Life is one big road with lots of signs...so said Bob Marley and I agree. It's about the journey rather than the destination even when the journey takes us to places we'd rather avoid. The past couple of weeks have been like that here as Christina had to spend several days in the hospital in Hilo recovering from a kidney infection and dehydration due to the antibiotics she had to take. I finally got off site after a couple of weeks without going farther than the dirt road by making the 50+ mile round trip to the hospital several times. Neither of us is a big fan of conventional medicine, nor hospitals in general, though we are thankful for the care she received there. Needless to say with her being gone and recovering here at home, sleep and work were sporadic at best. And now things are really revving up.
We just got a cow. The problem is, at this point we have nowhere to put her because the land is mostly covered with a scrub thicket of guava trees along with many fast growing pioneer species. There is no pasture yet. A disaster was averted when I was told Sunday evening that the cow would be arriving Monday morning. All I could envision was a rodeo, multiple sprains, bumps and bruises and probably a cow at large running down the road. Even a family milk cow grown docile by gentle treatment can go bonkers when the routine is changed and she gets flustered. I've been leveled by a cow's kick to the knee on such an occasion and wanted no part of creating that here. Fortunately my prior knowledge of animal husbandry prevailed and the cow is now safely down the road on pasture awaiting the coming day when she can settle in here.
To get ready we need to hire a piece of heavy equipment to clear a road and pasture. The options presented so far are using a mini-excavator to clear a road or getting a bulldozer to do it quicker and probably better. Dozers can run up to $200/hour plus delivery fee. Ouch! My hope is that I can find an owner that will rent one to us and allow me to operate it thus saving us a great deal of money. My Marine Corps training may prove useful for a change... (I ran heavy equipment as a jarhead). Whatever happens needs to happen fairly quickly so we can get the cow here. Raw milk is $12/gallon so I for one am looking forward to eliminating that expense one she calves.
There has been some improvement in the gardens. Some of our composted humanure was harvested and I mixed that with the cinder based soil that we had delivered. I also went into the forest and harvested some soil from a low gully that is filled with hala trees. The falling leaves have slowly decayed forming a rich black humus that I shoveled into five gallon buckets and wheelbarrowed back to the potting area. The seeds that I planted with interns on the last astrologically favorable day (consult a farmer's almanac) have all done much better at germinating than previous attempts. The soil mixtures had much more nutrient content enabling the seeds to sprout. My challenge now is to keep them going until time for transplanting in a few weeks. With the amount of rainfall we get here the plants take a beating and have to be protected. The soil needs frequent amending as well due to leaching.
Corn is being stubborn. I have only managed to get three corn seedlings to sprout despite trying different methods and using the University of Hawai'i non-GMO corn seeds. Next to nothing has happened even when planted in straight compost. Perhaps it is somewhat seasonal here even with the continuous warm weather and abundant rain. I'll plant corn at various times throughout the year as a test to see when or if it will do well here in Puna. There is only one person with a corn farm on the entire island so it may be a crop I have to give up. Time will tell.There are other things to eat that grow prolifically. Abundance surrounds us.
As ever the distance from society both physically and intellectually so to speak are very healing. The sounds I wake up to have changed from racing cars, sirens, and shouts to bird song, rainfall, and perhaps the wind. One really cannot put a price on that in my opinion. The permaculture view as I see it is one of health, true wealth, deep connection, and personal power being celebrated while being surrounded by verdant, bucolic beauty. Sounds pretty awesome to me.
