Tag Archives: organic

Agriculture, Farming, Hawaii, Marketing

Waimea Gold

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A brief note to update you all on a new variety I am breeding for Hawaii.  It is called “Waimea Gold,” and it is growing beautifully here.  I have crossed two strong landraces, then inter planted with other c. moschatas that were performing well. I allowed them to again cross, and now I am hand pollinating and selecting traits.  This last step is currently going on, and it will be part of the stabilization process.

The result is a market variety that is beginning to show up at some of our farmer’s markets, and the chefs have been serving them up too.  I have given seed to two local farmers that are growing them already. They have noted that it just “wants to grow” which is exactly what we need.  No fuss. But I will be doing a bit of fussing in the months ahead, as I continue to stabilize the traits.

For those of you interested in plant/squash breeding, here are the traits that I am selecting for:  Small size (3-4lb max), smooth, easy to peel, versatility in flavor profile (can be used in a wide variety of dishes,) pest and disease resistance (especially powdery mildew and pickleworm,) and best of all it is a contender to give the imported bland little kabochas a run for their money.  Tasty and local…not to mention kinda cute.  Here are the current photos! The green ties on the stem mark that the pumpkin blooms were hand pollinated for seed purity. So Waimea….let’s hope we have struck gold!

Agriculture, Farming, Hawaii, Uncategorized

Picture Perfect Pumpkins

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I frequently reference putting a small block of untreated lumber under your pumpkins and Winter Squash.  Many people note that they do not have the time to do so, but also note that wet weather and bugs caused their squash to rot in the field.  I recommend making the time to protect your pumpkins with a little extra care. The way I look at it, by increasing your yield through the reduction of waste, you are saving time.  I took these photos (below) to give people an idea of what squash that have remained in contact with the ground all season can look like, especially here in Hawaii.  Keep in mind that in Hawaii, many of the Winter squash and kabocha that do well here take more than 110 days.  Often more than 120 days until harvest.  Somewhere in there, as the fruit sets,  try to make time to “block” your fruits by lifting them off the ground with a scrap piece of wood. The scrap wood only needs to be 4″x 4″ or so.  Once you have the wood blocks, you can use them over and over for years. I keep them in small stacks near the edge of the patch. It does take some getting used to, but it helps to safeguard from rot that can occur due to surface moisture as well as insects that can damage the surface of your squash.

The above featured squash shows what damage can occur.  Luckily, the harvest occurred before it caused the pumpkin to degrade on the inside.  Since I caught this while it was simply a surface issue, I happily made it into my beloved squash curry for myself.  This could have easily gone deeper into the pumpkin and caused the entire fruit to be lost.

With the way I farm, there is no true “loss” because the damaged squash can become nutritious pet food, chicken food, and rich soil building materials.  But when you farm small, you need to think smart and safeguard what you grow.  Some squash simply drop from the vine, and others may only half develop due to incomplete pollination by bees at flowering.  These things happen, and it is just simply part of the natural cycle of things.  What you can do, is give a little extra tlc to the fruits, and you will be rewarded with picture perfect produce that inspire chefs to put them on display before heading into the kitchen. One chef that I will not name, has been seen giving a slight hug to the squash as they enter his kitchen domain. Huggable produce is good produce.

This extra step in protecting the skin of your  squash will probably add an overall awareness by creating an intimacy with your farm as well.  You can tell a lot from how your squash are flowering and fruiting. A watchful farmer can see signs of insects, powdery mildew, the need for some fish fertilizer, pruning, and more, by stepping carefully into the vines.  These preventative observations can really make the difference in having a successful season. So while you are inspecting your fruits, give them a boost.  You will be rewarded at harvest time.

Farming, Hawaii

The Fermented Farm: Beer Traps

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People ask me what school of farming I use.  There are a lot of groups to choose from:  organic, no-till, Hawaiian natural farming, Korean natural farming, biodynamic, intensive, permaculture…the list goes on and on.  I use elements of all of those, and I have adapted them to the particular situation I have, and my situation is one of ever changing conditions.  If there is any one thread that continues through all aspects of my farming, it is microbes.  Today, I am going to share one of the ways fermentation is part of my farming practice.  Beer!  Yes simple as it may seem, the humble dregs of beer kegs, and other cast away remains of beer gets used in my farming as beer traps.

A beer trap is my way of capturing the insects, slugs, and snails that would otherwise damage newly planted seeds, and seedlings.  It is a highly effective way of trapping them before you plant your seeds or seedlings, as well as during your growing season. I trap before I plant.  People often think that in the dry upcountry, we don’t have slugs and snails, but we do.  When you add a little moisture to the plot, every single slug or snail will be drawn to that parcel.  By simply taking reclaimed cups, saucers, trays, plastic tubs, and the like, and putting an inch or more of beer in the bottom, you will have a very effective way of removing the pests from your field.  My strategy is to place traps near new plots of seedlings, depending on the time of year, I will catch a wide variety of the bugs that would lessen my productivity.

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Above are two small traps that will be put out today.  With this small amount of beer, you will be surprised what shows up in there.  I can add some water to top off the traps.  Each day the beer trap will have a riper aroma, making it even more tempting as bait.  To increase your success, you can burry the traps so that they are nearly flush with your soil, you can make them larger, deeper, out of different materials, but the basic idea remains the same.  Trap before you plant and you will see results.

 

Agriculture, Farming, Hawaii, Marketing, Uncategorized

Squash and Awe Podcast Interview

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I had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest on Jackie’s Organic Gardener Podcast this past Thanksgiving.  We spent just over an hour discussing all things gardening.  From books, to heirlooms, to soil building and more, we covered a lot of ground.  This interview was done the day after Thanksgiving, I chose that day, because it was the hardest year of farming  for me yet, and having just met my orders for Thanksgiving, I was so relieved that I was almost giddy. This talk shares some of the things I have experienced in my first years farming

Squash and Awe on Organic Gardener Podcast

While you are there, subscribe to her podcast and listen to all kinds of ideas on gardening!

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Chili Pepper Pruning and Rooting Cuttings pt 2

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Updating on my first attempts at pruning two year old Ghost Peppers, Aji Limon, and Thai Dragon chilis as well as rooting the cuttings. It has been a week, let’s see where we are at

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Here are two short videos that document what I have learned about chili propagation in the past week

Key Points:  “Y” shaped pepper plants do not produce as well as those who have undergone severe pruning in year one and two

regrowth happens pretty quickly if timed to coincide with Spring growth cycles

Be brave! It is proven to work.  Watch my attempts and other videos from chili experts before pruning

Spoil them rotten with care both before and after pruning

Give them fish emulsion fertilizer before and after to encourage powerful plants

document your attempts, as in before and after shots, so that when you are neck deep in chilis, you can laugh about your fear of pruning.

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Small Steps to Save Water on the Farm

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Drought comes and goes, so what better way to get your farm or garden ready, then by taking some small steps now.  You will already have a water saving style in play if and when you have a dry season, year, or series of years.  Being a zero-waste farm is a great way to think of ways to give things a second chance, be it containers, or water, the main reuse featured here. Thinking in terms of water reuse will become natural when you think of water every time you turn on the hose.

Here is a quick and efficient way to make fruit fly traps.  For those of you in areas like Hawaii, fruit fly trap making is a critical part of most farms.  It is a great way to reuse plastic cups and bottles as well as reuse soapy water from the drain of the hand wash sink.  I use Dr Bronner’s Pure Castile Bar Soaps at the farm and at home.  Each bar goes a long way and there is a scent for everyone.  Peppermint is a really great one for scrubbing up after stinky jobs like composting fish.  The pure soap make for a great soap water base that is used in the bottom of your fruit fly trap.

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Simply catch the soap water as it comes out of the modified drain pipe, then pour into your homemade fly traps, and insert the appropriate fly bait.  Soapy water is used to keep the flies from climbing back out of the trap. The middle and last images are house/bottle fly traps used to control fly numbers near the compost/fish emulsion station.  All are made using items that were free and needed a new use.

DSC_0369 DSC_0367 Jumbo fly trap near compost

Hot dry weather means flies of all kinds are in peak numbers at the farm. The flies drown quickly in the soapy water, and are then composted. Your fly numbers will be kept in check.

Rinse water is used to rinse many buckets in a “bucket to bucket” reuse before it is reused to make a diluted fertilizer as in my video above, or water seedlings and for rooting cuttings. Plain non-soapy rinse water can also be poured into shallow trays for the birds, bees, toads, and lizards that patrol the farm and help in so many ways.

I challenge you to fill a few buckets as if you are in preparation for the water to be turned off, then see in one day how many ways you can use those few gallons.  You may be surprised how far it will go.  We will all thank you for it.