Scheduled Inspection

Scheduled Inspection was Originally Posted on November 12, 2010 by lavarock

I had a scheduled inspection of my farm today, but I think the leasholder did not realize that it was a holiday, because I didn’t see them come by.

For many hours today, I weed-wacked all around the fruit trees and the farm is looking really nice. I finally left at 2:45pm so I could get into town and then pick up food for the dogs. They had raw beef for dinner by the way

As for the inspection, it is a periodic event meant to ensure that we are being good stewards of the aina (land). In exchange for that, we receive a very reasonable charge.

Without going into detail again here, suffice it to say that the current leasehold fee is similar to a county tax and for the most part, the lessor stays out of our business, as long as we are following their reasonable requests.

That request is to keep the property in good sape, to keep it in agriculture (my land is listed as farm land) and to accurately report my asles so that they can show that the county will not be able to convert the property to residential instead of farmland.

As for farm status, I have all my coffee planted, most of the fruit trees planted (some are on back-order and some are not yet ready t oship to me). I have had a bit of problems with my pump, however I am able to use county water while I fix the pump.

I had workers cut weeds by the coffee and I cut weeds by the fruit trees. next step for both crops is to remove all weeds around the crops so that I don’t have to keep cutting them down. The fruit trees will be easier to manage, as the holes are larger and the trees taller. Weed killer will not as easily get on the leaves of the fruit trees as it would on the coffee trees.

Getting the fruit planted before the October deadline was my biggest concern and the coffee trees had to take back seat. They need fertilizing and watering and soon a pruning. There is unpicked coffee cherry on the trees which must be removed and discarded. In a perfect world I would have had pickers fro that crop, but that was not possible due to there only being a light crop on those new trees. There was not enough work for pickers to work the trees. Next year I expect a very good coffee crop from the mauka trees and the fruit will take a back seat. The fruit will take at least a year or two before there is sufficient crop to pick and sell.

Pending projects are to divert rainwater directly into the catchment tanks, building a shelter for the pump and controls, deciding if I will build a coffee pulping and drying area, filling in the last part of the irrigation trench and seeing if I can find periodic workers to help with pruning and other farm jobs. I might work with WWOOFers however I hear they might have to be covered under labor laws and thus might not be as viable a group to work with.

I am still at a disadvantage with the house due to a kitchen and two bathrooms needing remodeling, all waiting for the infusion of cash which is now at hand.

It has been an interesting time so far and I would do it again, just wishing that I had a bit of hindsight next time to guide me!

So since I still have some macadamia nut trees, my farm can now be billed as a “coffee, fruit and nut farm”.