anyone know anything about honokaa? is it green? (gardening, beach)

[hotzcatz]

It's been a wet spring so far so we've not had to irrigate in Honokaa. Usually over the summer there will be some weeks of watering the garden. Lower elevations in Honokaa get less rain, but there's still enough to keep things very green. I haven't a clue how much rain we actually get, though. There's usually at least some sun each day, even on a rainy day, if that helps any. Although, we can also get a whole rainy day, but those aren't as common as the sunny ones.

Right now the lychee are going off and there's pretty much lychee everywhere. You can grow papaya, mango, pineapples and bananas in Honokaa. We also have the elevation to grow coffee, some proteas, tea, some stone fruits if they are the special low chill varieties as well as a few varieties of apples. Most garden vegetables grow well, too.

For groceries, it depends on what kind. For flour (in less than 20# bags) we go to Malama Market. It used to be TKS, but it got sold to Malama three or four years ago. The Kanishiro's kids didn't want to take over the market when their folks retired so it was sold, but Malama is doing a pretty good job. For vegetables, if it doesn't grow in your garden, there's Malama Market or the farmer's market vegetable stand that's open most every day across from the Salvation Army. There's also the Filipino market next to the police sub-station which sells vegetables. For meats, you can get them at Malama Market or Andrade's which is the store on the outer edge of town heading towards Waipio valley. Andrades have the slaughterhouse so it's local grassfed beef. We get ours from a local farmer and get a good deal if we pick it up as soon as they get it back from Andrade's. Hmm, maybe they used Kulani (the slaughterhouse in Hilo) last time, come to think of it. Anyway, they don't have enough freezer space for a whole cow so we get a good deal if we get it before they have to find room for it.

The closest sewing store would be Topstitch in Waimea. It is mostly a quilting shop, but now they're getting in some yarns too, since Harriet closed The Yarn Basket in Hilo and is going to be renting some shop space at Topstitch. They are about four doors over from KTA in Waimea. KTA is another grocery, so if Malama doesn't have it, then KTA does. Or across the street at Foodland, although we usually go to KTA or Malama Market instead.

Other than Topstitch, there's several quilt shops in Hilo as well as a huge Singer Discount Fabrics store. It's about a quarter acre of fabric store, it's huge and your eyeballs will be filled with aloha prints. There's a smaller version over in Kailua-Kona but the Hio store is bigger. There's also a really nice quilting/sewing/knitting group that meets in Honokaa. Occasionally, they go jaunting around the island fabric shopping. Not that they actually need any more fabric, of course, but it's a quilting group so they usually find just the perfect color or print when they go.

[sk290]

That sounds so dreamy! I am shocked to hear that you are able to grow stone fruits in Honokaa. How many chill hours can you possibly get in Hawaii? You must be up in elevation. Is it cold during the winter? Although we get less than 300 to 350 chill hours (some years even less) we are able to grow lots of low chill fruit trees (apples, plums, pears, peaches, pluots, etc...)

We usually grow enough vegetables to feed ourselves so I don't think that will be an issue. We bake our own bread so I need a lot of flour. I wish I knew about the Singer Discount Fabrics store in Hilo on our last trip (not that I need anymore material either). I'm so spoiled though. I hop on the train to LA and go to the fabric district for tons of cheap fabric. I'm really going to miss that!

[hotzcatz]

Bay Laurel Nursery in California will ship to Hawaii and on their website they mention how many chilling hours each variety needs. I try for the ones which require less than 250 chilling hours. We may not have quite enough chill hours to get a full fruit set, but we don't need a whole lot, it's just for family use.

We're in Honokaa town and I think the elevation is right around 1,000 feet. Florida Prince Peach does well, Pettingill apple, Dorsett Golden apple, Anna apple, May Pride Peach, Kieffer Pear (don't mind the description of "coarse grained" on their website, it's really rather a nice pear), almonds and grapes. I did plant a Placentia walnut last January and it seems to have drowned what with the wet weather this spring. I'd thought it had better drainage than it did, but apparently not.

Costco sells bread flour pretty inexpensively, otherwise, you can get it from Y. Hata which is where the hotels get their stuff. Or just get it in 5# or 10# bags from Malama Market. I think they have King Arthur Flour, if you like that brand. They also have Pillsbury and a store brand. I've not looked at Malama Market, but KTA as well as Costco sell yeast in 3# or maybe it's 5# bags. We generally bake bread twice a week around here.

If you want organic flour, then you can order it via Azure Standard. There's a few different folks who consolidate orders to get enough quantity to have it shipped in via ocean freight. So shipping via Matson, you want heavy and not very large and then the shipping is not too bad. I get bulk stuff that way. Popcorn, raisins, molasses, oatmeal, some oat groats as well as wheat to grind for flour, etc. For spices, there's several health food stores so you can replace your spice rack pretty inexpensively via their bulk spice jars. The one in Keaau has the best selection even though they are fairly far away. But, pretty soon my friend will want to go holoholo and go to Pahoa to get some fish and chips (she likes the fish and chips there and since the lava didn't eat them, we can still go there for lunch) and when we go past Keaau we can stop and restock on spices.

You can see a very few of their fabrics at Singer Discount Fabric - gotfabric.com , although the website shows just a mere fraction of what they have available.

[KaraBenNemsi]

Best rainfall map of the islands:

Rainfall Atlas of Hawaii | Interactive Map

[sk290]

Thanks KaraBenNemsi. I LOVE this map!!! And thanks to hotzcatz for the info on the shopping and low chill trees. I have the Anna's and Dorset in my orchard right now and they are prolific bearers. I also have the Florida Prince and it's one of my favorites. Here's a list of other low chill fruit trees I have that might be of interest:

Tropic Snow - white peach, 200 chill hours
Earligrande - yellow peach, 275 chill hours
Pineapple, Hood and Sugar pears - 200 chill hours
Flavor Delight - aprium, 200 chill hours
Santa Rosa and Mariposa plums - 250 chill hours

I know of many people in different areas that push the envelope on what can and cannot be grown in certain areas. I guess you don't know until you try, especially with the diverse micro climates that exists.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share your experiences and knowledge. That is what makes a forum a great community!

[hotzcatz]

Fascinating website, KaraBenNamsi.

So, I guess I'm at 1,200 feet elevation and get about seven and a half feet of rain a year.

Is the Tropic Snow very tasty? That was a variety I looked at but didn't get it. Went for a double flowering/fruiting peach instead, "Saturn" is the name, I think. That one didn't set fruit this year, although they were only planted in January. The other peach not only set fruit but produced a dozen peaches. It also was planted in January so I thought that was rather amazing. I'd have to go read the tag on it to remember. Or look on the chart, I'd written down the data on the trees so if something happens to the tag, I'll still have some idea of what was planted where.

[sk290]

Saturn is an excellent peach if you can get it to produce. It is rated for growing zones 7 - 10 whereas Hawaii is in zone 11 so you are really on the border line but you never know. I think that a lot of these ratings are the grower's best guest anyways. Tropic Snow is a great peach if you like white peaches. They are sweet and very flavorful and lack the acidity of the yellow peaches such as the Red Baron (another good one but at 300 hours). I also highly recommend the pluots if you are able to get one. They are the best thing I've ever tasted, sweet with the right balance of tart and crunch... YUM!!!

Do you know anything about the ag inspection process in Hawaii? I could send you some scions if you know how to graft or can find someone who can. It would be fun to experiment with the different varieties and see if they take. I have 5 varieties of peaches with 200 to 350 chill hours, 3 pears at 200 hours and 3 plums with 250 to 300 hours. Sadly I'm not able to send you pluots because they are trade marked. I would be very curios to find out how far we can push on the chill hours in your area, especially if we can get up to the 350 hours. There's quite a bit of fruit trees in that range.

[hotzcatz]

Thank you for the offer, sk290, but the yard is pretty maxed out with fruit trees at the moment so I'd not have room for more. After we get the back cleared out (twenty seven years of no mowing makes for a big mess) then more trees will be planted but that's not going to be months if not even years before it's cleared out.

I looked at the label, the peach that produced was Eva's Pride. Very tasty peach although once they got ripe they fell right off the tree. Guess I need to learn when to pick peaches.

To get plants through agriculture, if they're coming to Hawaii, no soil of any kind. Bay Laurel sends bare roots with some sort of sterile damp potting medium on them. I suppose wet newspapers would do as well but they'd probably weigh more. Seeds, slips, scions and bare roots are all allowed although they still have to be inspected and stamped before sending. Between islands, it's not as difficult.

I'm not sure if there's anything that can't be sent over, I'm sure there's a website somewhere that would mention things not allowed. We can't send most avocados and mangos to the mainland, dunno if they can send them here or not. It's usually easier to just wait for the big semi-annual plant sales and get plants there or order from a certified nursery that ships to Hawaii such as Bay Laurel.

[sk290]

No more room... I know how that feels. I'll keep Eva's Pride on my list for Hawaii. Once the peaches are about ripe, you have to check them daily with a slight tug. They will come right off when they are ready.

[ckcayla]

I used to live in Honoka'a & I LOVED it! The reason I moved was because driving back & forth to Kona for work was just ridiculous. If Honoka'a had more job opportunities I would gladly move back.
It's beautiful there. Greenery for days! Beautiful pastures, beaches fairly close, Waipi'o Valley (SCORE!) close as well. There's a lot to love about that small town. I lived in Kalopa Mauka & it was amazing.
That being said, I think it mostly comes down to the type of work you do & how far you're willing to commute every day.
Sorry I don't have any insight into Hilo or Waimea or anywhere else besides Honoka'a lol