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Archive for the ‘Hawaii’ Category

Update :)

Posted in Bay Area, Hawaii on June 15, 2014| 4 Comments »

Hello Friends!

It has been a long time, again, since a post!

This past spring, Mark and I were together on a Christian Science nursing case, 24/7. One of us would get a break once a week for about 24 hours. We were on that case from early February until mid April. We escorted our client to San Francisco and stayed over for a 2 1/2 week surprise vacation. While in CA, visiting my parents, I learned of a position that I had to apply for. It fit me so well, that I couldn’t pass it up. So now I am the director of a new childcare program for children of staff at Fern Lodge, a Christian Science nursing facility. I love children and Fern Lodge and here is an opportunity to be with both!

Mark flew home to Hawaii May 5 and is working and building on our land. Mark and I stay in touch by phone and FaceTime, and Facebook.

Love to all of you!
Rachel

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Site for a home made greenhouse

Posted in Hawaii, tagged , , on January 21, 2014| 4 Comments »

It has been a long time with no post and we apologize! The past month (since Sat. Dec. 28), we have frequently been going up the mountain to a man who has been selling a lot of soil, lumber, and odds and ends (he is relocating). We have brought home 4 pickup truck loads of soil, 5 potting beds, a hot tub, a 3 x 6 window, and several loads of lumber.

With these building materials, and the fact that it seems whatever gets planted then is pulled up by birds, Mark decided that it was time to build a greenhouse. We looked into the cost of a new greenhouse and they are almost $2K! This summer, a neighbor gave us 3 large pieces of visquine, so we are going to try and make our own greenhouse space. The picture below was taken from our drive, looking at where the greenhouse will be. Max (where our bedroom is currently) is up on a platform with a roof that goes from the ridge to the North. We need to build the Southern half of the roof (from Max’s ridge to the South and put our solar panels up on that section. So that is what we have been doing lately! If you look closely at the center of the picture, you may see a line in the ground. That line marks where we have begun to take up soil and roots (about 5 inches). Hopefully, we’ll continue until it is all taken up!

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Lastly, I would like to share with you how excited I am that today has been a sunny day with clouds and wind. We have discovered that the best way to ensure the showers get nice and warm, even hot, is to fill them early, place on the hood of our truck, and move them frequently. We are going to have hot showers today!!

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Merry (Mighty) Christmas to you!

Posted in Hawaii on December 26, 2013| 5 Comments »

We had a beautiful Christmas morning at home (breakfast was apple sapote: sweet, tart, crunchy, & easy to peel). We enjoyed the online Christian Science service (www.christianscience.com) with the help of the Wifi from the community center. We enjoyed doing video calls with both Rachel and Mark’s family, also with the help of the Wifi from the community center 🙂
We went to a potluck that started around 11 am. Mark learned to change the oil on our truck while Rachel was in the kitchen cooking/food prep with Laura. As you can see from Mark’s plate, there were five vegan dishes (corn spoon bread, beets, beans, mashed potatoes, & oven-baked sweet and regular potatoes) that we enjoyed immensely. We ate around 4 pm. I made a raw fruit pie with
-a freshly ground pecan crust (thanks Evelyn!)
-mamay sapote
-egg fruit
-black sapote
-mamay sapote blended with cocoa powder
-star fruit and pecan sprinkles to garnish

The other guests left just before 7 pm. Our host John was very interested in the Bible, religions, and history and invited us upstairs and we got to chatting. We finally left around 11 pm. What a full and wonderful day!

Just a few pics of the raw fruit pie we made and our delicious dinner…

Love you all!!

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New Ulu Tree!

Posted in Hawaii, tagged , , on December 1, 2013| 7 Comments »

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On Thanksgiving, our church member Pansy invited us to come to her house if we would like an ulu tree, asking if we didn’t mind digging it up. We said we’d LOVE to have a breadfruit tree and digging it up would be no problem.

We got to her house about 3 pm yesterday, and she and her husband Jim showed us the trees they were hoping to be freed from. The tree pictured above was growing under it’s parent’s shadow. It took us 3 hours of digging, but we did it! We loaded the tree just before it got really dark. Jim and their son Julien helped with the final digging and loading into our truck. Thank you Pansy, Jim, and Julien for the beautiful tree and the help getting it up and out!

We got home and planted it right away (in the dark) in a compost pile of mac nut shells and pieces* and a little soil. (*We got the mac shells from a business that makes mac nut biodiesel. They couldn’t use the shells and pieces because it had gotten wet and was molding and shared with us for free :)!) Because we got the tree so close to Thanksgiving, we named the tree Gratitulu, Tulu for short :)!

The picture above was taken this morning around 7 am.

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Very Tall Bouquet!

Posted in Hawaii on November 24, 2013| 6 Comments »

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Not every girl gets a bouquet taller than her for her special day! Thank you Mark and Marvin, the banana man who gave us the flowers! We are grateful!!

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3 acres for sale for $20K

Posted in Hawaii, tagged , on November 24, 2013|

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Dear Friends, Family, and Readers,

Directly across the road from us is 3 acres of land for sale! Wouldn’t you like to be our neighbors?!?! 🙂 If you are interested, give them a call! The land is on road 6, in Hawaiian Acres, just down from F towards G.

The Hawaiian name for Road 6 is the same as the rough lava, O`oa`a , pronounced Oh-oh! Ah-ah!, probably because that is what you would sound like if you tried to walk on the rough and very porous lava. Funny enough, Hawaiian Acres has very little O`oa`a lava. We have plenty of Pahoehoe lava. Pahoehoe is MUCH more solid, and sometimes looks very ropy, like a lot of ropes squeezed up together.

Below is a picture of pahoehoe (pronounced pa-hoy-hoy) lava

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Unloading is complete!

Posted in Hawaii, tagged , , , on November 19, 2013| 1 Comment »

We finished unloading our container about two hours before our deadline with the help of two friends this morning. We had some truck troubles yesterday and the day before (dead battery AND keys locked in the truck) but both were overcome. We are grateful to our neighbor Andrew for charging our battery this morning and for Andrew and Noel’s help in unloading the second half of the tubs. A couple of days ago (Sunday), Mark and I unloaded the 1st half of tubs and shelves; it took us the better part of a whole day’s work without the help of the truck.

After the empty container was picked up, we went into Hilo to purchase two more white extra heavy duty tarps and do LOTS of laundry (it ended being about 7 loads worth)! I am looking forward to being able to do our own at home!

Quite remarkable was the weather these past 5 days. We had no rain during the day and very little at night the whole week! Such a blessing! It rained when we were framing the floor joists (with Brent’s help!) and putting the plywood on the day before the container arrived, but the plywood had a chance to dry completely by mid morning. It really was a blessing that the lumber was water logged, because our inclination was to make the floor as tight as possible! The first real rain (during the day) after the container came was around noon or 1pm today (5 days later), after all furnishings had found cover! To top it off, the moon has been amazingly beautiful, bright, full, and encouraging as we worked into the night with headlamps on.

I (Rachel) was knowing that no matter what the weather turned out to be and no matter what condition our stuff arrived in, God is in control! A few pieces of furniture need some glue, and some got marked up a little, but in the big picture, none of that matters so much. We are grateful to be here and grateful that our stuff is here too.

Two upcoming projects are to build a roof for our solar panels and to sort and put away all the 18 gallon Rubbermaid “roughneck totes” that were shipped. Peace and blessings to all!!

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Our stuff came and 2 tents are up!

Posted in Hawaii on November 15, 2013|

I am grateful for…
Nov. 15, 2013 11:30 pm
I am grateful for good temper, grace, unconditional love, I got up at 4:45 am today and read the lesson to section four!, a shower this morning, two tents are up!, BEAUTIFUL weather!, amazing cloud patterns, sunrise, beautiful & strong platform for the stuff. I am grateful that I am able to document the process.

I am grateful for good!! And the fact that goodness is substance, not things!

We are so very grateful for Brent Calkins for donating his time and tools for our platform project. We are grateful that we have ring shank nails and 3/4″ tongue & groove plywood.

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Lumber ordered!

Posted in Hawaii, tagged , on November 11, 2013| 3 Comments »

The lumber, piers, and nails for our platform have been ordered, paid for, and will be delivered today! …

So said delivery is about to arrive momentarily!

We are sitting in the truck eating lunch- cashew butter with “homemade farmer’s market” Starfruit-Ginger jam on sprouted wheat cinnamon raisin bread.

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Rambutan for breakfast!

Posted in Hawaii on November 5, 2013| 2 Comments »

Rambutan is very similar to lychee, longan, and guinep (which Rachel had in Jamaica when she was in the Peace Corps).

Rambutan is sweet. The fruit is stuck to the entire seed instead of at one point like lychee.

The past few days, we have spent cleaning, planting, seeing friends and making new ones, and preparing to build a platform. Our goal is to have a platform 12×48 built by a week from today.

Much love and stay tuned!

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