Other than Farm Blog

The year 2012 was full of wonderful developments for our family farm. Here are some highlights to share. Waimea Tea Farm In January, we received a visit from Dafna of  Roots of Hawaii , a purveyor of our tea at farmer's markets on Oahu.  We discussed the creation of herbal blends using our teas and set the intention for making new products using other Hawaii ingredients. In February, during a family trip to Japan, we were notified that we were awarded a USDA Value Added Producer's Grant (VAPG).  When we returned home, we harvested our First Flush Premium Green Tea and First Flush Premium Oolong .  In March, we expanded our operation to begin harvesting tea grown on neighboring farms! In April, we harvested our Island Green Tea , and tried out a new variation –  Island Green Tea  Orchid Dew , with great success. In June, we received notification that we were awarded a USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant  (RBEG). In the same mon

Winter is good kimchi pickling time.  Store bought kimchi just doesn't do right.  It feels almost like slack off version without other fulfilling ingredients like apples and carrots. Here is my recipe.  You can use this as a base to make your original.  This recipe is based on 1 head of cabbage so multiply by necessary amount needed for all other ingredients. Chinese Cabbage mix Chinese cabbage - 1 large head Sea salt - enough (1 cup?) More Veggies carrot - 1/2 whole, noodle or sliced daikon - 1/2 small whole, noodle or sliced negi or green onion - 2 cups chopped in 1" long apple - 1/2 whole sliced pineapple - 1/4 whole sliced add more ingredients to make it your original Sauce mix A Water - 300ml Mochiko or other starch - 2 tbsp Chili powder - 1/2 - 1 tbsp (cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp) Dried shiitake for soup base - 1/2 cup, optional Sauce mix B Garlic, pressed - 1 tbsp Ginger, grated - 1 tbsp Krill or fish paste (you can also replace with

One of the greatest things about rainy season is that the nature takes over the entire farming process by deep watering and cleansing the field.  She entirely takes over and keep us out of the field literally.  Walking on the saturated ground makes mud and condition worse, thus best way to avoid this is to stay out of the field. As seedballs and cover crop go, this first rain is a rejuvenation and re-establishment of the process.  by now we have established quite a bit of perennial cover crop, thus the reseeding is much less.  Yet ever changing nature of the field and soil conditions, there will be more cover crop seeding to do this winter. Although we use many cover crops to preserve top soil, best cover is contour rows of tea themselves.

When man does not interfere the work of nature, instead realizing the unity between man and nature, the work gets done just by drinking a cup of tea. I like seeing the plants grow without watering, weeding or fertilizers or pesticides.  One part of my mind speaks of its urgency to go take care of it, or else the plants will be buried in weeds and lack of water and nutrients will make the plants weak and eventually perish.  Other half of my mind speaks of taking it easy and let nature take care of it, and go fishing or something and forget about the existence of the small problems instead. There is a fine balance of the working system in natural environment without excessive work done by man or overtaken by wild energy of nature.  Finding the right timing, balance and methods will enable us to use this natural farming principle to work.  Then finally we can appreciate small wonder of nature, and truly be exhilarated by a flock of birds flying over as beautiful.

I have a serious tendency to forget about this blog.  There are a lot happening on the farm and it would be nice to just post a short blog of what I noticed on and around the farm.  Hopefully a new iPhone app would help. Today was an anticipated day of cutting back from the last harvest day.  Didn't happen due to rain.  Rainy season has started already, it seems.  still got a lot to do, but when it rains, it's nice to just let go and perhaps go fishing.

Here is a recipe which perfectly marries Volcano Island Honey Company's White Honey, some of the best honey in the world, also produced by God, the bees, and a neighboring farm, with our Sweet Roast Green Tea.  This ice cream is smooth, rich, and wonderful!  We used our Original Sweet Roast, but any tea can be used to give variation in color and flavor.  Food coloring can also be added to give a more vivid green hue.  Alternately, use free range chicken eggs, grind the tea before infusing, and consume fresh before the green fades away. Enjoy!  For a suggestion on how to use the leftover egg whites, see my post for Green Tea Egg White Cake . by Dana Shapiro **Note that photo below includes the use of green coloring. 1/2c Volcano Island White Honey 6 egg yolks 1.5c milk 1c cream 3T (or 2 tsp ground) Original Sweet Roast Green tea 6 drops green food coloring (*optional) 1. Bring milk to a low boil in a saucepan. Promptly remove from heat. Stir in tea leaves,

This recipe can be modified in many ways.  It can be diluted, spiced up with white rum, or served with ice cream instead of whipping cream.  When I make it, I make two versions, one for the kids, and one for myself.  We all love it! 1 oz Simple Green Tea Syrup 1 oz heavy whipping cream or ice cream 6-8 oz club soda 2 oz Bacardi White Rum (*optional) Serve over ice and enjoy!

Modified from recipe contributed by Chef Rodney Uyehara Serves 6  I was delighted to have been given this recipe from a client after she hosted a party of dinner items, all including tea.   Besides tea, my family loves all things rice, so much that a meal which doesn't include it, may not be considered a meal.  For this reason, I often bring rice dishes to pot luck gatherings.   With the wheat-free dietary movement gaining popularity, as a fancier alternative to fried rice, and because the Arborio rice is eco-farmed by Lundberg, this recipe is a winner in my book.   Ingredients:   2 c Aborio rice 2 c chicken stock, heated 8 oz Hamakua mushrooms, slicced 1/2 c raw pine nuts 1/2 c shelled soybeans 2 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp chopped garlic 2 Bay leaves 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil 1 T ground Sweet Roast green tea 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 c whipping cream Salt and pepper to taste Sauté sliced mushrooms, pine nuts, and soybeans in butter unt

(Munavalgekook) Serves 8-10 Have leftover egg whites from making green tea ice cream ?  Looking for a unique cake to make?  This cake has its roots in Estonia.  Modified here, it is excellent with a cup of our Premium Oolong tea. 6 large egg whites 1c plus 2T sugar 1 1/3 c all-purpose flour 1 heaped Tbsp potato starch 3 tsp ground green tea 1 tsp baking powder 5Tbsp melted butter, slightly cooled Whisk egg whites and 2 Tbsp sugar until thick, pale, and very foamy.  Mix sugar, flour, potato starch, tea, and baking powder in another bowl, then sift into egg mixture and fold in, gently.  Finally, fold in the melted butter.  Pour the batter into a buttered bundt pan and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes.  Test for doneness with a toothpick.  Cool slightly before turning out of the pan.  Glaze or enjoy as is.

Have you ever wondered how to get more antioxidants into your diet without adding too much health food to your diet?  Green Tea syrup can be used for almost anything, from pancakes to mixed drinks or sodas, and many many things in between.  See my recipe collection for more ideas.  Enjoy!   2c sugar 1c water 2tsp ground Organic Mauna Kea Sweet Roast Green Tea Place sugar and water over a low boil until sugar dissolves and liquid thickens.  Remove from heat.  Mix in tea and let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Strain if necessary.  Store covered in refrigerator.

Plain white coconut mochi. Coconut mochi is a great tea snack that can be easily made at home. The plain flavor of coconut mochi can be paired with more subtle and delicate green tea. Ingredients: 1 lb mochiko 2 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking poder 1 can coconut milk 1 can water Potato or cornstarch to dust 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. 2. In a large mixing bowl, stir the mochiko, sugar and baking powder together. 3. Add coconut milk and water to flour mixture. Stir until the batter is smooth. 4. Pour batter into pan. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 1 hour. 5. Remove mochi from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove foil. Let mochi cool completely before cutting. 6. Dust with potato or cornstarch. * If you experience mochi being too sticky, wait overnight or a day. Mochi will firm up a bit and you can peel the mochi off the pan easily.  

On Sunday morning I got down to Waipio valley for fishing at sunrise. I had a good feeling about something big. It's been a few weeks since we got some nice sunny morning. Beautiful sunrise. Great way to start a day. After a few casts on the beach by the river mouth, I got lots of nibbles, but no definitive bites. Finally I pulled one in. To'au, or blacktail snapper. Too small to eat so I let go.     It's always nice to see Hiilawe fall flowing so grand though it could mean more rain on the farm.   I then moved to the other side of Waipio but forgot my camera in the truck, but got three wrasses and moano. And then a BIG FISH hit on my MW plug, which felt like a bullet train that half emptied my spool and snapped my line behand a rock.   One lesson I learned is that what we pay is what we get. I had a cheap reel with not as smooth a drag and mono line was totally damaged near the leader. I totally didnt expect a big fish. Most days the ones that hit MW plugs are

Where can you find raw green tea leaves? There are only limited supply of tea grown in Hawaii for commercial purpose and often times they are not available for raw leaf purchase, but some home gardeners have tea plants in their yard, not knowing what to do with them.  All you need is a few ounce of fresh tips.  You can easily pick this from one mature plant.  Ask around in your neighborhood.  I'm sure you will come across one soon enough.   You can also plant tea in your garden.  It takes about a year to produce a few ounce of tips from small starts, but if you like green tea in your mochi, it's well worth the effort.  You can find tea plants at local nurseries and garden stores sometimes. If you live in a colder climate, obtaining raw green tea leaves might be a bit more challenging.  Planting your own is always more certain than relying on non-local producers.  If you want to plant your own, it is better to use Chinese or Japanese cold hardy variety or seeds pro

At last, but not the least of all three recipes is coconut Mochi with cooked green tea accented on top of coconut Mochi. This recipe is based on Kashiwa mochi, or Mochi wrapped in oak leaf. Oak leaf on Kashiwa mochi gives a pleasant bite of tannin to the plain mochi while not being too overpowering. Typically, oak leaf is removed before consumption. Tea leaf on this mochi, on the other hand, is not removed, but consumed with the mochi. Because soft leaves of the green tea variety are used, flavor is milder. We also blanched the leaf a bit to keep the tea leaves from getting further oxidized. Ingredients: 2 oz fresh green tea tips 1 lb mochiko 2 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking poder 1 can coconut milk 1 can water Potato or cornstarch to dust 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. 2. In a large mixing bowl, stir the mochiko, sugar and baking powder together. 3. Add coconut milk and water to flour mixture. Stir until the batter is smooth. 4. Pour batter i

This is our second recipe that we experimented with. The flavor of green tea is subtle, yet more fresh than using fully dried leaves. It also gives flexibility of using partially processed green tea which is less likely to be oxidized and can be stored in a freezer. The recipe follows the same coconut Mochi base replacIng raw green tea with cooked green tea.   Ingredients: 2 oz cooked green tea tips 1 lb mochiko 2 1/4 cup sugar (we used pure cane organic sugar) 1 tsp baking poder 1 can coconut milk 1 can water Potato or cornstarch to dust 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. 2. In a large mixing bowl, stir the mochiko, sugar and baking powder together. 3. Add coconut milk and water to flour mixture. Stir until the batter is smooth. 4. Pour the batter and green tea leaves into blender. If tea leaves are previously frozen, let it thaw out without heating to minimize further oxidation. 5. Run the blender until green tea is cut up small to desired particle size. Occasion

We picked tea and put aside small handful of green tea tips to put in some green tea mochi. and we made three kinds of green tea mochi. Green tea mochi using raw green tea leaves gives most vibrant green color and also stronger and more fresh green tea flavor, almost minty or citrusy. Depending on which variety or harvest type of tea leaf used, e.g. Black tea variety tip and 2 leaves, the flavor changes. Green tea variety works quite humbly without expressing itself too much. This green tea mochi also pairs well with all our green teas. This recipe uses raw green tea in mochi mix before baking. Make sure you have access to fresh source of green tea leaves. Also, you need to work fast to avoid oxidation of green tea after it is chopped up. Ingredients: 2 oz fresh green tea tips 1 lb mochiko, or sweet rice flour 2 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking poder 1 can coconut milk 1 can water Potato or cornstarch to dust 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

  Today was my Kona day so I checked out a new spot by honokohau harbor. I started out on harbor side, and slowly worked my way around to the park. Nice shallow reef structure typically has good feeling for papio, but it was super low tide in the evening so ended up just catching some reef dwellers. at one point honu came right up by my feet and slowly drifted away.   It felt like only 3 feet deep in most area. I could relly feel the egg sinker bouncing on the bottom even with fast retreive. Catch includes moano, goatfish, poopaa, moi etc, but no papio.        

It's so humbling to see weeds grow so fast and occupy their niche while tea plants are growing so slow.  Ecological farming teaches us to look at weeds differently. Weeding can be such a tedium if one keeps fighting weeds, but it can also be enlightening experience if he is humble enough to see the purposes each weed has.  Many low growing weeds start from seeds and they need disturbed soil.  Forest fire, animal activities, etc can create disturbed soil.  Many so-called noxious weeds grow particularly well on disturbed soil.   Farming especially tillage and weeding is also disturbing soil so weeds are just a nature's response to lost balance.  Keep the cover on.... by keeping ground cover, weeds germination and establishment significantly decrease.  Simply favoring one type of weeds that do not interfere with farming activity can reduce other unwelcome weeds.   For example, Honohono grass (also called Spreading dayflower, latin name: Commelina diffus) crawls fast

We've been waiting for green tea harvest from this young field. While plants are young, it's good time for handpicking though it's not the most productive form of tea making. We had clear blue sky this morning unlike most other days and went ahead with harvesting. While plucking our way through the tea field, fog drifted in and and soon enough rain started to sprinkle. We were just finishing up with the harvest. Rain is always a big factor that determines our harvest quality. Understanding and being able to predict weather forecast is a big advantage to getting better tea quality.