The Season Approaches
It is the Final Days before the start of the harvest. The first of my picking crew has arrived. He is assisting with the suckering (removal of new growth) and prepping the field. I expect the rest my crew within 3-4 weeks and we should be picking in about a month.
From all accounts, it should be a bumper coffee crop this year. Five (5!!) flowerings in the spring have left the trees bent and breaking under all the coffee cherry. All over Kona, farmers are forgetting about last year's lean crop and excited about actually making money this year. It's a good feeling.
This should be a relaxing time, the last of the summer vacation. Instead, I feel like I'm on a slippery slope. There is the coffee mill refurbishment that is only half-way complete. The pulper is in pieces, bearings to be replaced, and the motors need reinstalling. The roof leaks on the Hoshidana (dry rack) and the darn foundation of posts and piers needs shoring up... a leftover from last October's earthquake.
And when am I going to have time to fix the pothole in the road that is about to swallow the farm truck?
But there is time. The projects never end. It is a farm after all. The mill will be ready. The road will get fixed. In the meantime, it's mango season and I must go pick some fruit. And the dogs are eating more ripe avocados than dog food this month, I can't forget to steal some from them for guacamole. And the lychee tree is fruiting too. Summer in Hawaii is good!
From all accounts, it should be a bumper coffee crop this year. Five (5!!) flowerings in the spring have left the trees bent and breaking under all the coffee cherry. All over Kona, farmers are forgetting about last year's lean crop and excited about actually making money this year. It's a good feeling.
This should be a relaxing time, the last of the summer vacation. Instead, I feel like I'm on a slippery slope. There is the coffee mill refurbishment that is only half-way complete. The pulper is in pieces, bearings to be replaced, and the motors need reinstalling. The roof leaks on the Hoshidana (dry rack) and the darn foundation of posts and piers needs shoring up... a leftover from last October's earthquake.
And when am I going to have time to fix the pothole in the road that is about to swallow the farm truck?
But there is time. The projects never end. It is a farm after all. The mill will be ready. The road will get fixed. In the meantime, it's mango season and I must go pick some fruit. And the dogs are eating more ripe avocados than dog food this month, I can't forget to steal some from them for guacamole. And the lychee tree is fruiting too. Summer in Hawaii is good!
