The quake, the tsunami, the farm and the coffee

The quake, the tsunami, the farm and the coffee was Originally Posted on November 16, 2006 by lavarock

To sound an alarm or not? That was the question after the recent earthquake in Japan. Authorities knew there was a 6 hour timeframe for a tsunami to reach the islands from Japan, and 3 hours needed to evacuate people if deemed necessary.

When the Big Island had our quake it was pretty much a no-brainer. The quake here was so close to us AND there was little room between the quake and the shore to compress water to cause a big wave. In the case of the Japan quake, officials here watched bouys along the way and determined that there was no significant rise in water level and gritted their teeth and did not issue a warning.

That is not to say that we did not get a tsunami, but it was minor. One woman swimming on Oahu was pulled from shore a bit and then as the surge came, was pushed into a sea wall. We are talking inches to feet worth of surge and two cruise ships were kept out of Kauai and Maui harbors when a surge caused water to overflow onto the piers.

In othernews, I am awaiting the ‘dozer operator to head back down here to finish grading the 5 acres I just had cleared. It 2-3 days he cleared 300 macadamia nut trees and now I have to have the land smoothed and leveled for the coffee. The kaikis which sprouted are doing well, but many did not. I am in the process of replanting and hope to have enough trees to plant by March. To ensure a good crop, I need to really have the plants in the field by then.

I have been cutting down some trees along the driveway and within a week or so, should have a driveable driveway. I have had few visitors since moving here because the driveway was 4-wheel drive only. That will now change.

The new layout of the farm will change. It used to be 7 acres of mostly macadamia nut trees streatching from the access road to the house. Now there will be 1 landscaped acre at the road, 5 acres of coffee and then an acre of processing area where I will pulp and dry the coffee. That area will be built over the next 2 years or so. I also am awaiting final plans for the water catchment tanks used for irrigation of the coffee.

Speaking of coffee, I recently had 2 large orders and had some freshly roasted Medium and Dark roast. If you are want to enjoy some great coffee, now is the time! Go to http://ItsKona.Com and it can be in the mail direct to you. To help you out, use the discount code FREESHIPPING at checkout time and I’ll ship your whole order for free! Current shipping times are about 3-5 business days to the East Coast. Shipping is currently limited to the U.S.