Tag Archives: Heirloom

Agriculture, companion planting, Farming, gardening, permaculture

Planting Time in Hawaii

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The number one garden question that I receive is seemingly simple, “when do I plant in Hawaii?” In reality, it is a very complex question, especially with our changing weather patterns. What is my answer? Frequently. Get new plants started as frequently as you can, and try a range of edible plant types. This year was a tropical storm year which brought a wild range of growing conditions at 2700ft elevation. Colder, and wetter than normal, and we cannot forget the seemingly endless winds. Though the combination caused a diminished squash crop, other vegetables thrived. Let me explain.

When temperatures and humidity levels shift rapidly, some plants refuse to set fruit. Squash is well known for hitting the pause button when it isn’t getting what it needs. Some plants need it to be warmer, some need it to be less windy, and other plants are more impacted by day length. Observation is the key to understanding this. Some of you may recall my transplanting many stunted Aji Limon chili peppers a few days before Christmas, 2015. Though slow to grow, the wet season that December (sometimes) brings was just right for them. They became big, full plants, and then fruited profusely in June. This had them producing chili just in time for pairing them with mango. It is now October, and those one time stunted, and seemingly mistimed plants, have remained in continuous fruiting. I am sharing this to remind us that every day, every plant, and every challenge, gives us an opportunity to learn. Most mainland planters may have kept those peppers in pots until March or April. I was tempted to try to over winter them in pots. As it turned out, these Peruvian peppers liked the cooler temps, and additional humidity that an upcountry Winter can bring. I learned that not all peppers are alike. Weather that made some chili plants dormant, made another double in scale.

Just this week we had snow on the mountain, known as Mauna Kea volcano. Though the snow is at 14,000ft, and I am at 2700 ft, it impacts my growing, by bringing cool winds down the slope. In order to make the most of this endlessly cold year, I am getting out the seed flats again, and getting a lot of leafy greens going…again. Swiss chard, a variety of kale, collards, peas, and favas will all love this season. Since the temperature is changing rapidly from day to day, I am also using this window of time, where we still have quite a bit of warmth, to start some more tomatillos. I am taking the risk to try a few more pepper starts that all need quite warm days to germinate. Will it work? Only time will tell, but I do know that having a wide variety of plants will keep you, and your community well fed, no matter what season holds in store. Just like these loveable heirlooms, we can adapt, and we will be better gardeners for it. Aloha!

Agriculture, Farming, gardening, Hawaii, Uncategorized

Ark of Taste Seeds from Baker Creek!

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A couple weeks ago, I was at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds headquarters in the Missouri Ozarks.  I sat down in Jere Gettle’s office and spilled the beans:  I had been selected as a Slow Food USA Delegate to represent Hawaii at Terra Madre.  I was shaken, and excited about the prospects.  I had just given a speech a couple days prior at The Spring Planting Festival that explained how heirloom seeds assisted me in finding growing solutions that resist pests, disease, and drought here in Hawaii.  Some of those solutions were found in Ark of Taste seeds.  Take a look at Slow Food’s Ark of Taste .  These are historic vegetables that were in danger of extinction.  How do we keep them going?  Grow them, eat them, put them in our markets, our menus, reconnect them with our lives.  They have been around a long time…for good reason.  They are resilient, and delicious.

I am thrilled to report that Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has now donated an entire case of Ark of Taste heirloom vegetable seeds to assist in getting me to my Slow Food USA delegate position in Italy…yes, it is in Italy!  Check it out here:  Terra Madre  Two years ago I was cheering for some of my favorite family farmers as they packed their bags and went off to represent all of us.  Now it is my turn to do so.  I will be posting more in the future, but let’s get back to the seeds.

Since funds are being collected to get me that very long way from Hawaii…all the way across the globe to Italy, I am trying to make fundraising fun, and also have some serious perks for the Hawaii community.  What better way to celebrate along with our USA delegation, and be with us in spirit as we represent in Italy, than to be growing Ark of Taste seeds in your gardens? Kind of a seed solidarity!  Jere and Lisa let me go though the vast array of seeds and seek out Ark of Taste varieties that had a strong chance of thriving in Hawaii.  I made my selection, and they have shipped them here.  This generous gift will be helping me, and the seeds will be helping the community here in Hawaii.  Everyone wins!

I have put together a GoFundMe funding page where you can put me to work! That is right, put me to work.  For every action there is an equally loving action performed.  You can send me off to an Italian rare beans cooking class at Terra Madre…then I will give a rare beans class for Hawaii students or adults.  You help put me on a plane to Italy…I will help put food on our communities tables through food pantry donation.  Win, win…win.  I am curating Ark of Taste seed packets into baskets for a silent auction (more on that later) and individual seed packets will also be sent out to those who sponsor at any level $20 and over!  You can also sponsor, and have your seeds donated to a school garden, or a Hawaii gardener.   I have a list of people who will make good use of these seeds! Slow Food is all about community, so please assist in my efforts at building community.  Follow along too on my farm Facebook page and you will see how much is happening.  So think about what you would like to see in the community.  Pick your favorite schools, pick your favorite community action and I will teach what I know.  Thank you for your time, your support, and thank you to those who read this and are currently clearing space in their garden to grow Art of Taste vegetables…it all matters.

Agriculture, companion planting, Farming, gardening, Hawaii, permaculture, pumpkins

Try (New Things)

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What if you thought that you couldn’t grow tomatoes or melons, or pumpkins, only to find out that you could have all along? A lot of Hawaii gardeners begin by thinking of mainland season, and mainland vegetables, Soon they watch their dreams fizzle as plant after plant fails. I read and respond to so many messages where all I can do is encourage experimentation, research, and expand your tastes. All kinds of plantings are possible, but sometimes, you have to be the one to figure out those possibilities. Now, so many of us have websites that can hopefully cut your research down by several seasons, if not years,  But due to micro climates, what works for me may not work for you, or maybe it will.   Often we must just try and see.  Many just want answers, they just want seeds, while others are problem solvers and researchers.

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Think it cannot be done? It can, trust me on that one.  We are now mining history for seed solutions that have been solutions for many generations. They have just been pushed out of popularity due to commercial interests. It is not too late.  The Internet connects growers and seed savers from around the globe.

hidden Marina Di Chioggia Possibilities are being rediscovered every season. So give it a try, and see if you can find your own solutions.  Inspiration is contagious.

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recipes

Spoonable Heirloom Chili Pepper Oil

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No matter whether you like your meals spiced mildly or for maximum heat, here is a simple way to capture the delightful tastes of heirloom chili peppers.  This ten minute process will allow you to keep some summer heat long after production stops, or for those of us with come and go chili seasons, it captures the bounty until it returns.

Ghost, Thai Dragon, Lemon Drop, Hawaiian, Fish, Cayenne, Banana, Jalapeno
Ghost, Thai Dragon, Lemon Drop, Hawaiian, Fish, Cayenne, Banana, Jalapeno

When I returned from the Ozarks, there was a wide array waiting for me to select from.  I decided to make a nice hot version with the sun ripened fresh chilis.  You can make a mild oil by using mild green chilis, then up the heat with ripe ones.  The olive oil diffuses the flavor in a way very different from hot sauce.  I like to start with a couple handfuls of peppers fresh from the plants.  I cut off the stem end, and reserve the cuttings for my fire-breathing flock of hens.  Cayenne tends to be the top poultry pleaser. They often get into a scuffle over the pepper bits.  I have read that it is healthy for them, just like chilis are for us.

Then simply drop the trimmed peppers into the food processor container that is fitted with the chopping blade. Be careful not to breathe in the crushed chili fumes, as it will irritate your lungs.  Some people prefer to use safety glasses and gloves as well.  This process allows the food processor to do most of the chopping, instead of you, but use caution regardless.

pulsed peppers

Pulse them to a fine chop, and add a bit of olive oil at the end, so to make the mixture easy to pour.  Garlic lovers:  peel and add a couple of cloves to the container and pulse them right along with the chilis.

Minced chilis ready for the olive oil
Minced chilis ready for the olive oil
A good organic olive oil is added
A good organic olive oil is added

With a rubber spatula, scrape the sides of the container as you pour the chili mix into a clean 1/2 pint or pint jar.  I make this by the pint, because I use it in so many things.  It adds a refined chili infusion rather than over the top heat. Top off the jar with more good quality organic olive oil. Place on the lid, and shake lightly.  I will leave this jar on the counter overnight for the flavor to set, then invert the jar onto a plate, and place in the refrigerator.

Inverting the mixture allows the chilis to be dispersed evenly
Inverting the mixture allows the chilis to be dispersed evenly

As the oil is refrigerated, it will solidify.  Turning the jar every couple of hours, or at least once before it is solidified, will make the chilis more evenly dispersed. When I use up the top 1/2 of the jar, I often add more oil and mix it in with the glut of chilis that sunk to the bottom of the jar.

Maximum heat, and mild

I like to take a heaping spoonful, and use it as you would use olive oil in any recipe.  I use it mixed with basil, garlic, and rosemary to marinate my pumpkin slices on the grill.  It is lovely mixed into stir fry, with greens, spaghetti sauce, and mixed into plain rice.  The olive oil will return to liquid at room temperature, so spoon out what you need, and return the jar to the fridge for storage.  Try dragging a piece of toasted garlic bread through it, or drizzling over pizza instead of pepper flakes.  The uses are endless, and it will make a well seasoned meal in minutes.  This oil should last a couple of months in the refrigerator.  Mine rarely lasts, simply because it is a part of so much of my cooking.  Enjoy this little bit from pepper paradise!

Uncategorized

Rare Gori Blue Mottled Pumpkin Trials

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Growing Species Maxima squash in Hawaii has its share of complications, which is why I do not give up.  I am looking for solutions.  In the islands, Maxima pumpkins are rare, usually only showing themselves in giant pumpkin contests. also, they are usually not grown organically, even though chemicals are of little help when it comes to the two big island foes of the squash family: Pickle worm and Melon Fly.  Throw in three other varieties of tropical fruit fly, endless powdery mildew, and seed digging, fruit munching rodents, and cheap low-end hybrid squash arriving on our shores in hundreds of tons, there is a reason or two why the state of Hawaii lost this crop commercially.

…but it is tasty…and beautiful, so I continue on with my quest

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(Sorry to the kind people of Georgia.  I’ve used the outdated name “Republic of Georgia” in the video, and also noted that it was in Asia rather than Europe.  I should have consulted the atlas first!)

That is a little background so that you understand why a success with a pumpkin is a success in a much larger sense.  Take the Gori Blue Mottled pumpkin of Gori, Georgia (Europe.)  The seeds have been in my possession after Joe Simcox the Seed Explorer wanted to see if I could grow them out for more seed.  I cringed at the thought of struggling with yet another nearly sure to fail Maxima, but I agreed, and I am happy that I did.  You see, as it happened, I learned a lot from this pumpkin. It dodged a very critical bullet in that it managed to avoid detection of the oh so sneaky Melon Fly.  It did not avoid the gaze and destruction of the Pickle Worm

/moth.  But one out of two isn’t so bad, it is somewhat manageable as long as you know what you are getting yourself into.  Both predators come in cycles, related to seasons, heat, moisture…the usual.  If you give your plants enough nutrition, these long season growers are sure to have a few fruits that manage to avoid the moth/worm cycle. Pickle worm attacks stem, bloom, pollinated fruit, un pollinated fruit….yes, everything. They were the last straw for our commercial pumpkin industry. The ornamental Maximas are much easier to grow

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(think Halloween) the bland, non sweet fruits tempt no one, human nor Melon fly.  It does make a great treat for livestock and pets who don’t care that it is tasteless and watery.

So featured here in the video is a roughed up 2nd generation specimen that fell out of a tall shrub.  The robust vine got a bit carried away and climbed high, only to have the 15 lb fruit crash down during a windstorm.  In the quick video, I make a few mistakes, one being that I say it is small for it’s size, I meant to say it has a small seed cavity for it’s size, a great point for culinary varieties. I infer that it is small…but only small for me (15 vs 30 pounders)  I also note that I am going to plant them in the kitchen…oh well, I would re-shoot, but it is already prepped and a good quantity was eaten by me.  So bear with me. I also would like to recommend Hawaii growers to break off the thick stem of all Maxima variety, due to a multitude of reasons that I  will cover later.  Just trust me on that one, and I hope all will be inspired by a little “squash success.”  DSC_0338

Agriculture, Farming

From Farmer’s Daughter to a Seed Advocate

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I am a farmer’s daughter, and though all thought I would marry a farmer, I became my own farmer. We can trace farming back more than 7 generations in my family, back to those who left Ireland so long ago. So why do I mention this? Because as of late the idea has been weighing heavily on my mind. At last week’s GMO round table, here in Hawaii, I watched people’s head dip low in shame when I mentioned my family legacy with the earth. You see, I don’t “look” like what they think a farmer should look like, and that makes it evermore easy for the pro-GMO clan to dismiss my optimism as the result of being young and silly. But the next generation of farmers looks an awful lot like me, and many, like me, want to return to the farming ways of our own ancestors.

The way I look at it, just by living and breathing all of that farming knowledge throughout my childhood has put me above the rookie category from the get go. So ever more often, when the topic of GMO vegetables comes up, I notice that more are averting their eyes, and changing the subject. I know where my ancestors would stand on things. They were proud of their “family” tomatoes, beans, potatoes and the like. My Brother continues to garden and he grows the same variety of tomatoes that my Grandmother did. Needless to say, that is a wonderful link to a woman that shaped our childhoods. The downside is that kind of seed connection between generations may not always be a possibility.

One issue that never gets brought up by any of the Big Island GMO panel discussions is that when we lose our tie to the seed, we shatter our ties to the many thousands of years of food knowledge that bonds us to both our human family, and to the plants that feed us. This link to ancestral intelligence, along with the pride in growing the food that they did, is what helps people get through hard times. You are never alone, as you carry your ancestors with you. Sometimes we have physical reminders like a pocket watch from a grandfather. At other times, the tie to a people and a place are contained within a tiny seed. The Native Hawaiians and other First Nation Peoples get it, as do many regional farmers who pride themselves in growing what their ancestors did. Any farmer who ever left their homeland did so with seed in their pocket, guaranteed. My family is no exception.

When people ask “how long am I going to farm?” I never have an answer, because farming is a gift. It is a calling. I think about seed a lot these days, and I have to say that I feel successful as a small farmer, because people hug me a lot. I mean a lot. Sometimes I get hugs everywhere I go. It isn’t so much me, but it is my actions, and my interest in their family history. By seeking out the ancient and historic seeds, I am using my skills with the land to rekindle people’s ties to their own ancestors. By planting, nurturing, and harvesting the food of their ancestors, I am tied in with their family. That is why they hug me, and that is why I keep speaking up for those who came before us.

Farming, Hawaii, pumpkins

Rare Yervian c.Pepo squash soaking up the rains

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Yervian C.Pepo, Armenia

Yervian C. Pepo, Armenia

Yervian c.Pepo, Armenia

Well after 15 years plus of drought in the area, it is now the rainiest season in years. This well timed ultra rare squash from Armenia burst through it’s protective paper bag as it absorbed the gorgeous rain. I use brown (8 lb) lunch bags to shield against the “double whammy” of Pickle worm and the tropical Melon (Fruit)fly.