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!!

December 2013 Ranch Hands

The month of November gave us some unique experiences....  we "mid-wifed" a problem birth of a new lamb, Angel got a visit from the Parrot Sanctuary & Leslie's enjoying her new lawn tractor!!

One of first sheep born on the ranch last year had problems delivering her first  lamb...  a quick procedure by Leslie & we got both our mid-wife merit badges and a healthy new ram!!  In that picture "Chesty" is 30 seconds old.  We have 7 other pregnant sheep so hoping no others need help!!

Angel joined us in April from a Parrot Sanctuary on the other side of the island.  Dorothy, who cared for him, visited and the whole flock had a very loud reunion!!!!

While Mike keeps clearing trees & rocks on the side and back of the Hacienda, Leslie is making the front areas more civilized.  She added a riding lawn tractor to her arsenal to manage it all!

This month has a new list of projects as the long side fence goes in, oh & the holidays too!!  

November 2013 Ranch Hands

Leslie's sister Pat spent almost two weeks of October at the ranch, we added a new dog, and our plants and trees continue to grow!!

We started the month at a local Oktoberfest party. It wasn't Germany, but they had lots of great beer and food. 

Leslie went to the Humane Society down the street and found a beautiful 3-year old black German Shepard. He loves to play fetch (all day) and chase the neighbor's pigs!!

Pat gave us one of her fantastic paintings - this one of Hilo Bay. She found a dealer here that will sell her paintings for her. She better start painting more, because they take months to dry. 

The poinsettias that we planted in the ground after Christmas last year are already starting to turn red. They look like they will be in full "bloom" by Thanksgiving. They obviously love it here and require no strange rituals to get them started as we tried to in Virginia.