RECOVERING

                                                         RECOVERING

I’ve been back from my Chattaroy trip nearly 6 days.  The first few days in Washington were so exhausting that I got a return ticket a few days sooner than I had expected.  I only visited half the people I wanted to because preparing our Chattaroy house for a renter was a lot more work than expected both because the water pump was failing and the heat pump wouldn’t work at all, and the fact that the place had fallen victim to looters.  Those of you missed will be at the top of my list for next time which will probably be August, 2010 because now we are landlords.

Being back on the Island was a great relief compared to the cold dark winter that was already starting to settle down on Chattaroy.  Also while the noxious weeds here tend to be much larger, trees in fact, they are easier to control than the those Asian weeds like knapweed that we had been fighting for years in Chattaroy, and yet after one summer without us our previous efforts seemed all in vain.  Of course it helps that I have only ½ acre, or (if you count the vacant lot next door that I also work on) one acre to control.

It was a thrill to see how much our seedlings in the garden have grown since I left.  The sweet potatoes were mere sprouts and are now vines at least a foot in each direction.  Our long beans were just a plan and are now 3-4” tall.  Our largest papaya is now taller than I and the two largest have female flowers (I may take a hike today to get bananas and I’ll bring back some male papaya flowers because I think they are too far away for fertilization and  it will be 3 or 4 weeks before the rest of our plants start blooming).  The cherry tomatoes are up to our deck railing with the tallest being 12’.  The tomatoes only set lightly but they produce enough to keep us supplied.  We gave up and pulled one of our larger tomato varieties because its longer ripening process gave time for fruit flies to invade them.  Lettuce, beets, chard, summer squash and broccoli have all proven to be difficult to start here but the cucumbers and Butter cup squash are doing OK.  Regular potatoes never came up the first try but now we have a small planting that is growing.  Two plantings of regular spinach produced nothing but Malabar spinach is doing fine.   I am mulch growing, just as I did in Washington, even though no one else does that here.  We will see if that becomes a problem but I see it as a way to organically fertilize and to keep the soil a bit cooler.  I don’t know of a manure source here yet but I can use lawn clippings and road shoulder clippings to mulch.  We’ve never had to water here so far.  There looks to be a continuous supply of coconuts on the vacant lot for the next three months.  We’ve been eating more breadfruit. I had put on climbing spikes and a safety belt to pick the good ones.

            Since I’ve returned there has only been one late avocado from behind the property but I know of farther wild ones I can gather.  Yesterday I got a nice purple avocado from the shelf in the Post Office where neighbors frequently share their surpluses.  It seems to be the community hub.

Tuesday I took the dog and went for a walk and swim at Hakalau Bay.  Turns out the bottom of the river mouth had filled up with gravel to where I couldn’t swim unless I went out to the breaks.  As I didn’t feel I’d be safe from rip tide there without a board I skipped the swim part for that day, just lay in the gravel and let the waves wash over me for a few minutes.

The big excitement around here has been the filming of the movie Predator, in the canyon of our other river, Kole Kole.  We had lots traffic on our little road for a few days and we saw part of their set on our Sunday walk.  I don’t know how many others sites they may have used on the Island.

Because Monday I came down with a “Welcome back to Hawaii” cold that I probably caught on a plane, I’ve not accomplished much this week.  I’m hoping to feel up to a Halloween dance this weekend because the last four years we’ve been privileged to attend the fine one that Michael and Cindy put on each year and now it seems like the thing to do.  Please dance one for me!