Where things stand as 2008 rolls to a close

As usual, I'm not as far along as I want to be, but I have made progress.

I have a compound bow & I'm going to learn to hunt.

I have successfully grown and threshed 4 grain crops. Figuring out how to thresh and winnow is an art...one that I am still learning!

I started a lauhala weaving class. Why is this useful you might ask? I can make my own baskets for winnowing grain. Seriously! I tried 10 different containers & ended up using a shallow lauhala basket I found laying around the house. Lo and behold, it works the best...and to think it was probably here for ambiance & decor.

I have a dog who keeps me laughing and makes me feel a helluva lot safer. He also catches rats, which is a big plus. He's my best bud & a joy.

I have just completed a native healing plant class & I am amassing the plants I feel are most useful & broad-spectrum. Mahalo Nui to my kumu, David Leonard. This is a huge step for my personal well being, as I don't have health insurance. It's empowering to fix minor aches and pains by simply walking up and down the block plucking useful plants from the jungle.

I finally met Jay of http://sanityandsimplicity.blogspot.com/. I've been following his blog and posts on Punaweb for months. I have been itching to meet him in person. Sometimes my goals overwhelm me and I can't understate the importance of meeting someone who is actually DOING it, and very well I might add. Jay's got me on the rocket stove train & has rounded out my garden with gifts of taro, sugarcane, hawaiian sweet potato and knowledge. He also turned me on to a few must-have tools (which I always appreciate) and sound deck-building techniques, which I'm going to need. I had long suspected that Jay was living the life I envision for myself & a visit to his homestead confirmed it. It's been enlightening and inspirational to see Jay's place....it's lit a fire under my ass for sure. If you get a chance to go to Jay's, do so. Jay is generous with his time and knowledge, offered with humility, no attitude and a fine cup of coffee. I consider myself very fortunate to know him.

My greatest strides this year have been in the garden. I ran through my first big test batch of growing 'everything'... I think I had upwards of 70 different crops growing. I have figured out what works, what doesn't, what is critical to nutritional survival & what isn't really worth the effort. I have a much better idea of which crops I should concentrate on for each 'season' (yes we do have seasons here - if you ask the plants). My most important discovery is that bees love sunflowers. I saw 2 bees TOTAL the first 3 months in the garden. When the sunflowers came up the bees mobbed them. I'm fairly certain they established a hive nearby because I can hear it. Guess what? When you have bees you have pollenation. When the bees showed up, my garden production doubled. Duh. My hand pollenating can't hold a candle to the bees.

I have 5 different potato varieties growing. 12 varieties of peppers. 6 herbs that I use extensively. A few vitamin packed greens are holding on by a thread. I just tore up 6 varieties of tomatoes & tossed them into the jungle to go feral. I'm successfully growing 4 high-nutrition grains: amaranth, millet, quinoa and sunflower. And of all things, *wheat* just threw up some heads. I'm pretty damn thrilled, but I won't declare wheat a success until I actually thresh the grain, so stay tuned.

I am still expirementing with 6 varieties of rice. I've lost 5 attempted trial batches as I figure it out, but my current rice crop is looking healthy so far. If I can pull rice off I'll float right of of my britches.

My indulgence crops of cacoa and coffee remain to be seen. I have 25 coffee berries on my oldest tree and am anxiously awaiting their harvest. I'll get about 3 sips of coffee out of it, but the it'll be my coffee from my tree, thus more satisfying!

The native Hawaiian side of the garden is really taking shape. I've attempted to gather every plant we covered in my medicinals class & Jay catapulted my edibles with the Taro & Sweet Potato. I have banana, hawaiian chili pepper, pineapple & papaya going strong & know where to scavenge mango, passionfruit, breadfruit, coconut & avocado for most of the year. I'm busily harvesting wild popolo berries, tiny but very tasty! They are the closest I'll get to a berry at sea level, so I'm running with it. If I can figure out how to dehydrate breadfruit, guava and strawberry guava into something useful I'll be happy. All three are dripping off the trees right now & it drives me nuts that I don't know how to preserve them yet.

I must mention the glory of dehydrating. I dehydrate every veggie and fruit that comes out of the garden or the grocery store. My food waste has dropped considerably. Nothing goes bad before I can use it. I can buy in bulk, or when stuff is on sale and I have stuff out of season. Done right, dehydrated food tastes fantastic. It does take a long 4 hour slog to prep, cut and dehydrate my booty every other week or so, but then there is zero prep time whenever I want to cook. And if i only need 1/4 of an onion, that's all I have grab out of the mason jar. I can't overstate how much dehydrating has changed my eating, my cooking and my efficient use of perishable foods.

So. My next steps for early 2009. I always try to plan, overplan really, but have learned it's better to just roll with what life throws my way here. Here is my wish list for Jan/Feb:
* get the footings poured or leveled for the shipping containers
* get a second 20' container (one for shop, one for house)
* get both containers to the farm.
* set up the 20x30 tarp for outdoor living space
* fence in the tarped area so Pono can roam around
* build a modular (movable) 16x16 deck under the tarp out of 8x8 sections
* get the solar, rocket stove, composting toilet and solar H2O hooked up
* get 3 or 4 laying hens & build a chicken coop
* build a small bug-proof greenhouse for the at-risk crops
* dig out the remainder of the fish pond & get it stocked with Tilapia
* build a hybrid solar dehydrator with rocket stove backup
* take the DLNR hunter safety class & get my hunting license

Of course, check back to see how many of these things are done by March :D

Many thanks to all of you who support me, tolerate my dogma & give me a well placed 'atta girl' when I doubt my resolve. I couldn't do it without you. I hope you have a safe, sane 2009. I think it's going to be a bumpy year & we'll need to cherish and protect what is truly important....don't be afraid to re-define what it means to be prosperous and happy.