It was nice to have a place to go this weekend to take our minds off of things. We joined uncle Miguel for some cacao harvesting at the farm. Once we were there Miguel gave is clippers and we all went into the orchard. We’d clip off the ripe cacao pods, toss them to the outside of the row of trees and then someone would drive around and pick them up in the golf cart. The goal was to harvest 5 buckets worth of seeds, that’s enough to make it worth the process to ferment and roast. Special points to whoever figured out that there’s chocolate inside these pods.
Beautiful day! And since we all love Uncle Miguel’s Chocolate it’s always fun to see how things work from start to finish.
Kaia is her happiest when she’s out in the fields, permanent smile. She’s sweet though because she never leaves my sight and seems to always know where I’m at.
If you want to know if they are ripe you have to slice a sliver of skin off , if it’s mango colored it’s good, if it’s green leave it!
Once you have a good pile you break them in half and scoop out the seeds. The seeds are mixed in a white tart sticky slime. I couldn’t do the clean-out part it would make me gag. Literally looks like alien brains.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the idea of the possibility of considering blogging again. Little moments during the day and I’ll think about it. I’ll be getting in the car or watering the plants and think about it. That’s as far as I got these past few months.
So today it’s definitely happening. I’m posting. So much to update and I’ll have to just do it over the next few weeks. For today meet Kaia (I will share more on her later!). She’s my sweet baby girl, the newest addition to our family. As you can see she has made herself at home. Yesterday we went to Kauai Chocolate Farm with Uncle Miguel. The boys drove the tractors around and then burned all the brush they cleared. I spend the afternoon potting plants from the property to bring back the house.
I was able to get a bunch of white ginger, 2 banana trees and a ton of Taro. For those that don’t know Taro is a plant used to make a variety of local favorite Hawaiian dishes. It was brought over by the Polynesians and planted by streams and rivers in the 7th century and is still a staple in the Hawaiian diet. If you are interested in the cultural background and significance of Taro check out Sending Aloha From Hawaii. It’s an amazing plant!
Overall a successful afternoon. We ended the evening with a stop at Tiki’s Tacos. They have amazing handmade tortillas and a tofu taco that is heaven on earth. Plus they have compostable packages!
