• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Janice Beetle Books

Writing, editing, book development, and publishing help

  • Home
  • About
    • My Books
    • Clients’ Books
    • Privacy Policy
  • Services
    • Creative Writing Review/Coaching
    • Book Development /Writing
      • Book Development Sampler
    • Book Editing
    • Copy Editing
    • Book Design
    • Publishing Guidance
  • Blog
  • Poem Pods
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Order My Book
You are here: Home / Adventures / Life on the Farm

Life on the Farm

December 26, 2016 by Janice Beetle Leave a Comment

Note: This is the third of fourteen parts. Click here to read from the beginning.

Molly and I aren’t staying in a hotel here in Kailua-Kona, nor are we at a bed and breakfast. There would be no adventure in that scenario.

We are filling in for a friend of Molly’s as caretakers on a 20-year old coffee farm. Now we’re talking, right?

We are high up in the mountains, surrounded by lush foliage from giant banana fronds as big as our bodies to delicate orchids and poinsettia that grow in the wild and not in pots on the windowsill. And, of course, Kona coffee plants are everywhere, on the side of the road and in neat rows on the farms that dot the landscape.

We are in heaven.

Topographically, we are at 2,250 feet, about twice as high as Mount Tom. So far, we have been mostly engulfed in fog or clouds up here, but when we venture down towards the ocean, we have noticed it’s about 15 degrees warmer and the cloud cover is less dense. The natives say this is unusually cold and gnarly weather.

Normally one to squawk when the sun is not shining and the temperature is not hovering in the 90s, I could care less. I love the balminess of the air here, and each moment is so new and different that I am unconcerned about where my friend the sun is. She will return when she is ready.

The home we are staying in is rustic but so sweet and clean. It’s dubbed The Coffee Shack, and it has three bedrooms, two decks and a kitchen and sizable living room, complete with a fire pit that vents through the ceiling and roof.

Looking out the living room window, you see all kinds of greenery. It’s thick and luscious. Far down below you can see the ocean on a clear day, I hear.

Our main task here is to take care of the three cats, but I was also very interested in learning about farm operations. So, before our friends left Kona a day after our arrival, I tried to thoroughly pick their brains for knowledge.

Kayla, Molly’s friend from high school who is living here and running the farm while also directing a nutrition program at a local school, told us the coffee plants are dormant now and there is little to do to maintain them.

She pointed out that there are abundant fruits here on the land—oranges, tangerines, guava, passion fruit, and also avocado and macadamia nuts. Even All Spice grows here on the land.

“What can I do to help care for the plants,” I asked Kayla in an email before we arrived.

“Nothing,” she said.

Likewise, she said I also didn’t need to mow the lawn or work at all. But I wanted a task! So, when I saw Kayla’s friend Keith wielding a machete to remove dead fronds from a banana tree, I asked him, “Can you teach me how to do that?”

Keith was happy to oblige. He showed me several techniques for managing the banana growth and also cutting back what he called Ti (pronounced “tea,” but not actual tea) plants, and he suggested several specific tasks I could take on during our trip.

I was beside myself. Between the climate, natural beauty and garden tasks that are rugged and require buff-ness, I feel like I’ve found a new place to call home.

But uh-oh. We are here for only two more weeks.

 

Click here to read the next blog in this series. Make sure you don’t miss it; sign up to follow this blog on the Home page, in the sidebar.

← Previous Post
Next Post →

Filed Under: Adventures, All Tagged With: adventure, coffee farm, coffee shack, Kailua-Kona Hawaii, Kona, Kona coffee

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeanne Julian says

    December 26, 2016 at 9:16 pm

    Exciting!

    Reply
    • janicebeetle says

      December 27, 2016 at 4:31 pm

      Thank you for reading Jeanne!

      Reply
  2. Vicki says

    December 27, 2016 at 2:09 am

    Sounds adventurous ….send pictures via Facebook would love to see the words you are describing

    Reply
  3. janicebeetle says

    December 27, 2016 at 4:31 pm

    I will post some photos today Vicki. Thanks for reading!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe

Please enter your email address to receive blog posts by email.

Categories

Recent Posts

  • A Q & A with Gerry Hass
  • Larceny in the Aisles is Hot Off the Press!
  • Ten Tips for the Travel Writer-Wannabe

Archives

  • April 2023
  • October 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • November 2012

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

© 2023 Janice Beetle Books · Privacy Policy
Content by Janice Beetle Books · Site by Turn Signal Media