Bacteria

is everywhere. On the farm, we use bacteria to build compost and hope that symbiotic probiotics attach themselves to our plants roots. In our daily lives, we eat yogurt with live cultures and drink raw kombucha to stave off infection and fungi. These are all the good, healthy bacteria that can do wonderful and restorative things. Don't they sound lovely?

Then there's the nasty bacteria with which I have found myself intimately acquainted since my return. Let's meet the players, shall we? In the right corner, we have streptococcus: annihilator of WWOOFer immune systems, air traveler and a bacterium likely found on every dish, glass and silverware in the shared kitchen. In the left corner, we have Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (say it ten times fast!) or Xcc: cause of Black rot in Crucifers (cabbage family) and ruthless conquerer of Grace Garden at Hale Akua Garden Farms. As a result of this ignoble foe, all of Grace Garden is scheduled to be ruthlessly ripped up. 40 tons of compost is to be trucked in and the land will lay fallow for at least a year with cover-crops such as clover, sun-hemp and sorghum allowed to take root and restore the soil--to defeat the wretched Xanthomanas which now lives there.

What this means for me is that I will not have a chance to love my section of Grace Garden back to life. That I will have to say goodbye to the okra, rainbow chard and lima beans to which I had become so attached. I have already exterminated my garden of broccoli which was upsetting (and let me tell you: nothing smells better than rotten members of the cabbage family) and will do the same to the fennel today.

Now for the glass-half-full analysis: I get to see the realities of organic problem solving. Can you imagine how devastating this news would be to a non-trust-fund-funded, family operation. Here, we are lucky enough to have Lori Grace behind us--she is willing to spend thousands on compost and a tractor. We get to start over and to do the best thing for the health of the garden. It's going to be awesome.

On the streptococcus front... I fear I have succumbed.

Ta-Da!

You've asked for it so, here it is: THE MUMU-JUMPER!!

Notice the sleek silhouette and sexy cleavage. This outfit is ready for a night on the town and your next pregnancy! It is particularly flattering from the side

and goes great with fanny packs!

Buy yours today! Don't worry it only gives you camel toe if you lift your arms. Silly!

I'm back

I promised you a post about ginger but it's not going to be nearly as inspired as I had initially imagined. Initially, you see, I was going to describe to you the sensation of moist soil under your knees and the impression of being buried between rows of dew-heavy ginger leaves. I was going to give you a sense of the smell that exists there--the uniquely floral, citrusy and spicy smell the lives only in those sweetly damp rows of Hana Garden at Hale Akua Garden Farms at eight in the morning . Alas, I did sooooo much over the past two weeks that I simply can not stand for a post devoted solely to the pleasures of weeding and eating young ginger. So, we move on, but first a picture of the harvested thing. Notice the pink around the edges--something you NEVER see on the mainland. This means it's fresh bitches. And, please, no need to peel.

I'm going to approach the next part of this post by detailing briefly my itinerary and following it up with some pictures (mostly of things I ate. Go figure.)

I left the farm for a bi-coastal, whirl-wind wedding-athon on the 7th of October. My first stop was San Diego for an evening and then off to NYC for the Grossman-Gaul ceremony. Highlights included a delectable rehearsal dinner at Franky's Spuntino, a brides v grooms whiffle ball tourny and the most thoughtful (and succinct) vows I have ever heard. I stayed in the boroughs until Thursday and spent my time eating and visiting with the likes of Matthew, Hillary, Megan, Nic, Jessie, Emily, Sun and Lawrence. Oh yeah, and our parents :). It was great to catch up and boy oh boy was the food yummy. By Friday I was hanging out with the old roomies in Tijuana (because they all seem to be moving to or have already moved there) and getting hit on by a Mexican pop-star. (!?!?!--Don't ask me to tell you who unfortunately, but I'm going to brag about it nonetheless.) Saturday I went to Mariana and Peter's wedding which was held in Mariana's back yard. There was a giant paella pan and the wedding was officiated by Mariana's mom--not a dry eye or an unhappy stomach. The next day I was on a plane back to Maui. Here are the pictures:

These are in no particular order but include Sun, Mariana, Peter, Ninth Street Espresso, Momofuku Noodle Bar and Caracas Arepa Bar. (A side note: everyone is having babies!)

My trip was incredible and I am very much excited to be back on Maui and to detox until Halloween. (Did I mention I was drunk for ten days straight? Or that I ate five times as much pig in a week than I had in a month and a half? Well, I should have.) I've come back to find the property as beautiful as I left it but my portion of Grace Garden a little neglected. Never you fear, I will love it back to life. I leave you with a photo of the sunrise (shot on my way to yoga class... ommmmmm.)

The Dumbest Creatures on Maui

I leave for the mainland tomorrow and will be away from the Blog for a week or so. Before I go, however I want to talk to you about night-time at Hale Akua. I have lost my flashlight so, depending on the moon (which is now full), I can either walk by moonlight or the sound of my feet on gravel (grass = imminent wall) to my destination. Sometimes being blind is more fun because I am more aware of the most wonderful plant on the premises: the night jasmine. The night Jasmine only opens at night (go figure) and, when it does, releases the most wonderful of plumeria-esque scents ever encountered by my nose. I have searched for the source of its aroma by sun and by moonlight and the plant continues to elude me which only adds to its mystique. It might be my favorite thing about the farm.

Another fun detail about night-travel at Hale Akua are the toads. They must be the least intelligent animals on Maui: when they hear something coming they freeze. The real-life implications of this survival tactic are not good for the toads. The number of them that I have kicked or stepped on while journeying to my room and the legions that lay smooshed by car tires throughout the property are a testament to their stupidity. This being said, they are easy to pick up--as Lulu has demonstrated multiple times--and we intend to have a toad race. Won't that be fun!?

As it was a full moon on Saturday, night time was particularly magical. Lulu, Jeff and I enjoyed a primal scream around the ancient (or so they say) Hawaiian sacrificial site on the farm. Before the scream, we offered a carrot (earth), the wind (wind), some burning sage (fire), and rain (water) to the moon. You know, all in a day's work.

My next blog entry is going to be about ginger. It's going to blow your mind.

Aloha,

CMC

Welcome to the Jungle

It is raining. It was raining yesterday and it will rain tomorrow. Outside of the daily ten-minute down-pours of September, I had not thought much of living in a rainforest. Now, however, summer is over and the rainy season is approaching: I'm imagining myself digging beds in sheets of rain and it is not a pretty picture. On the flip side, all this rain has created an incredible waterflow over our waterfall. What was a trickle yesterday looks like something out of the Indiana Jones ride at Universal Studios today.

My transition into hippydom is almost complete: without having thought about it, I have stopped applying deodorant. It was not until thursday of last week, when I was distracted by my own funk in a garden full of smelly things (like chicken poop) that I realized this. I have also almost completely cut out meat (except for an incredible lau lau i ate the other day) and it feels AWESOME. I'm not going to attribute my continued health to a lack of meat, however. I'm thinking it has more to do with my increased consumption of delicious and fresh vegetables in place of things like three fresh-out-of-the-oven burger buns for dinner. Vitamins work y'all.

I've killed my camera (rainstorm, wet backpack) so I have to figure out how to upload things from my phone before i can post more pictures.

Happy sunday!

C