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back at the kailua house: mangoes, tomatoes, basil, all kinds of peppers, green onions, lettuces, guava, papaya, cucumber, eggplant, euphorbia, coconut trees, liliko'i, etc. etc.
here in puna app. 2000' elevation: papaya, green onions, tangerines, pineapples, star fruit and bananas and that ever invasive strawberry guava. these were all planted prior to our arrival. all are producing except the star fruit tree.
hank, nice pic of the heliconia. lots of that here in puna, too along with a variety of ginger.
Hens count as things growing in the backyard? I guess they would, huh? There's six hens, one rooster and two geese out there which makes for interesting gardening when they manage to get in and "help". The chicken manure helps and before planting I let the geese in to eat all the sprouting weeds.
There was a common mango on the back property line but it was cut down several years ago by my neighbor so he would have a better view. It didn't hardly get into the mango habit, though, and the wood was saved so it isn't so bad that it was cut down. Much more sun in that corner now. We do have an avocado and a few bananas growing there now.
There is supposed to be a farmer's market starting in Laupahoehoe in February. The nearby Train Museum is supposed to have information but the person we needed to talk to, Monica, wasn't there when we dropped by. My neighbor and I are planning on hatching out some baby chickens and ducks to sell at the farmer's market along with anything else we can get ready. Chickens hatch quicker than lettuce will grow.
We had a large hayden mango tree in our yard on Ikuwai (n shore oahu) and our neighbors would love it when we gave out bags of them! I wish I would have went to Haleiwa and sold some, maybe even dehydrated them for ono snacks!! They were the BEST!! We actually had too many and the bugs would get 'em. We also grew lilikoi and made juice, papaya (add a little squirt of lime) and started tobacco leaves, but never used them. YES! we grew pakalolo! It was sweet! The bananas were awesome, but the wasps loved living in them. I miss it!!
Hmmm intersting thought, any of you brew or distill anything at home like wine or beer? I'd be interested in seeing what kinda liqueor hawaiians make with the exotic fruits.
Hawaiians made okolehau out of ti roots and the stuff will knock your slippers off. (very few folks wear socks, so it is hard to knock your socks off around here). The neighbors around here must have made wine to name the grape vine I got a start from a "Filipino Wine" grape. I haven't tried it yet since the chickens keep eating too many of the grapes to get enough to make wine but I may try making some wine if I ever get enough grapes in one spot. Not that I really want to drink wine, but it would be nice to get some basalmic vinegar if possible.
Funny you should mention that!! We made this stuff called pineapple swipe. It was a concoction of just pineapples, sugar and yeast. We set it on top of the hot water heater for about a month, then poured out the gunk, and took a few shots, it was funky, but then our (true hawaiian) neighbors got ahold of it, they ended up drinking all of it and I guess got pretty roudy!!! No one got hurt, except the picnic table!!!!!!! They said it was "ono"!
We tried it again here (in WA state) with a bigger batch, and no such luck, it's just too cold here. We have no way of heating it. It's still sitting in a 55 gal plastic drum outside, mabey someday!!!!!!!!!
Well if I make something that can literally knock your slippers off hotzcatz and not invoke a polynesian brawl kailani I will be sure to invite you two over to try some.
Perhaps some mango wine, lychee wine, banana liquor, coffee liquor, ideas are endless.
went up to the vocano winery yesterday and they are experimenting with different fruits so we were told. what i remember the gal saying was something about blending guava and jataboca (spelling) with the grapes. hope i'm not wrong about that info.
Foods I have now or have had in my yard, at 800 ft elevation "facing" west, above Kailua Kona:
Pineapples, star fruit, lilikoi, several varieties of bananas, vanilla orchid, tomatoes (container), lettuce (container), basil, 3 different oranges, lemon, guava, green beans (seed to harvets in 6 weeks by the way), papaya, coconut, rosemary, ginger (the kind you eat), mango (2 kinds), macadamia nut tree, a couple of different types of peppers........oh gawd I'm probably leaving something out. I have grown cucumbers but they didn't do too well.
Ornamentals: Ti (red, green, and a pinkish variety), lots of orchids, ferns, bromeliads in the shady area, Norfolk Island Pines, spider plant, asparagus ferns, allysum, several kinds of gingers including blue, striped bamboo, morning glories, miniature rose, lots of plumerias, several hibiscus, a rubber tree that's trying to take over the world-we keep whacking it back, monstera and philedendron at sizes you have to see to believe, ditto for scheffelera (who knew they bloomed?), aloe, orange tiger lily type, other small shrubs and trees that I do not know the name of. You could throw a pencil out the window and next month have a tree, I think! My daughter in law experiments with a lot of food crops, some do best in containers because you can let the soil mix dry out better. In the ground, it never really dries out completely and some plants don't like that.
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