Between rain showers I captured promises from the garden, avoiding the happy honey bees.
Passion flower and fruit:
Passion fruit
Sweet potato tops for a veggie:
Sweet potato leaf shoots
Red hibiscus for tea:
Noni flowers for salad:
Figs:
Figs
It’s rewarding to to grow our own food.
~ Rebekah
Maʻafala
Manna from heaven, or, I should say, Maʻafala from heaven! We picked breadfruit today just as it stopped raining avocados in the garden. It is the Samoan variety cultivated on the Island of Kauaʻi, and it grew from a potted plant into this magnificent tree. They are smaller than the Hawaiian ulu.
Maʻafala tree is bearing fruit
I am guessing the bountiful year is the effect of the climate change on our planet. Happily we have shared for weeks now beautiful avocados with neighbors and friends, made lots of guacamole, and froze batches of the same. Mashed or cut-up avocado freezes well and doesn’t discolor if you combine it with lemon or lime juice.
Morning count on the porch railing. One day nine had fallen to the ground from the night before.
Mahalo e Ke Akua for the abundance.
~ Rebekah
The kou tree in the front garden is blooming and dropping delicate orange-colored blossoms. When strung into a flower lei they look like ilima.
The Hawaiian-English dictionary has this description:
“ 1. n. A tree found on shores from East Africa to Polynesia (Cordia subcordata), with large, ovate leaves, and orange, tubular flowers 2.5 to 5 cm in diameter, borne in short-stemmed clusters. The beautiful wood, soft but lasting, was valuable to the early Hawaiians and was used for cups, dishes, and calabashes. (Neal 714–5.) (PPN tou.)”
I keep the lei cool in the open air between wet newspaper, avoiding the refrigerator, and re-dampen the newspaper as needed.
Beautiful.
After wearing, you may save the lei. As it dries to a rusty orange, snug up the flowers together along the craft ribbon to wear again!
Aloha nō,
Rebekah
Red ginger
While in coronavirus lockdown until September 24 (according to latest Hawai’i report), travel without a mask is limited to my garden. It’s not exclusively my garden, as family and neighbors are on the lookout for its fruits and flowers. Here’s this morning’s tour:
Papaya volunteer
Ti
Avocado in between red hibiscus cuttings
Avocado close up
Avocado split from its fall from above
Ti
Panax
Kukui nut
Donkey tail in a hanging basket
Ti
Lilikoʻi (passipn fruit)
Red ginger
Maʻafala breadfruit
More Maʻafala breadfruit
Pele’s hair — hinahina
Maʻafala breadfruit. I’m waiting for more latex sap to ooze out and onto a smooth skin, indicating the breadfruit is ready to harvest.
Fallen breadfruit leaf. I’ve used the shape in my art work.
Heliconia variety
Be well. Please stay home during coronavirus season—six months and counting!
~Rebekah
Renée Morinaka posted this on Facebook for the public.
~ Rebekah
Like many of you self isolating at home from the COVID-19 pandemic, for four months now since mid March, our family has returned to home cooking, saving gasoline and money that would have been paid to restaurants. For health reasons I should avoid eating sugar, but I love to bake. So what the heck?
Have a virtual taste of my pie, Dutch baby pancake, scones, and malasadas!
~ Rebekah
JJAnother dog picture, but hey, my dog seems to be the only constant during the current pandemic while we all stay at home. You are staying home, right?
Or at least assigning your trips “off campus” to the same one person per household. For our family that person is Pete.
He took advantage for a brief time of the order-and-pick-up service from Kualoa Ranch just five minutes down the road. Other times he went to Windward Mall in Kaneohe for the weekly farmers market.
The mangoes came from Ewa, the lady said. Yummy, and a good find because our tree isn’t bearing this year.
Coffee cake is topped with fresh mango slices and cinnamon sugar, then baked.
What a beauty!~ Rebekah
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