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: