First Animals

    In the past two weeks we have put our first animals into our grazed orchard.
    Two weekends ago we purchased two heifers from my friend Brad Lau in Waimea.  They have somewhat unknown origins and Brad says the lady who he got them from were calling them Beefalos with some Angus in them.  I bought them because whatever they are they are certainly miniature by cattle standards.  They are both under 36" at the shoulder at 1+ year old and weigh less than 400 pounds each.  They look like miniature Angus cows and I have a feeling they have some Lowline in them which would be great.  Lowline cows are miniature cattle derived from the Angus breed and were developed in Australia.  They produce the most meat per acre of any breed, can finish with great marbling off pasture alone, and are only about 60% the size of regular Angus cows but produce more rib area of meat(prime cuts) in proportion to their body size.  Their smaller size will do less damage to our fences and our fruit tree roots.
    My dad and I were also able to put up a 20x16 hale/catchment for our animals.  A gutter feeds into our 80 gal trough that will overflow into a small pond(once we make it).  I also went around and "buttoned" up our fence putting extra post or skirt in about 40 spots to make our orchard pig/dog proof.
    This past weekend we put our first sheep in our orchard.  We are very lucky to have 5 sheep(4 female 1 male) from Jake's flock in Pepeekeo.  They are bred from a 7/8 Dorper ram and mixed hair ewes(Katahdin, St. croix, Barbados).  Hopefully the sheep do alright in the orchard, as it will be hard to monitor them.  In Pepeekeo Jake has had a hard time with flystrike and lost 2 ewes to it.  We hope we can breed resistance to it.  Muscovy ducks may also help to clean flies off our sheep, and we plan to get some as soon as we have a pond.  Our Dorper ram has a nice shedding coat and seems to have good feet and resistance to internal parasites.  He has not had any flystrike issues yet.  He is not as big as Dorpers that I have seen in pictures, but I hope that he will breed some good hardy animals and get our ewe line established.  The ram lamb we chose to put in the orchard has exceptionally short hair and looks like he will have a nice muscular frame.  In the future we will look to find a big Dorper ram to beef up our herd.  We will also replace ewes prone to health problems.
    I hope that our animals start to take down the Guinea grass so that we can start planting many more trees this year.  We will need to cull animals aggressively these first few years to breed out weaknesses, but with a little luck our herd will grow large enough to keep our orchard in a state that is favorable for our growing trees.
  

Finally some fence

  Well it's 2012, a full year since we started managing this beautiful property in Hakalau.  We were finally able to save up for some fence and construct a 6.5 acre paddock.  The grasses are growing huge in our fertile soil, and hopefully we can now use grazing animals to help control them.
  Big mahalos to our crew who helped put up our fence, Keahi, Jake, Dad, Uncle Timmy and Mom, Uncle kahela and aunty Terry, Ian and Lahela.  Sorry if I was a slave driver, but I was excited.  It couldn't have happened without everyone's help.
  This area will be our first section of grazed orchard.  I's kind of hard to visualize when your looking at 8ft. guinea grass, but with the correct species and management we'll get it done.  The map below shows the fence in red which is about a quarter of the property.

It's been a while since our last update.  The weeds have been growing robustly and I was not able to access a machine to mow as often as I wanted to.  As a result we lost a large percentage of our Koaia.  We have two rows clean and maintained, and hope to clear and maintain at least the other two main contour rows(about 400 trees total).  These four main rows will establish root systems that will hold the soil in natural terraces until we are able to create swales(kind of hard to explain, come check um out!).
I originally bit of more than I could chew, planning to take care of 2000 trees on about 9 acres.  I was relying on resources that weren't always available(tractor mower).
I beleive that 4 rows will be manageable and still do a lot for soil/water conservation.  Our tallest trees are about 8 feet but spindly.  Not bad for one year of growth.  Trees that have died will have new ones in their place.
This year we will try to work with and around the pioneer(weed) species on our property and use their kino to support other forms of life that are beneficial to us.
"Weeds" serve a purpose and hold and build soil, So before we jump into using herbicide and diesel tractors to control them lets make sure we're not making work for work's sake.
It's all a learning process and a labor of love.  May we continue to ulu this year and remember to put the 'aina first.

Acai Seeds

Today my friend from work Christian came out to Hakalau to help out.  We layed out 1 row of weed mat, weeded all the current plants and planted ~90 nanaea, 32 mamaki, and about a dozen koaia.  The weeds are getting tall and were tricky to pull without damaging our koaia.  I will plan to mow soon.

Jake recently ordered some acai seeds online.  they arrived and I picked them up today.  I read up on germination techniques and started them 5 minutes ago.  We ordered 1000 seeds and hope to get at least 500 trees in about a year or so.  We hope to have enough trees for the Miuse's property in Pepeekeo and our Hakalau property.  All the info that I have read seems very promising as acai fruit(pulp) is very expensive and Hamakua is one of the only suitable climates for unirrigated acai in the Nation.  We need to decide how much area to designate to acai palm cultivation.  We can fit a bout 100 trees per acre.  These seeds are from the BRS Para dwarf variety that has been developed by the Brazilian government to be shorter and more productive than wild grown acai trees.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I do a good job germinating our baby acais and can get them robust and ready for the ground.  Mahalo to Jake for making this important  investment in acai seeds, We will do our best to protect it.

Work trade

This past Friday I was able to do a fencing job for Kuʻulei who will let us use his tractor mower in return.  I spent 6 hours repalcing 150 feet of barbed wire and redoing an H brace(took longer than I thought).
I spun past our ʻaina and saw that one koaiʻa from the first planting was 30 inches tall.  I was stoked to see such good growth in just 2 months.  The grass and weeds are coming on strong, and I am planning to mow in early April.
On Sunday Uncle Kekoa and I attended a revitalizing ʻulu workshop in Puna.  It got me pumped on ʻulu and the potential for good on our ʻaina.  Hopefully interest grows as more people grow this important food.  Hopefully there will soon be a place in Hawaii for farmers to process their ʻulu into a gluten free flour.  I will need to find a way to acquire the ʻulu varieties we need to have fruit year round.  I met some good people and got a really good feeling there.  I shared some koaiʻa keikis and brought home 2 ʻulu from Puna(Hawaiian variety I think).  Really good experience, Houlu ka ʻulu.

The Grazed orchard concept

Basically the idea for our grazed orchard is to fence off ~8 acres with 4 ft. hogwire, protect each tree and put in grazing animals in to control the understory(grass, weeds) and cycle nutrients.  Sounds simple enough right?  In actuality it will be a complex balancing act that will require knowledge in many different aspects of agriculture and sound planning.  There is no perfect species of animal for our unique purpose and we will need to be wise and open minded when it comes to selection.  I have not found an orchard like this around to model ours after and don't know for certain which tree species will tolerate grazers well.  So we are starting off on theoretical knowledge and hope that as we plant trees we will gain the ike that we need to be efficient.
This is the picture that I have in my mind.  ~ 8 acres fenced with 4 ft bezinal hogwire.  240 trees planted 30 feet apart in rows that run straight, but as level as possible, with 30 ft spacing between rows.  We will have 20 trees each of Ulu, coconut, citrus, avocado, lychee, macadamia.  We will also plant 10 mango and 10 mixed fruit trees.  The Idea of having many different fruit trees will not only add diversity of available food, but will show us what species works best in our system and serve as a model for others thinking about doing similar agriculture.  We will also grow 100 mangosteen trees. Specific varieties will include, but are not limited to:


Ulu - Rare autia(tahiti), Lipet(Pohnpei), Maafala(samoa), Yap(duh), Meinpadahk(pohnpei), Afara(tahiti), Ulu(hawaii), Puou(Samoa), Meitehid(Pohnpei), Ulu tala(Samoa), and Meiarephe(pohnpei).ulu varieties

Coconut - Malayan red dwarf, Malayan yellow dwarf, select productive tall trees.coconut varities

Citrus - Tahitian lime, meyers lemon, flame grapefruit, navel orange, valencia orange, tangerine, tangelo.
citrus varieties
Avocado - Kahaluu, Kainaliu, Hakalau(wild on Property), Murashige, John Holley,
avos
Mango - Tommy Atkins, Florigon, Keitt.
mango varieties
Lychee - Kaimana, Kwai mai, Groff
lychee
Mixed Trees - Durian, starfruit, rambutan, longan,

Macadamia - Kau, Makai, Keaau, Keahou.
macs
Mangosteen - 100 trees with a lemondrop mangosteen planted in the same hole as a rootstock(grafted onto tree to increase vigor)
mangosteen
Fruit trees cost money and some of the trees we desire are hard to find, so we will plant trees as they become available.
Finding the right animal for our orchard is a tough job.  Qualities we are looking for include being hardy and disease resistant, relatively short, controls grass and other weeds, low maintenance(labor input), and is productive in terms of meat and reproduction.  There are animals that are favorable for some qualities and poor for others, and anything over 5 feet or 500 pounds are out because they would damage the trees(cows, horses, etc.)  Here's a few that I have been looking up with brief descriptions.

Dorper sheep - is a hybrid sheep with a great meat carcass that has shedding wool that does not need to be sheared.  It is not too tall and very productive.  A ewe can lamb 3 times in 2 years and have twins 50% of the time.  It would graze well on grass and weeds.  The drawback of Dorpers and sheep in general are that Hakalau is too wet.  Sheep in wet areas are prone to hoof rot and other foot sickness.  Treatments include fungicidal foot baths and periodic inspection and trimming of hooves and might be more work than we are willing to take on.
dorpers
Barbados Blackbelly sheep - This breed of sheep was developed in the humid tropics of the Caribbean.  They are noted for foot rot resistance, parasite resistance, and fertility.  Their main draw back is their small size, although meat is said to be lean and non "muttony".  As far as sheep health goes this may be the best fit for our climate.  A cross with dorper sheep might be the ultimate sheep for us.
Blackbellies
Mouflon sheep - horned hair sheep with good lean meat but small body size.  Introduced as a game animal they are hardy and thrive on the Big island.  The ewes have single births once a year.  Hakalau is wet for mouflon, but I think they would be healthier than most domestic breeds.
mouflon
Goats - There are many types of goats that would do well in our orchard, but the meat is less favorable than other animals.
goats
Kunekune pigs - This interesting pig from New Zealand is a miniature pig(-300lbs) that can be fed grass alone.  In my opinion free range pigs would be easier to manage than sheep and pigs are very prolific.  Kunekune pigs are not available in Hawaii to my knowledge.
kunekunes
Muscovy ducks - eat bugs and slugs and supposedly taste great.
muscovies
Chickens - Eat fruit fly larvae and other pest and different varieties can be used for meat or eggs
chicken breeds
Bees - Pollinate trees and give us honey
bees in hawaii
As with the Fruit trees, animals cost money and can be hard to find.  We will not be able to utilize them until we have put up our fence and tree guards.  I am not sure exactly which animals to use, and may initially use what is available and gradually improve the quality of our herd.



Pros
- No mowing, weeding or poisoning of grass and weeds.
- meat, eggs and honey
- turn competitive grasses and weeds into a 100% organic fertilizer.
- Less input of fertilizers if any
- provide a model for sustainability with little outside inputs, with many types of produce for home use.

Cons
- animals need different amounts of care, work and supplemental feed.
- high initial costs of quality fence, tree guards and livestock.
- some tree species may be incompatible with grazing.
- untried theory that could turn out to be more work and less productive than a conventional orchard.

So the first 6 trees have gone in and I will continue to collect other desired trees and keep searching for the right animals for the job and hopefully they will be available when we have enough money for our fence.

First orchard trees

Friday 3/4 I went to Hakalau and planted the first trees in the orchard section of the property, here's what went in.
2 ulu- 1 rare autia(tahiti), 1 lipet(pohnpei)
1 avocado - kainaliu
1 grapefruit - flame
1 Mango - Tommy Atkins
1 Mangosteen + 1 lemondrop mangosteen for rootstock.
I also planted another row of koaia(~80 trees)

I drove up Chin Chuck and checked out Kalai Aiona at Mahiai ihi o Wailea, an organization with 20 acres who plan to grow maile under a native understory.  Their maile greenhouse was impressive but they were having trouble getting their native trees established.  I will keep in touch so we can learn from their experiences.

I also met with Kuulei and will be repairing a ~150 ft. section of his barbed wire fence in exchange for using his mower.

Long break

It's been a while since my last blog, and I have not been going to Hakalau as religiously as in January, but it is always on my mind as I try to balance family, work and life in general.  On Friday 2/18 Keahi and I went down to Hakalau and laid out a row of weed mat.  I will need to purchase more wire for pins and get more weed mat from Hilo Termite.  We also planted about 150 lehua huli; most of them in holes dug previously for smaller huli that did not make it.  It sucks when things die, but through trial and error we will  find the proper way to raise dryland taro in our system.  We also repaired some weed mat that had been pulled up by the wind.
The koai'a all looked healthy, but I am anxious to see what their growth rates will be for the first year.  Hopefully there will be a noticeable growth spurt in the near future.
On 2/20 Lahela and I went for a walk up Hakalau river valley to a waterfall that is special to us.  We seen many species that I would like to bring up to the property including kukui, hau, ulu, banana, kalo, niu, mamaki, ti leaf, hoio, and hala.  I have noticed that plants may differ slightly from place to place in Hawaii even though they are the same species, and would really like to have the plants from Hakalau represented and taken care of on our property.  Anyway here are some photos of our hike.

I've been lagging on making a master plan with an outline for the whole property and will probably need to ask my 'ohana for technical help.  Another factor is that the plan is constantly evolving.  Though the goals and basic design are pretty much set, there are a thousand different ways to tweak the system for more efficient production and any plans made will need to be well thought out and flexible.  I am open to any suggestions and constantly try to talk to people about what we're trying to do to see if there are people around with insightful information that could help us achieve our goals for this 'aina.
This past Saturday 2/26 We(Lahela, baby and I) drove to south Kona to The Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden for their annual Grow Hawaii festival.  There were all sorts of practitioners using  polynesian plants to revive Hawaiian cultural practices.  From tapa makers using kauila i'e, to a group of kupuna making lauhala hats.  There was even an old hawaiian man doing traditional feather work using more commonly available bird feathers.  There were a few good talks including a relaxed mana'o sharing with Keoki and Yvonne Carter and uncles Jerry Konanui and Kanae Keawe.  After their talk I told uncle Kana'e that I will be coming to him to ask for consultation on creating our own ethnobotanical garden on the Hilo side.  It was good to hear these practitioners manao on Hawaiian cultural practices today so that when we plant our Polynesian plants we will have a realistic plan for them to be utilized and not just be planting a living museum.  Another cool talk was a round table discussion of six managers of botanical gardens in hawai'i including managers from Limahuli and Kahanu Valley.  They discussed what makes each Garden Unique as well as the value of having genetic preserves.  I got to talk to Kamaui, a manager at Kahanu Valley NTBG, who help to preserve over 120 varieties of ulu.  I asked him about specific varieties that produce abundantly in Hawaii, and which varieties to get to ensure a year-round harvest.  Ulu trees are in high demand for them, but hopefully I can work with him to acquire the varieties that we desire for our preserve.
The Gardens were nice and neat, but I thought that they would be more extensive.  Amy Greenwell's is the the premier ethnobotanical garden on the Big Island, and going there further convinced me that our Uluhou project is a worthwile endeavor and is something that will be utilized by our island ohana.  Having said that, I am thankful for Amy Greenwell's Garden for the service it provides the island and think it is a valuable cultural and genetic resource.  The burden of protecting our cultural resources should not fall on a single entity.  By creating more cultural minded gardens we can improve the diversity and utility of such gardens.  Hopefully this can also inspire, promote and enable more practioners, for how can we make tapa if no more wauke?
In March I will be looking for a good day to get the family out and do as much weed mat as possible so that in March/April we can put in another 400-500 koai'a.