Adopting and domesticating a Wild turkey chick

We found a wild turkey chick in tea field. One of our farm volunteers is now a foster mother.
She is a vegan and don't eat meat so I assume that this bird is not for our thanksgiving turkey.

Taka caught 3 wild turkey chicks about a year ago and domesticated them. He fed them and took a good care of the birds for about 3 weeks. These birds can actually fly at the age of 1 month or so and eventually they figured out that they could fly over the fence of their coop that they were in. About 4 feet high.

One day Taka sow the turkeys walking in the tea field and immediately caught them again. After a while they took off and never returned. Then he found out that his neighbor across the street adopted the turkey for a while. The birds just walked right up to them. Taka wondered if they knew that the birds were domesticated at that time since they were such friendly wild turkeys. A few weeks later they released the birds, but were they thinking about keeping the turkey for thanksgiving?

Movie: The Beautiful Truth

The Beautiful Truth Website
(http://www.thebeautifultruthmovie.com/)

The Beautiful Truth emphasizes that what we eat and what environment we live in is directly connected to our well being and eating well through Gerson therapy can cure termical cancer patients. Sometimes even when the cure is so simple and possible, politics influence and greed of pharmaceutical and medical industries deliberately disguise the truth about curing cancer.

The message I got was stay away from processed foods and eat organic, local and pure whole foods. No irradiation, No GMO, no additives (MSG, etc.),

The beautiful truth description reads, "... Growing up on an Alaskan animal reserve, Garrett’s father recognized his son’s interest in the dietary habits of their animals. That prompted him to assign a book written by Dr. Max Gerson, which maintains that there is a direct link between diet and a cure for cancer. Fascinated and curious, Garrett embarks on a cross-country road trip to investigate the merits of The Gerson Therapy. He meets with scientists, doctors and cancer survivors who reveal how the multi-billion dollar medical industry has made it their mission to dismiss the notion of alternative and natural cures."

It is very sad that we are only ignorant customers of big companies to make profit off of our health, but it is also encouraging to see some community actions that improve this conditions.

I have read many books in traditional oriental diet and natural medicine that foods are medicines. Therefore, what we eat should be healing and maintaining our health.

Also natural farming talks about vital energy in vegetables grown under natural conditions without any fertilizers as Mokichi Okada clearly explains that fertilizers both chemical and organic origins are poisons that contaminate the soil. When the soil is kept clean, and seeds with residual poisons removed, vegetables grow without pest problems and many previously terminal cancer patients documented their recovery from cancer. but why are we hesitant to believe this?

I do believe that healthy foods heal sickness, and Iwill continue to farm to keep the soil clean and produce pure and healthy foods and lifestyle.

Photos: Living on a Hawaiian Nature Farm

Harvesting Tea

It's been so rainy this year which makes it hard to find a good day for harvesting. We had some hours of no rain recently and decided to harvest.

The photos show that some of our farm helpers carefully harvesting our tea.

How we decide to be tea farmer

It's a long and complicated story.  Knowing my background might give some understanding too.

Natural farming and tea are not two separate things.  In my mind, natural farming provides a raw ingredient, tea leaves of natural purity, and tea processing helps to bring out that natural purity in a more visible and detectable form.  Tea is one way of showing what nature can do.  It could have been any crops, but the world of tea allows me to look deeper into differences in quality and there are people who actively seek the true quality and subtle details.  

I never have been a believer of destiny, but I do believe that the universe designs things to work for us in some mysterious way and it sends energy to take our dreams to reality.  But, just like that, the idea of organic farming came into the reality of my life at the right time.  When my wife and I got to the big island, the land we were going to farm was surprisingly suitable for tea cultivation.  Nursery stock was available from USDA and University of Hawaii, and I discovered mentors who can taste and judge the quality of tea from Japan.  My wife and I just had a trip to China which exposed us to the great tea culture of China and made me realize the connection between man and nature through tea.

Reinventing the wheel:  Reviving an old tradition

There was already much information and many resources available to make good tea in Japan, but I didn't want to replicate the Japanese tea production where prices are based on auction rates and rich flavor is developed with high fertilizer use.  What I wanted to pursue was the natural quality of tea, with inherent flavor instead that which is artificially created.  Coming from a background of modern Japanese tea culture, producing tea in a natural style seems like reinventing the wheel.  As I have looked deeper I have found that in many regions, some traditional tea producers still exist but are quietly disappearing.  I have found myself on a path of reviving these vanishing traditions and back in Hawaii, giving a new twist to help them naturalize on the island.

Nature creates from nothing

What is so intriguing about natural farming is the discovery that nature makes visible the mystery of creation.  Farming with nature is allowing creation to happen using nothing other than soil and seeds.  Nature creates everything from nothing, but where does everything come from?  When we use fertilizers, we become blind to nature and tend to think that fertilizer is the one that grows plants.  But when we use no fertilizer nature teaches us to look deeper to find the true cause of things.
  

Tea is like a mirror that reflects my farming practice and just show us what nature is.  Nature does not judge, it does not tell us what we are doing right or wrong.  Through farming tea, nature manifests in a tastable, smellable form.

Natural farming is a way to look at the world without judging

Because of our judgmental minds, we say what's better and worse.  We compare and we make ranks and grades.  Its the same with tea.  There are so many grades and ranks.  To me each tea has its unique moment that harmonizes with us at some special point in time, and at that point, good or bad doesn't matter.  Nature teaches us about having the right thing at the right time.  Natural farming is a way that teaches us how to look at the world without a judgmental mind.  Once we realize that, we can appreciate true quality of natural tea and natural farming.

Natural farming in general is a natural option.  Because it doesn't rely on external source of input, it is highly sustainable farming practice.  It is economically sound option as a long term plan because it is not affected by the price of imported fertilizers or pesticides.  At our current time, we seem to get our labor and resources cheaper than how nature can provide, but if we look at the true cost of what we do, CO2 emission from all the machinery use and importing, cultivation practices and depleted soil and erosion problems.  On one hand, we seem to have great harvest and abundant food supply, but on the other hand we neglect to see the true cost of our sacrifice.  Natural farming is a way to bring back the lost balance and cheapest way to get farming job accomplished when all true costs are considered.

Tasting the difference

Just like any vegetable crop, farmers can learn to taste what type of fertilizers, if any, go into producing their crops.  Tea is especially explicit and honest to respond to what we put in the soil, how we process the tea and how we pour the finished tea into cups.

Ikigai
Becoming a tea farmer is a commitment.  Harvest has to come at the right timing under right weather condition.  When tea leaves are harvested, they need to be processed in a timely manner.  "Heaven, earth and people have to come together to produce great tea."  says an old tea proverb.  Perhaps attraction to tea making is that when various elements for making great tea come together, we can find great joy in making tea.

And it is attraction to the unique lifestyle of tea farmer.  In Japan, the lifestyle of devotion to our passion is described as "ikigai."  It is something to live for and search for self which brings great satisfaction and happiness to our lives.  Being a tea producer and a natural farmer bring us closer to natural rhythm.   Finding harmony with nature through tea leaves and tasting the great result in a cup is ikigai and happiness of tea farmer.

Organic Tea Growing Guide for Home Gardeners in Hawaii

Growing tea is rather natural gardening experience for gardeners in Hawaii. When I first moved to Hawaii, it made perfect sense to grow tea because of the hilly terrain, rich deep soil, warm climate with no frost, and abundance of rain. Many of these requirements are met for quality tea growing.

Preferred Growing Condition for Tea

Climate

Tea grows in tropical to subtropical climate with average temperature 14-16 degree celcius, annual precipitation 1300mm or more. Tea plant is very vulnerable to frost damage. If you get frost in your area, plant should be protected from cold weather and frost damage.

Soil

Soil is very important medium for growing most plants, but for tea it is critical to have good soil because the flavor and aroma is greatly influenced. Tea grows in many places in Hawaii, but exceptionally refined taste and aroma of tea is generally found in places with deep weathered soil.
Soil pH is also an important factor. Generally 4.5 - 5 is desired for optimal growth. It can grow in higher pH and some varieties prefer even lower pH than 4.5. Growing environment should make sense to you when you understand the original conditions. Tea evolved in southern mountainous region of China where abundance of rain washes off all the soluble nutrients from the soil along with Calcium which keeps soil pH high.

In the book of Lu Yu "Tea Bible" (or Cha jing in Chinese) written in 760 AD, he describes the soil type and the corresponding grade of tea. This is used for good soil type for many tea types throughout Chinese tea history and even today.

Obtaining your Tea Plants

Now that green tea is very popular, a lot of people want to plant their tea in their yard. You can go around the island and ask people since many people already have in their backyard. If you can find one flourishing in your neighborhood, it is a good sign that the plant is well suited for the environment.

If you really care about what quality you want to get from different varieties, particular varieties of tea should be used.

I found tea plants in many locations, such as local nurseries, plant sale, farmer's market are the easy place to just go and buy. Many of them are not organic and you can tell that the plants are expressing some signs of disease and discomfort.

How to choose a healthy plant

Good plant stock has
1. strong main stem,
2. multiple branches from the base,
3. mature and healthy leaves on branches.

Look for signs of disease. Aphids and leaf rollers are typically found on young leaves. Brown spots, or anthracnose, are also common in some varieties, but healthy growing condition will improve once planted in your yard.
Look at the bottom of the pot for root growth. Healthy plants should have root-to-shoot growth balance in equal proportion. Too much chemical fertilizer will burn the root and you tend to see gorgeous upper body growth, but very small feet.
Generally tea plants for home gardens can be grown organically without much pest problems

Planting

Site Selection

Once you obtain your plants, design the site. Flavor and aroma of tea is greatly influenced by what grows around your tea plants. Make sure you don't have any plants with strong smell such as garlic unless the effect is intended.

On a sunny location, dig a hole or trench 16 inches deep by 12 inches wide. Plant them 16-20 inches apart for a hedge. Add organic matter such as compost and manure to improve moisture retention and drainage. Avoid using lime and alkaline amendments. Tea plants are happy with low pH soil. (pH4.5-5).

Once the plants are in the ground, mulch and water well. Keep the soil most for a first few month with frequent watering.

Care

Tea plant does not require much fertilizer once established. You can give fertilizer high in nitrogen and potassium after each harvest as thank you. Check pests and diseases and treat if you see any significant damage. Trim back in the fall. For home gardener this is much like maintaining a hedge.

Harvesting

Wait for first 3 years until the plants are established. Keep in mind that when you start harvesting, you are also taking away their solar panels. They need to produce energy to use for their own growth.

Once the plants are mature and well established, you can pick in the spring, summer and fall, but the best tea is generally in the spring. Pick the stem with leaves. 2 or 3 leaves for better quality, but you can harvest up to 5 leaves for more volume harvest. Note that the flavor get affected by how many leaves on each stem you harvest.

Once you harvest, keep the leaf in cool and shady area until you are ready for processing. Semi-oxidized (or oolong), and fully oxidized (or black) tea go through different processing.

Photos: Foods from the Field

The photos show what we grow and harvest from our vegetable field without input of both chemical and organic fertilizers. Of course, no pesticides.

Voices of the Farm Interns

This page is for the farm interns and volunteers who got to spend time at Mauna Kea Tea Farm.

I am sure that all participants had different experiences both good and bad since everybody has their own expectations and their unique circumstances.

Please post your comments to reflect on your personal benefits and experiences from your stay at MKT farm.   Also, if possible, please include your background and expectations before stay so that future participants can judge adequacy of their responsibility, skill levels and commitment to natural farming while their stay at the Farm.

Thank you for helping us improve the Internship Progarm,
Taka, Kimberly & Koji

Movie: The 11th Hour

There are more and more people aware of global warming, peak oil, and many other environmental crises and this documentary narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio poses last minute change we have to make on peak oil, global warming and environmental degradation.

I have seen some peak oil and global warming documentaries and stay updated with current environmental conditions because as a farmer we have to be.

Nature is always there, but we are temporary resident in her space. We can try all our best to change nature, but it will do whatever it wants in the end.

This topic puts us in deeply troubled feeling, but they show various solutions that we can do right at this point and what we can develop.

Book: Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture

This book is a good introductory permaculture book. It covers many aspect of growing plants in natural ways with detail explanations of how things work e.g. how soil is created by natural cycle of insects and weathering, and specific gardening techniques you can apply to your garden and farm, e.g. sheet mulching, cover crops.

I especially like tables of useful information such as cover crops, compost c/n ratio, beneficial insect habitat plants, etc which you can refer to when you are designing your garden space.

Eventually, I found that the plant list on this book was not enough so I started to compile all my data from field and other sources, but this book is still one of many that I refer to for that purpose.


Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (amazon.com link)

Book: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets

If you are interested in growing mushrooms or understanding what mycelium can do to improve your garden and farm, this is a good book.

I like how Paul Stamets introduces the idea of casual cultivations that anybody can do at home from cardboard spawn to natural spore methods. I thought clean laboratory was essential to start mushroom culture (and still is for most pure culture), but he shows various methods that we can use to start our mycelium running.

I have experimented with cardboard butt spawn, wood chip spawn and it works quite well. Natural mushrooms are of course better adapted than commercial mushrooms, but it gives ideas that you can be creative.

Many of the supplies can be purchased from his store at fungi perfecti (fungi.com) and it's organic too.


Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (amazon.com link)

Book: The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

I came across "The one straw revolution" when I was studying in college, trying to find a way that is more sustainable. The idea is not as striking as it might have been when Mr. Fukuoka initially published a few decades ago while no one else was doing this in peak chemical farming time.

Even now we read this book and one will inevitably realize that this book is full of inspiration and Mr. Fukuoka talks about how he got to his method of natural farming. This book is almost considered as a classic alternative farming book, yet the theory of natural farming and attitude toward the current farming practices always sound fresh and alive perhaps because the ultimate purpose of his pursuit of his natural farming is to harmonize with ever-changing flow of nature.

It's good to have basic farming knowledge to read this book, but you will still be inspired and learn much if you do not have much knowledge in farming or gardening.

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) (amazon.com link)

Book: Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison

A classic permaculture book. Really good resource for permaculture garden and farm design. I have used it quite frequently and still refer to it occasionally.

Diagrams and sketches are nice, but I would like some photographs. Also, instead of using plastics, like pond liner, it would have been nice if the book showed how you can do without plastic like how they do their rice field in Asia.

Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison (amazon.com link)