Monday, August 19, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
A Nice Day of Fishin'
Well I've been talking about doing it since before I even got here- fishing off the seawall in Kona! I finally went for it and stopped in Walmart and bought the cheapest pole I could find. It's only about 3 ft long like one of those little kid ones but it said ages 13 and up so that made me feel good about it. I also bought a little cheap starter tackle box that had more then I needed. To top it off I picked up some peas from the frozen food section.
As I was waiting in line to buy my stuff, a local dude sort of laughed and said good luck catchin' anything with that! I just smiled and said I was going to try my luck. Well I sure showed HIM!
I parked downtown, found a nice place on the seawall, baited my hook, and made a nice long cast. I was quite happy sitting there with my very short 10 dollar fishing pole. Immediately I could see all the fish in the clear water wanting the bait. On my 3rd cast I caught a little fish and I was very happy! It was my first time pulling a hook from a fishes mouth though so I had some troubles, it was way in there. A little local kid came up to me and said he could do it. He pulled out the fishes entire jaw. Lovely. So I used that for bait (it had some guts attached to it) and the fish loved that! That's how I caught my Black Dragon Triggerfish!
I'm definitely going to be going back tomorrow and more days after that prepared with different kinds of bait! AND SUNSCREEN!
As I was waiting in line to buy my stuff, a local dude sort of laughed and said good luck catchin' anything with that! I just smiled and said I was going to try my luck. Well I sure showed HIM!
I parked downtown, found a nice place on the seawall, baited my hook, and made a nice long cast. I was quite happy sitting there with my very short 10 dollar fishing pole. Immediately I could see all the fish in the clear water wanting the bait. On my 3rd cast I caught a little fish and I was very happy! It was my first time pulling a hook from a fishes mouth though so I had some troubles, it was way in there. A little local kid came up to me and said he could do it. He pulled out the fishes entire jaw. Lovely. So I used that for bait (it had some guts attached to it) and the fish loved that! That's how I caught my Black Dragon Triggerfish!
I'm definitely going to be going back tomorrow and more days after that prepared with different kinds of bait! AND SUNSCREEN!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
1 Month!!!
Today marks my one month anniversary in Hawaii! Yay! And as I am sitting here in the kitchen, watching the sunset and listening to the cat purr on my lap, I decided to make another blog post.
What a month this has been. It really flew by. I've been so busy on the farm and with friends going on amazing adventures on the weekends... exploring lava tubes, relaxing on the beach, snorkeling in amazing spots, hiking awesome trails with gorgeous views, strolling through town looking at shops, cruising the main road with the windows down blasting country and island music, getting tan and sunburned, swimming in fresh water pools heated by lava, even went up in the air in a tiny plane being flown by my girl Kristen!... the list literally goes on and on. I've met 5 great friends and 2 of them have left to go back to school on the mainland. I'll miss them and will hopefully stay in contact.
On the farm I have picked coffee, sprayed organic fungus, spread fertilizer, planted flowers and vegetables, harvested fruit, "de-suckered" coffee trees, and tons of other little things. At the Bed & Breakfast I have learned a few fantastic breakfasts to make, and how to keep things tidy and guests happy.
Not to mention I have changed a couple tires (had one blow up in my face in the pouring rain at night), chased a 100 lb. wild boar off the property, cut down trees in front of the kitchen to improve the view (which hasn't been done in years), made both the farm cats fall in love with me with the help of Spam, and lasted Tropical Storm Flossie all by myself in a tent.
That, my good friends, is what you call learning.
ANYWAY, I am in love with everything about Hawaii. Not only is it the most beautiful place I've ever been but it's also the most friendly and stress-free. In my next month(s) here I am going to focus on my music... write songs and actually finish them, bring my guitar into town and play a little. I'm going to think about what I want to do in this life, a little soul searching. Kinda like "Eat, Pray, Love" except without Julia Roberts. I didn't really like that movie either.
I miss my hometown and most of all my family and loved ones, but I know I will see y'all soon!!
What a month this has been. It really flew by. I've been so busy on the farm and with friends going on amazing adventures on the weekends... exploring lava tubes, relaxing on the beach, snorkeling in amazing spots, hiking awesome trails with gorgeous views, strolling through town looking at shops, cruising the main road with the windows down blasting country and island music, getting tan and sunburned, swimming in fresh water pools heated by lava, even went up in the air in a tiny plane being flown by my girl Kristen!... the list literally goes on and on. I've met 5 great friends and 2 of them have left to go back to school on the mainland. I'll miss them and will hopefully stay in contact.
On the farm I have picked coffee, sprayed organic fungus, spread fertilizer, planted flowers and vegetables, harvested fruit, "de-suckered" coffee trees, and tons of other little things. At the Bed & Breakfast I have learned a few fantastic breakfasts to make, and how to keep things tidy and guests happy.
Not to mention I have changed a couple tires (had one blow up in my face in the pouring rain at night), chased a 100 lb. wild boar off the property, cut down trees in front of the kitchen to improve the view (which hasn't been done in years), made both the farm cats fall in love with me with the help of Spam, and lasted Tropical Storm Flossie all by myself in a tent.
That, my good friends, is what you call learning.
ANYWAY, I am in love with everything about Hawaii. Not only is it the most beautiful place I've ever been but it's also the most friendly and stress-free. In my next month(s) here I am going to focus on my music... write songs and actually finish them, bring my guitar into town and play a little. I'm going to think about what I want to do in this life, a little soul searching. Kinda like "Eat, Pray, Love" except without Julia Roberts. I didn't really like that movie either.
I miss my hometown and most of all my family and loved ones, but I know I will see y'all soon!!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Tropical Storm!
Hey there friends and family!
As you may know a little hurricane named Flossie made her way over to the Hawaiian islands and gave us a bit of a tropical storm! She is still passing through right now but I think the big island has pretty much had the last of her now. It was a stormy rainy and windy day, and a fog moved in that was so thick, you couldn't see 100ft ahead of you! Surprisingly, my tent held up quite well. Stayed dry and protected from the wind even though it was shaking around quite a bit. From a friend who lives in town I heard that there were some MAJOR choppy waves and that not a single boat was out on the water, which is good. I stepped down into my kitchen earlier and found a 9ft tall fig tree in the doorway that just snapped off completely! There have also been a couple plastic chairs blowing around. But in the long run, we had it pretty easy over here (knock on wood). I feel bad for Maui and Oahu because they are supposed to get it pretty bad! But I guess Hawaii has several of these kinds of storms a year and everyone who has lived here for a while doesn't make a huge deal out of it.
Anyway, today was also my first day all alone at the farm! My dear friend Kristen left last night to go back to Illinois for her sophomore year of college. We will definitely keep in touch though, and I may be calling her daily if I get lost driving or I forget which plant is the basil.
It really isn't too bad being all alone here. I rode out the storm by playing guitar and singing Jack Johnson in my tent very loudly. I will also be able to exercise more (Kristen somehow always convinced me not to go running)...
I'll probably have a week or two alone before a new intern comes. It will be cool to be the "veteran" here and show them all the ropes etc. I'm excited to pick them up at the airport in the old farm truck and welcome them to the island with a little country music ;)
Well, I better get back to my movie now! I'm watching Finding Nemo on my laptop. Such a good movie. I just had to watch it after I went snorkeling the other day and saw all the different kinds of fish!
Aloha!
As you may know a little hurricane named Flossie made her way over to the Hawaiian islands and gave us a bit of a tropical storm! She is still passing through right now but I think the big island has pretty much had the last of her now. It was a stormy rainy and windy day, and a fog moved in that was so thick, you couldn't see 100ft ahead of you! Surprisingly, my tent held up quite well. Stayed dry and protected from the wind even though it was shaking around quite a bit. From a friend who lives in town I heard that there were some MAJOR choppy waves and that not a single boat was out on the water, which is good. I stepped down into my kitchen earlier and found a 9ft tall fig tree in the doorway that just snapped off completely! There have also been a couple plastic chairs blowing around. But in the long run, we had it pretty easy over here (knock on wood). I feel bad for Maui and Oahu because they are supposed to get it pretty bad! But I guess Hawaii has several of these kinds of storms a year and everyone who has lived here for a while doesn't make a huge deal out of it.
Anyway, today was also my first day all alone at the farm! My dear friend Kristen left last night to go back to Illinois for her sophomore year of college. We will definitely keep in touch though, and I may be calling her daily if I get lost driving or I forget which plant is the basil.
It really isn't too bad being all alone here. I rode out the storm by playing guitar and singing Jack Johnson in my tent very loudly. I will also be able to exercise more (Kristen somehow always convinced me not to go running)...
I'll probably have a week or two alone before a new intern comes. It will be cool to be the "veteran" here and show them all the ropes etc. I'm excited to pick them up at the airport in the old farm truck and welcome them to the island with a little country music ;)
Well, I better get back to my movie now! I'm watching Finding Nemo on my laptop. Such a good movie. I just had to watch it after I went snorkeling the other day and saw all the different kinds of fish!
Aloha!
Monday, July 22, 2013
A Good Days Work!
Hey y'all! I've been on the island for 22 days now... can't believe I'm coming up on a month! Time is really starting to fly and it just keeps getting better over here in Kona :)
I just wanted to post a little bit about what I did today! In the morning, I helped serve/cook breakfast to the Bed and Breakfast guests. After that, we loaded about 7 bags of fertilizer (AKA: ground up bird parts made into pellets) into the gator and went through half the coffee farm throwing fertilizer onto the base of each tree. Farmer Hans drove while Kristen and I sat in the back and threw the fertilizer out each side. It was a pretty smelly job. I still smell quite a bit which is why I'm getting the hot water ready for the shower!
After fertilizing and lunch, Hans showed us how to roast coffee and package it correctly. This was actually very interesting and I think I'm going to be doing a little of this by myself in the near future. One fun fact I learned was that "dark roast" is the least caffeinated coffee you can get. Also you taste more of the flavor from the roast and less of the actual coffee's original flavor. That is because the longer you roast the coffee, the more caffeine and flavor is roasted out of it!
This probably sounds a little boring but I thought it was interesting that when coffee is roasted, it loses 20% of its weight (which is mostly moisture) but the beans double in size!
Well that's about it for today! Here are a few pictures :)
I just wanted to post a little bit about what I did today! In the morning, I helped serve/cook breakfast to the Bed and Breakfast guests. After that, we loaded about 7 bags of fertilizer (AKA: ground up bird parts made into pellets) into the gator and went through half the coffee farm throwing fertilizer onto the base of each tree. Farmer Hans drove while Kristen and I sat in the back and threw the fertilizer out each side. It was a pretty smelly job. I still smell quite a bit which is why I'm getting the hot water ready for the shower!
After fertilizing and lunch, Hans showed us how to roast coffee and package it correctly. This was actually very interesting and I think I'm going to be doing a little of this by myself in the near future. One fun fact I learned was that "dark roast" is the least caffeinated coffee you can get. Also you taste more of the flavor from the roast and less of the actual coffee's original flavor. That is because the longer you roast the coffee, the more caffeine and flavor is roasted out of it!
This probably sounds a little boring but I thought it was interesting that when coffee is roasted, it loses 20% of its weight (which is mostly moisture) but the beans double in size!
Well that's about it for today! Here are a few pictures :)
Friday, July 12, 2013
The Sunset!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
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