

John works for the Nature Conservancy and can tell you all about the native Hawai`ian plants. Here is one near their house. (My face is red! I was just informed that it is a mysore black raspberry, and not a native. I was too busy taking pictures to really listen to him. But he did show us a native somewhere near this - honest!)

Of course, the rose is not a native, but this one had to give us a sneak peak of her profile.

Velvet has a strong need to provide color and beauty in her surroundings, while I seem to be focused more on planting seeds and cuttings that can produce food. She has inspired me to put a bit more effort into nurturing myself with flowers. Here are a few more shots of her flowers.

Here is a plant that you probably won’t find in too many mainland gardens. This is a small one, but the blooms can get quite large. They also come in several different colors, but the red is probably the most common. There is a funny story about my brother and the anthurium plant. I’ll let him tell you the story if you want to ask him.

These begonias don’t even look real, but they are!

The daylily is one of my favorites. I may try to find as many different colors as I can for my own garden.

Nasturtiums are beautiful, and add flavor and color to a salad. In parts of California it is considered a weed almost. But I love them, and plan to put out a bunch of seeds.

Here are a few more scattered bits of color.

Serenity abides everywhere in this garden, even with the work gloves resting on a nearby rock.

Another beauty that is almost a weed in parts of California is one of my favorites. I brought home cuttings of these geraniums.

There are several varieties of geranium here. I brought home cuttings from them all.

Here is where I go each month for her “Velvet Touch.” What a peaceful place to receive the “Restoration, Relaxation, Therapeutic massage” that she promises (and delivers).

This orange tree was planted before they moved in five years ago and bearing nicely. It shows me that even citrus will grow at our elevation. Their elevation is a couple thousand feet higher than mine (2300 feet).

Velvet planted a bush cherry that is already producing nice leaves, while mine is still just a stick. I hope to see leaves sprouting out of mine before long. Here is her apple tree - not one I've tried yet, but probably will.

Then on down to the Replogle's vegetable garden. I’m so envious! Take your pick for dinner.

Every garden needs peppers!

And more veggies!

Like most of us here in Ocean View, Velvet and John make their own soil through composting. Here she has laid out her bed for a future corn patch, as soon as it starts to get warmer again.

Of course, she has seedlings going for even more veggies.

Even though this chair looks inviting, I wonder when she has time to relax. She said that when she doesn’t have someone on her massage table, she’s out working in the garden.

Perhaps this shows where she gains much of her inner strength and ability to create such a beautiful spot on this earth.

Mahalo, Velvet and John, for allowing us to experience your piece of Paradise.

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What is Patriotism?

2008-11-02T19:31:00.006-10:00

Patriotism is not the military.

Patriotism is not wearing a flag pin on your lapel.

Patriotism is not putting your hand over your heart
for the National Anthem.

Patriotism is not wearing red, white and blue on July 4th.

Patriotism IS loving the land and caring for it.

Look closely at the scene above to see a rainbow
rising out of the surf.

A sign of HOPE!

Patriotism IS caring enough about your country to go vote!

See you at the polls Tuesday!

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Saintly Gardening

2008-11-01T21:00:00.004-10:00

Today is All Saints’ Day, or the Feast of All Saints, and there is little that is more spiritually fulfilling than working in your garden. Many of the saints are thought of in connection with gardening.

The saint whose statue appears most often in gardens is St. Francis. He is the patron saint of animals and the environment, or ecology. Every creature was sacred to Francis, and he made no separation between the natural world and his faith. Please take time to read “The Canticle of the Creatures.”

Even though he hated women, my personal favorite is St. Fiacre, known as “the gardeners’ saint.” He is considered to be the patron saint of medicinal plants and gardening.

Fiacre was an Irish priest who was born in 600 AD and died in August 670. After his ordination, he retired to a hermitage in County Kilkenny in Ireland. But people wouldn’t leave him alone, so he sailed to France to get away from the world. There, he was given a place in the middle of the forest in Brogillum or Breuil in the province of Brie.

There, Fiacre built a hospice where strangers could rest, even though he lived in a small cell off by himself. He spent his time in prayer and fasting, and laboring in his garden. He is known for having miraculously cured all sorts of illnesses with his herbs.

In particular, he is said to have cured hemorrhoids and venereal disease. There are several stories about him that would make this appropriate, but I won’t go into that here.

While many of us have seen the statues of St. Francis in gardens, it really should be St. Fiacre. He is usually depicted as standing with his healing plants in one arm and a shovel in his free hand.

There are many other saints I could call on to help me with my yard work here. The Spanish San Ysidro, El Labrador is known in the Spanish speaking countries as the patron saint of all farmers and ranchers and workers. I like him because he got the angels to come plow his fields for him. If you know of any angels that aren’t busy, send them to my place, please.

Perhaps I should make St. Dorothy my saint. She also is considered the saint of gardeners and florists because she could produce apples and roses in an area where they don’t grow. It would take her miracle to produce apples and roses in my lava yard.

Or maybe St. Barbara needs to be my personal patron saint because she is the saint for stonemasons and miners – for anything that is difficult to work with (like my lava rocks). I could use all the help she can give me.

I have heard of several who are considered the patron saint of beekeeping, flowers and vegetables. One is St Bernardo-Abad, but I haven’t been able to find much about him.

Other saints somehow connected to bees and beekeeping (necessary for pollination in anyone’s garden) are listed here.

I’d love to include St. Patrick to drive away the snakes, but we have no snakes here in Hawai`I (one reason I love living in Hawai`i). Maybe St. Patrick has already been here! Of course, it wasn’t really live snakes that he drove out of Ireland, but the Druids with snakes tattooed up their arms.

I am not a Roman Catholic, but years ago I learned about St. Anthony. Whenever I have lost something, I call on St. Anthony to help me find it, and within minutes, the lost is found. I try to remember to thank him for his help. There are saints and angels all around us waiting for us to ask their help.

Whichever saint you decide to call on for your garden, I suggest that at least one corner be set aside as a place of meditation, peace, and contemplation on what your saint can do for you.

This book is an updated volume of the spiritual classic, The Magic of Findhorn by Paul Hawken, written in 1975. I have many friends who have spent time in this spiritual community of Findhorn in Scotland, where you discover a way to connect with the plant devas and nature spirits.

I have several books on Findhorn and similar places in this world. I highly recommend one autobiography in particular - To Hear the Angels Sing by Dorothy Maclean. The back cover states: “The success and subsequent fame of the Findhorn gardens arose in part from Dorothy’s telepathic contact with these [angelic] kingdoms.”

Another “must read” is Behaving As If the God in All Life Mattered by Machaelle Small Wright, listed in my “Useful Books” banner on the right.

Call me superstitious, or whatever you want to call me, but I do believe the spirits of saints and all of nature are anxious to prove their ability in helping. They are everywhere around us, waiting to be acknowledged.

NOTE: As I was writing this post, I had an overpowering sense of a surrounding spiritual presence – sort of a personal acknowledgement that we are not alone.

Look for your devas! They hide, but they are all around you.

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Maple Chiffon Cake

2008-10-25T18:00:00.002-10:00

In early October, there is a celebration in honor of St. Francis. It is the Blessing of the Animals. This statue of Francis stands in front of St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church, a church I served as pastor in Tucson.

Francis wrote an ode to God’s living things, known now as Canticle of the Creatures. “All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures.”

Waiting for his “blessing” is my wonderful cat, Kaimana. He loves being outside, but he still comes to wait on the front deck for his daily loving from me. I think he's more attracted by the idea of getting fed. He makes a great Halloween cat, don’t you think?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about memories of having maple chiffon cake on my birthday. Is it any wonder that maple chiffon cake has been on my mind ever since then? It is definitely a dessert for the autumn season, so I decided to make one.

I no longer have my mother’s recipe, so I went to Google. The recipes were almost all alike, and remembering how hers tasted, I came up with a recipe that might work. Not only that, but I have way too many eggs now that the girls are producing regularly. I usually give most of them away, but this recipe calls for seven eggs! Hooray!

Here are the seven I used for this cake – two blue, two pink, and three brown. All the girls contributed to this project.

Maple Chiffon Cake Recipe

Stir together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Make a well and add (in order):
½ cup salad oil
7 egg yolks
¾ cup cold water
2 teaspoons maple flavoring
Stir until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, beat 7 egg whites with ½ teaspoon cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.

Gradually pour egg yolk mixture over egg whites and fold carefully until just mixed. Pour into a 10-inch angel food baking pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 F.

This picture was taken through the glass door of my oven 10 minutes after I put it in the oven. I didn’t have a 10” angel pan, so I tried to get by with a 9 ½” bundt pan.

I don’t think Mother put any sort of icing or glaze on top, but here is one you can use if you want to get fancy.

Glaze:
Heat 1/3 cup butter over medium heat until brown.
Cool slightly.
Blend in 2 cup powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon maple flavoring
Stir in hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time (uses about 2-4 tablespoons)
Spread over cake and drizzle some down the sides.

The non-stick pan wasn’t really non-stick, so you can see where part of the top came off when I took it out of the pan. Maybe I’ll put a glaze over it after all to hide the holes. Other than that, it didn’t turn out too badly. It smells the way it should.

To complete the picture I gave you about a birthday picnic in the woods of Southern Illinois, I really should have made some ham salad sandwiches. Since my brother gave me a food grinder for my birthday last year (or was it for Christmas? Oh dear!!), I can grind up some left-over ham, add sweet pickle relish, mayonnaise, and a dash of mustard for “kick”. Mix it all up and slather onto nice homemade whole wheat bread with lettuce and tomato. There you have the makings of an autumn picnic.

The only thing I’m missing to round out my picture of a true mid-west autumn would be a few pots of chrysanthemums. I’ll go look for those this week, too. Since I don’t have mums handy, here is a little table arrangement I’ve put together for my own amusement.

Now I need to go out and rake up some fallen ohia leaves, shuffle through them and throw down an old tablecloth to have my picnic. Care to join me?

Until next time, Lava Lily says “Keep making compost!”

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The Color Yellow

2008-10-18T18:00:00.003-10:00

I have never liked the color yellow very much. I avoid wearing it, have never painted a kitchen a bright yellow, and I’ve never deliberately planted yellow flowers. There is a fascinating article online about the meaning of yellow. I suppose I’ve always looked at the negative meanings rather than the positive ones.

Lately, a lot of yellow seems to have started coming into my life. I thought about this week’s blog as I was driving down the road, and the yellow stripes in the middle of the road caught my eye. Of course, it’s eye-catching, which is why some road signs and markers are in bright yellow.

I started looking at other bits of yellow in my life. In fact, I have to admit that one of the reasons I was attracted to the home I have is the mass of yellow poppies in bloom around the acre.

The first cuttings I put in were yellow plumeria. Some were brighter yellow than others. These are for the traditional plumeria leis used in hula dancing.

Other of my plumeria had a delicate hint of yellow in the center.

The state flower of Hawai’i is the yellow hibiscus or maʻo hau hele.

Such a beautiful flower!

A friend has this pale yellow orchid growing in his back yard. It is one of the few fragrant orchid plants.

Carole and Heather Baker even have a frolicking yellow cat in their garden.

My daughter, Inga, has included yellow plants in her small garden. She writes that Boise has already had their first snow and she is busy getting her yard ready for winter. These beautiful flowers are temporarily gone. The opening picture shows her autumn arrangement that certainly includes yellow!

Apparently, she’s not as afraid of yellow as her mother. I love this painted container!

I began to look at all the other yellow items in my life. My “girls” give me beautiful yellow yolks in their eggs.

And garden vegetables that I love are often yellow.

I didn’t grow this one, but I love eating spaghetti squash. I may try to plant one someday.

When I went to the Seed Exchange in June, the offering of fruits, flowers, and vegetables included many yellow items.

This incredibly beautiful yellow hibiscus with a purple center caught my eye when walking down Ali`i Drive one morning.

In my garden now I have this lovely yellow calendula (Calendula officianalis) given to me by my masseuse. Not only is it very pretty in my patio area, but the dried petals can add a rich saffron-like color to my food. I read that it isn’t especially flavorful, but can be sprinkled over a salad, chicken or fish to add that little spot of color. The March 2008 issue of The Herb Companion has a wonderful article about calendula, complete with recipes. You can read it here. Calendula was named 2008 Herb of the Year by the International Herb Association.

One last yellow beauty grows in Kihei on Maui, near Yee's Mango Orchard.

One of the major events here in Hawai`i is the sunset. People pull over to the side of the road in their cars, or sit along the top of stone walls to watch, hoping to see the “green flash.” I saw it many times as I did my own watching from my deck on Ali’i Drive. This picture doesn’t show the green flash, but it does give another view of yellow! If you look closely, you’ll see Captain Bean’s Dinner Cruise going by. I’ve been told that it no longer runs.

It looks like I’m not as opposed to yellow as I first thought. But I still don’t plan on wearing much of it! I'll enjoy it in the natural world.

Aloha until next time!

Lava Lily says “Keep making compost!”

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A Garden Stroll

2008-10-11T18:00:00.003-10:00

Kaimana wanted to join me on a garden stroll today. He came up just as I finished watering the Chard Charlolette (red chard) seeds I planted a few days ago. You’ll get to see them as they grow.

As I was winding up the garden hose, I noticed a few bits of color in my patio area. One of the buds on my gardenia had opened up. Several others will be opening up before long, I’m sure.

Near the patio entrance the baby bell peppers are growing strong, and the plant is covered with tiny buds and microscopic peppers.

On the back steps, there is a dwarf ornamental pineapple (Ananas nana) that I’ve been pampering. After a year of settling into a new pot, it is finally sending out new growth. Eventually it will send out miniature pineapples that I have been told are not edible. In some parts of the world, they are considered collector’s items. Almost all gardeners I know here have at least one in their yard.

Another project that is fun for both children and adults is to grow your own edible pineapples (Ananas comosus). This is another plant that is in almost all local gardens. The way to do this is to twist off the top of a fresh pineapple, set it in a glass of water and let it grow roots. Be sure to wear a heavy garden glove or oven mitt! Some of the websites say to cut off the crown of the pineapple, but I find that twisting it out is the best way.

I’ve started many this way and the picture above shows my latest. It’s one a friend gave me in exchange for some of my eggs. I think it is a Kona Sugarloaf, a small white pineapple that is incredibly sweet and sugary. (I also have an avocado seed growing roots nearby, but it’s not nearly as pretty right now!)

It may take several months for roots to form. After the roots are fairly well on their way, you can plant it into soil and watch it grow. Depending on where you live, you should get another edible pineapple within two years. It likes full sun, can withstand dry conditions, and likes a moderate climate.

For some, it may be simply a beautiful and unusual house plant; for others living in more tropical areas, it can be put right out into your garden. In the next season, other baby pineapple plants will form around where mama pineapple had been.

When my brother first visited me in Hawai`i, I gave him some pieces of white pineapple of one freshly picked from the garden. He said it tasted almost like a sweet alcoholic drink. I don’t think he ever tasted anything quite like it.

A word of warning: If you live on the mainland, most of the fresh pineapples you get are not as sweet as ours fresh from the field. A few years back, I was at a conference in Arizona. There was a fresh fruit platter on the table and I eagerly grabbed a few pieces of fresh pineapple. As I screwed up my face from the sour taste, someone behind me said, "Spoiled, are we?”

YES! I’m definitely spoiled!

Aloha, and Lava Lily says “Keep making compost!”

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Hawai`i October Scene

2008-10-04T18:00:00.001-10:00

Magazines are full of beautiful pictures showing colored leaves of autumn, featuring spicy pumpkin recipes, and people bundled up in flannel shirts. I become a little envious because I remember those days so well.

I experienced true autumn in Southern Illinois where I spent the first eighteen years of my life. Since my birthday came at the end of September, we had one family tradition to celebrate it. Mother would make a maple chiffon cake and whip up some ham salad sandwiches for us to take on a picnic in the woods near our town.

We would trudge through crunchy autumn leaves into a forested area to spread out an old tablecloth under the trees. It seems like I recall this happening every year. But maybe it really only happened once. Funny thing, memories!

So here I am, reminiscing about those crisp fall days, even though I really do prefer my year-round moderate Hawai`ian climate now.

This feels like a good time to bring you up to date on where some of my own plants are in their process of growing.

The picture that opens up this post shows a birthday gift from a special friend. I couldn’t have asked for anything better!! It’s just right for me to handle and get over some of the lava.

I’ll start out with my protea. They were badly damaged during the heaviest episode of sulfur dioxide. I was going to pull them up and toss them, but just this morning I discovered a new shoot coming out of one of the stalks. It’s only a tiny sprig of green, but I’m happy to see it. It will be interesting to see just what develops. You can see the “burn” from the SO2.

Here’s another example of the type of damage my protea suffered. One banksia seemed to do well.

This one doesn’t look healthy at all.

The coconut palm is growing slowly. Between the wind and the sulfur dioxide damage, I’m surprised it is surviving. But strong fronds are showing.

Here is one last pink blossom on my plumeria. She’s hanging on for dear life! You can also see some sulfur dioxide damage on these leaves, but overall, the plumeria didn’t suffer as much as other plants.

In June, I showed my tiny lilikoi seedlings. Here they are three months later, reaching out for the fishing line to climb up the side of the shed. I need to add more line to give them support as they grow.

The purple lilikoi is showing growth, too. It’s well over my head, but there are no blooms yet.

Recently, I planted some Hawai`ian pepper seeds that I’d picked up at the Seed Exchange in June. Out of the ones I planted, this lone plant has finally sprouted. I think I should have started them in a different way. I had planted them directly into a raised bed.

I’ve been given a number of new plants recently and they are showing signs of new growth. Here is one of the calendula plants that has already started to multiply. Perhaps you can see the flower buds on the right. The fallen ohia leaves help to give a little feeling of autumn.

I was given these Japanese iris just about the same time I planted the calendula. They are looking fairly good. You can see a fading plumeria in the back. Plumeria loses leaves over the winter in my piece of Hawai`i, but by spring they will be back in full bloom.

There are other plants I’ve picked up from friends in the past few weeks. All of them seem to be surviving. Here are a couple of them from two different gardens. The larger one is a geranium and it’s doing nicely. The tiny plant struggling behind the geranium is from a plant in Carole Baker’s yard. I think it’s the dauphine violet, but I’m not quite sure. When it’s bigger, I’ll check with her.

Another plant I was given is this Summer Poinsettia (Amaranthus tricolor Perfecta). It’s not to be confused with our regular Christmas Poinsettia (Euphorbia Pulcherrima), which I will be showing pictures of nearer to Christmas time.

This small cutting of the native yellow hibiscus is taking off nicely! The maʻo hau hele is the state flower of Hawaiʻi.

I will soon be putting this cute little succulent in a place where it can spread out. It is known as a “panda plant,” or Kalanchoe tomentosa. This plant is also called panda-bear plant, or pussy-ears plant.

Even as our “summer” comes to an end, there are several beautiful orchids opening up for me. This is one of my favorites.

A few others are also blooming and peeking through.

A few weeks ago, I bought a beautiful fuchsia plant to hang in my entryway. I think the reason it didn’t cost so much was because it had started to get very leggy. I’ve trimmed it back to encourage more fullness, but there was one solitary blossom giving me a last bit of color.

Until next week, Lava Lily says “Keep making compost!”

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Schedules and Salmon

2008-09-27T19:17:00.006-10:00

On my birthday (today), I had an awakening!

I started this blog on May 29, 2008.

This will be my 28th post. I started it as a way to document the work I was putting into this acre of lava. Gradually, I started adding other topics, like books and cooking, travel and local events. Please check out the Blog Archives in the right-hand column of this page for past articles.

Somewhere in the middle of July I thought it would be fun to post twice a week. That worked well for a while, but then September came. The time I spend in my full-time faculty position in the Social Science Department of Hawai`i Community College doesn’t allow me to continue posting twice a week. Also, I need to devote any spare time I have to actually working in my yard.

You may not even notice that I have cut back to posting once a week on a Saturday night. In case you are more observant than I suspect, I wanted everyone to know what I need to do. After graduation in mid-May, I’ll probably go back to twice a week again during the summer months when I can spend the time writing and photographing.

Now that’s off my chest, I can relax a bit and let my readers know what else I’m doing.

Today I made a big pot of salmon stew. I had thawed more salmon than I needed for a meal this week, so I went to Google. There was a great sounding recipe for a Finnish Salmon Stew. I didn’t make it exactly the way the recipe suggested, of course. It’s a rare occasion when I actually use a recipe verbatim. If you ever need to use up a piece of fish, this would be one good way.

In my big soup pot, I put 2 tablespoons of yogurt spread (like soft margarine, only better tasting, I think). Into this I put half of a monster onion, chopped, and two thinly sliced carrots. As this became translucent, I minced three cloves of garlic (yes, three!) and added it to the mixture for about 30 seconds.

To this I added one can of fat-free chicken broth and ½ can water, one can stewed tomatoes (juice and all), two small red potatoes (cut into eighths), some very small sweet potatoes out of my garden (sliced), two tablespoons capers (drained), one teaspoon sweet paprika, one teaspoon sugar, and ¼ teaspoon powdered thyme.

This simmered for about half an hour, then I added one tablespoon white wine vinegar. I put the salmon fillets into the pot and turned the heat off. Before long the fish was cooked and flaky. I broke up all the salmon and tasted the stew.

It seemed extremely bland to me, but I like spicy things, so I crushed up two small dry hot peppers and added a healthy dose of chili powder. I couldn't tell you how much I added, but it gave it the “oomph” I needed. You might like it without all the “heat.”

I ate a big bowl with some hearty bread from the baker who shows up at the Na`alehu Farmer’s Market on Saturday. Finally - very tasty and healthy.

I finished preparing for my week’s classes before I settled down to write this blog. The muse might inspire me mid-week from time to time, but don’t expect it until summer vacation comes up again.

Until next week, Lava-Lily says “Aloha!”

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The Magic of Seven

2008-09-24T18:00:00.002-10:00

There is a fairly long and involved treatise written in 1956 on the magic of the number “seven” by George A. Miller, Princeton University Professor of Psychology, Emeritus. If you are of a mind, you can read it here. At the end, he refers to the seven deadly sins, the seven wonders of the world, the seven days of the week, the seven seas, and so much more.

I would not presume to improve on that, even with my own degrees in psychology! But I do know there is something magical about the number seven. So I give you my own take on it.

It is a super busy time of year for many of us, with the beginning of the school year, fall garden work (yes, even here in Hawai`i), and a balmy breeze that seduces us into staying outside and working longer.

With school lectures to prepare, blogs to write, a house to keep clean, food to cook, laundry to be done, books to read, and papers to read, I find I don’t have time to do the things I love doing, or that constantly call out my name to remind me of a task I haven’t completed.

I’ve taken the “Magical Seven” to heart and it is changing my life.

In my personal library are two books that I’ve put off reading, saying I didn’t have time. The first is The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes by Allyson Lewis. The fly leaf states “You’re just seven minutes away from unlocking your purpose, knowledge and passion!” At some point, I must have been enamored with the title and the thought behind the book because I discovered that I own two copies – neither one had been opened!

The other book is 7 Minutes of Magic: The Ultimate Energy Workout by Lee Holden. The fly leaf here says that Holden “shows you how you can dramatically change your energy and fitness levels by performing two simple 7-minute routines…” Wow!

Somewhere on a blog or in a forum I occasionally read, I heard about the Fly Lady so I checked it out. She talks about setting up 15 minute time slots to clear up the mess in your house (or wherever your mess is located). I tried some of her techniques and they are great. I wanted to shorten it up even more and do it in seven minute bits.

Are you beginning to understand what I’ve been seeking and why??

So now rather than try to get the entire acre weeded in one back-breaking, time-consuming whack, I pull seven clumps of weeds at a time and dump them in the chicken run for my “girls” to nibble and scratch around.

You can pinch back seven shoots on a plant. You can spend seven minutes sitting in your patio to relax. You can toss out seven pieces of clutter. You can jot down seven people you need to call. I just now refilled my recycled seven bottles of good water to keep in the fridge.

When I feel overwhelmed with magazines, I either go through seven at a time to discard or give away, or I take seven minutes and do however many I can in that time. The list goes on and on.

My time at the computer is long by necessity, but if I take seven minutes to get up and do something more physical every half hour, I seem to accomplish a lot more when I sit back down. There is a little free software program specifically designed to remind you to get up and move. It’s called “Workrave” it can be set for whatever amount of time you want.

I have always been a musician, but lately I don’t take time to sit down and play the piano or pick up the guitar. By limiting myself to seven minutes, I can get back into something that lifts my spirits, and if there’s time, I can spend another seven minutes.

If there is a book that I need to read but I’m resisting, if I tell myself to only read seven pages, it doesn’t feel so boring.

I’m sure you can think of many more ways the number seven can work its magic in your life.

By taking all these activities in seven minute intervals or biting off only seven pieces of work, we are left with more time to enjoy those things we don’t want to do in only seven minutes – like eating a delicious meal, watching a good movie, having sex with your lover. . . . . . .

Sorry, my mind drifted off there for a few minutes!

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A Couple of Oddballs

2008-09-21T18:00:00.002-10:00

I’ve recently been given a couple of plants that deserve a blog all their own. They aren’t the usual run-of-the-mill herbs that people put into their herb gardens.

The first one I’ll tell you about is Turmeric. I discovered that I’d been saying and spelling it incorrectly all these years. Not only that, but I’d never used it in cooking.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa), is also known as "Indian Saffron." It is not a true saffron, but often used in place of the more expensive real saffron. It is a perennial herbaceous spice of the ginger family and is not related to saffron at all.

The part of the plant that is used is the rhizome in a process that takes several hours or even days. This process consists of lengthy boiling, drying and grinding. It is used not only for curries and other spicy dishes, but for dyeing and coloring mustard.

I don’t think I’ll be trying to produce my own turmeric anytime soon, but I may buy some and try a recipe or two. Curry is probably one of the most popular culinary uses for turmeric. Remember that curry is not “a” spice, but a combination of spices. For a list of some of the spice mixes, look here.

For an excellent simple recipe complete with a lively video demo, go here. This looks like something I might even try! By the way, this blog by Rob Klause has some great stuff on a regular basis.

In other countries, turmeric is used as an antiseptic and antibacterial agent. Some use it as a tea to help with everything from Alzheimer’s to cancer to stomach ailments, to liver problems. The National Institutes of Health are running clinical trials to see if the claims are valid.

Turmeric is also used in some sun screens. There are other cosmetic uses and beliefs. And since it is known to deter ants, I will keep the plant (see above) in my garden.

The other plant I was given is Wild Oregano - the picture above. It smells strongly like the typical oregano on our kitchen shelf, but after reading about it, I find it’s not one I would use in my Greek or Italian cuisine.

It is a perennial herb, propagated by dividing the roots in the fall. Mine were cuttings and seem to be doing fine after I stuck them into the ground with a lot of soil. At least they haven’t died yet.

The name “oregano” (or origanum) comes from two Greek words. Oros is the Greek word for mountain and ganos means joy, thus it represents “mountain of joy.” I hope it spreads all over my yard to give me that “joy.”

If not for food, then what good is Wild Oregano, other than as decoration in your yard? It is made into an oil that can be used both internally and externally, and is known for curing all manner of ills.

The Consumer Health Organization of Canada has a very interesting article about the studies that are being conducted, and the uses for which oil of oregano has value. It sounds like a “cure-all.”

Some vitamin supply houses sell it as “Colon Essentials” in capsule form. Other sources sell it mixed with a solvent. I’m not giving you the links for this because I wouldn’t know which one is most trustworthy. You can Google “oil of oregano” and decide for yourself. One-ounce bottles seem to be selling for around $27-30. Capsules are much lower in price.

This is another of those items I’ll NOT try to produce out of my own garden, but it’s always fascinating to me what uses can be made of these off-beat herbs and spices. I have always suspected that our ancestors knew far more about health than we do. On the other hand, if they did know so much more, why was their life expectancy so much shorter than ours today?

I’m a bit of a skeptic on these issues, although I do know many people have had amazing health results. What I do love is how pretty they look growing in my lava. I’ll buy turmeric at the store, pick from my own Greek oregano plant, and continue to see my local physician for medical help.

Until next time, "Lava Lily" says Aloha!

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A Self-Proclaimed Neophyte!

2008-09-17T18:00:00.001-10:00

For someone who claims he doesn’t know what he’s doing, Steve Sampson certainly is creating a garden that belies his statement. In just a year, he and Cindy have put in plenty of muscle power to move lava, haul soil, put in plants. One of Cindy’s creations is the welcome shown above. It greets visitors as they pull into the Sampson’s driveway.

Their two acre piece of lava has taken more work than they would have you believe. As I pulled into their driveway, I was amazed at the long stretch of lava wall they built. It seemed to go on for miles.

These walls were one of the main features throughout their property. I was inspired to start piling up lava rocks at my own place.

By the front door, they have brought color to the gray walls and trees with red cinder and flowers blooming in this circular bed.

Here you get a good perspective of the entry to their lovely home.

I asked Steve if he had a compost. He is just starting one at home, and has been going to the Waiohinu Transfer Station to get what he needs. This is a view of his soil-making area. All of us in Ocean View have had to make our own soil in order for anything to grow in lava.

Here is a closer look at his project. He uses a combination of peat, cinder and bags of garden soil with what he brings home from Waiohinu. It is mixed up here in this plastic-lined bed, then screened to get out large particles. The result is a fine, rich planting medium.

There are so many beautiful little pockets of color here. One of my favorite is the dry stream bed they formed to go under a little bridge.

Here is where the “stream” originates. If you look closely, you will see bits of bright blue scattered throughout the bed.

Every yard should offer the local birds a lovely place to bathe.

I am more than a little envious of this gorgeous patch of color flowing over the edge of the gray wall. Steve said it grew out of a small pot he picked up at WalMart.

More color brightens up the surroundings in these hanging planters. Like many of us, the names of plants remains elusive. I usually give my plants their own unique name that has no connection to reality.

This is one of my favorite touches. I’m sorry I didn’t get a shot of it against a background that would let it show up more. This regal peacock stands guard on the patio.

More color against the gray – this time it’s green.

My one small pot of monstera needs to be put into the ground. Here is what happens when you let it grow outside the pot.

Cindy adds her own colorful creativity with this floral painting – a nice touch to the garden area.

You can see where it is located in their yard, on the path going up toward their water tank.

Here is a good view of their patio. What a lush view over their forest as they dine. The first time I had a glimpse of their outdoors project was when they had invited me up for dinner. The plan to eat outside on this patio was scrapped because of a non-stop downpour of a much needed rain. I knew I wanted to come back and see it again.

Brilliant petunias bring more color to brighten up the patio.

Here is another area of “work in progress,” although I doubt if any gardener is ever totally satisfied with their work. We would never say, “There! It’s done!”

You can see why I was impressed with all their wall work! It goes on and on and on.

The biggest surprise of all is this charming out-building designed to match their home. At first I thought it was an ohana, the Hawai`ian version of a “mother-in-law’s” cottage.

Look at what Steve has on the inside! I’m not envious of this – I’m downright JEALOUS!

He told me that putting the lawn chairs here was an experiment that he wasn’t happy with, but I think it would make a great place to hide out and relax with a cup of tea after all the hard work is done for the day. It is also a sweet view of their driveway.

Thank you, Cindy and Steve, for letting me intrude on your Saturday!

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My Philosophy of Compost

2008-09-14T18:00:00.001-10:00

As we move closer to the need for self-sufficiency with food, more people are making their own soil, i.e., keeping a compost pile. Those of us who live on lava can’t afford to avoid it. I have several small areas that I devote to composting so I can keep them going for my land.

The problem comes with deciding what will go into the compost pile and what I’ll save to feed my hens. My decision is based somewhat on food quality. For example, coffee grounds and onions go into the compost; fruit rinds and weeds go to the hens.

I had a tiny little compost pile near the back door and eventually decided to start another one. When I took the wooden frame away, I ended up with a nice planting area close to the back door. This will be spread around a bit and I’ll put in seeds.

I’ve been reading about “lasagna gardening,” so I wanted to play around with that idea.

What I ended up with in this spot is similar to the lasagna gardening, and I’ve decided to try doing the same thing in other places. Using the same wooden frame from the original pile, I will place a small compost in various places to create growing spots. You can see that this is just barely started. But soon I’ll have another planting area.

Lasagna gardening has been called a “no-till, no dig” type of gardening. It’s also called “sheet composting.” You simply layer the same things you use in any compost pile. The one ingredient I haven’t used yet, but plan to, is wet newspaper or cardboard as one or more of the layers. That also helps to feed the worms you put into the pile.

Another article is written by the woman who originally came up with the idea of lasagna gardening, and is worth the time to read it. There are many great articles on this topic online. Just google “lasagna gardening.”

Because of the chickens, I have a lot of good chicken manure. So I created a place near their coop to put all the shoveled manure and leaf litter. A friend suggested that I put a bag of regular garden soil in the coop. As the girls scratch around in it, it would filter out through the floor of the coop and mix with the manure underneath. I suspect I can have a lot of good soil in a short period of time with this method.

Other friends have created compost piles. Here is one my daughter, Inga keeps in Boise, Idaho.

She keeps hers in the alley behind her house. Sometimes she has several going.

You’ve already seen Albert’s garden, but I didn’t show you his several compost bins.

Gordon, a friend on Maui, sent pictures of his compost, a great deal more sophisticated than mine. The picture at the top of this post is one view of his compost. He bought the two bins in California from the County in 1990 for $35 each.

He was very specific about how he handles his compost. His layers consist of thin layers of grass, redwood compost, chicken manure, coffee grounds from Starbucks and water. A thermometer shows that heat usually is generated up to about 140 F, with a covering that is necessary to avoid drying of the heap. His watering can holds two gallons.

These bins of compost are thirty inches on each side and break down into three layers that are ten inches wide. He makes each layer of material about an inch deep, and uses half-a-gallon of water for each layer. Grass is his primary material – something I don’t have here.

My friend Velvet who raises worms for her compost, guided me around so I could take pictures of her “self-made soil.” She created a progression system. One of these containers holds the kitchen scraps and weeds. Another holds mac nut husks that she adds to the green stuff. The third is the combination. As the break-down occurs, she moves it to the next bin.

She did have this tumbler on a wooden mount, but it didn’t last. She will build a new stand for it that is welded together.

When all has matured, she sifts it to get out any mac nut husks left and other larger pieces that didn’t break down.

So how do you start a compost pile? Other people might have a different idea, but sometimes when we think we need to do it in a specific way (and we think it must surely be complicated), it’s easy to put it off. As you can see, everyone has a different way of building one – all very effective.

I’m a lot more casual about it, and if you need soil in a place where you want to plant, you might try doing what I’m doing. Put a wooden frame or wall of rocks in a place where you might want to do planting eventually. In the past, I have used all sorts of things, like old wooden pallets and old wood-framed window screens. These are great because they let in air.

You can add your kitchen scraps, any weeds you gather, leaf litter, shredded paper, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea leaves and so much more. For more information, click here or google “compost” for other ideas.

By having several small spots going, I don’t worry about how long it will take, or if I’m doing it “right.” I simply shovel on whatever I think will break down and the chickens won’t eat. A cover of plastic held down by lava rocks keeps it warm and lets it perk.

If I can ever get my head around growing worms I can add their casings to my compost for even richer and faster soil.

I had just finished writing this post when I found an article called “Composting Life” in my email. It is an excerpt from Present Moment, Wonderful Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh. He explains the spiritual aspect of composting, how everything is in transition, and that we need rich compost from our life in order to grow a more beautiful life. I cannot say it nearly as eloquently as he does.

In Hawai`i we say “No rain, no rainbow.” That is what he’s saying, too. We can go through some hard times, but it is like fertilizer for our life, and we can use that to create something richer and fuller. Out of the stinky manure of our lives, exceptional things can take root and grow.

A leaf falls and is put into the compost and ends up helping the soil in which we grow our plants. In the same way, I believe that when we fall, we rise again in another place.

Get started with your composting, and have fun! I’m on my way out to play around with mine!

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Living On the Earth

2008-09-10T18:00:00.001-10:00

I can’t remember a time when I was not in love with books. Even before I could read well, my parents made regular trips to the little libraries in whichever town we lived in at the time. I spent many hours looking through the books in my grandfather’s library. They were on a huge revolving stand, and although they were much too deep for me at the time, I would take them out and thumb through the pages.

Kaimana thinks he can read some of my books, too, but I think he just likes the smell of paper.

The first books I actually remember being able to read myself were the Raggedy Ann and Andy books. Then came the Bobbsey Twins, Elsie Dinsmore, Heidi, Nancy Drew - and I was hooked. Whether for personal pleasure or academic reading, my library grew from there. I still have books for math, French, Spanish and literature from my high school years!

But books travel to places unknown, and over the years I’ve lost books because of floods, being stomped on by horses, through two divorces, loaning them to people I’ve forgotten, and numerous moves from state to state.

When I moved from Ali`i Drive o Ocean View, I gave over a thousand books to the Friends Of The Libraries, Kona, plus four grocery bags full of books on gardening to Kona Outdoor Circle. I still have over a thousand books here in my home, plus at least that many in a storage unit in California. This next shot shows part of my attempt to sort out which ones to keep and which to give away.

It was in the early 70s when I read a book that changed the way I lived my life. I was re-structuring my life as a single woman, and although I didn’t embrace everything in the book, it did start me moving toward a more “natural” way of living. It’s one book I’ve kept over the years, and my copy is a bit tattered. I was surprised to find it can still be purchased.

I had three years of Ornamental Horticulture classes at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo under my belt, and I’d always had an interest in gardening. From that point on, I couldn’t get my fill of reading about ways to garden and provide sustenance for myself. If you’ve been reading these posts on a regular basis, you know that I also lived on a 37’ sailboat for 5 years. My gardening slowed considerably during that time, but my interest in gardening never waned.

When I lived in Tucson on the edge of the Sonoran Desert, I found a wonderful book that provided me with ways to use the “Fruits of the Desert.” Many of the author’s recipes and information on those fruits can be extended to some of our own produce. The cover is beautiful, and I’m sorry that Amazon doesn’t have an image of it to show you.

One book I forgot I had until just recently, is Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally, by Robert Kourik. It’s a large and rather detailed book, but full of good information for the gardener who is serious about planning an edible garden.

If you are interested in an adult version of a picture book and dream book, pick up a copy of In a Mexican Garden. I drool over the photos in that book! I would label this book and others like it as “garden porn.”

This should keep you busy for a while, and I will be telling you about more off-the-beaten-track garden books in the future.

In the sidebar of this blog, I have listed books I use on a regular basis for my gardening ideas. If you are interested in buying one of them, please order through this site. It will help support my purchase of more gardening books.

Is this an addiction that I want to cure? I think it’s too late!

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Maui Writers Conference - 2008

2008-09-07T18:00:00.001-10:00

My first trip to the Maui Writers Conference took place over Labor Day Weekend, 1998. Except for one conference, I have attended every year since that first time. This year was the 16th year for this event that consistently draws top agents, editors, and authors.

Last year, I applied to be a volunteer for the first time. It was one of the highlights of my life. My post was with the Professional Consultations area. This year, I volunteered again when the conference became Maui Writers Conference “On the Road” in Honolulu at the Ala Moana Hotel.

Volunteers met on Thursday, August 28, 2008 ready to help with registrations and questions. My responsibilities? I help to keep strict time for those who come to pitch their proposals to agents and editors. There is a cost for each ten-minute consultation, and the timing has to be exact. We give five minutes between sessions - time for attendees to line up, consultants to take a quick breather, and for us to get the last group out.

Our exacting leader, Gloria, keeps everyone on their toes and everything moving down to the last second. Here she guards the entrance to keep people from sneaking in.

Even the names of the consultants need to be placed “just so.”

The tables are numbered consecutively, names of consultants are in alphabetical order. When attendees come in, they quickly take their places with the consultant they chose. After eight minutes, we ring a bell and let everyone know that they need to wrap up within the next two minutes. At exactly ten minutes, we ring the bell again and usher the attendees out, even when they would prefer to linger.

Can you imagine this room full of people talking about their manuscripts?

I loved watching the elation of people as they left the room. Comments ranged from “She wants to see the whole thing!” to “He gave me suggestions on how to improve this!” The slightest positive comment from the consultants was cause for joy.

Yes, I was able to get into the fray with several of my own projects, and yes, I'm one of those who will be sending in "the whole thing," as well as making changes on a project needing improvement.

When attendees are not pitching to the consultants, they are given the privilege of listening and learning from top authors and publishers. These presenters were well-known authors in fiction, creative non-fiction, and scriptwriting - all offering tips and telling their sagas of getting published and moving to the top.

The floral arrangements on the stage were evidence of the lack of protea. The sulfur dioxide from the volcano has been killing our protea production.

Of course, we needed to fill our tummies as well as our brains. With the Ala Moana Shopping Center just steps away, we had plenty of possibilities.

One day at lunch, I found a little outdoor Vietnamese restaurant across the street from the hotel. My choice was Pad Thai (don't ask) and green tea.

My room at the Ala Moana was very comfortable and more than adequate. I had two distinct views from my window. If I looked straight out, this was my view.

By turning my head slightly to the left, I had a totally different and magnificent view.

This area was generally packed with people, sharing their projects, their successes, and their nervousness about talking with an agent. Now, after everyone has gone home to work on their manuscripts, it feels empty and quiet.

For more information on both past and future conferences, go to http://www.mauiwriters.com.

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No Hardtack For Us!

2008-09-03T18:00:00.001-10:00

I haven’t always been in a place to garden. For about five years, I lived on my 37’ sailboat. At least one son lived there permanently with me, and two of my other teens spent a lot of time there, also. However, I kept several pots of aloe vera on hand for sunburns and cuts, as well as a hanging cherry tomato or two for something fresh to eat.

When I first moved onboard, I had a wicked time trying to cook a meal on the little two-burner propane stove. By the time I moved off the boat and into a house, I could cook a full Thanksgiving dinner on the tiny stove – turkey, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings.

There was a small oven on the stove, and I had this fantasy that people would be lured by the smell of baking bread as we sailed along. Probably no one else could smell it, but it was enough to tantalize myself and whatever crew was sailing with me at the time. Can you smell it baking while I’m hoisting up my sails?

My recipe was simple – a no-knead whole wheat bread. In a very low oven, warm 7 ½ cups of whole wheat flour in a large bowl for about 20 minutes. Dissolve 6 teaspoons dry yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water and add 1 tablespoon honey. Mix 4 tablespoons molasses with 1 cup warm water. Combine yeast and molasses mixtures and add with 2 tablespoons salt to the warm flour. Add enough water to make a sticky dough, approximately 2 cups.

I usually get 2 large loaves out of this, or you can get 3 small loaves. Butter your pans and turn the dough into the pans. No need to knead the dough. Let it rise for an hour and preheat oven to 450 F. Bake about 50 minutes or until crust is brown. I let it stand in the oven for a bit after I turn off the oven. You are supposed to let it cool before you eat it, but I’ve never been able to do that!

I marked it in my cookbook that I fixed this for the first time while sailing into Avalon on July 25, 1980. Mark, my third child, was turning 21 the next day, so we celebrated that night.

Split pea soup became another tradition on all our homeward bound trips after a week or more at sea. It’s a good thing stoves on a sailboat are gimbaled so that they remain steady and the soup doesn’t slop out when we are heeled over on a good run.

Brown up some bacon ends and pieces in a pan, then add chopped onion and slivers of carrot and cook slightly. Add a package of split peas and water. Add seasonings. I put in pepper, oregano, marjoram, bay leaf, or whatever I have on hand. Simmer until peas and veggies are cooked, but I like to leave the peas slightly lumpy for a hearty soup. It thickens as it stands, but like the bread, it rarely has time to stand.

A big mug of hot pea soup with freshly baked bread slathered in butter seemed to make it easier to head back home. There was no hardtack for us!

Even though I am no longer known as the “BOATLDY,” I still fix this soup, and serve it along with biscuits, garlic bread, corn bread, or my fast no-knead whole wheat bread. It is a wonderful rustic and earthy meal for visiting friends – and especially on those coolish evenings in Ocean View. A few fresh herbs from my herb garden add extra flavor.

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Happy Birthday, Inga!

2008-08-31T18:00:00.001-10:00

Other parents will understand when I say how difficult it is to believe that this sweet little crybaby is now a beautiful mature adult who owns her own home and is such an avid gardener.

Inga is second of my four children, and since she happens to be the one who keeps me updated on the progress in her yard, she’s the one who gets the special recognition in this blog today. I don’t want to neglect my other three kids, so when they send pictures of their gardens (or whatever), you’ll get to see them, too.

To give you some perspective on her garden in relationship to her home, here is a wintery picture of Inga in her doorway. The house was a “mail order” home from Sears & Roebuck in the 30s. She has worked miracles with the space.

In Hawai`i, we don’t need to worry much about gardening based on a snow season. In some ways, I miss the thrill that comes from watching for the first little sign of spring. On the other hand, I get the same excitement when one of my “lava-grown” plants does send out new leaves.

Vicariously, Inga’s winter garden pictures help my occasional yen for real seasons. I will show her natural creative bent as the autumn months signal the end of a summer growing season.

Her sense of humor is always present.

Finally, the snow takes over. Even as that white stuff starts to cover the ground, there is a certain beauty in a snow-covered cherry.

There are remembrances of tea in the garden, where she could admire her labors.

The birds have gone South for the winter, while humans hang around for jobs, and dreaming of spring blooms.

We are never too old to find fun in the snow. It’s too bad Mr. Snowman can’t last all year.

Throughout the winter, Inga continues to garden in her hand-built greenhouse.

By the time spring arrives, Inga has prepared her brightly colored containers that will provide brilliant spring color to her garden.

Inga doesn’t do all the work herself. She has Quimby, her Corgi, to help out. I’m not sure if he helps as much as he thinks, but he’s good company.

Of course, another of her helpers (Baxter) prefers to take it easy and simply watch the action.

Or maybe he prefers the winter?

I never would have believed grapes this lush could grow in Idaho!

When water is more easily available than here in my part of Hawai`i, it’s possible to create a sweet pond in a small corner. I remember Inga telling me how she had to tear out a lot of old trash to create this serenity.

What a major visual change has taken place by the beginning of summer!

In June 2004, Inga’s tiny garden was selected to be one of several in the Idaho Botanical Garden Tour.

It’s easy to see why the tour brochure described Inga’s garden the way it does. The person who wrote up the brochure calls it a "Storybook Cottage." Then the brief write-up says:

"This teeny, tiny garden and cottage will have you looking under leaves for fairies and leprechauns. At just 450 square feet, the house is a wonder by itself. It was purchased through a catalogue company in the 1930’s. The faux stone siding was a breakthrough at the time and the cottage was used to demonstrate the ease and thrift of applying the new building material. The miniature greenhouse, white picket fence, tiny stone paths, and exuberant plant pallet come together to create a charming garden you won’t want to miss."

The next few pictures give a glimpse of what the visitors might have seen.

Anyone walking down this street will enjoy the benefit of Inga’s hobby.

Inga will eat and give away much of her produce, then probably make something out of what is left to tide her over the winter months again. Pictures of her herbs were in a recent post, and her compost pile will be in a future post.

No more crybaby here!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INGA!

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Hawai`i Ocean View Estates Garden Club

2008-08-27T18:00:00.001-10:00

On June 28, 2008, the Hawai`i Ocean View Estates (HOVE), or known by many of us here as “The View,” started another garden club. Years ago, Ocean View had a garden club, but gradually people got busy with other things. We meet at 1:00 pm on the fourth Saturday of each month. On alternating months, we plan to visit home gardens. The August 23 meeting was hosted by Carole Baker and her daughter, Heather.

“Wow!” is the only word I have for what they’ve done with their two acres. Carole’s space is full of color, critters, and imagination.

The welcome sign above greets visitors pulling into the driveway. The first clue about the fun you have in store are several dozen birdhouses. Here is just a sampling of this incredible village for birds.

At the entry is a pond that Carole calls her “mosquito control.” The guppies and algae eaters help to take care of the mosquito larvae, and the moving water gives a soothing sound as you stroll through their entry. There is a beautiful stand of horsetail reed.

The ground is covered with gravel for ease of walking around, and a creative path is our guide into the backyard area.

Many of Carole’s plants were “I don’t know” plants, the kind many of us acquire. In our desire to have something – anything – growing, we take cuttings that friends give us, stick them in the ground and hope they grow.

So, rather than worry about the names of many of her plants, I focused on the creative critters and yard sculptures. Here are a few of my favorites.

I brought home some of the seeds of this lovely lilac shade of cosmos. I love all her cats. She ordered them from online, but they were all black, so she painted them in bright seductive colors.

Scattered around the yard are more critters.

Lady bugs are a welcome addition to any garden.

Garden sculptures add to the three dimensional effect and add interest to the plants.

The back fence helps to define the space, and it provides a wall for more garden art.

At one end of this fence, Carole has transitioned to a chicken wire fence covered with plants, which effectively hides her water tank.

Even the shed has a bit of whimsy.

Hazel and Charles, recent arrivals to “The View,” admire the mistletoe vine.

Velvet and I each took a cutting from this, but no one seems sure what it is. (Note: Heather sent me an email and said it is a "dauphine violet.")

Oh, yes! There are plants as well as sculptures and critters in this garden space. There is a thick jade vine growing up over an arch.

A typical piece of fantasy is this artificial flower with a full yellow bougainvillea.

There are little patches of Johnny Jump-ups scattered about.

Carole’s husband was enamored with bonsai, which I also learned how to make in Japan. I’m inspired to start again.

I am impressed with this miniaturization of an enormous spreading banyan tree into bonsai.

After an hour of cruising around Carole’s garden, the garden club members gather before heading home with bags of seeds and cuttings.

I thought this secluded swing in the shade was a good idea, a perfect place to relax after a day’s work in the yard.

There is no doubt we were all welcome to this fantasyland.

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From the Alps to the Tropics

2008-08-24T18:00:00.001-10:00

This blog was started in order to show what it’s like to create a garden out of lava. From my perspective, everything is happening much too slowly in my own yard, so I have decided to expand my blog to include others who have also started gardens here, with wild and beautiful results.

Originally from Wettingen, Switzerland, Albert Ledergerber has become a farmer in Hawai`i. His wife, Lily is from the Philippine Islands. When I first moved to the plantation village of Pahala on the Big Island of Hawai`i about twelve years ago, Albert and Lily became good friends right away. When Albert retired from the sugar plantation in Pahala as an electrical engineer, he decided to settle there.

Albert and Lily put love and energy into creating a backyard that is what most folks think of when they dream of Hawai`i. I’ve planted several bananas, but my plants are microscopic compared to these.

Their village has more decomposed soil than we do in Ocean View, which means that they can actually dig down into the ground and plant something with an expectation that it will grow and produce. Gardening for them doesn’t involve having to relocate rocks, even though they still must work around the lava.

I love walking through Albert’s garden. I become so enamored with what I see that I forget to write down a lot of what he tells me. Here is a shot through the entrance of his garden as you walk out from the house.

When Albert was working for the plantation, he had access to huge tires, so he has several, and they make perfect sides for raised beds.

No garden in Hawai`i should be without at least one pineapple growing. Here you can see a healthy one through the leaves of Albert’s many plants.

Have you ever held an eleven-pound pineapple like this? This particular one is a “white pineapple,” or "Kona Sugarloaf," a paler yellow inside than the typical pineapple, and much sweeter.

I don’t have a fast enough camera, and I probably tend to quiver a little when I snap the shutter anyway. I wish I could have gotten better pictures of all their orchids, but here are a couple to tantalize you.

Of course, when we think of tropical flowers, most of us think of hibiscus, as well. It’s one of my favorites, as “common” as we might think of it here. The yellow hibiscus is considered to be “native” to Hawai`i. This is one I grew in a pot when I lived by the ocean. When I moved to Ocean View, I gave it to Albert. He planted it directly into the ground where it flourished. He’s already cut it back several times, he said.

Hibiscus comes in many incredible colors. Here you can see how vivid the pinks can be. This shot also picks up the stephanotis along the fence, the red and green ti plants, the white spider lily, and more.

Here is a nice shot of a double white hibiscus – another fuzzy picture.

The regal Bird of Paradise or Strelitzia regina, plays a lead role in many tropical gardens.

The water lilies Albert grows take my breath. I’m often tempted to sit on the ground next to one of his lily “ponds” and meditate.

The lilies open up during the day and close for sleep at night.

I keep expecting this little froggie to hop up onto one of the lily pads.

In among the foliage there really are bananas. If you live on the mainland, you may have never seen bananas that weren’t in a bin in the produce section of your grocery store. This is the way they grow, even though it may seem upside down to many people. They get so heavy they need to be propped up.

It’s best to cut down the bunch and let them ripen off the tree. Bugs and other critters seem to love a ripe banana as much as I do.

Here is AJ and his dad (Alfred Galiza), friendly neighbors helping Albert cut down a 150 pound bunch of Williams bananas. When I first moved to Pahala, AJ was just a shy little tyke. He’s quite grown up now.

And oh, those coconuts! Dry ones on the ground can be planted because they really are just seeds. What most people eat is the dry shredded coconut meat, but even more delicious is the green coconut. If you cut it in half with a machete, the inside is the consistency of coconut pudding. It is healthy and tender enough for babies.

I wonder if mine will ever get this tall? When I lived on Guam, we had several in our back yard that blew down in a hurricane, but within months they had grown back up as tall as this one.

By my front door on Guam we had an iron stake sticking up out of the ground. It was for shucking the thick husk off the coconuts. Once I saw this object on some TV show about antiques. I knew what it was immediately, because I still have (and use) mine. You nail it to a board that you sit on, then you run the coconut over it to shred the meat. Not exactly easy to describe how it’s done in words. You have to see it.

A delicious little citrus is the calamansi, a tiny fruit that is native to the Philippines and has many uses. When I have a good supply, I like to cut a bunch in half and put on the table to squeeze over vegetables, or anything that can use a bit of citrus flavor. Here is a calamansi tree in Albert’s yard.

I’ve been so proud of my (small) lilikoi plants, but Albert’s put me to shame! Here are green ones soaking up the sun to ripen on the vine.

More small green fruits are Albert’s limes.

Another fruit I love is the pomelo. They are so luscious-looking hanging from the tree.

Albert and Lily grow several vegetables, as well. A few that I managed to get a picture of are his okra and a hiding eggplant.

A fascinating vegetable is the Okinawan spinach, or Gynura crepioides.

It’s crunchy and would probably be quite tasty in a mixed green salad. The underneath side is purple. Here you can see both the top and bottom of a leaf.

Taro is an interesting plant, and has so many uses. I find that poi has the distinct flavor of purple library paste, but that’s because I didn’t grow up on it like the local folks. On the other hand, poi balls that are fried like fritters and eaten warm are totally yummy! Leaves are used for cooking lau lau, and the root can be prepared in several ways. Albert and Lily grow two kinds of taro. This is their dryland taro. Albert said “this is da kine local kala Lily got from somebody she does not remember!”

Next to it is their Lehua taro from Kauai.

Another plant that most gardeners grow in Hawai`i is coffee. In a few weeks, I’ll take you to visit my friend Lori Obra. She will take us on a tour of her own rural coffee plantation.

Albert grows enough coffee to keep himself supplied and if you are lucky enough, he’ll give you a cup of his own freshly roasted Ka’u coffee and a few keiki (baby) coffee trees to plant in your own yard.

This next picture shows the green coffee berry on the trees.

And here is a shot of the coffee starting to turn bright red, into what we call “cherry.” When I do Lori’s plantation, I’ll tell more about the process of getting from the tree to your cup.

I love this shot! In the background are the ironwood trees, tall and stately. Then just in front of that is the neem (Azadirachta indica) tree that supplies Albert with his pest protection.

I want to show you just a few more plants that mainlanders might not know. Here is Ubi from the Philippines. They use the root to make candy and ice cream. I wasn't able to find out anything more about it through Google. Maybe someone else can help?

And several hot, hot peppers. First, here is the Vietnamese pepper.

Then the Hawai`ian pepper. Albert says they are “nasty!” which means they are almost unbearably hot. I have a few planted in my raised beds.

As you can see, this post is longer than my other ones, but well-established gardens take a lot longer to talk about. I didn’t cover nearly all of Albert’s plants, but this is a fair sampling of the work he’s put into their garden. I’ve walked through this garden many times over the past twelve years, and there is always something new that I never saw before. I come away from his place with bags of fruit and plants.

Any errors in plant names or habits are entirely mine. Don’t blame Albert!

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I'll Have Cilantro With That

2008-08-20T18:00:00.001-10:00

My thoughts today are focused on increasing my herbal gardening. I’ve shown my small patches of herbs in the past. I’m ready to think about putting out more.

Believe it or not, we do have four seasons in Hawai`i. The change is subtle, but residents can feel when the season is changing. The elevation of my home is about 2300 feet, so while I do not get freezing weather, I do get temperatures into the low 50s (and a rare high 40s). It feels like perpetual spring here. That’s when the ancient genes in our biological clock tell us it’s a good time to plant.

So even now, as we come toward the end of August, I want to put out seeds. Winter rains are yet to come, and I have packets of seeds ready to put into little pockets I’ve created with rich soil among the lava rocks.

What is the value of any culinary journey without herbs? Some recipes specifically call for dried herbs, but for many of the dishes, only a sprig that has been picked fresh will suffice. When I make one of my gargantuan salads (they are actually a full meal), I finish it off with a trip to my herb garden.

One community where my father was a pastor when I was a child was made up of a large Italian population. It was a requirement to learn how to make authentic dishes. Fresh oregano was (and is) an essential. This wee patch of oregano is trying very hard to grow up.

If you haven’t tried a fresh tomato-and-basil sandwich made with rich homemade whole wheat bread, you’re missing a taste treat! Pile on lots of basil leaves (use extra large leaves) with thick slices of tomato. Slather a bit of olive oil on the bread and add a slab of mozzarella or other cheese for an extra delight. Make sure you put a piece of basil on my chest when you bury me so I can get into Paradise.

No garden is complete without parsley. I’m one of those odd people who actually eats all the decorative parsley on my plate in restaurants. A sprinkle of chopped parsley on top of any dish adds color and nutrition.

I had never grown fennel before, although I love the flavor. It is considered both an herb and a vegetable. I have had roasted fennel bulbs in the Middle East and loved it. If you have a spot where the bulbs can grow to a nice size, you should try it. Like most of my herbs, my fennel struggles, but continues to send out new shoots.

I grew up thinking dill was for pickles only. Try a little dill leaves or seeds in your tuna salad for a new flavor.

My daughter Inga always has lush herbs growing. I’m envious of her ability to make anything grow out of nothing, but she has the soil to help her out. You will be seeing more of Inga’s garden and her compost in the future. That’s part of her herb garden at the top of this post, in case you didn’t read her sign.

Sweet marjoram is another of those herbs that I’d never grown, but always bought in a glass jar to sprinkle into salads, soups and Italian fare. This is one herb I’ve grown to appreciate.

What fun it is to go out my front door and snip off chives for omelets made with eggs from my own chickens. These are looking a little bedraggled from the sulfur dioxide, but with a good soapy rinse, they still taste good.

My last beautiful cilantro plant finally bolted on me and it went into the compost. I’ve planted more and they are just starting to come up. My love for anything Mexican dictates that I grow plenty of cilantro.

My friend who does viticulture gave me a plant of calendula that is surviving quite nicely, but I didn’t get a picture of that. I’ll show it later, I’m sure. My mint made her debut in one of my recent posts, so I didn’t include her here this time.

If you want to know more about the many wonderful herbs, I highly recommend A Modern Herbal written by Margaret Grieve in the early 1930s. Or you can to go the web to read it as well. She gives folklore, recipes, growing instructions, and all sorts of herbal trivia.

As you can see, I’ve left out hundreds more herbs I could have mentioned. My own bookshelves are full of books on herbs and their properties. We know that herbs are used for more than food. They provide healing, fragrance, teas, and so much more.

The Herb Research Foundation is an organization devoted to “improving world health and well being through herbs.” Rather than rely on folklore, this organization is scientifically investigating the healing properties of various herbs. It is too easy to get lost in the labyrinth of the world wide web, so I’ll stop here and go plant my seeds.

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King Kaimana

2008-08-17T18:00:00.002-10:00

I’m giving myself (and you) a break after pigs and worms. I’m going to talk about my handsome black cat. This post may not appeal to anyone except other cat lovers, but please indulge me, and let me brag on him.

Several posts ago, I showed him sitting quietly sitting at the front door watching the world go by. This time, I’ll give him the entire show.

His name is Kaimana, which means “diamond” in Hawai`ian. He is totally black except for a tiny white spot under his chin – his diamond. He has never known a stranger, and unlike many cats, he has to be the center of attention at all parties. He never runs to hide when people come over. He loves everyone, and everyone loves him.

When I lived on the ocean down on Alii Drive in Kona, in his more playful and brave kitten years, he loved to walk up the flat railing to the loft. He couldn’t get all the way to the top at first, but he kept trying until he made it.

Once he learned how to get to the top, he would spend his time walking up and back down – over and over.

Like most cats, he has an insatiable curiosity. He will find the strangest place to investigate and/or hide from me. One of his favorite was the cool bidet.

Sometimes he will sleep in a cool white bowl (sorry for the fuzzy shot).

A true bookworm, he explored my bookshelf as it was being built and before I’d filled it up with books.

As the kitchen cupboards were being built, he had to check them out, too.

A special wide shelf was built for him by the kitchen table so he could perch himself in the window and survey his kingdom.

Being a (neutered) male cat, no matter how careful I was, he had several bouts of urinary tract infections that put him in the hospital. I think he never quite got over it.

The last time he came back from being hospitalized, he acted as if he’d had a stroke. He was addled and didn’t seem to know where he was. I went online and found out about “kitty altzheimers,” which didn’t help my concern at all. He would sit and stare blankly into space. He couldn’t find his food in the normal spot and he acted totally disoriented.

He was able to find his litter box for one bodily function, but he began to pee just anywhere he happened to be. His favorite spot became the sink, and I had to start covering it up so he wouldn’t go there.

He had always loved high places, but now he wouldn’t even walk on the floor, but jump from table to counter, to washer and onto a shelf. If he couldn’t avoid being on the floor, he’d jump around on it quickly to get wherever he was going.

He was knocking things around and making a place for himself. It was very odd behavior, even for Kaimana.

Then he found a way to get onto an even higher shelf.

He slept in that far corner, watched the world from the window there, and came down only to eat. It was when he started peeing off that top shelf onto the stove and floor that I knew something had to be done. He is getting old and senile, so I briefly considered having him put to sleep. But he’s been with me too long and I wasn’t quite ready to do that.

My brother said he would rather someone put him outside if he got to that point, so I gently set Kaimana outside and that’s where he lives now.

He never liked walking over the lava much, and whenever he got out in the past, he would come back in with raw paws. He still walks over it slowly and carefully. He sticks close to the house and seems to feel freer to do what he wants. He lounges around, sniffs the flowers, stays close by me when I feed the chickens or water my garden area, and we talk to each other.

I told one of my daughters what I’d done and said that someday I’d be old and incontinent, too, and that she’d have to take care of me. Her response was that it would be fine as long as I didn’t pee on the stove.

His favorite spot seems to be on the shelf with my geraniums. From here he can watch me at work in the kitchen – and know when I’m coming out to feed him. I think he’ll live a long and contented life outside. For a indoor cat that has been pampered all his life, Kaimana makes a good farm cat.

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Taking Time For An Update

2008-08-13T18:00:00.001-10:00

I’m just a baby in blogging years, but here I am at Post #16 – sweet sixteen! I think it’s time to do a brief update on my progress. If you look back at my previous posts, you’ll have something to reference when I talk about certain plants and animals.

Chickens: A few loud cackles a couple mornings ago informed me that eggs were finally being laid. The girls are doing their job, and I had the first eggs for lunch that day. They are small, but I had read that might be the case with the first few eggs. I had just started integrating layer pellets into their food this past week, and the nesting boxes were ready for them.

I had also read that it might be necessary to put fake eggs in the nesting area to let them know the exact purpose of the nesting box and material. They don’t have a lot of places to hide eggs in their run, but I didn’t want to have to crawl in there to rescue eggs.

So far, most of what I gather are small brown eggs from the Rhode Island Reds, but one of the Araucana had found her way into the nesting box by this afternoon. In this picture, you can see the difference between the brown eggs and a light one that I think is from an Araucana. Their eggs can be all shades and colors.

Water Tank: I’ve been able to maintain a fair amount of water this year. Last year, I ended up buying 4,000 gallons (a water tanker full) by this time of year. The year before that, I had to buy two loads (8,000 gallons). A few threatening hurricanes have blown a couple of residual rains our way. If we haven’t had a heavy rain, we’ve at least had misty days.

I still have 50” of water in the tank, which is wonderful! Also, with the rains, I haven’t had to water my plants, which helps to conserve my supply. I keep the chlorine and pH at the proper levels. I had the tank vacuumed toward the end of June. This was the first vacuuming of algae off the bottom of the tank since I moved in two years ago.

I learned a trick from friends about how to put bicarbonate of soda in the tank. I’d been pouring it in around the edge, but they dump an entire twelve-pound bag of soda into an old pillowcase, tie it up with a line, and toss it into the tank. Gradually, it seeps out into the water and gets mixed in to keep the pH between 6.8 and 7.0.

I have a net filter where the water runs into the tank from gutters on both the house and the shed. There has been a fair amount of debris caught in the nets lately, which goes into my compost pile.

Garden: I have a fresh crop of beets coming up. I couldn’t wait, so I bought fresh beets at the Na`alehu Farmer’s Market last week, along with more corn.

My Japanese pumpkin (kabocha) is growing, but no matter how many seeds I put out, only the one vine has really done anything so far. It’s bearing, however, and has plenty of blooms on it.

The Hawaiian Pepper seeds I've put out aren’t doing anything yet, but the pepper plants I bought at the nursery are producing nice little peppers. They are hard to see here – hidden by the leaves and blending into the fig in the background.

I have a few figs getting ripe, enough for a one-person snack.

The herbs that burned back from the sulfur dioxide in the vog have started to come back and fill out.

At one point, the rosemary spread out over a three-foot area. The sulfur dioxide got to it and here is what’s left after cutting back the dead portion. I hope it regains strength and vigor.

I know most people would love to keep their mint from spreading so far out and completely taking over their garden, but I feel very lucky to have this little patch growing. I wonder how mint will taste with those word I may have to eat someday?

The coffee trees are about a third or less of what they should be by now, but at least they continue to put out new leaves. If I’m lucky, they might make it enough for me to brew at least one pot of coffee someday.

All my triangle palms have new shoots and are looking fairly healthy, in spite of the bad air. I have to add iron to them periodically.

I have several small triangle palms on my front steps ready to go in the ground. I’ve been lining my driveway with triangles.

Most of my protea have been totally lost, although I have a couple of banksias that are still growing. You can see that this one has a little of the sulfur burn on it.

The Barbados Lily has put out lots of healthy leaves. You can computer this to the picture taken 4 weeks ago.

The peanuts are growing! You can see a couple of tiny yellow blooms hidden among the leaves. In the Deep South, where I spent many years of life, and where my father grew up, we called them “goobers.” There was the “goober” man who walked the streets selling his peanuts, calling out “Goooooobers! Goooobers for sale!” That also reminds some of us of the peanut vendor at baseball games. I grew up loving the St. Louis Cardinals as a kid.

The lilikoi (passion fruit) is sending out feelers, reaching for the fishing line I’ve put on the side of the shed.

I get impatient, however. It feels like everything should be growing at a much faster pace. Any soil or “pig dirt” I put on my plants just sifts down into the cracks between the lava rocks. I add more, it rains (or I water), and I lose that much more. It’s a slow process, but certainly a learning experience.

In spite of the hard mix of sulfur dioxide and unforgiving lava, some things seem to get more beautiful by the day. These pink plumeria were just small cuttings this last spring. I’ve put them out all over to provide a bit of color - a sweet smell to end this post.

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This Little Piggy...

2008-08-10T18:00:00.001-10:00

In several of my posts, I’ve referred to what I call my “pig dirt.” It is given to me by friends who have a piggery nearby. I knew it was rich and produced good veggies for me, but had never gone to see the source.

A couple weeks ago, I went with Dane and Terry Shibuya to their pig farm, mauka of Na`alehu. For the benefit of my readers who do not live in Hawai`i, we talk about the location of anything up the mountain from where we are as mauka. Everything that is below us toward the sea is makai.

So we drove mauka a short distance over a dirt road from Na`alehu to “Masazo’s Pig Farm.” Masazo was Dane’s grandfather who originally owned the land that has been handed down through three generations, with a fourth generation in waiting.

I was warned about the smell, but I honestly wasn’t bothered by it. It’s the smell of good manure that will become wonderful “pig dirt” for my raised beds.

My limited experience with pigs was with two of my children who raised pigs for the 4-H club. Their dad and I were community leaders of one of the local 4-H clubs in California. Even with only two pigs on our small farmette, I learned a fair amount about pigs. Here Mark and Inga are training their pigs to walk with a tap of the cane.

By the time the pigs got to the state fair for showing and judging, they were in prime condition, ready for market. I never knew pigs could be so smart! Here is Inga in her 4-H uniform showing her freshly cleaned, greased and powdered pig.

At Masazo’s, I watched as Dane and his daughter went about the business of “slopping” the pigs and preparing the stalls for the next step in creating my “pig dirt.”

There are two lines of stalls with a large “ditch” between them. The stalls slope toward the middle so that Dane can push all the manure into the ditch with his Bobcat. The gathered manure is then carried out to a yard area where it will be spread out to dry.

There are special stalls for the farrowing (birthing), to protect the babies and keep them cleaner. The mother can accidentally roll over her babies and smother them.

The completed product has no smell whatsoever, and it’s what I have piled up in my side area here. He told me there was no soil mixed in with it, other than a little that might get scraped up in the process of gathering it. They suggested that I can mix it with a little garden soil and/or a bit of cinder, or even use it as it is.

Any gardener needs to know about N-P-K. N (Nitrogen) is necessary for the rich, dark green vegetation that grows above ground. P (Phosphorus) is the element that produces strong roots plus any fruits or flowers. K (Potassium or Potash) helps to prevent water loss due to dry weather and cold air, thereby keeping strong plants.

Depending on your purpose, the ratio of these three elements will vary. For instance, if you want a rich lawn, you’ll look for a fertilizer that is high in Nitrogen. If you want more flowers and fruits, then you want high Phosphorus.

According to nutritional standards set by the government, the highest rate this kind of manure can get is a “3” and this manure has passed with a “3” in all three categories. No wonder my plants do well with the “pig dirt!”

Another regulation I wasn’t aware of is that wild pigs are not allowed to breed with domesticated pigs. The Masazo pigs are protected from any wild pigs getting to them.

After having four children (at separate times), I can sympathize with the Mama Pigs (sows) who have large litters of piglets. It takes three months, three weeks, and three days from conception to birth.

The babies are weaned after about five or six weeks. Three days after weaning, the sow is ready for breeding again and can produce two and a half litters per year.

Even though the sow looks too lean for breeding again, Dane said the skinny sow makes the best babies, “just like a skinny wahine makes better babies,” he said.

One of Terry’s friends will be going into my freezer soon! It might be more difficult to cook them, after seeing them at Masazo’s, but I think I can force myself!

Many mahalos, Terry and Dane! You really know how to show a girl a good time.

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You Have the Power!

2008-08-06T18:00:00.002-10:00

With no disrespect for the pig, I sometimes wonder just why I spend so much time trying to make a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” In other words, why am I working so hard trying to transform this acre of hard lava into a lush paradise?

I don’t believe I’m doing it only to create something of beauty. I believe I am taking to heart our need to become more self-sustaining in an area of the world that too easily could become isolated from the rest of what we call “civilization.”

As the price of fuel increases, we will be less inclined to pay for the accompanying rise in food prices, if the shipping is able to continue at all. We don’t need the packaged goods that are advertised as a way to “bring families to the dinner table for a hearty, wholesome meal.” We don’t need to rely on food that is grown half-way around the world by people who may be exploited. A great book that helped me with that perspective is Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

When I was growing up in the Midwest, people grew their own foods and whatever they didn’t eat right away was canned for the winter months. I went with my folks to help farmers with the slaughtering and smoking so meat would be available for their families. When everyone came in for dinner, everything on the table had been freshly butchered, preserved, or grown, including the freshly picked strawberries (my favorite).

Many days I spent helping my grandmother pit cherries, peaches and apricots to be put up in glass jars. I loved the “bread and butter pickles” she made to put on sandwiches or eat as a mid-afternoon treat. Beside my great-grandmother, I picked gooseberries and served as her able assistant as she made them into such wonderful pies. This is the same ancestor that my brother, Hilton mentions in his blog .

Because I was born at the end of the Great Depression, I’m old enough to have lived through several eras. In my “hippie” era, I wanted to go “back to the earth.” I was equally concerned about the use and abuse of land, and I embarked into the world of vegetarianism in the mid 70s. The philosophy of Frances Moore Lappé, better known as “Frankie,” made an impact on me in the mid-70s when I read her Diet for a Small Planet.

For the next decade, I was fairly strict with being a vegetarian. After that, I chose to include a little meat in my diet occasionally, still preferring the simple vegetarian fare that I had begun because of her book. In a way, I forgot about Frankie, even while I was devouring her books regularly for tried and true recipes.

About a year ago, I found her again and was amazed at what she had been doing and how many books she had written while I was off doing other things. The book that caught my eye was You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear. It was written in 2004, so it isn’t a brand new book. I didn’t find it until 2007. What a treasure it is!

She speaks of the shock and fear that gripped her when told she had a rare but treatable form of breast cancer. From a comment made by a Russian cab driver in New York, she and her co-author, Jeffrey Perkins, realized how fearful we are as Americans.

We are afraid of everything, she says, and we are stopped from doing anything about the sources of our fear. Frankie and Jeffrey write that “…it is our ideas about fear that….can shut us down, or they can allow us to discover our power to create the lives and the world we want.”

Fear is inside, not outside of us, they write, and they give us seven old ways of thinking that put the brakes on our energy and power. They proceed to give us seven new thoughts to inspire us and unleash our energy. You Have the Power had the same impact on me that Diet did in the 70s.

I don’t create my garden out of a sense of fear, but with great anticipation for a better and healthier future for myself and those around me. I do have the power to create that kind of life, the one my grandmother and great-grandmother taught me.

Early Hawai`ians divided the land from the mountains to the sea into parcels called ahupua`a. This enabled them to grow various food items at different elevations as well as get fish from the ocean. Now that is self-sustaining! So much we could learn from that way of life.

An article from The Boston Globe gives us a glimpse of Frankie today. I can hardly wait to read Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad, published in October 2007.

How did I miss it?

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Who Wants Worms?

2008-08-03T18:00:00.001-10:00

I love to fish! I’ve been fishing all my life. Even as a little girl, I remember pulling in crappie and bream from lakes in the Midwest and catfish in the South. As an adult, when I lived on my sailboat, I fished on the Pacific Ocean for shark and other blue water fish. I waded out into the cold rivers of Alaska for salmon. I chopped ice off the top of a minnow bucket to go fishing with my children in Mississippi.

But I have never used a worm!

I can thread a hook through the eye of a minnow and put rotten meat in a basket to lure crabs, but I can’t bear the thought of touching a worm.

Last week at our local garden club meeting, several of the members mentioned that they would love to teach the rest of us about vermiculture. I’d taken an elective course in viticulture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which now has grown to have its own department .

Our class prepared and planted several acres with sauvignon grapes, which are bearing beautifully now. I knew vermiclture and viticulture were not the same thing, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more about vermiculture.

When the question came up about red wigglers vs. earthworms, my worst fears were realized. It was clear that wine and worms were definitely not in the same category!

I listened closely to the conversation, waiting for some other brave soul to ask the question that was running through my mind.

“How do you handle them if you don’t want to handle them?” someone else finally asked.

Two responses came out of it. One is to wear rubber gloves, the other is to use chopsticks. Now that I could tolerate (maybe). I’ll wear rubber gloves and use chopsticks!

My second daughter, Inga, has the most incredible garden in Boise, Idaho. Her little magical space was on the Boise Garden Tour a couple years ago. She takes advantage of every inch in order to grow her garden, even out by the street.

I know Inga keeps several compost piles going so I asked her if she also grew worms. There are worms in her compost, but she hasn’t specifically set herself up to do vermiculture, she said.

Here is Velvet Replogle and some of her explanations of how to start and what to do with vermiculture .

Strips of damp (not dripping wet) newspaper are put into the bin as bedding for the worms. When Velvet first started, she used Styrofoam containers, but the worms burrowed a hole through the Styrofoam in search of food. She said that if they aren't getting enough food, they leave.

Now she uses plastic bins with tiny holes so the worms can’t get through but still get air. You can see some of the holes in the far side of this bin.

With a moderate temperature and a relatively quiet atmosphere, the worms will stay alive and healthy. Like chickens, worms like a bit of grit, such as ground up egg shells or coffee grounds. After about a week, you can start adding other bits of kitchen scraps.

When you pull aside the wet newspaper, you see the dark and rich castings – by-product of your worms and the primary reason anyone would bother to raise worms.

This article states that castings have a nitrogen content five (5) times greater than regular soil. The phosphate is seven (7) times greater, potash is eleven (11) times greater, and magnesium is three (3) times greater.

Those facts are almost enough for me to reconsider my aversion to worms! When you are trying to grow something in a field of lava, you need all the help you can get. You’ll rarely get such magnificent fertilizer with so little effort.

My daughter knows how I hate the thought of touching worms, so I mentioned that Velvet uses chopsticks to move her worms. Inga’s response? “They are yummy! But a little hard to eat with chopsticks!” (big sigh) Our kids just never grow up, do they?

These redworms (Eisenia foetida) are also known as red wiggler, brandling or manure worms. They can double their populations every 90 days if given the right amount of food and a good home where they can live.

After watching Velvet and learning the value of these little wiggly things, I thought, “Maybe I can do this!”

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The Gardener Within

2008-07-30T18:00:00.002-10:00

Remember the old saying: “April showers bring May flowers?” It takes more than just showers to have beautiful flowers in May - or June or July or any month. It also takes digging and planting, nurturing and patience, faith and prayer.

My maternal grandfather was a strong typical “type A” personality, but when he worked in his garden, he was calm, happy and peaceful. His special joy was in finding many varieties of iris. He would drive all over Southern Illinois in search of new iris plants. Studies have shown that in a similar way, Alzheimer’s patients who are placed in a garden all day are no longer violent.

I don’t plan on collecting iris, but I’ve thought about the many varieties of daylily or hibiscus available. I’m trying a little of each to see which ones grow best here. It’s hard to decide – so maybe I’ll collect both!

Even when I lived on my sailboat for five years, I had hanging baskets of cherry tomatoes and pots of aloe plants for sunburn and wounds. I needed that bit of plant material to make me feel like I had a garden. Various cultures around the world have special tales about the healing power of plants on all levels.

Some of my favorite times as a small girl were spent in a special cherry tree in the back yard of a parsonage. We only lived there a couple years, but as long as we did, I would climb up onto a high limb and read. As a lonely child, it was my way to escape. Many of us have had spiritual experiences with trees, but we don’t discuss them for fear of sounding silly. We rarely talk about the spiritual aspects of gardening, until someone of like mind brings up the subject.

Maybe I’m a little strange, but I talk to my plants. I haven’t really heard them talk back, although they do respond by growing and producing. I used to think people who talked to their animal pets were weird, too!

Today, I live on an acre of a’a in Hawai`i. A`a is lumpy, rocky lava that blew out of the depths of our volcano. The only way to plant something is to move aside the rocks and dump in a bag of soil, which filters down after a rain or watering and I need to add more soil. Still, there are nutrients in the greedy porous lava. Plants do grow, with a lot of prayer and patience.

Peter and Eileen Caddy were founders of the Findhorn Community in Scotland. They moved to a barren plot on the northernmost tip of Scotland, a place where nothing should have grown. Yet they made it work, through meditation and conversations with the nature spirits and “devas” - the angels of each plant. They claimed to receive gardening advice from those beings.

No matter what we may believe about all that, their results were incredible. I hope for the same results in my lava. Here in this little corner of the Big Island, I suppose it takes calling on Madam Pele, our volcano goddess – or maybe calling on the menehune.

I believe that if you are open to it, the process of gardening will tell you everything you need to know about life. There is a definite spirit of cooperation and communication between plants and humans. It is easy to see how we cultivate ourselves when we cultivate a garden. The idea is to relate to all living things as if they can understand, because they can! It is a living prayer.

Saint Fiacre is the patron saint of gardens and gardeners. He carries a shovel in one hand and a book in the other. He gave up his life as a prince of Ireland to live as a monk on the edge of a forest in France. Many people came to him for his healing through herbs and flowers. His reputation grew and ultimately, he built his own monastery that featured his healing plants.

Being There with Peter Sellars is a wonderful old movie. It is the story of a man who started out as sort of an idiot child who learned to garden, and could speak of nothing but gardening. Through a minor accident, he was brought into a home where he gradually worked his way up to international significance with only his gardening remarks. Everyone thought that his words were profound, and they became metaphors for everything from politics to world finance to love.

Please leave a comment and tell me what spiritual experiences have you had with plants.

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