La toilette

We live in a shack. It's solidly built, 10 x 20 max, but it keeps the rain off. We are comfortable enough, with loft storage space and a propane stove for cooking. Cold water comes in on tap and drains into the irrigation system but that's it for plumbing. So how, you ask, do we perform the other very basic functions of life?

For human waste there is an outhouse less than 20 yards from our door. It is a basic latrine model but is a far cry both from the fly-traps common at campsites and the industrial porta-potties of death known to haunt fairgrounds. Yes, it is made of wood and is open to the air but similarities end there. Instead of a nasty hole, the wood frame platform is built over a garbage can to catch solid waste. Liquid waste is diverted through a special drain (called, descriptively enough, a “urine diverter”) and the whole she-bang is outfitted with a “normal” toilet seat just like they have in Paris, France!

Once we've completed our seated business we cover the mess with a layer of carbon-rich organic material (coffee parchment) that helps compost the waste. This not only protects us from hookworm (and bad smells) but will eventually produce a safe, all natural fertilizer known as “humanure.” (There's contention about exactly how long you have to wait for it to be safe, so it's not used on any of the food here.) The diverter is structured in a way that allows the liquid waste to run-off directly into farm land (urine is a great source of nitrogen) without interfering with solid waste landing into the garbage can.

To keep clean, we employ a solar shower, which is structurally reminiscent of “Gilligan's Island.” There is a cold water hose with a sprinkler nossel tacked-up about 6” off the floor inside. Outside the shower structure is a simple pulley system that allow a big heavy bag of water (the “solar shower bag”) to be hoisted up to head level. The solar shower bag is just a big black bag made of heavy plastic with an opening at the top to pour water into and a tube and sprinkler head at the bottom. Put water into the bag and seal it up, set it out in the sun for a few hours, hoist the bag onto the pulley, and let gravity do the rest. Viola! Hot shower with energy from the sun.

At least that's the idea. Despite being in the tropics, it's quite cloudy here and sunshine is often in short supply. K has experience with the exact same technology at an eco-village in Missouri and found that it worked much better there. In the Midwest, summertime means sunshine but in South Kona it means rain. To make up the heat deficit, we've resorted to using a tea kettle.

It Didn't Seem So Funny at the Time

Being in the tropics, our host farm is home to many of the creepier and crawlier members of the animal kingdom. Despite being both mature and brave, one of us is more reactive to their unique charms than the other. Presented here for purposes of edification are three reenactments illustrating this phenomenon.

1. Encountering a Heteropoda venatoria in the Toiletries.

2. The Moth Pictured Below has a nearly 6” Wingspan; the One in Her Hair is Not Nearly So Big.

3. Inside the Work Shed, a Cane Spider Alights Upon Her Arm.

Manini Beach

Big Island is geologically young; the lava is not yet pulverized by the ocean into sand or eroded by the weather (and decomposing organisms!) into dirt. Most of this island is still covered in these lava rocks, including the shoreline.

Contrary to the popular belief, Hawai'i is not all pristine sandy beaches. Many beaches on Big Island are made of these black lava rock and have no sand at all. The closest beach to us is about 3 miles down the mountain and is one of these rocky beaches. Manini (“Skinny”) Beach isn't really a good place to swim, but it's lovely picnic area with ornamental dragon fruit growing over a short path to a great rocky view of the ocean. The snorkeling is supposed to decent but is safe only for the advanced, so we haven't tried it. Across the beach is Kealakekua Bay, a great kayak launch.

Happiest Mac Nut Ever

Compost Tea

Compost tea, very simply, is a cold brew water extract of compost. While most people understand that it is microorganisms that breakdown organic material into nutrient heavy compost, many don't understand that the microorganisms continue to be productive and valuable. By steeping compost in properly aerated and dechlorinated water, you can transfer beneficial microorganisms from compost into soil and onto plants. It is a cheap, highly effective way of establishing and reinforcing a healthy food web in soil and on plants that poses none of the risks associated with synthetic chemical fertilizers.

The most essential ingredient in compost tea is, naturally enough, good compost. You can refer to our previous post to learn the basics of compost. Making your own is advisable but it can be purchased as well from a reliable source to ensure that it is both pathogen free and contains the necessary soil food web biology: beneficial bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, and microarthopods.

The next necessary ingredient is clean water. Water from a septic tank or public utility is fine so long as time is allowed for it to dechlorinate. Chlorine kills the microorganisms that we are trying to cultivate, but thankfully it is unstable in water and will evaporate if left out in the open for 24 hours or so. Chlorine filters for taps and hoses are also commercially available. Since we steep our tea outside we make sure its covered to protect it from the sun's heat an UV rays that kill microorganisms. Application before noon helps avoid this as well.

How long the compost needs to steep depends on various factors (multiple recipes for multiple results are available in books and elsewhere on line), but the process always needs to be thoroughly aerated. There are custom-made tea brewers on the market, but an aquarium pump in a five gallon bucket works fine. Some people opt for a “loose tea” approach and put the compost directly in the water but we put it in “tea bags” made out of nylon stockings. This helps filter out particulate matter that might otherwise clog up the sprayer that we use for foliar application.

A few things happen when you spray of compost tea directly onto the leaves. The water acts as a “carrier” for the microorganisms in the tea and are delivered to leaf surfaces where the beneficial organisms consume the surface exudates, leaving no food for disease-causing organisms. The water also allows organisms to be absorbed through the phyllosphere and through the stomata (tiny mouths on the underside of the leaf through which the plant respirates), translocating through the vascular system of the plant.

Compost tea can also be applied directly to the soil as a “drench.” From what we've read, some growers believe that soil applicant has more benefits and recommend using compost tea as a foliar feeding only when absolutely necessary – when a crop seems to be displaying symptoms of a disease, infestation or malnutrition of some kind. Foliar feeding also seems to greatly benefit young plants during critical periods of their development. Since we are on a farm with lots of young trees (mostly coffee), we spray tea directly on to the leaves once a week as a part of the ecological management strategy. We drench the soil of the older trees (mostly macadamia), whose leaves are largely too high to reach anyway, taking care not to spray the bark. The microbes will start feeding on it. You want them as partners, not parasites.

Trees prefer their nitrogen in ammonium form as opposed to nitrate so we brew a tea heavy in fungi to encourage ammonium production in the soil food web. To encourage fungi we supplement with guano, kelp, and select minerals during the brewing process.

Compost tea made from good compost expeditiously improves the life in the soil and on plant surfaces. The introduction of these organisms into your garden/farm helps achieve higher microbial biomass, better plant production, better soil structure, better nutrient cycling and less disease. Decomposition of plant materials improves. There's no dangerous chemicals to leech into the groundwater but if there were they would be reduced because of improved water retention in the soil. You can't over apply it; excess microorganisms will simply die off.

Not only safer for the soil and plants, it's more healthy for us, too. Sometimes the fishy smell makes us think masks might not be a bad idea but it's totally safe to breath---unlike the stuff C's brother P sprayed working for a certain chemical spraying company. Jumpsuits might be cool, too. The backpacks make us feel like Ghostbusters.

Good Compost

Before coming here, C and K each independently experimented with indoor compost bins in separate apartments. These were ventilated plastic tubs that housed colonies of red worms that ate kitchen scraps. Even though both ate similar vegetarian diets and got their worms from the same source they ended up with quite different results. C's bin slowly accumulated a dark, moist but not wet, odorless substance that bore close resemblance to healthy soil. K's bin, tended with roommate A, filled with a soggy, foul-smelling, black muck that attracted flies like a sewer. Even a pair of naifs like K and A could tell that this wasn't good stuff, so they gave it to their local compost expert who made her best efforts to remediate it.

This bad news is actually good news because it means that as far as decomposed organic matter is concerned, it is easy to tell fair from foul. Bad “compost” isn't really compost at all. The decomposition of organic matter isn't rocket science, but it is a process with several specific stages that is something of an art to manage.

The practice of using compost to enrich soil is at least as old as ancient Rome. Since the Romans didn't have microscopes we assume that they didn't have a clue about what makes compost good stuff. We suspect that most people still don't---we sure didn't before coming here.

It is true, as you have heard, that good compost is chock full of nutrients beneficial to plant health. It is also true that these nutrients originate in pre-compost organic matter that is changed into a different form through the process of decomposition. What many people seem to misunderstand is how this decomposition is carried out: our “worm bins” had a lot more living in them than just worms.

Please see our previous post on the soil food web (link) and ponder how many of these critters you can actually see with your naked eye. These invisible guys are essential to the process of decomposition, and, like the stuff they produce, are not created equal. The only difference between C's bin and that of K and A was the bore of the drill bit used to aerate the bins. The air holes in C's were large enough, whereas K's were too small. Not enough air got in K's bin and the wrong kind of microorganisms bred. They were plenty busy with the organic material, but the anaerobic nature of the process contributed to growth of “bad guys,” the kind that produce disease and alcohol.

While indoor worm bins (“vermicomposting”) are growing in popularity most people make compost in an outdoor pile like is done here on the farm, so we'll continue our discussion of making good compost with that process in mind.

First you start with organic matter. Most things from plants are good: leaves, grass clippings, etc. Kitchen scraps are fine, but no meats, oils, fats, or products treated with preservatives. Animal manure, while fecund, is probably too risky. Cattle manure in particular used to be a must-have compost ingredient but industrial agricultural practices have led to the spread of e. coli, which gestates in the digestive tract and can leave traces in droppings, not too mention drugs and hormones. Don't use it unless you know the animal and its diet as if it were your own.

Proportion is important. Organic matter can roughly be divided into “green” and “brown” types. Green matter is composed of simple sugars that bacteria love whereas brown matter has more complex carbohydrates that are better food for fungi. Green turns into nitrogen while brown becomes carbon. The ideal C:N ratio depends on what you want to grow.

Next, add time, moisture, heat, and air. Nature will do most of this for you, though she may need a little artful assistance to make the process go smoothly. We've already explained the need for air. Since we're no longer talking about enclosed tubs (though some people do keep those outdoors) you just need to turn the pile over once in a while.

Turning the pile also makes sure that the heat is evenly distributed. The temperature will vary at different stages of the process (there are three, each dominated by a different type of microbe) but shouldn't go over 150F---that will kill the good life. How's it get so hot? Even though we're talking outdoors here, it's not the sun. Heat is a byproduct of the process of decomposition itself: trillions upon trillions of microbes getting sweaty.

The pile should be neither really wet or dry. If you live in a dry area you may need to add water, if you live in an area with lots of rain you may need to put a tarp on top. Just a little bit of moisture is all you need.

Allow for enough time under the right conditions and you should end up with good compost.

Or, if you're lazy, you could just buy the stuff. If you do, get a list of ingredients and make sure they're organic. You don't want any remnants of synthetic chemicals that will endanger the soil food web.

The Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden

Across the street from the Manago Hotel and just north of the baseball diamond is the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. This 15 acre garden is dedicated to preserving native plants and their historical usage within traditional Hawai'ian society. The idea of a truly native Hawai'ian plant is complicated, as many species were intentionally introduced by human settlers.

The garden collection differentiates between endemic (only found in Hawai'i), indigenous (found native in Hawai'i and elsewhere in the Pacific) and Polynesian introductions. The mission of the garden stipulated by it's original benefactor, Amy Greenwell, was to restore the land to a state similar to that found prior to Captain Cook's arrival in 1779 and the introduction of the islands to the “Western” world.

It's $5 for general entry or $10 for a guided tour. It's beautiful and we recommend that you visit, but just pay the 5 bucks and borrow a the loaner copy of the guidebook from the office and read about whatever plants tickle your fancy bone.

We recognized most of the trees and plants from our farm and elsewhere in our wanderings around the island, though it was nice to learn the proper names of many of them. The Big Island is also home to many species that are endangered on the mainland:

Soil Food-Web

“Feed the soil, not the plants” is a common phrase heard at all levels of agricultural practice, from the largest corporate farms to the smallest community garden plots. One significant way that organic cultivation differs from conventional chemical-based methods is that emphasis is placed on understanding what it means to “feed the soil.” Rather than an inert sponge that you “input” with nutrients, soil is a complex ecosystem home to billions of organisms of wildly varying size. These lifeforms are what you feed when you fertilize soil and they are all connected in a series of interrelated food chains known as the soil food web.

The three primary nutrients required for plant growth are nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K). Conventional fertilizers are chock full of these nutrients but deliver them to the soil through water-soluble salt molecules. This is not only inefficient since plants require NPK in their non-soluble forms as well, but also dangerous to the organisms in the soil food web since salt kills them. The soil food web is what naturally produces and retains a lot of these nutrients, so when you kill these organisms you “kill” the soil. This is how land becomes dependent on chemical fertilizer, requiring more and more input each season. This is good for chemical fertilizer companies but bad for everyone else since it ultimately results in barren land.

A healthy soil food web is also resistant to most opportunistic organisms, reducing the need for the nerve gas variants commonly known as “pesticides.” Reliance on chemical pesticides not only results in food that is unsafe for people to eat but also contributes to the development of “superbugs”---opportunistic organisms that are resistant to the very chemicals designed to control them. This is another vicious cycle that is good for agricultural industry but bad for pretty much everybody else.

So what organisms constitute a healthy soil food web, exactly? What follows is a list of some of the key players.

Plants not only absorb nutrient through the soil but release them through their leaves and roots. These excess nutrients are called exudates, which are what attract and feed the microorganisms that constitute most of the soil food web.

Bacteria is the simplest and most common of these organisms. They tend to concentrate in the area surrounding plant roots (known as the rhizosphere). Bacteria decompose organic matter and convert nitrogen into forms consumable by plants. There are forms of bacteria hostile to vegetables but an intact soil food web keeps this type of disease in check. Bacteria also serve as a food source for more complex microorganisms.

Fungi is another major decomposer of organic matter but has a reach that bacteria lacks. Through regular and prodigious growth fungi transport nutrients throughout the soil. They also contribute to a healthy soil structure, both aerating it and forming mycelium networks that assist water and nutrient retention.

Protozoa, whether in the form of paramecia, flagellates, or amoebas, help keep the bacteria population in check. Some protozoa form symbiotic relationships with particular species of bacteria, but most just eat it. They themselves serve as a food source for other higher orders of soil life.

Nematodes are microscopic flat worms---the very largest that you are likely to encounter is the size of an eyelash. There are thousands of different species, and they feed upon just about everything: bacteria, protozoa, small arthropods, other nematodes. Certain types of nematodes attack plant roots, but these are kept under control by fungal hyphae that are common in a healthy soil food web. Nematodes also deposit nutrients and contribute to soil aeration.

Arthropods, bugs in their many splendid forms, (spiders, mites, lice, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, etc.) seem to love fungi and bacteria---and not just to eat. In addition to shredding organic matter and creating soil structures ideal for microbial life to move around in, they “taxi” that life around on their exteriors. They also totally gross one of us out.

Earthworms are easily the most famous members of the soil food web, but perhaps the most misunderstood. They don't “eat dirt” because they like it, but for the bacteria that lives there. Regardless, they are fabulous natural aerators whose “castings” (poop) is pure gold as far as plants are concerned.

Higher order animals should not be neglected a worthy mention. Birds, rodents, reptiles, and mammals such as human beings all play a significant role in the soil food web, whether inadvertently taxiing the smaller constituents around or volitionally modifying the environment.

This is just an overview of the major players in the soil food web. Not only is each of these the subject of countless books and academic studies, we have neglected a few of the minor players---slugs anyone?

Safe, organic methods by which we can maintain and, if necessary, restore a healthy soil food web will be the subject of upcoming.

For more information, we recommend visiting the Soil FoodWeb online, or check out The Soul of Soil for a boring, technical (but classic and thorough) read or Teaming with Microbes for an interesting, informative and practical read.

A trip to Hilo

There's only one bus from Kona to Hilo, and it leaves at 6 am. We climbed up our hill as the sun rose to catch it at the elementary school half a mile up the road. We were among the first few riders. That crazy guy from our very first bus trip here rode with us again. This time, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses and wildly gesticulating, but it was clearly the same guy.

We traveled north picking up other passengers along the way. The bus was packed in another hour as we passed through the resorts of North Kona and South Kohala. K fell asleep and missed the uninhabitable landscape of lava rock and brush that abruptly changed to the ranching land of Waimea.

The countryside reminded us of east Kentucky and of Missouri: rolling hills, cattle and horses, misty rain. Here, the bus stopped for a short break at a shopping center with horse crossing signs. We got out, stretched our legs, and got a coffee.

On through Honoka'a and into the Hamakua coast. We passed through a eucalyptus forest and over verdant gulches plunging to the sea, each marked with a highway sign keeping it's name. Along this highway, the bus stops for people waiting alone at turnoffs or those sick of walking who just flag it down.

We rolled into Hilo around 10am. The suburbs of this, the biggest city on Big Island, consist of a few outlying apartment complexes. The city skyline was also a lot lower than we expected. Save for a few new condos near one end of the bay, buildings top out at two or three stories high. Most have a nice uniform look, with facades reminiscent of an old west set. A few empty storefronts here and there; slightly shabby, but in a pleasant, comfortable way.

We got off the bus just past the community college and rented bicycles at nearby Mid-Pacific Wheels. Our ultimate destination, Arnott's Lodge was about three miles or so out of town, through an industrial area that gave way to a string of beach parks. It wasn't an an impressive hostel, but our room was clean and comfortable, with a private bathroom, different only from a nice motel in that it lacked a television set. We didn't miss it.

We left our bags and rode right back into town, looking for a cafe that existed only as a name in the Lonely Planet guide and in a faded mural on the side of an empty building. We found a nice (and cheap!) Thai place a few blocks away, New Chiang Mai Thai Cuisine. The lunch special was the best deal, a healthy scoop of rice with a choice of two dishes. K had Pad Thai and a tofu in a peanut curry which was OK, but C's food was some of the best she's ever had: Green Papaya Salad and a salad of tomatoes, tofu and fern shoots.

The old downtown movie palace is still a theater, but only shows second run features for a dollar. It also has a shave-ice stand and a charter school inside! We split a tangerine ice and went to see the comic-book film “Kick-Ass.” Meh. Emerging from the theater, we were greeted with the famous Hilo rain. Light and misty, but able to get you surprisingly wet. We waited under the rusted marquis until it let up and rode our bikes up to a Chinese cemetery.

Keeping with Taoist traditions, all the graves in Hilo Chinese Cemetery faced the ocean. Most of the stones were carved in Chinese, so we couldn't read them but we thought it was interesting that many were decorated with familiar Christian symbols, crosses and lambs. The grounds were pretty, but small. As we mounted our bicycles, a rainbow appeared. It was the first either of us could recall having seen in years, and quite possibly, our first together.

After stopping at the KTA grocer for food and beer, we rode back to the hostel, the last half-mile during a heavy downpour. Despite getting rained on twice in one day, we think the weather in Hilo is nicer than than in on our side of the island. It rains in Hilo, but the sun reemerges and the sky clears with beautiful puffy clouds. In Kona, it gets overcast at noon and stays that way til the next morning, regardless whether or not it rains.

The reason we had wanted a private bathroom was for the private shower. It was our first shower with running, heated water in over a month. We cut our hair and scrubbed off layers of dead skin and sunscreen, then relaxed on our lanai, eating pupus and drinking Budweiser for dinner. We read and fell asleep early to a chorus of coqui frogs.

After a breakfast of coffee and grapefruit (oh, luxury!), we checked out and rode back into town to return our bikes and walk around until we had to catch our bus back to Kona. We spent some time at the Lili'uokalani Gardens, an immaculately maintained park cultivated in the Japanese-style, complete with winding intersecting paths through bonsai, banyans, koi ponds, small stone Shinto altars, miniature bridges, and little old men on benches.

Adjacent to the gardens is Coconut Island (Moku Ola), which is exactly that: a small patch of park land isolated by water with a few coconut trees, picnic tables, and a great stone pillar. There was a family picnic that morning, keikis swimming, boys daring each other to jump from the pillar, fishing and bbq-ing. Across the bay, we could see Mauna Kea and the observatory.

We wrapped up the morning in Hilo with lunch and ice cream, and a visit to another bike shop with promising deals on used bikes. We didn't buy anything yet, but they had more available (i.e. something) than any other shop we've talked to yet. We strolled through town one last time, popping into a used book store before heading to the bus terminal.

The last bus out of town was so crowed, many people (included K) had to stand in the isle, though he got to sit down after a few stops. There was a kid playing the uke, entertaining us all. We saw our crazy friend again, but this time, waving from a comfortable seat on a stone wall outside a subdivision in Kohala. We were the last ones to get off the bus, four hours later, one stop before the end of the line.

Walking past the neighbor farm house at the top of the hill, we were greeted by their two gay bunnies. Back home in Honaunau.