Liliko'i, Liliko'i, Liliko'i

When we came to Big Island we didn't expect to spend so much of our time dominated by one fruit. We've mentioned liliko'i (Hawaiian for passionfruit) here on the blog, among other tropical fruits. We knew the flavor to be popular in local cuisine (liliko'i cheesecake, liliko'i cocktails, and soda pop are common). There was a vine on our previous farm that dropped fruit now and then, which we ate and enjoyed, and we saw the plant growing elsewhere in Kona. So we thought we knew liliko'i.

We were wrong.

Crash course: liliko'i is a vining plant that works its way up trees. It produces firm, egg-shaped fruit that turn from green to bright orange, yellow, red, or purple as they mature. They fall to the ground when ripe, the husk being thick enough to absorb the impact. You bite them open and suck out the insides, seeds and all. Imagine a tiny, tree-hung melon. If you eat them fresh they are sour in a pleasant way, but some locals don't consider them truly ripe until they've begun to shrivel like prunes. They say it taste sweet, but we think that's a myth, though. Shriveled ones are no more sweet or sour than the fruit-to-fruit variation you find in "fresh" ones.

We knew that before coming here. What we didn't understand was how staggeringly productive liliko'i vines can be in season. The mangoes that litter Middle Ke'ei Road have nothing on the sheer volume that we cope with on our new farm. There's about 50 vines here! In greatest abundance are the red and yellow liliko'i, roughly the same size and with the same deliciously tart flavor. We also have smaller, dark purple ones that are much sweeter. They taste almost like a berry. Giant liliko'i are more mellow in flavor, and the rinds are actually edible, much like a melon, though we don't care for them as we both find them a bit mealy. The smallest variety, marble liliko'i, are just a nuisance. They're almost impossible to crack open, and with so little juice in such a small fruit, it's not worth the effort. They are, however, dangerous underfoot on the slopes of the farm.

Harvesting liliko'i has become a daily chore. On average, we fill at least one five gallon bucket with fruit everyday. If that doesn't sound like much, imagine how quickly it adds up. Imagine, too, the time that it takes to crack open each one and scoop the guts out – a task we are currently doing at least twice a week – and then juicing on top of that. We're talking several hours, the better part of an afternoon.

(To add to the fun, please also consider the fact that the vines here are growing through macadamia nut trees. Mac nuts are small, hard and almost perfectly round - which on steep slopes make for as sure footing as ball bearings. We're not complaining (we did come here to work, after all) but we remain impressed.)

So why, you ask, are we juicing the fruit?

It's a sad but true fact that small famers have a hard time supporting themselves directly selling their raw goods these days. Some can still make ends meet through sourcing to farmer's markets or local grocery stores, and others apply for agricultural grants or take outside jobs. But an increasingly popular way to help increase revenue for the small farmer is to offer value added products directly to consumers – be it mixed salad greens, jam, or blueberry muffins. Liliko'i juice is an essential ingredient to the aforementioned cocktails and cheesecake.

The economics of VAPs are something we're still getting our heads around, and liliko'i juice is a good example. The local health food store sells organic fruit for $1.50/lb. The farm sells the juice to a local restaurant for $45 a gallon.

The empty husks make good goat chow, too.

More Chickens!

Although we've moved farms, caring for chickens remains one of our daily responsibilities. The new farm has, however, broadened our understanding of what chickens are like and what is an appropriate (i.e. sustainable and humane) method of tending them.

There were about 25-30 chickens on our first farm, all layers, all the same breed (Rhode Island Reds, we think). While we liked working with those birds, we find the new setup more interesting, simply because it's more varied.

We are now working with over 50 chickens of several breeds. There are meat chickens (that still produce edible eggs!) ranging freely in, or nearby, a very large pen. These birds will be harvested right here on the farm when their time comes. Six different varieties of laying hens (plus respective roosters) range freely in tractors. We're not exactly sure what each breed is, but we know we have the Rhode Island Reds, Polish Top Hats (they have silver feet!), and Barred Rocks. We also have some kind of golden-feathered chickens that lay a blue egg and some beautiful, productive, shiny jet-black layers, Jersey Giants, with a nasty rooster we like to call Boss Hogg.

The tractors here are more simply built than the ones on our previous farm. They weigh less despite being larger, but not are as easy to move since they lack wheels. There's 3-5 hens plus a rooster in each. They seem happier than the girls on the previous farm, which may be due to breed temperament or the lower population density. Or perhaps it's the presence of cock keeping order.

The assumption is that the eggs we collect are fertilized. Some people may find that gross, others find it desirable enough to constitute a marketing niche. S&K, the farmers, also keep the roosters because it allows them to breed their own stock. To do so, they simply (but strategically) let hens incubate a certain number of eggs. Because we collect eggs every day, and eat them shortly thereafter, we assume that we've eaten fertilized eggs, but we honestly can't tell the difference.

All the chickens, both layers and meat hens, are given feed and corn scratch twice a day. The meat hens also get our green kitchen scraps. We've saved our choice scraps – mango and banana peels – for the layers, but none of them seem too interested. They haven't been trained, like the chickens at our last farm, to expect these delicious handouts. They don't seem all that interested in slugs, either. To provide extra calcium to ensure strong eggs, we spike all the waters with whey leftover from the cheese making, as opposed to mixing oyster shells in with the feed as is commonly done. Whey also contains protein which will help the meat chicks grow larger faster. This type of waste recycling is an example of the permaculture “closed loop” philosophy that is practiced on this farm.

Since the meat hens are not allowed to breed with roosters they are not a self-renewing resource. As such, we are also caring for about 30 chicks right now. As mentioned in a previous post, these are not cute like Easter. They were, however, when they first arrived in the mail. They are several weeks old now – which in chicken time is the middle of awkward adolescence. Too old to be babies and too young to be on their own, some live in a chicken tractor and some in rabbit pens. All chicks get water and a special feed twice a day. When they are older (i.e., larger enough not to slip through the fence), we'll move them to the ranging pens.

Working with several different types and breeds of chickens and caring for them in different ways, we've learned that chickens are really stupid and rather messy. They're super easy to care for, so the mess isn't a big deal if you stay on it, but it's clear that a poorly cared-for chicken has got to be one of the most disgusting and depressing creatures in domestication. The absolutely squalid and horrid conditions of commercial chicken production is one of the things that made us interested in this type of farming in the first place.

And you know what? Contrary to myth, hens are not loud at all. The roosters are, sure, but citing noise as an argument to against keeping urban chickens demonstrates ignorance and inexperience. Tending chickens is a easy and rewarding. Way more so than pitbulls.

New Farm

We have moved to a different farm. It's not far from our original hosts here on Big Island but it has a slightly different climate since it's further up the mountain. While we learned a lot at the first farm and enjoyed our time there, we wanted to broaden our knowledge and experience base. We're not going to be here forever, so we're want to make the most of our time here. Our focus at the first farm was maintaining coffee and tropical fruit trees. Now we will be working at two different sites, a “homestead,” (7 acres) primarily devoted to tending animals and a secondary site (11 acres) still under development, which we will help establish as an agricultural site.

While we've been to the second site, we haven't started working there yet. We have, however, begun learning our regular routine on the homestead, which is orientated around the daily needs of the ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, and sheep living on the farm.

Our routine breaks down into a three part working day:

MORNING
Feed and water the chickens and ducks. There about about 50 chickens, some for laying, some for meat. The chickens raised for meat, male and female alike, range in a pen while the laying hens range in tractors similar to the ones on the previous farm, though these don't have wheels. There are about 20 ducks that go wherever they want, and their wont is to follow us (i.e. the food bucket) around. After the chickens and ducks are tended, we head over to another section of the farm that is home to goats, sheep, rabbits and fledgling chicks.

It's illegal to keep rabbits on the ground in HI (look what happened in Australia), so the 10 or so bunnies here are kept in elevated pens. The rabbits are raised not for their delicious meat or soft fur, but for the nutrient-rich droppings they produce, which are very easy to collect as it falls through the grated floor of the pens. Near the rabbits are 4 pens of meat chickens too small to be included in the ranging pen. These are not the cute, fuzzy “baby” chicks you may remember from your 4th grade science class: they are aggressive, dirty, biting and shitting machines. They're fast, too: everyone here calls them the velociraptors, and they can bite and shit on the hands that feed them with surprising rapidity. Their beaks and claws are sharp and we look forward to the day when they are large enough to join their brethren (henthren?) in the ranging pen.

After we care for the rabbits and chicks, we move onto the most challenging part of the animal routine, caring for the goats and sheep. There are about 20 goats and half a dozen sheep ranging in separate pens. Both animals produce milk but are also utilized for their natural groundskeeping abilities. Sheep graze (heads-down) on grass while goats “browse” (heads-up) the non-native trees selected for removal. Both the goats and sheep are fed hay pellets with mineral supplements and are given fresh water. Feeding them can be challenging, as they all charge you once they see your food bucket, but the milking routine has an even steeper learning curve. Only 3 goats and 2 sheep are currently producing milk; the rotation in the herds helps to keep them healthy. (We'll hash out the exciting milking details in a future post.)

AFTERNOON
After a lunch break, we do an afternoon project, the work of which depends on what needs done. As we are still getting used to the homestead done anything major yet, but we hope to have some interesting work soon.

EVENING
We do another round of evening chores to care for the animals. The routine is almost identical to the morning work, with minor variation. We collect chicken eggs and rabbits are fed fresh greens, rather than pellets. Right now, we are only milking sheep in the evening, but this is due to a farm decision about production and animal training, not any major difference between the species.

It sounds like more work than it actually is. With the help of our onsite hosts we can get the morning and evening routines done in about an hour and a half each. The real work to come will be in the daily projects that will fill up the middle of the day. We'll post about those as soon as they're under way.

Family Visit for an Important Birthday

Grandpa turned 90 on July 30, so we took a vacation to Oahu to visit him. Other family members came into town from the mainland, and we all celebrated Grandpa's birthday with a weekend-long extravaganza of family and food. We had a great time and are looking forward to visiting with him again soon.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!