So what's the farm like?

The 8 acre farm is located in Honaunau (population 2000), a small town in the South Kona region of the island of Hawai'i. Hawai'i is almost always called “Big Island” to differentiate it from the state proper. South Kona is sunny in the morning and overcast and drizzly in the evenings, perfect weather for the coffee that grows so famously here. We are about 1000ft above sea level, so it's not super hot here. Maybe an average H/L of 60/80F throughout the day and night.

The current owners bought this farm land a few years ago. At the time, the farm was derelict; tropical vines grew over the entire acreage and you could only get around with a machete. They have an album of before/after photos and the difference is amazing. A recent visitor commented on how the farm “looks like a park,” which we'll take as a compliment as we do so much damn weed-whacking (pic is rows of young coffee trees).

Most farms around here do mostly coffee, but our place is far more diverse than the average farm. In addition to coffee, this farm grows bananas, at least five types of avocados, dragon fruit, lilikoi (passion fruit), pomelo, mango, papaya, mountain apples, macadamia nuts (second most grown crop in this region), Haitian star apple, lemons, Surinam cherries, limes, “Buddha's hands,” pineapple, cacao, at least three types of sweet potatoes and onions. The owner is also beginning to experiment with growing a garlic from Molikai'i, the only garlic known to grown in Hawai'i. And a bunch of other things we are still learning to identify.

This type of farm is often referred to as “agro-forestry” because nearly all the crops are grown in trees , hence the park like appearance. These pictures aren't great, but they give you an idea of how things are grown here.

There's also two gardens on the farm. One is the farmer's “market garden” in which she grows things for the farmer's market: lettuce, collards, peppers, many herbs, etc. The other garden is referred to as the “intern garden.” We take care of that one, and use it to practice our gardening skills. We are trying to grow onions, leeks, bok choi, broccoli raab, tomatoes, asparagus and a number of other things. This garden is always tended by WWOOFers. Because there is a high turn-over in WWOOFing, we are eating what the previous WWOOFers planted, and the next batch of people will reap the benefits of our gardening skills. Or suffer from it, depending on how well it goes.

Everything is organic. There is a tremendous effort to keep the plants happy through proper soil cultivation and maintenance and well-planned planting (more on these topics in the future!). And through cheap labor (that's us!)

And, finally, what you've been waiting for...pics of our coconut tree and a giant mango: