Clearing Brush
25 March 2007
April 15th is getting closer. Besides being tax day, April 15th also
marks the beginning of the rainy season here in Kona coffee country.
During the rainy season we'll often have sun in the morning with showers
almost every afternoon. That combination of sun and steady rain makes
spring a great time to plant new keikis. Keiki is the Hawaiian word for
'small child'. Kona coffee farmers also use keiki to refer to baby
coffee tree. Like human keikis, coffee keikis require plenty of care
during their first year.
We have a couple fields that we plan to plant with more Kona coffee
this year. One field has already been completely cleared but the
other still has some work that needs to be done. It was previously
planted with macadamia nut trees and several of the trees had been knocked
down but never cleared.
In Kona, any section of land that is not constantly tended will soon be
covered in weeds. This section of field had a row of weeds as
tall as the house and nearly impenetrable. Waiting until the end
of the dry season helped some because many of the weeds had died back
but it still required the use of the tractor to clear it out.
Having the old trees buried in the brush made the task even more challenging.
At one point Valerie came out to watch me work. After taking a few
pictures she laid down in a nearby grassy area to relax. She was
daydreaming and watching the white fluffy clouds go by when she noticed me
trying to sneak up on her with a pile of mulch in the tractor's bucket.
I tried to dump the mulch on her head but she managed to get away. I
need one of those silent, black, stealth tractors.
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