Last week we went to Doutor Mauka Meadows coffee farm again to show two visitors. They’re STILL closed, but you can do a tour by reservation. Because we’ve only visited them in COVID-times, I’m not sure how they really operate. It’s all a little mysterious to me since they cater to Japanese tourists. Many signs are only in Japanese.
I used official channels this time to make my reservation, and I didn’t know what to expect. Our friend of a friend opened the gate so we could park, then closed it, saying, “Oh, it’s you!” Then she opened the gate to walk into the property and closed that behind us. Then we made our unaccompanied way down the hill, at our own pace. If I were a first-time, English-speaking visitor, I don’t know what I’d think. There are a few signs to lead you down to the beautiful infinity pool, but the place begs for a guided tour. We were served coffee and could buy roasted coffee that had been roasted that morning, which we did. It just feels really strange when you have this whole place to yourselves, and two staff members waiting for you.
We were last there around this time last year. Again, we collected many varieties of citrus from the ground, and picked a few with the pickers they conveniently leave for visitors (I assume). I was envious of the rows of beautiful pineapple in the ground. I think pineapple, I think pigs. There was a large pig trap discreetly located on the side of the property, near the banana plant borderline.
As for our farm, it was pretty windy a week or two ago. We didn’t realize it at the time, but wind had blown at least ten banana stalks over. It’s such a tight grove, the other stalks still propped up the fallen ones. Some of those had bananas, so those had to be harvested a little early. Hubby had already harvested several ripe clusters, so we’re in one of those periods with lots of bananas. He hangs them in our unfinished lower level.
If they’re ripe, though, it can happen from one day to the next that all the bananas drop down, tearing their peel as they go. Those aren’t suitable to give away, so we have to dehydrate them ASAP. People ALWAYS say to make banana bread. Banana breads don’t use enough bananas to solve our problem. We don’t (yet) have an extra freezer, so we can’t just peel and freeze. I’m afraid of a chest freezer. It’s so easy to stick things in the freezer and forget about them. It has strong potential to be one more accumulation and clutter problem.
Lastly, the stumped coffee is coming back nicely. I usually take photos when they’re reached pom-pom stage (prior to vertical selection), but this is a photo earlier in the cycle. And, there’s a photo of our cat in one of our master gardener germination experiments. She had been playing with a gecko who had, of course, quickly employed tail autotomy (i.e., ditched its tail). TWICE she brought the tailless gecko over and dropped it into that box to bat it around inside there! What a weirdo. Why?!!
