The end of our fantastic trip to Maui found us spending a few days with our friends Bennett and Gaby who live upcountry, in Makawao.  They rent a little house up there, and they have a super cute little “cottage” for a guest house, where we stay.  Their yard is fairly enormous, with lots of fruit trees and a garden with veggies that they planted.  It really is quite the homestead and relatively tropical as well.

a shot of the house from the guest cottage; the little shed on the left is the laundry room

a view of the guest cottage from the house

Yes, that is a hammock on the porch of the guest cottage.  So appropriate.

The cottage is pretty cool and uniquely Hawaiian in that the bathroom is outdoors.  Not like an outhouse, but a fully functioning regular bathroom, but just not entirely enclosed.  You can probably see better from the photo.

shower, toilet, sink-- all open to the Makawao weather

It feels truly extraordinary to be showering out, essentially, in the middle of the jungle.  The only downside is when it’s raining (which it did much of the time we were there) because it’s rather chilly and damp, even though you aren’t getting rained on.  A pretty unique experience, though.

The garden thrives in this climate, obviously, so I think essentially all you have to do is throw down some seeds and you have this:

lots of greens, beets, herbs, and lettuces

We cooked some eggs in the morning with some of the fantastic Swiss chard, which was gorgeous.

And we juiced fresh oranges and tangerines from the fruit trees.

the 6 year old juicing the fruit

We had quite a few other uniquely Hawaiian experiences.  Our friends had a bunch of young coconuts that they like to puncture in order to get the coconut water (and subsequently, the young coconut meat).  Bennett has a special coconut-puncturing tool, which I loved, since you know how much I love my single-job tools and “the right tool for the right job.” This was definitely the right tool, and I can’t imagine how you’d accomplish the puncturing without it.

the coconuts right off the tree, with these crazy long spindly things

So first, you detach the coconut from the long spindly things, and then you have to “pop” the top leaves off.

the 6 year old got to help open the coconuts, which was beyond exciting

After you pop that blossomy-looking leaf thing off with that tool, you have a softer spot to sort of “drill” into and create a hole.

you shove that tool in the soft spot and twist, kind of like a wine bottle opener

Once you’ve inserted the tool, you can pull it back out and you’ve got access to the inner cavity, where the coconut water is.  And then comes the kind of super cool part: just stick a straw in the coconut and drink!  This part went over very big with the kids.

drinking it all up!

Once you’ve had all the water, then you can hack the coconut open with a machete (yep, they had one of those) to get to the meat.  Here’s the sequence of events:

The coconut meat that you get out of one of these “green” coconuts is not like what you buy in the store– it’s fresh and almost jelly-like, and you scoop it out with a spoon.  It was kind of heavenly.

So, that was totally awesome.  They also had a big bunch of bananas just hanging from the porch (next to the wind chimes, of course), and anytime you wanted a banana, you just sauntered on out and grabbed one off the bunch.  Classic.

big 6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot, BUNCH!

And right outside the door is a basket of avocados, lemons, oranges…

So, that’s how they do it Makawao-style.  It’s fun to see such a different yet familiar way of living over there on the island.

We had a great vacation but were ready to get home.  When we arrived back at our place, spring had sprung!  More on that in the next post.

I finally got my garden underway this weekend as I was under a fantastic time constraint– we leave for Maui for a week’s vacation tomorrow.  So I really let it go down to the wire, up early this morning to make sure the tomatoes got in the ground before we left.

Another reason I waited so long was because I like to get my seedlings at the world’s largest seedling sale: TOMATOMANIA!  We’ve been going for several years now, and I love it– they have over 300 different kinds of tomato plants available, and they come right to a small farm near our house.

I bought about 8 bags of compost a few days ago, and yesterday the boys and I amended the soil with it.  Even with the worms and the composter, I still don’t get enough compost to start the season off right, so I have to buy it.  Here’s what the garden looked like post-compost, but pre-plants:

We planted the tomatoes (more on them in a second) and a few other key plants: a cucumber called “Peppi,” which is way too cute, an eggplant called “Millionaire,” which probably won’t live up to its hype, and a red bell pepper that I know will not produce anything edible since they never do and yet I keep planting them.  If y’all have tips on how to get viable bell peppers at home, shoot them over here, ‘kay?

So, back to the tomatoes.  I planted 12 in all, which is pretty average for me.  I like to try to have a good mix of cherry, paste and beefsteak tomatoes, and I like to have some nice heirlooms, too.  Here’s what I planted this year:

Suncherry Extra Sweet: True to its name, this cherry tomato is supposed to be super sweet: rated a 9 – 10 on the Brix scale, which essentially measures the percentage of sugars in a food.  A 1 Brix rating correlates to 1 – 2% sugar content, as far as I understand.  So these tomatoes should be delish.  The kids love to eat the cherry tomatoes right off the plant.  This one’s a hybrid.

Stupice: Can we all agree this tomato has a bad, bad name?  But it’s an early tomato, and I’d love to be getting some fruits in June, so there you go.  And what’s in a name, anyway?  According to Seed Savers Exchange, this one is “one of the four Czechoslovakian tomato varieties sent to the U.S.” by some tomato guy.  And it’s supposed to taste great, so, fabulous.  An heirloom.

White Currant:  Here’s what the label on my plant says: “Treat yourself to one of the most unique and sweetest tasting tomato variety known [sic].  The tiny fruit are half the size of the cherry tomato… creamy white in color with just a tinge of yellow.  Deliciously sweet.”  You had me at “unique” and “sweetest.”

Momotaro: I went to a tomato growing lecture this year at the LA Arboretum, and the instructor said this was his favorite tomato EVER.  Something else about selling for $8 a tomato in Japan?  I wasn’t fully listening.  Apparently this fruit is named after a hero in Japanese folklore, a boy who came to his family in a peach.  Yes, I said “peach.”  Anyway, I can’t wait to see what this plant produces.

Kellogg’s Breakfast: Not to be confused with the cereal company, and you can see why that might be a serious issue.  This tomato is a yellow beefsteak heirloom, obtained from a guy named Kellogg in Michigan.  Why they had to go muddy the issue with the “Breakfast” in the title is beyond me.

Japanese Trifele Black:  I’m planting a lot of Japanese tomatoes this year, it seems, but wait!  This crazy tomato is RUSSIAN.  Wha?  It’s AKA is Black Russian Truffel, apparently.  So, what gives?  No idea.  It’s an heirloom, and sometimes they get all crazy on you.  It’s supposed to be one of the tastiest black tomatoes, and I like a lot of different colors in my tomato garden, so I’m in.

Isis Candy:  How can you NOT plant a tomato that has the word “candy” right in it?  These cherry tomatoes are marbled red with cat’s eye starbursts on the blossom ends, so, at the very least, they’ll be pretty to look at.

Big Rainbow:  Appropriately named, this beefsteak is striped gold and red.  I love these kinds of tomatoes– they look so stunning sliced on a platter for burgers or sandwiches.  YUM.

Paul Robeson: I’ve heard about this tomato for years and finally decided to grow it.  Yes, it is in fact named after Paul Robeson, the African-American singer and social activist.  It’s another black tomato, so I always found that connection kind of uncomfortable.  And, go figure, this one’s from Russia again!  Originated in Siberia.  Apparently the Russians really admired Robeson, so, yeah.

Ropreco:  Another early tomato, this one is a paste tomato, so it will hopefully be good for sauce.  I have a great sauce recipe from my mom and I love making homemade sauce from the garden.

Carbon:  Apparently it’s not Japanese tomatoes but Russian ones that I’m into this year.  This one’s another Russian heirloom with brown fruits and purple tips.  I’ll post some photos when I get fruits, cause it sounds kind of wacky.

Flamingo or Enchantment:  I was trying to get a Flamingo tomato, but when I got it home I realized that it also had a stake in it for Enchantment, so it’s kind of like a grab bag.  The Flamingo tomato is a pink (duh) heirloom variety that comes from a Mennonite community in Tennessee; Enchantment is a red plum tomato good for sauces.  The suspense!  As soon as I can tell what I got, I will update you all!

Clockwise, from top L: Millionaire Eggplant; Momotaro; Peppi cuke; bell pepper; White Currant tomato

I made my plant stakes again, which I kind of love.

That’s the update.  We leave early tomorrow morning for Maui, but I’m bringing my computer and my camera, so I’ll try to update a few times while we’re there.  I’ll definitely post some photos, at the very least.  We’re staying for a few days with our good friends who live in the mountains and have an AMAZING vegetable garden, fruit trees, wandering goats and other lovely things, so look forward to some updates on that.

What have you planted in your garden so far???

It’s like a spring miracle.

If you remember this, you will likely have been pretty pessimistic about the future of my hyacinth bulbs.  I was, too.  I basically gave up on them.  If I was out in the garden and happened to see them languishing on the patio, I’d kick them back into their respective holes, toss a little dirt on them, and let it be.  Without fail, the next time I was out there they were dug up again, so I repeated the process.

And then, suddenly, I was out there today, and, I KID YOU NOT, people, ALL of the bulbs were growing and most of them were even in bloom.  Whaaaaat?  How did this happen?

the biggest of the bunch

a wee diminutive one

Besides the first one, they don’t look all that healthy, but clearly this is not to be expected.  They were fighting for their lives.  But now that they are established, maybe next year will be luckier for them.  The last two are just beginning to pop up, but the green gives me hope that they will blossom, too.

Considering that I either never knew or have now forgotten what colors I chose in the bulbs, it’s super fun to watch them come up and discover what they look like.  Looks like the one on the left will be pinkish purple– the same as the diminutive one?  WHAT will the one without flowers yet BE?