Life on the Farm: A Little Progress, a Little Chaos, and What's Next
It has been a while since I've posted an update! Jared has been overseas working, and I've been holding down the fort here at the farm.
Most days, I feel like I haven't accomplished much, but I'm learning that this is just farming. It's a constant give and take, with plenty of things completely out of your control. You can work all day and still feel like your to-do list is getting longer instead of shorter!
The Coffee Trees Are Coming Back!
The good news is that our coffee trees are coming back really nicely. Some days, a little too nicely, haha!
At this stage, we're selectively pruning the trees to manage the number of vertical branches and encourage healthy growth. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those jobs you finish and check off the list. Those branches just keep growing, and the trees apparently have no intention of slowing down!
Still, it's rewarding to see them recovering and looking healthy after all the work we've put into them.
Hurricane Lala: A Reminder That Nature Is in Charge
Hurricane Lala hit the Kaʻū region hard and caused an incredible amount of damage.
Our farm sustained damage, but we were fortunate compared to many of our neighbors. It was more than a week before I could even get back to the farm because of the damage to roads and surrounding communities.
We lost approximately 100 coffee trees, which was heartbreaking, but some neighboring farms lost or sustained damage to thousands of trees.
At one point, the area received something like 4.4 inches of rain in a single hour, after it had already been raining for hours. The saturated ground and drainage systems simply couldn't handle the amount of water rushing down from the mountains.
On our property, the water overflowed the existing drainage gulch and carved out an entirely new path, taking a section of our land with it.
Unfortunately, that is land we'll never get back. Our focus now is on stabilizing the new bank to prevent further erosion. It's going to be an expensive, labor-intensive project, but one we can't afford to ignore.
If farming teaches you anything, it's that you can make all the plans you want, but nature always gets the final say.
Next Stop: Kenya!
On a more exciting note, in a couple of weeks Jared and I will be heading to Kenya to attend a coffee fermentation camp!
We're going to learn more about how introducing specific microbes during fermentation can influence the flavor profile of coffee. This approach has been used in winemaking for a long time, and we're excited to explore how it can be applied to coffee.
One of our long-term goals is to experiment with different processing and fermentation techniques to create unique flavor profiles that reflect both our farm and our curiosity.
We're hoping to have a little coffee cherry ready when we return so we can put some of what we've learned into practice.
Who knows what we'll come up with? That's part of the fun!
One Day at a Time
There's always more to do, more to learn, and something unexpected waiting around the corner. Some days the progress is obvious, and other days it feels like all I've done is chase weeds and prune branches.
But the trees are growing, we're learning, and little by little, the farm is moving forward. And I suppose that's what farming is all about.
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