Ranch Hands October/November 2014

A two month "catch up" issue as September was a blur of work for this year's Oktoberfest... Mike volunteered to "help"...  October was full of big happenings on da' Island!!

The project to clear more land for the sheep is at the stage Mike is dropping the BIG trees....  Leslie & Buddy volunteer to stand next to each to estimate the height, then get to watch the crash when it comes down!! 

Yes, the hot topic here is the pace of the current lava flow from Kilueau... moving thru the outskirts of a quaint, old sugar plantation town...  it also has our daily, after work "watering hole"!!!  No, the CGR is not involved, we are on the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano...  it's not extinct, but has been "sleeping" for three decades.

Mike joined the Rotary Club to meet the town's business leaders.  The day he joined their big annual fundraising Oktoberfest was only 6 weeks away and the chairman had an accident....  so Mike and a doctor teamed up to pull it together.....  hard work, but a great event. We hosted many of our island friends, especially those threatened by the lava!! 

Juicing Lilikoi (Passion Fruit)

The following steps are how I juice my lilikoi. I have tried to streamline the process and be as efficient as possible because lilikoi is time consuming to juice. But trust me, the effort is worth it. 

First, I wash all the fruits. Then I use a bread knife to cut off the top. Using a bread knife allows me to cut the hard shell without having the knife skip and cause cuts. 

I try to not cut into the white membrane. Many folks just cut them in half. But, when the membrane is not cut into, no juice runs out until I am ready for it to. I then place the topless fruit into a large pan. I do this for all the fruit, kinda in an assembly line but with only me. 

I then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and juice into another pan. Sometimes the whole white membrane comes out, that is okay. 

What I am left with is a totally clean shell, not a single drop of juice left. 

After scooping out all of the pulp, the pan that was holding the topped fruit is almost totally clean. 

Then I get out my Roma fruit strainer. I use the tomato/apple strainer. Some people I know use a fine mesh sieve and then press the pulp against the mesh to separate the seeds/pulp from the juice. I find using the fruit strainer is easier and I get more juice out of the pulp. I've tried using an applesauce sieve/press before I started using the fruit strainer. I always felt I was throwing away some juice when using the old methods. 

If I see too much juice in the seed output, I will run the seeds through the strainer again. I can usually get 10-12 cups of juice from one 5-gallon bucket of fruit - a lot more than I use to get. 

What do I do with all of this juice?  I make lilikoi daiquiris. Here is my recipe:

2 cups lilikoi juice

2 cups fresh lime juice (don't use the packaged lime juice [full of nasty ingredients as well as tastes nasty]). I have tried leaving this ingredient out but the daiquiri just doesn't taste right. 

2 cups simple sugar

2 cups rum

Mix well and serve over ice. 

Enjoy!

Ranch Hands September 2014

August saw Hurricane Iselle come ashore & a new lava flow turn inland....   never a dull time on a tropical volcanic island!!

Our island's first full hurricane on over 20 years made landfall and devastated many areas, but the CGR did well.  We had dropped every tree that could hit a building or cable line as we built, so nothing hurt on the ranch.  Many of our friends weren't so lucky.  Our sole issue was 4 days without power but we had a generator.

At a happy hour staff call about what the ranch really needs for vehicles, we decided to donate our small convertible & sports car to PBS and re-equip with the right ones for 'ranching'...  well they arrived on the ship in August.  So now we've got trailer hauling SUV's and a do everything pick up truck.

The only trees the hurricane dropped out back were one's we had in the plan to drop for a new pasture....... so it proved time to upgrade from a small "mainland size" chainsaw to a bigger & a 'way bigger' one to cut up the large trees.  Yes, I sang the Monty Python Lumber Jack song on the ride home!!

Hurricane Iselle

Some misc photos after Iselle. 

Tree came uprooted in the back of the property. We were going to have to cut that tree down eventually. 

Couple more damaged trees from the back. 

A couple of our canopies blew over despite being tied down. 

39th street is flooded from all the rain. This torrent of water ends up in the back of our property - about 600 feet behind the house. 

There was a tree down on Pohaku Dr (our street) and we cut it up to clear the road. We also helped a neighbor by calling the electric company and letting them know he had downed power lines in his yard. 

After seeing a whole telephone pole broken off down the street, we realize it will be days not hours before we get electricity back. 

And another good note was the hatching of the cutest chick on the ranch. I have christened her Iselle. Way to go Mom!

Ranch Hands August 2014

July marked the 3 year anniversary of our first attempts to "beat back the jungle".... that anniversary helps to show how things grow in the tropics!

In July 2011 we started to blaze a trail into the overgrown old guava orchard we'd bought.  In Hawaiian tradition Leslie planted an "Ulu" or breadfruit tree at the site of a family's home.  After defending it from marauding boars, dozer operators to clear rocks & the power company running cables you can now gauge how fast things grow here in the tropics!!

That same tree is big enuf that we had to protect it from the grazing sheep. So we installed a small electric fence & warned them not to touch the ulu!!

July's trophy boar was 168 pounds & allowed us to test out the new smokehouse for several kinds of sausage & smoked meat.  Leslie is becoming a regular supplier of friends in a small local town for eggs, sausages & lamb.  We had to register with the state as we are making enuf in this sideline to be a business!!

Ranch Hands July 2014

June saw some new first's....  Leslie got a huge boar out back, went to the new Hilo Brewfest and ended the month staying in the cabin Ike used up on the volcano in 1946, way cool!!

The boars continue to explore the back future pasture as Mike keeps clearing trees and brush.  Leslie even set the record for the CGR with a 185 pounder.  The new smokehouse is getting broken in well!!

Hilo is now hosting it's own Brewfest, so we got to attend with VIP passes...  the site is an awesome restored sugar plantation compound with the best view of the bay.  Of course we tested all the island's best brews!!!

General Eisenhower stayed in Kilauea Military Camp in '46 after touring the Pacific.  We got a chance to stay in the same cabin with friends to end the month...  the "I like Ike" slogan was back in use!

Ranch Hands June 2014

May was a blur....  clearing our back property brought several "sounders" of wild boars to tear it up...  so boars have been going into sausage & our freezer, so Les got a new BIG smokehouse & Mike got a cement mixer to pour the concrete pad for it!!!

The gradual clearing of trees out back has now crossed several game trails...  now the early morning sees about three different family groups of wild boars (called sounders) come tear up our cleared area, and that's not right....  yup, they've been taking casualties, which go on the menu at the CGR.

Leslie is experimenting with various kinds of sausages & cheeses but wanted a smokehouse....   we found a dude who made a stainless steel one!  Heck, it's bigger than a Porta John!!!

Okay, a big smokehouse needs to be secured to a big concrete pad, so for Leslie's birthday Mike got her a powered cement mixer!!!  Yup, and a pallet of cement too, June is expected to be a very slurry month!!

Ranch Hands May 2014

April saw wild spring growth here... our fruit trees amazed us with their progress...  our chickens luv the new "chick chalet" & even our geese hatched eggs this month!!

We planted fruit trees as soon as we moved in & the growth rate in the tropics amazes us!  After 18 months one guava tree grew up from a small sapling to a height that we actually saw song birds nesting in one of them this week...  As well as giving us fruit this past winter!!!

Our chickens must luv their new chalet & the ability to now free range across more than an acre....  our daily egg count doubled in 6 weeks!!  Leslie is negotiating with new vendors for the additional egg volume!

Our geese have been laying eggs this spring & the first batch hatched 2 new goslings that roam the ranch with their protective mom....  alot of other eggs still being sat on so we'll wait.  But thinking about adding an incubator to the Bunkhouse as an option too.

Ranch Hands April 2014

March saw a wide variety of new items... we attended the Kona Beer Brewers Festival, our chicken operation got new "digs" & the banana's ripened by the hundreds!!!

We started the month at the Kona Beer Brewer's Festival taste-testing almost 40 island & west coast breweries products.....  well, someone had to do it!!  By the way, "people watching" takes on a whole new meaning in Hawaii.  It must be the warm weather. 

Our chicken flock expanded last winter & they now have improved sheds, covers & fences...  Les calls it the "Chick Chalet" and they've adopted it as home.

Our banana tress have been fruiting & ripening for 4 months....  of course they became ready to harvest about the same time....  and "bunches" of bananas you see in a store are really just parts of the very large "racks" of bananas that grow on each tree....  so luckily all the critters here also eat bananas when dozens ripen each day hanging off of the Hacienda!!!

Boars: IX

Mongeese: CLXIX

Ranch Hands March 2014

February was clearing more land & eliminating the boars who are claiming it.. added another "rescue" lamb via a friend..  built a new hen house for our chickens too!!!

A huge project this year is clearing land in the back for more sheep pasture... which currently has a herd of 15 wild boars claiming it....  so we have been trapping them and then smoking their hams & making sausage!!!  15 pounds of delicious beer Bratwurst was the latest!!

A local vet assistant rescued an orphan lamb & bottle fed it, then asked us if we could adopt him into our flock...  our new ram (all white in the center) is up to eating grass & is now 27 pounds...  we get to watch 11 lambs race, jump & play every morning & evening...  good laughs.

Our initial livestock shelters were hastily set up while we built the Hacienda...  this year the critters are getting better, permanent homes...  the "Villa" is mostly finished for the hens to lay eggs - "high & dry" year round.

Ranch Hands February 2014

January finished the "lambing season" where we added 15 lambs - 10 rams & 5 ewes!!!  Big lessons for the ranch crew...  The Vet even came to Us!!

The huge harvests of some items challenge us to find a way to use it all.... Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) made a great wine.  Now we're trying to make 5 gallons of tangerine wine!!

The traditional Hawaiian  "wet season" is when Hawaii's 2 giant volcanoes can get lots of snow....  the NOAA satellite shot on the 29th shows the large snow coverage of Mauna Loa & Mauna Kea....   we could see both from spots on the ranch when the clouds parted on the 31st!!!

January 2014 Ranch Hands

December saw us busy with 6 new lambs, the "wet season" beginning & every plant growing on steroids!!

Our sheep flock has been lambing with 6 new ones last month!  We lost one mom so we started bottle feeding her premature ewe lamb (Mike "volunteered" for the night shift) and the little one has gone from 3 to 17 pounds so far....  the flock is at 20 today with four more pregnant sheep out there!!!

The traditional Hawaiian calendar has two seasons & December we started the "wet season"....  we learned last year that the weather service at the airport gets soooo much less rain than the CGR so we stopped looking at the newspaper...  the latest storm front dumped 3 inches overnight and a foot total for that week...  the plants luv it!!

In December we went and checked all the trees & plants to gauge how they grew in a year...  papaya & tangerines are fruiting, coffee is flowering & all our bamboos are amazing us with their steady progress...  yup, these are all going into the new areas!!