Muscovy Ducks

If you've been following our story, you know that the garden serves as home to 3 Muscovy ducks, Dougall, Donna, and Daisy. These three help keep the number of slugs down. They are not perfect slug controllers, but they help.

Having one boy and two girls, the inevitable happened --- eggs.....fertile eggs. The first time around, the little ducklings didn't survive. We weren't aware until too late that Donna and Daisy didn't know how to keep them warm. 

Donna promptly created another nest, laying a few eggs before settling down to incubate them. After 35 days, a magical little duckling hatched while the volunteers were working in the garden. When we arrived, there were just eggs. Two hours later, little peeping announced the fact that Donna now had a fuzzy little baby. 

Little yellow and brown duckling snuggles up to Donna.

This time around Donna is being very protective. She won't let curious Daisy come too close. We have hopes that Donna will prove to be a better mama this time. We could of course take the baby away and hand raise it. But that just isn't going to work out right now, so Mother Nature has to do it herself. 

October 28, 2013

Today was a wet Monday, but luckily it didn't rain while we worked at the garden. This past week the garden received 1.9 inches of rain. Wahoo!! I love it! 

We finally, finally got the first keyhole garden filled. Whew, that took a long time. It's amazing just how much stuff you need to fill it up. And all the time that you're filling, the stuff is composting down. So then it needs even more stuff! But we finally have it firmly filled and topped off with 3 inches of soil. Of course it's going to settle, but that is to be expected. But for now, it's ready for planting. 

Over by the greenhouse we discovered two papaya trees that came up all by themselves. We can only assume that the seeds were deposited there by birds.....our own chickens perhaps? Most likely. But we let the little trees stay and now they are already producing fruits. We have no idea if they will ripen sweet or not, but we'll see. It may be too cold here or maybe too high in elevation for papayas. 

The greenhouse crew has been working full speed ahead. Lots of seeds are being sown and lots of little plants being transplanted into larger pots, in the front of this photo are jicama plants. Behind them are strawberries. Missy got the new seeds of Tuscan kale started today, so in a few weeks we'll be ble to replace our old kale plants. Those old plants look like trees! 

Elaine attacked grass that threatened to invade the bed that she prepared last week. No way is that grass allowed back! She plans to grow carrots there next. Elaine also harvested our sugar cane crop today. Some of those stalks are really plump. We're looking forward to sugar cane juicing next week. 

Sharon, Leonie, Connie, and Carolyn worked hard digging, harvesting, and planting. Getting the giant yacon plants out, chopped up, and stuffed into the #2 keyhole garden surely wasn't an easy job. With all the sudden rain, the yacon tubers were getting super sized. Rather than see them get ruined if they split, we harvested the plants. All the crowns were replanted. 

One of our volunteers, Judith, donated some aloe to the garden. It is suppose to less bitter, and thus an edible type. The plants appear to like it here and are growing plump. 

The little curry plants are rapidly growing larger. We haven't tried harvesting any yet, but every once in a while a volunteer reaches down and plucks a few leaves, savoring the wonderful aroma. How nice! 

We only have one plant of stick oregano, but it is getting quite large. Guess its time to try harvesting some. It goes very well with chicken. 

We lost the name tag on this plant (there are 3), so we're not sure what it is. We are guessing that it is a collard. Next week we plan to take the bold test in bravery and eat some. So I truly hope it really is a collard! 

The bean plants are robust. Today I noticed that they are starting to bloom. Goody, goody. More baby beans next week. 

All the watermelon plants survived being transplanted. The spots on the leaves are normal for this variety. 

Today we planted the pumpkins. Yes, they are close. But we plan to train the vines to run out into the grassy field next to the garden. They won't be in the way, won't crowd anything else out,and hopefully will hide from the pickleworm moth in the deep meadow grass. The bottoms if plastic milk jugs are used to thwart the bugs and caterpillars. 

Today's harvest included a spaghetti squash, cherry tomatoes, green and red peppers, bok choy, kale, chard, pipinola, and yacon. 

Lunch today- (100% vegan today)

...Spagetti with homemade garden sauce (all ours! ...tomatoes, squash, pipinola, onions, peppers, eggplant, and herbs)

...Fried potatoes with onion, peppers, herbs

...Sautéed green beans with onion chives, garlic chives

...Steamed bok choy with yacon , seasoned oriental style

Gourd Art Workshop 9/14/13

Here's a pictorial for our 2013 gourd workshop. Each year the Ka'u Community Garden hosts one, with the number of openings dependent upon the number of available gourds. As our skills improve on growing gourds, we hope we can offer more workshops and accept more people. 

So, back to the fun. We had a real nice group sign up or this year's workshop. Most of us were complete novices, but eager to give it a go.

Everybody got their very own special gourd, hand harvested at the right time for the Ni'ihau technique. Armed with a favorite knife, we all learned how to etch a design on our gourd. Geometric designs proved to easier, but some of us boldly plunged into more complex art. Two of us had previous experience, thus carved more complex designs. 

The gourds are green for this technique. We carefully remove the outer green skin. It's not as easy as you think! Extreme care must be taken not to damage the skin where you don't want to. No Knicks, scratches, or bruising allowed. 

Once we have the carving done just right, the top needs to be removed in order to create a hole. The easiest thing to do, especially for beginners, is to cut off the top. Then we pour in a specially made coffee dye. Ka'u coffee dye, of course! 

The dye slowly is taken up by the gourd. Being that the gourd is alive when we started, the plant cells actually move the dye through the gourd. Slowly, we can watch the outside of the gourd changing color. 

By keeping the gourd in the right environment and adding additional dye on schedule, our gourd starts to boldly show off the design that we made. 

Depending upon the weather, the gourd will be ready for the next step in 3 to 6 weeks. 

Just when you think the thing has failed and is molding away, the instructor reassures us by saying that its perfect. Yes, that's the way it should look. It's ready for the next step. 

Oh my, this doesn't look good. But don't worry, it's just another gourd that is ready to move on. They tend to look terrible near the end. 

Beautiful! Sweet success! It took a lot of scrubbing, washing, and scrapping. But it worked! 

October 21, 2013 Gourd Art Update

A couple of the volunteers who took our ground art workshop brought their gourds in today for the next lesson in the process. Scrubbing off the old skin and mold we discovered a couple of absolutely beautiful gourds! There's still more work that needs to be done, but these turned out marvelous for first time budding gourd artists. Congratulations! 

October 21, 2013

Today was another whiz-bang day, getting lots accomplished. We were short a few of the regular volunteers (due to other commitments), but the group today seeks made up for then. 

First of all, garden report. People out there in cyber space want to know. ;)      

 Our white sugar cane plant had really grown up, having many large stalks ready for harvesting anytime we desire. When we do eventually harvest, we plan to use the end third of the stalk for propagation. This sugar cane variety is worth creating more. We have no idea what it's official name is, so we'll just refer to it as white sugar cane for now. 

The sweet potatoes have slowed down a bit. They seem to prefer drier weather, though just about every other veggie loves the rain we've been getting, one small patch is ready for diggin this week or next. The bigger patch looks like it needs a few more weeks. Speaking of sweet potatoes, we stole some soil from the sweet potato area to top off one of the keyhole gardens, and surprise, lots of baby sweet potato starts are sprouting there. Wow, the buggahs are hard to kill! 

Speaking of hard to kill, the grass is really tough. We now spray it several times with strong vinegar, then when it yellows, we cover it with cardboard and grass clippings. This is an area where we plan to build above ground garden beds. 

The volunteer tomato plants are full of young tomatoes. The big slicer types are fairly well tuckered out. There are a few tomatoes but not as many as before. Their cousins, the peppers, are still producing small sweet peppers. The eggplants are pau now. The spaghetti squash is almost pau, but we harvested two today. These are a mini variety. 

Still lots of kale, nice chard, and Chinese mustard. Plus the plants we think are collards are producing real well. The bok choy is ready for harvesting. It grows really well here. 

The orange tree is heavily producing now. This tree is great for juicing. We have no idea what variety it is, but the tree is quite large and very old. 

We are seeing a lot of pickleworm damage all of a sudden. They really head for the zucchini plants. All those small holes in the stem represents a pickleworm. They eventually eat the inside of the stem, killing the plant.

Keyhole update -- garden #1 is being topped off with dirt. I under estimated just how much dirt would be needed, so we still need one more load. Then it will be ready to plant. Garden #2 is gobbling lots of organic matter still in the filling process. It won't be ready for top dirt for a couple more weeks. 

Tabletop update -- the first one is a resounding success. The bok choy has been doing super. The newspaper wick is working so far. But to be honest, it hasn't been real dry lately, so how this design would work in a severe drought is yet to be tested. We plan to build the next one using discarded clothing in place of newspaper. Just a learning experiment. The clothing won't rot away as quickly as the newspaper. 

Fruit fly traps -- The male traps we put out last week have captured dozens and dozens of males. Rather disheartening to see how bad the fruit fly problem is here. But we shall forge on until we get them under control. 

Garden realignment -- Missy and the main gang have been forging ahead. We now have very visible row markers and nice aisleways. One of the volunteers donated more white pcv pipe to be used to marking the rows Thank you, thank you! The pipe works best if anything we've tried so far. As the aisle ways are established, we cover them in newspaper topped with grass clippings. That way no weeds or grass grow back, keeping the aisles neat and clear. 

Greenhouse update -- the greenhouse is bursting with plants and seeded trays. Lots of variety. Many of the larger plants are now outside, making room for newly seeded trays. Linda did a major clean up of the larger plants while Diane tackled the new stuff. 

Many of the volunteers, including Babbette, Marla, Leone, .............. Concentrated on the main garden. Grass was removed. Weeds pulled. Newspaper laid down in the aisles.  

Lots of garden beds got dug. More young veggies transplanted to the garden including an old fashion watermelon variety called Moon and Stars. Something very interesting to look at, all spotted and splotched. Major digging was accomplished today, getting a large area ready for planting.

Many buckets of dirt were transferred from the truck to the keyhole garden. Lots of cardboard was spread for grass killing and it was topped with grass clippings.

The ravenous caterpillars have been doing a lot if damage in the garden. Sue J successfully got the dipel sprayed, which should help safely kill the crawling monsters. Not only have they found the gourds, but they are also eating squash, zucchini plants, kale, broccoli, and bok choy. 

After three hours of work, the group retreated to the clubhouse for some socialization, info exchange, and lunch. Harvest was divide up and included pipinola, bok choy, peppers, cherry tomatoes, kale, spaghetti and zucchini squash, bok choy, oranges, and limes. 

Lunch: (just about everything from the garden or local sourced)

Beef stew 

Sautéed green beans 

Steamed squash and herbs

Chinese style mixed garden veggies

Brown rice (not local)

Macaroni and cheese (not local, but yummy!)

Cantaloupe (not local)

Homemade pineapple/coconut milk "ice cream". An incredibly delicious non dairy ice cream made by one of our talented volunteers. 

October 14, 2013

It's been raining off and on this past week, giving the garden 1 1/2 inches of much appreciated rain. And it shows, the blasted grass is growing everywhere! 

Today the gardening group got a lot accomplished. Workers were everywhere, swarming over the garden. The chicken pen got cleaned, the tumbling composters filled, the keyhole garden refilled with piles and piles of weeds, grass, and debris. Soil was moved to the first keyhole garden. Buckets of black cinders were moved to the stage for more table top gardens. The first tabletop, which by the way is growing great, was weeded and tended. A gallon and a half of ag vinegar got sprayed. Lots of tall grass got hacked by hand. The gourd patch got cleaned up. Carl got the lawnmower running and mowed completely around the clubhouse, the back lawn, and garden aisle. Wheelbarrowfuls of grass got pulled and dug out of the main garden. Several garden beds got dug and raked. Trays of seedlings came out of the greenhouse and were planted into the garden. And piles of strawberry plants came out of the garden and into the greenhouse where Diane managed to get them all potted up. More seeds were planted. And more old plants removed. Missy started getting the garden plan realigned, marking rows and aisle ways. Some of the new rows got planted. And more rocks, yes more, got dug out of the garden. Sometimes I think we're growing rocks out there! 

Duck update: Donna is still laying on her eggs. Daisy is laying a few eggs but is a bit of an airhead, wandering off and not giving them another thought. Dougal is marching around acting the part of Macho Man. 

Chicken update: the girls are still in a heavy molt. Egg production is down to 6 a day on average. I threaten them with dire consequences, but they don't care. They are taking their time getting back into production. 

Harvest today included assorted young tender greens (beet, chard, mustard), sweet potatoes, pipinola, peppers, tomatoes, basil, and oranges. And something new -- yacon. We harvested a bucketful of yacon, enough for everyone to take some home and give it a try. Last years volunteers happily claimed some, knowing that it is good for snacking, mixing raw in fruit salad, or cooked in stir fry and soup. 

Our current focus and goals include:

1- getting the garden realigned 

2- getting keyhole #1 ready for planting next week

3- getting keyhole #2 filled

4- making more table top gardens

5- getting an area opened up for potato planting in December

6- getting an area opened up for onions and leeks in December

7- planting things for the Fall Fling. 

Lunch today included plenty of dishes based upon the garden:

Garden veggie soup

Sautéed green beans with onion and herbs

Sautéed squash with onion slivers and fresh basil

Rice and quinoa with garden herbs

Homemade macaroni and cheese

Toasted bread with hummus

Cake and cookies

Fresh sliced papaya 

October 7, 2013

,         Garden volunteers were exceptionally productive today, working like little beavers on a new dam. Vast areas were de-grassed and weed free. The old, overly mature kale and Portuguese cabbage were pulled, as were other various old spent plants. Several garden beds were dug and raked for planting. And it wasn't long before they were filled up with transplants from the greenhouse. These little plants have cardboard collars in place to protect them from cutworms. 

Cutworms collars made out of the center rolls from toilet paper
and paper towel rolls. They work! 

That stubborn bush that was growing in the garden has finally been defeated, and removed! Rock piles got transformed into bed boundary markers. New seeds were planted in the greenhouse. 

        A major task was the new keyhole garden for the tomatoes. Carl was a major player in its construction (thanks, Carl!), wiring the pallets together, getting the liner into place. Melina, a new volunteer, joined in and helped Carl with setting the wire cage in place, then filling in the garden with layers of biomass. Lots of volunteers helped with this project. Here's Sue J dancing while she stomps down the biomass.    :) 

This keyhole garden is a big one, so it took lots and lots of material to fill it. Luckily we had several piles of grass and weeds, that dang bush that got chopped out today, and two giant piles of banana debris that Allison and Michael had created when they renovated the banana patch. All that plus composted chicken litter, dirt, coconut husks, horse manure, small branches and twigs, and wood ash went into the fill. Now that it has been well watered, we need to wait a week or so for it to heat up, then settle. I figure that we will need to refill it at least two more times before it gets its soil cap. 

        The demonstration today was the making of the fruit fly baits. We repurposed yogurt containers for the traps.

 The poisoned bait was painted on the inside of the cups, then they were hung around the garden. These traps will help control both the male and female flies. 

         Harvest included sweet potatoes, peppers, cherry tomatoes, pipinola, spaghetti squash, kale, basil, Portuguese cabbage, and jicama. 

Some of the squash was damaged so we cut them open....preformed an autopsy! Oooooo. So what was the diagnosis? Pickleworm! Egads, that confirms that the buggers are back. 

           Announcements at lunch:

... Our very own in-house gourd artist, Sue J, won Best in Show at the local art show. Congrads!

... It's time to consider our onion and leek order. Unanimous vote was that we liked the varieties from last year but we need to have a lot more. 

... December 2nd the seed potatoes are due to be shipped. 

... Our Internet presence it being changed to a blog versus a standard website. Sue B can no longer maintain the website from her home but can work on a blog from there. Thus the change. For now the website will be kept alive though not updated. It will be used to direct our followers to the blog site. 

                www.kaucommunitygarden.blogspot.com

           Lunch:

... Kalua pork (local sourced)

... Portuguese cabbage (ours)

... Beets (ours)

... Pipinola in Italian sauce (pips, tomatoes, and herbs from our garden)

... Rice and millet - proved to be a winning combo

... Homemade Mac N Cheese

... Mixed salad

... Cake with butternut squash, might not sound good but it was! 

September 2013

September 9th

          Still no rain. Drats. We're having a hard time keeping up with the watering. To make things worse, the winds are drying out everything. 

          Doug looked up into the orange tree and announced that it looks like we're going to be picking plenty of juicy oranges soon. Wonderful! They were nice and juicy last year. Yes, the tree looks loaded. 

          The banana grove really needs to be cleaned out. Allison and Michael will be tackling that job, whipping those trees into shape. There are a number if trees with bunches developing on them. But there are too many young suckers, so the grove needs thinning. 

         Speaking of looking up, we noticed that the avocado tree has fruits again. Not nearly as many as last year, but quite a few. Enough for all the volunteers to take as many as they want. 

          The grass is still a bugger, but the vinegar has taken its toll on it, many places the grass has yellowed and been stunted. So maybe we have a way to help slow it down so that we have the time to knock it out. Good. 

          The squash plant is getting mature squashes! Little spaghetti squashes. So far, so good. 

          The chickens are molting really bad. Lots of feathers everywhere, lots of half naked birds, and almost no eggs. Egg production has really dropped. We are going to increase the amount of meat we are feeding the birds in hopes of getting more eggs. We will see if it works. 

         The ducks are still laying on their eggs. According to our calculations,they should hatch sometime next week. 

September 16th

          We harvest the first spaghetti squashes. But also noticed that we are seeing some deformed ones on the vines. Possibly pickleworm or fruit fly? 

          We are pulling out some of the older plants that are not producing well. Ursa kale, eggplant, peppers, basil. Time to replace them. 

          Our newest project is a keyhole garden. Sue J read about them on the internet, so we are going to experiment with it. We built our first one and are just now filling it up with all sorts of organic material. It's like a giant lasagna compost pile. We've filled it, watered it in, and now need to let it settle. 

 

September 23rd 

          Guess we're just in the building mood! Today we built our first table top garden. Got most of the pieces together and some if the bed filled. We hope to finish it next week and plant. It's lots of fun trying something new. In the corner we placed a milk jug with a wick for dribbling water into the bed. The wick is just a bit of rag punched through the bottom of the jug. We tried it out and it works! 

          The pipinolas have been going crazy, we harvested lots of them recently, and many more today. The cherry tomatoes are producing but have really slowed down. In fact everything has slowed. We are getting lots of drying wind and no rain. And the plants are showing the effects. 

          Sad news today........the baby ducks died. They were hatched yesterday afternoon. All looked well. But when we arrived this morning, they were all dead and spread around the pen. It looks like they died from hypothermia. We guess that Donna just didn't know how to snuggle them. Next time we plan to do something else. Not sure just yet what, but we will take steps to keep the ducklings from dying. 

          The keyhole garden got topped off again today. The filling is hot to the touch, so it's too soon to plant anything yet. But we've decided to grow assorted salad things. Doug wants to try one for tomatoes. Today he spent time cutting up pallets to make the next keyhole garden. 

September 30th

           New volunteer! Welcome Marla! 

           Table top update: filled today. And planted! Our first crop will be bok choy. 

           Keyhole update: refilled for the third time. So this should do it. We got it well watered and packed. So in a couple weeks as soon as it cools down, it will be ready to plant. 

           We're running a potato experiment. We planted two rows side by side. #1 row, the tubers were planted down into the soil about three inches. This is the way we have done it successfully in the past. As the plants grow, we will hill them then mulch them well. #2 row we just laid the tubers on the oil surface then covered them with 12 inches of grass mulch. The mulch will settle down to about 6 inches. This is a nice experiment. We're curious how it will turn out.  

          Because of the drought we are trying to get mulch everywhere. 

          The pineapple patch got well mulched today. The plants are doing well. Of course the earliest planted ones are much better than the rest. But all the plants survived. 

         The gourd harvest is in full swing. There are so many gourds that Sue J is being kept busy carving as fast as she can. She's doing two a day! Yikes!