We had a much smaller turnout last Wednesday. Shoutout to Gary and Jamal for showing up and getting into a light discussion with us about disaster prepared-ness and working toward self-sufficiency.
Because of the fewer number of hands, we stuck to mulching the kalo beds with the grass clippings that remained from the week before. We also harvested a good amount of pigeon peas which we'll have Three process and plant this coming Wednesday :)
After that, we showed Jamal around the banana patch and cut a couple racks down to share with the school staff and take home.
Our next meeting will consist of an ulu air-layering workshop where we'll introduce folx to the process of air-layering and practice with some of the ulu trees on campus. Discussion will cover the coming kalo workshop and any ideas that can be shared around how we can make that happen smoothly.
*Oh! And the photo above is of 2 kittens that Three found with Summirlee, Soul, and Mago right outside our front gate. They go by many names. But we call them Quinoa and Kava. They are our new farm cats and hopefully I can bring them along to a workday for everyone to meet soon.
Another successful community workday. Shoutout to Gary, Jill, Jamal, Gina, Ben, and Nataka & Mei! And special shoutout to Summirlee & Soul who were visiting us from California and spent the workday with us on campus.
At the start of the session, we propagated about 100 Tongan spinach cuttings in small pots. Once these root and start leafing, we can plant them directly into the ground around the school. They grow tall and quickly, so it will help make the garden more dynamic.
Afterwards, we created a whole new bed for the huli that we intend to plant after the kalo is harvested. We laid down flat sheets of cardboard and cut down as much wild ginger, guinea grass, and weeds we could by hand AND machine. (Shoutout to all the folx handling the heavy machinery!) We cleared out so much space and were able to use all that organic matter as mulch for the new bed.
We used the grass clippings we weeded to mulch the existing kalo bed, hoping to keep the weeds down. The kalo will actually need to be harvested quite soon! One way we can tell is that the leaves are starting to get smaller.
Here's an informative diagram we first encountered at a workshop with Kuialuaopuna:
We are in the planning stages now but hopefully will be able to get the students involved in a workshop soon where they will help to harvest, clean, and process their own kalo to take home to their families!
Gamsahamnida for following! <3
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