BLOG #13

May 6, 2023

Welcome to Blog #13! Time has been flying by and hard to believe this is number 13. This has been an amazing and productive week here in paradise. Other than long drives to town on Tuesday and Wednesday lots of progress was made here. After four weeks of Chris telling me he would bring his machine here it finally and very happily arrived on Thursday. Getting the excavator here lets the big long awaited jobs finally happen.

The windows are all now framed in wood so upon arrival they will hopefully slip right in. The two sliding doors will be framed this week.

Bradley finally showed up to level the gravel pile. The small plastic shed that Bob and I put up for storage got moved to the other side out of site right next to the cat greenhouse. For years it was home for rats so I will power wash and then paint it and use for storage along with my new red Honda lawn mover.

The 5,000 galloon water tank got moved near gutters on ag shed. That was a hairy move as four men were holding it in place after Bradley removed the log hold it up while he got it in place on his tractor forks. The tank would have flattened all four if it had gotten away and there would have been four “Flat Stanley’s.” I was holding my breath as I watched. Then we realized the tank top was above the gutters. So Chris had to dig an alternative place for the tank. This meant removing an avocado tree and carving out a level pad-days work.

After dreaming about finding four ten foot kiawe logs to support the heavy old growth cedar beams on the patio I finally found them thanks to Rich at Whispering Winds. They were delivered on Thursday. These logs have gotten very hard to find, but will add a special rustic touch to the patio.

The driveway matting was laid down with a layer of gravel on top. I am hoping this will reduce the mud during the next big rains in the winter months. Lately we have had just the right amount of rain for filling the tank and planting.

While in town I found tiny river rocks and added them to half of the pathway and in the outdoor shower. This makes a big difference in appearance and stability.

And, speaking of making a big difference I bought a small washing machine on Amazon. It is hooked up and will be fun to see what happens on the spin cycle.

My tomatoes are producing like crazy with the best tomatoes ever. The basil is also flourishing and we have been loving the pairings with mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar. Plans are to enlarge my vegetable garden.

My step daughter Sarah is out here for a few days. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Friday farmers market first concert series and then on to the bamboo pizza restaurant for Friday night music. We sat with new friends and it was great music and delicious pizza. I am really loving it here in this small community.

I am starting to investigate grant possibilities for restoring the ancient lo’i on this property. Friday I met with Lipoa the director of the local high school building, gardening and food service programs. The school has amazing programs and we are hoping to eventually collaborate with them for our project. Along with meeting Vili, Lehua and others involved in the program we had a special meeting as her mother is also named Vicky and a surfer.

Time to do some planting and move on with the day.

Thanks for tuning in. Please remember all great projects things start with a dream and it is never too late to have a dream. This was my mother ‘s (Wave Woman) philosophy during her life. With this thought she accomplished a great deal and had a meaningful life. And, I might add a lot of fun.

Aloha Nui

Vicky

May 22, 2023
Happy Earth Day and welcome to Blog 11

I am finding that every day is Earth Day here in this heavenly paradise. It has been a pleasant week and thanks to the big rain storm on Wednesday the ground is soft for digging and I have been planting trees. This property has a lot of rocks and digging holes and be challenging. The catchment water tank was getting low, but it is now back up so that makes for a good time for planting. After some weeks of sitting in a pot I finally got the tangerine and orange tree in the ground. Also the jade tree at the base of the trimmed monkey pod root base and a zinnia garden. I have five pakalana plants ready to put on a fence where the cows cannot get them. A twenty year old papaya tree all of a sudden fell across the driveway yesterday and I had to get the chain saw and move it to drive out.

I harvested a few more tomatoes and green beans. I have a garden full of arugula so things are good. My neighbor and new friend Sutton grows squash, eggplant and the best sunrise papayas which she and Nick share with me.

I am learning to live lightly enjoying the time between solitude and company. My friends Chuck and Kathleen came out for a few days and we had some nice times. I also reconnected with Karen a neighbor who is a paper sculpturer and creates some beautiful wall pieces. I will show some of her art next week.

This week I met up with my water exercise friends and also spent some time with my friend and step daughter Sarah. We both learned about camping from her parents Clara and John Elwell. I met Sarah and her friend Javier for dinner at one of my new favorites-Colleens in Haiku. We ate at the bar and it is a super fun place with the Maui “vibe”-everyone seeming happy, friendly and in good shape.

Audible is a new favorite as night lights for reading don’t work as they attract too many bugs. Our book club read The Last of The Moon Girls which I loved. It is a strong woman’s story based on herbs, plants, bravery, and love. Yesterday I was sorry to finish a story about Charles Lindbergh’s life. Although he was not on everyone’s favored list he had some interesting thoughts and insights. Charles along with Anne and Amelia were Wave Woman’s inspiration for taking flying lessons and heading to the air.

Wood framing for the shed windows is now made. They can all be put in place upon arrival in a few weeks. I also got my permit for a septic system this week. Boki has already moved into the shed along with a few others. The cats are really starting to explore the place and seem happy with their explorations. They have a lot of space to cover now that they are out of a neighborhood.

I better end this now as Karen kindly offered to do a load of wash for me and I need to go pick it up. The closest laundry mat is hours away and things get pretty dirty here. I ordered a tiny washer on Amazon due to arrive this week. So that should be interesting.

My books just were put in Hasegawa’s General Store, a market with a little bit of everything. They are right up front next to my buddy Stuart Coleman’s Eddie Would Go. Lots of people pass through this store everyday. Pictured is Neal Hasegawa a multi generation congenial store owner.

I am still patiently waiting for the small plastic shed to be moved and the new water tank to be placed among other projects. Hopefully this next week and I will have more news next week. And, my sweet daughter Rennie suggested I use her for an editor so she can correct any spelling, but she is on the East Coast and it doesn’t really work with our schedules. So just ignore if posssible.

Thanks for tuning in.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

April 15, 2023

Welcome to Blog #10

WOW, hard to believe this is the 10th version of my weekly blog. Thank you for tuning in for another week of news.

I just found out that April is native plant month and it has been a very exciting and productive week for gardening as well as building. My friend Indrajit who is a coconut sscholar/practioner came out for a couple of days with a friend Malu. Sunday started with a new enlarged taro garden. He brought a very special and revered variety of taro called Mana Olu. Jit enlarged the taro garden with the new variety up front. I have it fenced off now so the dogs don’t get in the garden and disturb the new plants.

I have been working this week cleaning out garden places that have become overgrown with Hono hono grass, wedelia and cane grass. Often these are coving beautiful rock formations or rock walls. I also planted a lemon tree and harvested my first tomatoes and green beans.

Derek came and we attacked the hau cutting more branches and working upward. I am working on investigating various solutions to get the branches chipped and used as a ground cover for planting the coconut grove.

My solar panels and shed flooring arrived on Wednesday and it won’t be long until those are installed. Plastic shelving also arrived for getting things more organized. I am still living out of plastic boxes and suitcases with little storage space.

The cut coral path is now made to the shower. Next trip to town I will get river rock to place in between the pavers. Yesterday I was lucky to get some help hauling sand and the pavers to the general area. I have been loading them in my Gorilla cart and hauling across the yard so help from the guys was really wonderful. Chris made a wooden stand to hold the sink yesterday so doing dishes is much more comfortable.

This week the middle room of the shed got framed. They will do the window and door framing this next week. The windows and doors are a month late, but now they can just be pooped in on arrival mid May.

Bradley arrived yesterday with his huge truck to trim the branches on the monkey pod tree root. The tree fell down about ten years ago and the root produced a new tree. Besides the new tree shading the solar panels I have a jade plant to put at the base that hopefully the jade will use the branches to climb up and hang down with the jade flowers. My new friend Grant is pictured here at the airport with a beautiful lei he made from their jade plant. Last trip to town I bought a lei needle and thread so I am ready.

After “winter” the plumerias I planted twenty years ago are starting to have leaves and flowers come out. The last weeks have actually been hot in between cloudy days and sprinkles of rain. Feels like summer so Mana and I will be going to the beach more. Something happens everyday here that I must be present to answer questions so we haven’t done much beaching.

I gave a copy of Wave Woman to the owner of the popular local grocery and a little bit of everything store and he is going to carry my book. Lots of tourists go there and it will be on the shelf next to my friend Stuart Colman’s Eddie Would Go.

Coming home from town this last week this guy was on the road. He was drinking water and not looking very happy.

And, speaking of Wave Woman-The Life and Struggles of a Surfing Pioneer a free lance journalist that wrote about the book when it came out in 2020 got in touch a couple of weeks ago wanting to know what I am doing. I told her all the nitty gritty reasons about leaving Oahu and my new Niu Now coconut farming mission. She is pitching the story to a national magazine so that will be interesting. Keeping fingers crossed.

The cats are getting more and more comfortable exploring their new environment. Besides finding great places here in the trees I spotted some sitting up on the large rocks in the neighbors pasture watching the cows graze. And more and more are moving into my camp house.

I think I said how this place is anything but isolated as I meet at least one new person everyday. On the way home from getting drinking water and going to the dump Mana and I stopped at a beautiful beach and went for a swim. I met two delightful and interesting new friends Angie and David. While in the water we had a lot of fun talking and getting to know one another and we are all looking forward to staying in touch via the internet.

Well, this kind of sums up another great week. I leave with one thought– always remember when one door closes we all have the power to open a new one and often a better one. This was my mother’s philosophy and it is working for me in the best of all ways. I feel like the luckiest person alive to be doing what I love in one of the world’s most beautiful places. It is a free life with no one shutting off my water or my power or dictating how life should be lived.

Thanks for tuning in and thank you to those who are leaving comments. Please share this blog with any friends you might think would be interested. This next week will see some big progress in moving forward.
Looking forward to streaming Merrie Monarch tonight.

Aloha Nui
Vicky

April 9, 2023

Welcome to Blog #9
I am starting this on Good Friday in hopes of getting this out a little earlier. I love living this close to the elements-the rain, wind, sun, night skies and watching the beautiful cloud formations. The birds are constantly chirping and life is tranquil watching trees and plants grow rather than television. And, there is also something to be said (besides no electric and water bill) for completely living independently off the grid having to plan your own water and electricity sources and use carefully and thoughtfully.

Patrick showed up Sunday morning with another thirteen ton load of gravel for the driveway. All the materials are now here for the driveway and most other projects. Hopefully the redo of the driveway will prevent a muddy mess like happened in the last big rain storm.I had to make cardboard and log moats to get across the mud to the truck.

My friend (and step-daughter) Sarah came out for the weekend with her dog Charlie. She brings her tent and we always have a lovely time together. On Sunday we took a drive to visit an 18th century church and old grave yard. It was an over cast and rainy day so the beach was not beckoning.

There is a very special botanical garden here with rare tropical native plants. The garden covers twelve acres with the largest breadfruit collection and also the oldest and largest heiau in the Pacific. The board of directors came in from all over the country for a board meeting along with donors who were offered a tour and catered lunch. I was invited and delighted to be included. I learned about ways to plant and plants I want here. There was also an amazing dinner with endless catered food, Hawaiian music and interesting people.

Because of the overcast days it has been great for weed eating and planting. I have been planning land scaping with Suriname Cherries, Brazilian cherries, I am cleaning up gardens and cutting cane grass back out of the mowed yard. I am planning the landscaping with bananas, citrus, miracle fruit, a green jade, Tabern, a Pukinikini, native white hybiscus, gardenias, night blooming jasmine, and of coarse the big crops coconuts, taro and breadfruit.

Derek came to cut and pile some more hau. Some friends are here for the weekend and I am hoping to chip away a little more tomorrow.

The shed is coming along with the dark green down spouts and trim being put on. The gutters will catch water and go into a 5,000 gallon water tank. The windows and doors are a month late so there is some refiguring to do. I am so thankful for this building team. They often barbecue their lunch and invite me.

The animals all seem happy and seem more relaxed each week. Mana thinks she has human rights.

Chris is bringing his excavator this next week so I am looking forward to some real progress.

Happy Easter and thanks for tuning in.

Aloha Vicky

Welcome to Blog #8
April 1, 2023

Happy April Fools Day!

Thanks for tuning in to Blog #8. It has been another amazing week with a lot of accomplishments. The wonderful thing about going to a new place is all the new and interesting people I meet. I meet someone new just about everyday.

Sunday morning I drove Haumana (my doogle) to the beach for a swim, but it was too rough for both of of us so we came back home. On the way in and out the driveway I noticed what a mess of branches were left from Saturday’s tree trimming. The tree trimmer tried to rationalize his leaving a mess is that it would be good for the soil once it decomposed. But is was a big mess right at my driveway entrance-a place that I want to look beautiful, a place where I want to plant native white hibiscus. I got the truck and started loading the branches.

Luckily about that time I got a text from Derek saying he was available for work. After several loads of putting the debrue in the back of the truck and taking to a designated dumping place we got the area cleaned up. Then we started attacking the hau branches on the next lo’i. Derek had the chain saw and we both were stacking branches in piles to chip. The chipped hau material is very rich and will go back into the soil for planting the coconuts, taro and breadfruit.

Besides four tons of sand being delivered for the pavers to sit on, the inside shed wall was completed this week that separates the tool shed and coconut processing room from the library and cataloging area. We are now waiting for the windows and doors to arrive at the end of April. The gutters will go on next and the water catchment tank installed.

This week I purchased the domaine name for the business which is Koali Niu. Koali is this area which was named for a vine that grew here and Niu is the Hawaiian word for coconut. I think was in next months will see a lot of clearing so we can start planting and get the show on the road.

Squash do very well in this area and I planted about twenty of the squash seedlings shown in an earlier blog. They make a great ground cover to keep weeds down so am looking forward to this plus all the food produced.

Sadly this week I lost one of my old cats found at a Makaha bus stop years ago. Blackie was suffering so I had to do something. Amazingly I found a vet just and hour away. The drive was through gorgeous, wild and scenic ranch country with old 17th century churches, cows along the road, and a goat herd ran across the gravel road. Blackie was in bad shape with a tumor in his mouth and kidney failure. The euthanization was a very peaceful, painless but sad experience. The vet was just the BEST-such a wonderful human being!

One of my favorite places on the property which has a row of huge rocks which might have been some kind of a special place in years past. Bradley pulled a tulip tree stump out last week so the soil is soft for digging. This is where my cat cemetery will be.

I am starting to think of landscaping and several weeks ago I met Julie and Alex who have a nursery. Yesterday they delivered some special trees that I am looking forward to planting. They are rare and interesting trees not found in a regular nursery.

This blog is going to be short as I just got back from a monthly book club meeting and company is coming. This month was the book titled the Last of the Moon Girls. I loved this book as it had some meaningful philosophy about living life. The book club members are a great group. One of the long time book club members is moving to Arizona and brought a box of pottery to rehome. She went around the circle and each woman choose a piece. Very touching!

Thanks for tuning in to Blog #8.
I am thinking there will be a lot of progress this next week….
Aloha Nui,
Vicky

March 17, 2023

Welcome to the news of this week and thanks for checking in.

It has been a beautiful amazing week with lots of sun and heat (almost too much actually) and such a contrast from the cold and rain of previous week. Haumana, my golden doodle and I made it to the beach for a short but lovely swim.

There were quite a few highlights this week. One of them was a two night visit from my young student helpers-Alana, Megan and Eli who arrived on Sunday. I am forever grateful to them for their help on Oahu and helping me get the cats over here. They camped and we had some lovely times together and great dinners around a big bon fire.

Eli also constructed a frame around the cat greenhouse. I will put a tarp on the frame and it will give some added protection from the rain and sun. Eventually I will make a little patio there and add some outdoor furniture.

On Monday the three of us hacked our way through the thick hau up to the pool and water fall on the top of the property. Unfortunately some big tulip trees had fallen on the hau and Eli had to looper our way thru in several places. In the next months I am hoping to get this trail opened up and made more direct so pool access is easier and a shorter walk.

Some creature comforts were added this week and the hot shower is now working perfectly. I also got a barbecue for the kitchen that will bake as well as grill. My little kitchenette is functioning great for compact cooking. With all the sun the Eco Flow solar generator is performing like a champ and so I decided to add a browning crock pot that arrived yesterday. Looking forward to making some meals in that.

The orange tree I planted eighteen years ago is now twenty feet high and full of oranges. I have the best juicer ever and have big glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice every day. Three oranges make a huge glass.

Work continues on the agriculture shed pretty steadily this week.

A couple days were shortened by issues. Chris’s truck broke down and his main helper Daylan had to take his wife to the doctor and then child care on Friday. Seems like there were also a lot of equipment failures this week. Bradley, who is moving some earth around, had his big backhoe breakdown so I am waiting on him to have a spot to plant taro, potato and fruit trees. He is also flattening a place for a plastic shed that will go next to green house.

Then, yesterday I was hoping to get Cliff to do some clearing on the next lo’i up mauka and he texted me his van broke down on the way here. So, this work is rescheduled for Monday. He did show up last week to trim the breadfruit trees which were way to high for picking. Life moves at a much slower pace here with many delays which I am getting used to. I have had several lunches up in the shed with the building team. Besides being so nice, they are super cooks and bring hot meals and often include me. If there is extra they leave it here for my dinner. Such generosity and they are a fun loving threesome who listen to music, laugh constantly and have a great time while working. It is a joy to have them here.

There is no garbage pick up here. Yesterday I took a truck load of metal scraps to the local dump for the once in every three month metal recycling day. Today I am taking another truck load of trash to the land fill . I am working on keeping things cleaned up and going every week with all the black bags.

Gradually the piles of building materials are moving out of the front yard so things are looking better each week. Besides constant rearranging I am doing a lot of one of my favorite activities-weed eating. I just love it as it is immediate gratification. Speaking of gratitude I watched one of Audrey Katagawa’s zoom on gratitude which I thought was pretty interesting. Here is the zoom link 

https://www.multiculturalcooperationa.net/content/interfaith-service-of-remembrance-gratitude

Other creature comforts was a cat drinking water fountain. It looks like the cats are loving this and drinking more water which prevents kidney disease. I am delighted to see them all drinking.

Another plus of the week…Many years ago I found a big metal framed picnic table sitting along side the road. I took it home to Tantalus, bought some new tiles for the top and had it in my garden there for years. Then, when I relocated to Saint Louis Heights I moved it there with the idea of painting, but it was always too windy to spray. Then, It came here in the container of garden materials. Yesterday, I finally got it sanded and painted coconut green, I have four new stacking chairs and am happy to finally have a table for meals or gathering here in the yard.

OK, I thought this week’ blog would be short, but it seems to have grown a little with important happenings. And, I am off to the Jungle Spa to get my hair cut now. 

Thank you for tuning in on Blog # 6 and please leave comments.

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #5
March 8, 2023
 
Welcome to Blog #5
Even though this blog comes out on Saturday I am starting early as today is especially important. Today is International Women’s Day and I am celebrating my gratitude and opportunities. To me this means women going out and doing the work that is in their heart .
Having just weathered a night and early morning with huge amounts of rain and cold wind my purpose is still foremost. Normally this would not be such an unpleasant situation, but the direction is coming straight into my tiny house.

In spite of this I keep the big picture in mind-the reason why I am here??
For me Andy Warhol summed it up with his quote.
The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will.

Why did I choose dealing with the winter elements to begin work on a last chapter???Any additional thinking is not needed for me to step out of my comfort zone to pursue a new mission. It was almost two years ago when Bob left me saying, “you will know what to do with this special piece of land-this āina”. He trusted me to do the right thing with the land that once flourished. It was a breadbasket with loi’i kalo and growing other foods under the rule of the Hawaiian kingdom.   During this time the Hawaiians had over a hundred different varieties of coconuts that were all used for special purposes. This knowledge has been forgotten and lost in history.   

A few hundred years later, I have come here with a vision and a mission to reveal the true beauty and the potential of this land that is hidden under an overgrowth of hau, African Tulip, bamboo and other weeds. Centuries-old Kanaka Hawaiian farming methods are still in tact waiting to be reactivated and brought back to use again. ‘Āina that once fed a nation must and should come back to growing food again.
 
The coconut revitalization project is only one step toward establishing food sovereignty in a land that once was known for abundance-‘āina momona! To me, this is what it meant when Bob looked in my eyes and told me “you will know how to do the right thing with this ‘āina.” 

We have had some beautiful sunny days now and we are all much happier. I got a drinking fountain for the cats and Casper is drinking. They say cats need a lot of water to prevent kidney disease.

Finally, after weeks of waiting all the tankless propane water heater arrived and I had my first hot shower here which was a great event after six weeks.
The lumber arrived to separate the tool shed from the library and the end panels are being put on so it will soon have walls. Yesterday I had lunch in the shed with the builder Chris, his helper Daylan, and Haumana.

My cut corral path to the shower is almost finished. This week I will get some garden edging to put along the sides so the stones stay in place during heavy rains.

I am having some delicious meals here. The Friday farmers market has the freshest mahimahi ever. This was dinner last evening. There are also wonderful baked goods along with home grown vegetables and fruit.

Other than a couple days of bad weather it has been a great week and I look forward to some real progress with this coming week. My young student helper friends, Megan, Alana and Eli, are missing the cats and coming out to visit Sunday and Monday. I have been meeting new and like-minded interesting people and also enjoying the peace and quiet here.

Looking forward to the events of the coming week. Please make comments on Word Press and let me know who is reading these blogs. Stay tuned for Blog #6 next week as I think there will be a lot of progress to report.
With Gratitude and Aloha,
Vicky