Sorry for the lack of updates, but my computer has been giving me fits.
The garden is doing great! In fact, it is growing far faster than we can keep up with. So we are coming up with shortcut ideas so that our time is being used more effectively. We are adding trellises for anything that will grow vertically. Caring for vertical plants is easier than if they are on the ground. And is some spots of the garden the grass is coming back. Pulling the grass is time consuming and tiring, so we laying down a thick layer of newspaper then putting mulch atop that. We hope to smother the grass this way.
The gourds are unhappy with all the rain we have been having. Just about every night it is raining lightly. Not enough to benefit the soil, but enough to get everything wet for hours. We are seeing spotted and pitted surfaces on many gourds. And the sage hates being wet too, having dropped many of its leaves. The cukes and squashes are also complaining. Not much we can do about it, although we are thinking of experimenting with little umbrellas over each gourd to keep them drier.
The Aztec Spinach plants are pau. We are not planning on growing it again for a couple of reasons: the greens are tougher than the other greens we grow; it is not anything near as productive as other greens: it goes to seed rather quickly even though we harvested the tips twice a week. It might be a plant of choice for areas such as Green Sands or Oceanview, but it not the best option for us.
We are removing the red sugar cane and selling the plants. It grows really well here, but it is not a good producer of sweet juice for us. The light green cane is far superior for our area. We plan to try a few more varieties and hope to find 4-5 that do well here.
While cherry and grape tomatoes have been doing fantastic, the slicer types have been hit by disease and fruit fly. We pulled the plants out today. The next time we try slicers we will grow them in a screened cage. Fruit fly finds them all the time.
The last of our watermelon was picked and consumed today. About half the crop was hit by fruit fly, but it still gave us plenty of sweet watermelons to eat. We are not sure if it was fruit fly or pickleworm moth that got them, but either way, we will plan on protecting the flowers and fruits better next time. Diane started some more seeds in the hoophouse.
The pipinolas that we planted have all sprouted. Yeah! The baby vines are about a foot long now. Pretty soon we will be able to train them up the trellis.
Big news.......Chicken pen is almost done. We cemented the floor, patched any holes that the mongoose could get in, put bird mesh over the top to foil the i'o (Hawaiian hawk), and should have the roof tarp on tomorrow. Everyone is looking forward to having the birds help with the beg problems. It will be a happy day!
October saw us renting the farmhouse for the first time. Look, our very own clubhouse that every childhood wanted! Having the house is making a big, big difference. We now have access to a toilet, shower, kitchen, tables & chairs, and beds. For a bunch of oldsters, it makes life a whole lot better. We are furnishing the house slowly, but it is getting there. We want to keep the furnishing in period with an old farm house. But renting the house has its down sides. We now have to earn enough money to pay the rent. That means we can't give away as much of the food and we have to get serious about having workshops and retreats. But we shall do it.... at least for now.
October 29th
October 26th, a Friday, saw our first official workshop. We are so very, very pleased to announce that it was a success. We all were terribly worried going into this, thinking of all the ways it could fail. But it turned out just fine. Everybody seemed to have a good time.
This first workshop was about gourd carving. Sue J passed along some of her knowledge about not on carving, but how to pick a gourd, prepare it, dying tips, etc. She had lots of example finished gourds on display, not only depicting successes, but also failures. Showing what can and does go wrong is just as important as showing the successes.
We started out our first workshop with a handful of carvers. We didn't want to overwhelm ourselves. And it turned out to be a good idea. Next time we can invite more people. The carvers al had a chance for individual attention, ask as many questions as they wished, and share information with everyone.
Sitting under a magnificent avocado tree, people worked their gourds until the noon break for lunch. Lunch consisted of many foods from the garden: fried spiced sweet potatoes, sauted leeks and green beans with polish sausage, turkey vegetable soup, steamed buttered beets. Dessert was watermelon and papaya. Yum!
Back to work after lunch, people stayed until 2 pm working on their projects. No one finished their carvings that day, so everyone went home with a homework assignment. Next month everyone will be back to finish up after the gourds have been dying for a month. We are all looking forward to the results.
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