BIG Island trip

In June, we went over to the the "Big Island", Hawaii, with our friends who were visiting from Florida. We camped at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for a couple of nights (in a beautiful, but windy Eucalyptus grove) and went on a great day hike through an old lava field. There were active steam vents (see photo below) in some parts of the hike, but much of it was old lava rock. The landscape was incredibly barren and exposed. Lots of wind, and also some rain on the return hike. We saw some tree molds, made by the streams of lava, as it flowed around tree trunks. You can see Sam looking down into a cave-like hole; that's a tree mold. Our friend Kelly also found a lava chair to sit and relax on.



































































































Check out this amazing Banyan tree. It is the biggest one I have seen outside of Florida. It reaches over fifty feet in multiple directions. The branches were so thick that it looked like sinew. This was at Rainbow Falls Park in Hilo.

May garden update

There is nothing better fresh from the garden than carrots. We harvested our first two carrots from the garden yesterday evening. The taste was wonderful; crisp and slightly sweet.















Our beans are doing really well this week. These photos are actually from last weekend. They are about 3 feet high now!

















A couple of weeks back, they started to get some yellowish spots on them. Katie made up a batch of compost tea with fish meal and yard clippings and let it steep over night in a 5 gallon bucket. We diluted it a little and poured it around the beans the next day.













They quickly perked up and now they look very happy, reaching for the sun as they twist around the bamboo tripod we made for them. We just hope they don't sprout beans before we get back from our trip to Florida this week!

Whale Watch Tour

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Sarah visited us on Maui. One day, we went with her on a whale watch tour on a 50 foot sailboat. We set off from Lahaina around 9 a.m. with a captain, one man crew and five other passengers.









Every year, between December and late April/early May humpback whales visit the waters around Maui. They have their young calves in these waters because the area is so well protected and it maintains a warm temperature of about 75 degrees (warm to the whales, not warm to us Floridians).















The sailing was actually pretty smooth and gave us a great opportunity to view the waters between Maui and Lanai. We scanned the horizon for whale tails for almost two hours.















About an hour or so into the tour, we had not yet spotted any whales. At this point, the one man crew began serving the complimentary beverages: champagne and "the king of beers". But we still didn't see any whales nearby.













So, the captain decided to extend the tour a little and try to get closer to the spot off in the distance where we were seeing a lot of breaching whales. The waters began to get a little rougher suddenly as the wind picked up along our new route.










The waves were suddenly much bigger. It was amazing to look out and see the top of a wave be above the boat!













The captain sits leisurely to the left of the wheel while everyone holds onto their hats.














As the waves became more intense, motion-sickness began to set in on Katie. The captain recommended that she lay down behind the wheel to alleviate the feeling.


This was very helpful, and for the remainder of the tour, she lay there listening to everyone's "oohh's and ahhh's" about the breaching whales off in the distance. But, it was worth it as it was very effective. As we all stepped off the boat, back at the slip, the one-man crew congratulated Katie for "not popping" and thanked us for sailing with them.


And then, we all needed some food and drink. . .
Sarah with Mai Tai #1. Great cup, but she didnt think there was actually any rum in it!















Our post-sailing Mai Tai's. . .ahhhhh, or was it arrrrghhh. . .

April Garden

Here is our most recent addition to the garden:















We had fun yesterday building this bamboo tripod for our blue-lake snap beans. Russell suggested we do a little "waddle and daub" without the "daub" and add a trellis of sorts to the tripod for the beans to grow up once they sprout. He had me thinking about artist Andy Goldsworthy and this piece he made out of driftwood. If you've never seen his work, I highly recommend checking this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBcdL8uO71E&feature=related

As you can see, (bottom left), our Mustard greens are starting to get going. We are thinking about harvesting a few for dinner tonight. . .














Sadly, the Broccoli and Cauliflower plants aren't doing as well as we had hoped. It turns out, we have a case of white butterflies. We aren't sure what else to do about them except hand pick off the eggs and worms.
















These butterflies flutter around our garden playfully all day, occasionally stopping to land on our vegetable greens and lay their eggs. . .which turn into ruthless kale and broccoli leaf eating monster worms!!!

















But, the Mustards seem to be pretty safe, thanks to their natural protection: spiciness!

March garden update

As we have mentioned before, we are working on expanding our garden space. Last week, we decided to check on our compost, to see if it was broken down enough to use on the new rows we were planting. When we lifted the plastic compost bin off, the contents inside retained a cube-like shape! We decided there wasn't enough compost for us to use (and that it is too dry). So, we turned it around a bit and then covered it again for future use. We are really missing the worm-bin we had in Tampa because of the amazing speed in which those worms have to assist with breaking down all that vegetable matter. We need to find some Maui worms I guess. . .

















Here you can see the three new rows we have added. In the row closest to the right, there are beets and Purple Osaka mustard greens starting to come up. We amended the soil with some of our neighbors compost (thanks!) and also some oyster shells, (that's why it looks a little white).


Next to the beet/mustards row is broccoli and cauliflower. It is coming right along for the most part. Although, there was about 5 plants that rotted around the bottom of the stem and withered away, which we will need to replant soon. And then there are the snails and slugs that are nibbling on the leaves a little too. . .




Everything else we had planted in the winter season is still maintaining itself pretty well, with the exception of the tomatoes. We replanted a few new varieties of tomatoes but they are starting to get that white mildew-y type stuff on the leaves. . .but we aren't sure why. But the garden is helping out some now with cutting back our grocery bill. We are hoping that will continue to help, as the garden grows more. Oh, and the baby Pak Choy we planted is sprouting up quite well, but too small to see it here yet, (same goes for the parsnip and carrot rows).

Another year older. . .

Last weekend we celebrated Russell's birthday. It was a rainy weekend, but we ventured over to the west side to Lahaina to find a little sunshine during the day.

















Katie made a slightly mishapened volcano cake for the occasssion.



And last month we celebrated Katie's birthday.














Russell made a delicious chocolate raspberry cake, as requested. And he decorated it with these great vintage candles we found at the thrift store.




















Although we think it looked kind of like a meatloaf, it tasted (fortunatly not like meatloaf) very delicious.

Recent Past : Recent Future

[Maui's been very grey, cool, and rainy the past couple of weeks so here's some "archival" material from our recent past]

The City of Tampa has always had a stroke of luck when it comes to fires. They always seem to happen at just the right time and at just the right place, wherever the city and its developers are looking to renew. Tampa is a very lucky city in some ways.

Massey Park, Downtown Tampa, circa 2007