HALE KUPA'A

EXPERIENTIAL ORGANIC FARMING IN KULA

Bob and Camille visit with Gerry and Janet at their farm on December 3, 2004

 

OUTSTANDING IN HIS FIELD

Gerry was working.  Bob has been here several times on biodiesel business and always catches Gerry working.  True to form, Gerry stopped what he was doing to show us a few interesting projects.

 

CASH CROP

  

He picked us some sweet corn which we later ate for dinner.

 

	MOTHER OF A CASH CROP
This tree is called "gliricidia" or "madre de cacao" ...the latter means "mother of cocoa" (not to be confused with extra large hot chocolates) because the tree is used as a shade or nurse tree for coffee and chocolate. It grows fast, produces nice little purple flower, handles frequent cutting (called coppicing), is good animal fodder, fixes nitrogen in the soil, and is used to make living fences in Central America (mostly for cattle, as goats will eat the bark.) Gerry and Janet started some of these plants from seeds that originated from Guatemala as well as from cuttings.  They found the seeds produced trees with better root development.
MAKING FRIENDS
	Bob made friends with this little heifer and was happy to let her lick his hand until something Gerry said made him begin thinking about where that tongue has been.
	SUNN HEMP
Sunn Hemp (Crotolaria juncea) is a nitrogen fixer, capable of adding add up to 200 pounds of nitrogen to an acre.  It also produces lots of organic matter, which is later plowed back into the soil. As you can see, there are virtually no weeds in this crop as it is very aggressive.  In about 10 days, Jerry told us, it should start producing yellow flowers.  This is the signal to plow it back in.

 

LILIKOI TIPI

 

Bob, Janet and Gerry pose beside one of their newest additions, a lilikoi tipi.

 

YURT

Janet showed Camille the interior of their yurt.  The minute Camille stepped inside, she felt energized by the configuration of the room and recalled reading in "Black Elk Speaks" that he felt a significant loss of energy when living inside square rooms.  The bookcase divides one round room into a bedroom and an office.

The office.

Janet and Gerry moved out here to be near Janet's parents and to see if they could grow coffee in Kula .  The experiment is providing them with a healthy and stimulating life.

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