Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat.

Fruits. They come in spurts as a bearing tree will share a bountiful harvest with you in a short matter of succulent days. After the banana smoothie binge about 2 weeks ago, I've been going through great withdrawal...however, my dark days are coming to an end, as another huge bunch will probably start turning yellow in a week or so, that are now growing in a tree by Krista and Ian's house. Conveniantly, they should be ready when those two are off galavanting in England, so we don't even have to share. :)

We've found a spot in town where a mango tree is just at peak, throwing down her good graces right into our pockets. We went into town this afternoon for the soul purpose of filling a bag of them. They fall in a parking lot where a lot of tourists sit in their cars on their lap tops, a prime spot in town for internet reception. It's a little strange scavenging around the ground picking up the mangos with them sitting there feet away from you, but in the end, the humiliation's worth it.

The avocado tree on the property that kept us so satisfied the first month here has long gone past it's production, but Chelsea returned yesterday pregnant with them filling the flipped up section of her t-shirt. A branch had fallen down on a side road, knocking a bunch too early to the ground. They're preemies, but we'll still take 'em!

Juicy and delicious, nothing beats fresh fruit.

Aloha, and no posts for about a week as my days will be spent road tripping around the entire island of Maui with my sister!!!!!! Stay tuned for our scandalous adventures. :)

“It’s not everyday you get charged by a cow….in Hawaii.”

After months of dreamin’ and schemin’, after a week of losing important “Shade vs Sun” planting information, (which a frustrated Chelsea had to re-research…) and after an hour or so of bickering on how exactly to carry out the task at hand (I’ve learned never to work with my future spouse…) our fruit trees FINALLY made it into the ground! 

It’s been in the talks for awhile now, but we ordered about 30 fruit trees from the Big Island and on Friday they arrived, so today they were permanently relocated to their new homes on our upper ridge. Ian had previously dug holes with his nifty John Deere; he dug them too big however, so the project took pretty much the entire day to carry out between covering back up areas, mixing soils and peat moss, removing the never ending rocks and watering. At Krista’s request, we crossed two green ti leaves at the bottom of each hole before placing the “Keiki” trees in, a Hawaiian tradition to insure healthy growth. 

A slightly more exciting day fell into our laps yesterday however, as Chelsea and I hiked a trail through the Hana Ranch pastures. This scenic trail that takes you through out the cow pastures overlooking the coast, is an unspoken “At your own Risk” type of deal as we found out through experience….We completed it fine our way there, a little cautious as we passed the grassing beauties, but got through and spent the afternoon as the lovely Hamoa Beach. Deciding we liked the gassy trail over the road, we went back the way we came, but this time encountered a very pregnant lady parked right in the middle of the pathway. Not sure what to do, we waited it out for a bit, thinking she, like the others, would scatter up the hill when we approached closer. This chick however, wasn’t moving out of the way. Like humans, I’m guessing that the hormones of pregnant cows are slightly out of whack, leaving her upset by our presence. She got up, did a little shuffling of her feet (the beginning of the intimidation…) and pretty much started ferociously making her way tours us (Chelsea’s direction more than mine….) Hearts pounding, but not wanting to scare her by bolting it ourselves, we calmly backed off even more than we already had been, and managed to retrace our steps in the opposite direction towards the road. A lovely trail, but I think it’s safe to say we’re never taking it again….

I don’t know what’s up with our animal connectivity in Hawaii, but the chickens here at Hana Tropicals continue to drive us up the wall, as they’re as free-range as you can be. Porsha helped herself right into the Diggs the other day, they jump up on tables, and our jokes about BBQ-in’ them are truly no longer jokes. The other morning as I laid in bed not wanting to move, but slowing going insane from their hungry chuckling outside, I yelled up to Chelsea to get up and feed them, her response “Yea, let me just grab my shotgun.”

Aloha! And if you are enchanted by “charming” chickens and ever want some, keep them in a coop from day one!!!! They’re eggs are great and all, but when it comes down to it sadly, they’re just not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Tabhair póg dom, táim Éireannach

For all you bottle and can returners out there like me, you know the sometimes daunting task of hauling the bags of sticky returnable’s to the crackling machines. Well yesterday, Chelsea and I took our highway patrol finds, as well as months of build up from those at Hana Tropicals and the Oasis to the store…. Quite a bit, as bags and bags were crammed into the back of our little yellow Jeep Wrangler. HI returns much more than NY, so even Happy’s monster energy drinks can get us 5cents! (I’m really into recycling and returning fyi, so sorry if I’m getting’ a lil too excited about this...) 

We had waited until St. Patty’s to do our returning to use our money for beer, and had a whole wonderful plan for the day. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way we thought… After a spider bite left my ankle swelling like balloon a couple days ago, I’ve had no choice but to start poppin’ antibiotic pills for a staph infection, so alcohol was outta the question. Also, no one in Hawaii really seems to celebrate the Irish either, or so we thought….

So we get to the store, and the first bag of returnable’s I pull out of the back of the Jeep breaks and glass bottles crash all over the parking lot, making a cut on my already screwed up ankle. Frantically trying to clean the mess, I start picking up glass as Chelsea goes for a broom, and to make matters worse, a bed load of glazed over teenagers in the pickup truck next to us just sit a stare at me, only getting up to go purchase and consume more munchies from the store….

After a rough start, we finally returned our goods, collected our money, and began our search for Sheppards Pie and Corned Beef. Since there are about four places to get food in Hana, who rely on tourists for their income, we figured it’d be worth a shot to just see if they had any specials. We went to all, asked at all, got nothing, so settled on fish lunches instead. (In the long run Omega 3’s are better than beer anyways, right?)

To make our day a little more interesting, we attended the first ever Maui Growers Association meeting with Krista, down the road at Boston Matt’s place. After waiting until after the designated starting time, we began dipping into Krista’s delicious guacamole, and slowly less than a handful of people started showing up. All haoles and aged hippies, they looked around Matt’s farm and listed which flowers they’d eventually want cuttings of, and that was about the extent of the meeting. Walking around the grounds, I heard more about one woman’s life of drugs and alcohol in the first conversation with her than I ever really wanted to know. She was however, Irish. A petite and hyper woman, she talked a mile a minute, and exclaimed; “I’m a Mc! I’m a Mc! I got Corned beef going at Home!” We were invited for left overs for the next day, but we’ll see if that actually happens….

So on a night where most American’s got their drink on while watching March Madness, Chelsea and I jammed to my Irish tunes, ate cheesecake and challenged ourselves to the hard level of Spider Solitaire (I won, Chelsea didn't. Gotta love the luck of the Irish.)  But don’t you worry, I was wearin’ my green. :)

Aloha and GO CUSE!!!!

"Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?"

In just a matter of weeks, Krista and Ian will be leaving Hana for a three week visit to England (Ian’s mother country,) leaving Chelsea and I in charge. A slightly scary thought for some, but Krista seems to have the utmost confidence in leaving her livelihood in our hands. Preparing for this responsibility doesn’t come without training however, as we’ve been slowing learning more about the business end, instead of just being weeders, vine entanglers, rock pickers, flower washers, gardeners, chicken shit cleaners and whatever other titles we’ve been knighted with. Yesterday however, we learned how to make leis out of green ti leaves. Arts like lei making, passed down through generations of Hawaiians is always a joy to learn and be apart of. :)

Odds and end tasks fill our mornings here at Hana Tropicals. We finally managed to finish weeding a section of heliconia flowers and ti leaves this afternoon (a proud accomplishment after days of the sun beating down and the mosquitoes being much too friendly). With Happy gone for the week, we engage in joy rides in the Fulgy, once again practicing our skills on a standard. I when I say joy ride, it’s really not as scandalous as you may think. We periodically have to take runs in the worlds most beat up truck, to the compost pile to drop off our un-pulled rubbish. I'll tell ya, once we pick up speed on the farm roads and shift into second gear, it’s quite a thrill.

Tonight, as I sat outside the Diggs, beginning to write this post on the chicken shit proof floor I power washed today, Krista rolls up in her not so beat up truck, to unload the arrivals of our baby fruit trees! A project long in the works, we ordered trees to plant here on the property, each on will be named after past and present workers of Hana Tropicals. Now I just have to decide which fruit tree I want named after me! Banana would be perfect, just not sure if we got one….

Fruit trees aren’t the only thing Krista unloaded however….From the cooler amongst her weekly groceries, emerged a cheesecake, and not just any cheesecake, a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. I think Chelsea’s proclaimed her undying love for Krista at least 30 times since….So obviously I lied and our habit of indulging has willingly extended it’s time frame. But hey, at least there’s no big drinking holiday coming up or anything… ;)

Aloha.

I like ice cream a whole lot, it tastes good when days are hot…

Sugar Week 2011 has officially come to an end. It’s hard cutting the chord, but I do where bikini’s on a regular basis and feel that for that sake of my waistline, this consumption needs to stop. With at least one festival going on a week somewhere in Maui however, cutting this chord has proven to be difficult. 

Yesterday, before cleaning the day away at an ex-Fab Four members vacation home (which I’m once again DYING to talk about but can’t for privacy matters….) we made a clear break in our schedule for the Spring Festival at the Hana School. The School in Hana is all open, with each class room’s door going outside, not to a hallway. It’s a great set up, but I can imagine it being very distracting for all those little day dreaming children looking out to a shimmering ocean instead of a chalk board. The towns public library is also on the school’s grounds, which Chelsea and I discovered the other day; it has celebrity magazines (my guilty pleasure) and air conditioning, enough said. Anyways, the school hosts this annual festival on their campus, and we heard there was to be a bake sale at this lovely gathering (which served a pork dish of some sort that appears at EVERY Hawaiian gathering) and arrived right as it started. Being the punctual farmers that we are, we arrived even before the baked goods arrived, waited patiently (Chelsea excluded,) loaded up on strawberry cup cakes and the like and headed off to clean for the wealthy…

To make matters worse, Larissa went out with a bang by splurging on a tube of delicious chocolate macadamia nut ice cream (putting our last cheesecake to shame,) which the three of us devoured in one sitting. This of course was after one last round of banana peanut butter shakes as the beloved blender unfortunately leaves tomorrow with Larissa....I know you’re probably thinking all we do is eat sweets or think about eating sweets, but there was just something about this past week where occasions for such gorges kept popping up. Larissa leaves us after a short stay tomorrow morning, as she heads to another part of Maui for Massage Therapy School….We’re losin’ another good one…But this sugar intake just needs to stop.

That’s all for now, no more food talk after today, I promise.

Aloha!

P.S. SICK OF WINTER?? Need a (non edible, no sugar) pick me up?! Order some beautiful Hawaiian Tropical Flowers from Maui, harvested, washed and shipped by yours truly. :)

Go to http://www.hanatropicals.com/ for more info!

Whatever gets you through the night, it's alright, alright.

Once a month, on a Tuesday at 11 a.m. a tsunami alarm goes off in Hana, just as a precaution for when the real deal strikes. So you can imagine our response to hearing the familiar ring close to 10 p.m. last night, on a Thursday none the less. We’d previously been told if the alarm does go off, to fill as many things with fresh water as possible and head up the mountain. Chelsea called Krista, who had just heard of news from Japan, and said not too worry, that waves might hit around 3 a.m. and that we’d be fine. But still it’s not the most comforting feeling….We have an on going joke with peanut butter here, as we eat it by the spoonfuls… “Forget apples, a spoonful of peanut butter a day keeps the doctors away!” the quotes just keep us entertain for hours washing flowers….anyways, we joked that all we needed was peanut butter to survive this, and that we should have stocked up…. A way to calm our nerves I guess.

Growing up in the north east, and only really worrying about blizzards and driving in snow, I wasn’t really sure what to think of a tsunami, quite naively I’m seeing now. The proximity to Japan didn’t really hit us until last night either! The night was a strange one indeed, with the alarm going off every hour, and floods of text messages and phone calls coming on both Chelsea and my phones throughout the night. In that half awake, half asleep mode, we were real out of it, talking to each other periodically, cursing our phones…Chelsea even got up in the middle of the night to fill up jugs of water, this morning realizing the state of consciousness in which she did it in….

This morning the sun shined however, and as we weeded near the Fugly to listen to the radio, we heard that the big island, as well as Honolulu and the west side of Maui all experienced flooding. Thank God Hana’s okay. In honor of surviving our first tsunami, we decided cheesecake was in order, naturally, so we headed down to town to get us some (we discovered one of the stores in town stocks it!) Stopping at Phyllis’s on the way there for a bit to eat, we got a laugh or two in, learned some more Hawaiian culture, were advised not to go to the beach and went on our merry way.

I feel like more of an exciting response to this event is in order, but can’t really deliver. Just a strange, strange night, and we’re all quite exhausted.

All humor aside, this earthquake is devastating to the people of Japan, and I truly feel blessed that nothing more serious happened here. Hoping that those displaced find their families, and chaos calms down soon ….

Aloha, stay off the beach and lets go Cuse.

Save The Planet; it's the only one with chocolate.

Once again, the internet has been quite spotty over the past week, so I assure you it’s not that we’ve been lazy here at Hana Tropicals and have nothing to report…. but it’s the damn technology which I’ve been having a constant struggle with here!

On Saturday, we ventured into the town of Haiku, and hour and a half away down the Hana Highway, for the annual Haiku Flower Festival. Since Krista couldn’t attend, we went with Matt, a self proclaimed “Mass-hole” from the outskirts of Boston, who’s been living in Hana and growing flowers for the better part of the last 30 years. He talked our ear off for the rides there and back (“F-ing this, F-ing that….”) as we rode in the back of his creepy window-less white van, two out of the three of us deciding our breakfast’s didn’t belong in our stomachs, but rather the inside of the van (I wish I was joking but unfortunately am not.) Being on the floor of a car on that road has temporarily turned me away from my normal day starter of oatmeal, (yes I’m like a 70 year old woman, but no, it’s not good…)

Once we arrived at the festival and washed out our mouths, the day became quite enjoyable. The hundreds of beautiful flowers at our booth were used in an amateur flower arranging competition as a fundraiser for the town’s elementary school. With the leftovers at the end of the day, I put my bartering skills and charm to work for some kettle corn and Coconut Glen’s Ice cream. :)

Stirring up the devil by eating sweets at the festival, we liked what we’ve been missing and took Fat Tuesday to the max last night. The Catholic Church in town, St. Mary’s, had a carnival for Marti Gras, where we took to the chance to gorge on the wonderful products of sugar and creation of deep frying. Finally feeling like the 20 something’s that we are, the three of us enjoyed our night out on the town instead of staying in at the farm. Our 9 o’clock bed time however didn’t really extend last night as the sugar rush ended in a sudden crash…. 

I don’t know what it is about Hana, but I feel like there’s always used clothing and garage sales all the time. It’s absolutely wonderful, as I hardly make anything, but still haven’t lost a liking for shopping. “Hana Macy’s” as Krista calls it, is an outdoor thrift store down the road, we’ve become quite fond of perusing every so often, and little garage sale was going on at the carnival last night. I’m quite pleased with my “Local Babe” t-shirt with a Hawaiian girl in a bikini on the back….

Alrightly, don’t think we never work by what I write! It’s tiring and dirty, the other stuff’s just better. :)

 

Aloha.

Love your mother.

Oheo Gulch, or more commonly know as the Seven Sacred Pools (although there’s more than seven…) and a walk through the famous Bamboo Forest to a 400 foot waterfall, is claimed as a must see in the Hana area. Yesterday, Chelsea (she’s returned! ) Larissa and I ventured down the long stretch of road to that must see destination. Being a part of the Haleakala National Park and knowing some sort of payment would be charged, we cleverly squeezed in where the fence ended, and took a dip in one of the many pools. A nice change from salt water, these pools are fed from waterfalls, making it quite possibly one of the most refreshing swims I’ve ever taken. We even furthered that experience by washing off our already submerged bodies in a small fall directly emptying into the pool. Next off on our hike!

An INCREDIBLE hike through the bamboo forest left us in awe and I can’t even begin to interpret the powerful feeling of walking through hundreds of thousands ( I’m not exaggerating in the slightest bit) of skinny, yet amazingly strong bamboo trees. A slight darkness comes over you as you first walk in. The small, yet abundant canopies of bamboo trees let little amounts of light in, but once those tree tops start swaying, it’s a true testament to their strength. As soon as a wind blows, all of the thousand of trees in your vicinity, above your head and completely surrounding you, sway and rock, moving and spiraling around in the sky. A loud crackling sound echoes throughout, and if you didn’t know how tough these trees were, you’d probably be peeing you pants at the thought of them crashing down on you. The path leading through this miraculous forest lasted for about a mile (I could have walked it for hours,) and eventually it brought us to the 400 foot falls. My neck hurt by the end of this excursion if you haven’t guessed yet….  

 

An avid people watcher, I love to sit and watch the tourists that experience these natural wonders along with me, a tourist all the same. Before we hiked, we swam when the pools weren’t as crowded, just us and some gypsies who were hanging out and wishing for more Mary J. Later after the hike, we jumped back in, this time with families making sure their children were jumping far away enough from the rocks, couples deep in each others embrace at the top of picturesque falls, and other couples who seemed more concentrated on getting a perfect shot of each other under the falls than anything else… People are funny, but it’s this unspoken awe of Maui’s wonders that combines us all. That mother nature is somethin’ else…

Aloha. <3 

Maui No Ka Oi

Since my last attempt at the hiking the Kings Trail, which travels along the coast, didn’t follow through to its completion, I took another shot at it this morning. Ditching my first companion (as Chelsea still hasn’t returned from her Hannah-less week,) I took to the trail with Larissa, this time starting from Wai'anapanapa, a much easier, and just as scenic trek. As the sun glistened down on the crashing waves, and as we paused to watch the hunchback whales actively shift about from a distance, I tried to imagine just what Maui must have been like years and years ago, when in fact a King did stride along this trail. Just like any spot, the history of Maui, through its geological formation from volcanoes 30 million years ago, to its kings and queens, to its mythological past, is fascinating. 

Inspired by this walk, and satisfied at the perfect coconut I commandeered on my way back, I decided to give myself some homework, and research more about this land whose history I’m only temporarily part of.

Maui, a half human sorcerer in mythological times, was a prankster that possessed a built of Paul Bunyan and Hercules combined (quite the man!) And the island Maui, naturally named after this stud, is the only Hawaiian and Polynesian island named after a god. Since some of his pranks are a little inappropriate for my possible younger audience (which I know probably doesn’t exist….) I won’t go into too many details of his legend and death, but I highly recommend looking it up if you’re in need of a laugh. 

Winding down after the trail in our hammock with my fresh banana smoothie, I also released my inner science nerd, and read about hunch back whales, and how really no other place in the world right now has more of them than the waters of Maui. From November to May, they migrate to here to mate, give birth and rear their young. Feeling very lucky, as I’m smack dab in the middle of this season, it doesn’t take too much time or patience to look out at the ocean and see some movement from these incredible animals. I could go on and on about them now, but will spare you the reading….

Many Hawaiians believe that a certain animals are spirits that protect their families, which they call their Aumakua. Here at Hana Tropicals, Krista and Ian feel their Aumakua is the Hawaiian owl, Pueo. The Pueo has shown it’s self at many critical times in their lives, and one even lived in a tree above Amy’s tent on the property. I believe that mine is the sea turtle. I love those little (well some not that little!) guys, watching their heads bob up and down in the water. Since I’m not the most comfortable (STILL) swimming in those intimidating ocean waves, I like to think my Aumakua is protecting me while I swim, or sometimes just float. :)

The animals, the slightly disturbed prankster god, hell even the banana’s, prove that even if I wasn’t already impressed the minute my plane landed, I’m defiantly in full belief that Maui No Ka Oi. Maui is the best. 

Aloha.

You can't play the license plate game in Hawaii...

I used to think that people who used leaf blowers were lazy. I used to find it a ridiculous act, especially on small lawns. I used to see it as a waste of gas and a perfectly good rack. But then I put on the ear muffs, I put on the super sexy safety goggles, and I strapped that puppy on my back and revved it up. A changed woman, I went to town on an area behind the Oasis, in much need to some leaf blowin’ lovin’, and felt powerful, because power tools are cool.

Periodically throughout the week, we’ll help Happy in the fields with different tasks like weeding, hauling brush, whacking trees down with machetes and hand saws, and the ever popular rock picking. Since the Oasis is towards the front of the entrance, it’s important to keep this area fairly neat and tidy for when visitors pop in. If leaf blowing is what it takes to impress our visitors, I am more than willing to take on that daunting task myself. :)

One of the many great things about our new worker, Larissa, is that as she unpacked her suitcase, she revealed something wonderful, a blender. Chelsea, Amy and I always went on about how we wished we had a blender, so we could make killer smoothies with all the luscious fresh fruit we find and consume. Then out of nowhere comes this gracious gift from a suitcase amongst Larissa’s clothes. Before Amy left, she wanted to cut down a huge bunch of bananas (they weren’t ripe yet, but it didn’t really matter…) So we hung them up, and now they’re finally turning yellowing and calling my name to be placed in that blender. :)

 

Aloha.