Why aren't more Hawaiians "homesteading" with all the land? (living in, drive)

[rhbj03]

Yours is exactly the lifelstyle I dream of!!! Hope to achieve what you have now someday.

Originally Posted by terracore

Ocean fishing here is easier said than done. If you are talking about hours invested versus protein out, I think raising your own fish is the better idea. Many people raise tilapia or catfish and use the water for aquaponics. The problem with raising fish is that you'll have to feed them. I know some people who have figured out how to do it without buying the food but it does involve extra work. Most people don't have ponds. There are few places on this island that have the type of soil that can hold water. It's cheaper to have an above-ground tank than it is to bring in heavy construction equipment to chip the rock away so you can install an expensive liner. A lot of people raise fish in catchment tanks (not the catchment tanks they use for human water, a separate one). A 10,000 gallon tank costs around $5k.

Your goals of growing starch, meat, vegetable, fruits is doable but your starches are going to be a little different. Monsanto loves Hawaii because we have 4 corn seasons each year, and there are instructions on the internet on how to grow potatoes in containers with high yield.Okinawan sweet potatoes do very well here, they are delicious and healthy, and the purple color is fun. A traditional starch grown here is ulu, also known as the breadfruit tree. We planted ours two years ago and it's big and healthy and should fruit during the next ulu season. Another good starch is plantain bananas but they are a feast-or-famine crop. You either have too many of them or you don't have any. Other vegetables and fruits will require a little more management. If you don't know what you are doing, you will waste a lot of time and money either trying to grow the wrong things in the wrong places or giving up in the battle against the pests. This particular subject is worthy of an entire library so I won't address it here. When you find your corner of paradise, what you will succeed in growing there will depend on where exactly your corner of paradise is. A few hundred feet in elevation or moving N/S or E/W makes a huge difference. And read up on the rat lungworm parasite. Anything that you grow can't be eaten raw unless you take a lot of precautions.

As far as growing meat is concerned, we started off with a few chickens and they forage almost all their own food. They convert venomous centipedes, outdoor roaches, and every other nasty bug and make them into eggs and more chickens. We have so many chickens now our freezer is full so we had to start canning them. We can't eat our way through the chickens as fast as they keep breeding. It is not free though, we do have to feed the flock some food (mostly just the layers) and sometimes provide medicine etc. We offset a small portion of those costs buy selling older layers and trade eggs for other things. Muscovy ducks and geese both do very well here and may not require you to feed them (depending on what is growing in your land). Depending on how it is prepared you could blindfold somebody and feed them muscovy duck and they will swear they are eating a beef sirloin steak. We also get wild pigs on our property, when we have freezer space they are also added to our menu.

[rhbj03]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

I think the people mentioned the bentonite clay as available somewhere in Kawaihae. I was thinking it would be nice for a small pond to keep some lilies and koi but it never got much past the discussion stage.

One nice thing with 'water features' is you can stock them with mosquito fish and the mosquitoes lay their eggs there, the fish then eat them and pretty soon, there's a lot less mosquitoes around than there used to be. Some friends at Southpoint have a big Chinese jar by their front door where it's out of the wind (easier for the mosquitoes to hang out there) and the jar is full of water plants and mosquito fish and they have no mosquitoes.

As for the OP, well, I doubt he's going to build a pond on a $5K property, but maybe someone else will.

Can freshwater bass even be brought into the state? I'm pretty sure there's some folks with some variety of catfish and I know there's several varieties of tilapia around, but I don't know of anyone who has bass. Not even any sun perch, which is a very common mainland freshwater fish. I've seen crayfish (crawdads) as well as prawns around, those can be tasty, too.

No I am looking for an oceanfront acreage. Based on pictures most of them have a thick forest going -- I would even call a jungle. I see short shrubs and tall trees like coconut tree. When I'm on site I will be sure to check the soil depth. But does the fact that so much vegetation is currently there, indicate that there is thick soil currently?


Also, how would I check how much soil is on a property? Not sure if digging with shovel will be OK with the owner....

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

No I am looking for an oceanfront acreage. Based on pictures most of them have a thick forest going -- I would even call a jungle. I see short shrubs and tall trees like coconut tree. When I'm on site I will be sure to check the soil depth. But does the fact that so much vegetation is currently there, indicate that there is thick soil currently?


Also, how would I check how much soil is on a property? Not sure if digging with shovel will be OK with the owner....

OK, forget what I said about all the soil being on the surface in Puna. With the A'a lava land along the coast, you can have some pockets of soil underneath. There's no way of assessing how much that I'm aware of. Just because there is lush vegetation doesn't mean there's a lot of soil though, and in most cases there probably isn't. Just lots of cracks in the rocks for the roots to expand into. With A'a, roots may be able to penetrate several feet underground, while with pahoehoe they usually can't find anyway through the hard pan.

[hotzcatz]

I don't see any soil in the picture there. Growth, yes, soil no. Coconuts will grow in sand as well as on rock. A tropical rain forest is lots of growth on a very thin layer of soil or leaf litter. Chunk a shovel into it and you'll hit rock or rocks. The heavy rain washes away a lot of the soil nutrients, too. Many times the overall green will be a yellow green instead of a dark green which shows lack of some nutrients.

Oceanfront has a lot of salt, you're going to be limited in what you can grow by that somewhat. Also very low elevation, that will limit a lot of your crops as well.

What also isn't visible in that picture is any actual access to the ocean. There could be a twenty foot bluff of lava rock between the coconuts and the ocean.

If you're buying land, you can take a shovel and dig a small hole. Fill it back in when you're done, though. An o'o bar would be a useful tool, too, and probably easier than a shovel. Or a bottle searching rod. A friend of mine has a long skinny steel rod about four feet long with an old doorknob on one end. He uses that to probe the soil for old bottles, but it would be a good sort of thing to use for checking for soil as well.

Frequently you can tell if there's soil by looking at the trees on the property. Many species of trees with deep roots will mirror the root system with the crown. If you see skinny ohia, it probably means they're growing out of crevices in the lava. If they grow in soil, they will have a spreading crown. Some species of trees, though, have surface roots - think of banyans - so they will be wide and spreading even if there is no soil.

[terracore]

"I am looking for an oceanfront acreage"

As somebody already pointed out, oceanfront doesn't mean beach. All the affordable oceanfront properties are barren and lifeless, and you would certainly die if you tried to access the water. You will have all the negatives of high maintenance costs due to salt damage, punishing heat and humidity, and the sound of the waves smashing the cliffs during storms will make it impossible to sleep at night. If you have a permitted structure you'll enjoy paying higher tsunami and hurricane insurance. Since these properties are all in LZ 1, Lloyds of London will likely be your insurance carrier. But wait, there's more! You get to evacuate your home every few years when the tsunami siren goes off. A few months ago the sirens went off because of a malfunction. The last time the sirens legitimately went off, some houses were robbed because the thieves were betting the risk of getting killed by a tsunami were lower than the reward of robbing houses that had been evacuated.

There are over a hundred thousand people on this island. If there was dreamy affordable oceanfront property, we'd all be living on it.

[leilaniguy]

Right now I'm living about 900' from the ocean and yes, the salt is always eating at the house. It's like living on the Golden Gate Bridge, constantly repainting and replacing things like windows, exterior doors and out door light fixtures. Year before last a second story floodlight fell off the house and missed me by a few inches. Some plants, like anthuriums slowly die from the salt. Others, like palms, avocado and citrus grow, but leaves look burnt on the edges. The climate inland a mile or two is much more forgiving.

[hotzcatz]

yup, when you live with the ocean if it's outside and metal, you'll want 316 stainless or better (note: it is stain LESS not stain not-at-all) or bronze will do. Brass and copper will corrode, forget about steel. Galvanized and painted steel will survive a bit longer. When you get your appliances, take the steel covers off and spray the backs with Ospho and then a coat of Rustoleum. On the fronts, several applications of car wax will slow the rust down a bit. Pure wood framed and then painted windows will last longer than aluminium or vinyl over metal windows. Although the salt will mark the glass if it's not kept cleaned off.

We live at 1,000 foot elevation and about 1.4 miles from the ocean. That gives a huge ocean view but no problems with salt air. There's also really deep soil here and we can grow most of the low elevation things as well as a large portion of the higher elevation things as well.

[Howleeboy]

I live right below Cathy at about 900' elevation. I can fantantasize about living oceanfront, but in the real world, it's much more practical to live where I do. I get the benefits of living in town, more topsoil than I know what to do with, and I'm 10-20 minutes drive from multiple fishing spots. Life is good. ��

[hotzcatz]

Town is good! 10 to 20 minutes to fishing spots? Guess we shouldn't aught to mention exactly where online, though.

[Howleeboy]

Wouldn't be prudent, online.