Archive for February, 2010


My First Honey Extractor

Published February 23rd, 2010 in Honeybees | No Comments »

The pallet just fit in the back of my Ranger.

The pallet just fit in the back of my Ranger.

Up until last year, I had no need for an extractor. Top-bar hives only require a knife, a bucket and a strainer. I still have tubs of honey-comb in the freezer that I take out once and a while to chew on some for a snack. I could probably leave the comb out now – I put it in the freezer to ensure that any wax-moth eggs are killed. However, for serious honey production, especially for a side-line honey business, an extractor is an essential tool for the job.

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Carving a Poi Pounder

Published February 21st, 2010 in Taro | No Comments »

This is the lava stone from which a poi pounder will be carved.

This is the lava stone from which a poi pounder will be carved.

A poi pounder is a stone shaped somewhat like a half an hour-glass with a rounded bottom. It’s usually carved out of a gray lava with tight pores. In those days, these stones were pecked at with a hammer stone to shape it – a process that took many many patient hours. Once the shape was finished then another stone would be used to polish the pounder. I opted to use a diamond-bladed grinder instead.

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Very hard winter this year

Published February 7th, 2010 in Pit Greenhouse | No Comments »

Toasted nanner trees. Guess I'm not getting bananas this summer.

Toasted nanner trees. Guess I'm not getting bananas this summer.

My greenhouse is largely toast right now thanks to the Arctic blast that dropped temps way below normal. No other winter has affected the plants like this one – the earth-mass has performed marvelously in all the winters without extra heating. This time around, the earth-mass still performed well – I would have lost everything otherwise – but it wasn’t quite enough. Normally, the worst that happens is a few browned banana leaves on really cold nights. This time around is another story altogether – that Arctic blast was severe for this part of the country. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it so devastated. I have had less damage in top-side greenhouses with failed heaters. I’ll only know what survived come Spring. It’ll be painful, tho, to haul out all the dead pots and try to catalog the losses. Many of these plants I’ve had for years and some are from seed.

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