This is our magical camphor tree…A few limbs were recently trimmed, and now it is a great place for the kids to climb and hang out!  It is located in a beautiful spot, and we are excited to give this area of our farm lots of love.  We have already cleared a bit and have been planting around it…We are going to make a stump jump with the dropped tree limbs, so that the boys can enjoy hopping around.  We’ve also added a climbing wall that is attached to the tree so that they can either climb the ladder or the climbing wall…and we hope to add  a small platform (attached to the climbing wall) for them to sit on and play cards!   We have also been making fairy houses, which is so sweet and fun.

It really is an amazing way to let the child get creative, and experience nature. They take their time searching the area for small sticks, flowers, rocks and anything else to make a unique home for those sweet fairies! We keep them small, and Micah likes to clear a trail from the base of the tree to the fairy house…And we love to imagine the fairies fluttering down at dusk to sleep in the little houses…Micah also added a bed inside for them to rest on.  Manny felt very pleased after making his own fairy house all by himself.  At four years old he is pretty creative!

We can find ways to spend hours outside at this spot; climbing, planting, weeding, playing…we’ll bring a big bowl of popcorn and a quart of water and be content for quite some time!  This is what I call an exception homeschooling experience!

So we live and learn, right?  Chickens do well here, and we’ve figured out how to keep the mongoose from getting the eggs, by having a coop that is at least four feet off the ground, built on pvc posts.  This way, they can’t jump up or climb the posts.   We did have a few casualties with mongoose killing our older chickens, but they seem under control now, as long as we keep the areas that they are in semi clear.  So we are still able to get 15-20 eggs from our chickens a day.

And our goats are doing great, as long as we keep them fed often with lots of greens from the land!  They were letting us know they wanted more to eat after they started escaping from their paddocks.  We give them lots of area to graze, but i’m guessing they’ve been needing more variety.  So we collect lots of ti’s, gliricidia, bamboo, african tulip,etc…and let them feast for hours!  They have been sticking happily to their pasture since we’ve been diligant about this.  And we are still milking two of our goats twice a day, and getting about 2 quarts a milking.  We love our goat milk, and enjoy making cheese and kiefer with it.

I’ve been back to making kombucha, which we all enjoy greatly.  2 gallons at a time, and we go through it really fast!  I might try adding lemongrass or ginger at some point.  For now though i’ll keep it simple.  I’m enjoying getting back into a groove, trying to fit things in between nursing my little one!  He loves to be held, so i try to carry him around while getting things done…He’s always happier in someone’s arms!

We’ve been having some great workers on the farm, and more to come this winter.   The boys, Micah and Manny, love all the visitors.  So much gets done with all the new  energy, and we’re trying to find ways to be focused and productive.  We’ll hopefully start going to a farmer’s market soon, once more people are here to get us motivated!  There’s always so much to do, so we enjoy the days when we just stop and relax, and enjoy our family and friends..

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There have still been things getting done, even with all that’s on our plate.  Since we’ve been home the guys have made a new floor in the goat barn and fixed the roof of it.  We also now own seven geese, only one of which we had before the birth of our baby.  (one passed away while we were gone)  The geese all live together happily in a big fenced in area, and the duck even gets along with them pretty well!  All we need is one or two more kiddie pools for them, since they dirty one so quickly.  But we love spending time with them.  They are so sweet and social, and Micah and Manny are really taking good care of them.

There’s a plan to make some raised garden beds behind our house, so that i will be more likely to garden, having the beds right out my back window…And there is also a tentative plan to build a new chicken coop, which we are sorely in need of!  Besides all these things, there is the every day maintenance; weeding, mowing the lawn, planting and transplanting, feeding and caring for the animals…and i know i’m forgetting things!  I’ve been sticking to the bare minimum of caring for my kids…They have been great, adjusting to the new baby and everything.  I look forward to when we’ve got things a bit more under control…when i can make kombucha and sourdough bread again, and get out in the garden (since my garden is non-existent anymore, covered in weeds!) .  also, we are homeschooling and Micah is doing great, i’ll just enjoy putting more time into that with him too.  All in time, i know.  Asher has been attempting to teach us patience throughout this whole experience.  We’ve had to slow down, and i hope we can continue to slow down and just enjoy each other.  There will always be so much to do, really.  But of course most important is the time we spend with our family and friends.  This is the true quality of life.

Here’s a picture of the sunrise one the morning of the goat kidding…and then a picture of Bridget at about 3 weeks old!

Now Bridget is a healthy girl, nibbling on grass and sticking close to her mama.   We’ve had no problems with either of them.  Bridget is growing so well, and Ginger is giving us some great milk!  Now we are starting to make cheese and yogurt again.  Yum….

And just a couple of days ago we added two goslings to our animal family.  They are so adorable, and so much fun!  We have named them Nip and Lily, and we play with them all the time.  They are 13 days old, and will grow so fast.  We are enjoying them small while we can.

They love eating grass, and taking lots of baths!  Micah has taken the roll of mother to them, and they will follow him anywhere.  They are getting along with everyone so far, even our dog Koa!  We are hoping they will be great pets, lawn mowers, and mongoose patrol…We recently lost an older chicken to a mongoose, so this inspired us to get the geese, since they are known to be great “watch dogs”.  Anyway, we love them already, and they are a great addition to the farm.

The next baby to arrive on the farm will be the one growing in my womb…We expect this little one to arrive sometime in September, and we are all so excited to meet the newest Mosheyev.  Life is blooming here, and we are enjoying being a part of it all…

Our family just got back from a month long trip to the east coast, so we are taking a little time to settle back in.  It has been quite busy though on the farm, as we are hosting visitors and interviewing for more long term people.  We had a great friend managing  the farm while we were gone, with the help of two other lovely friends from Maine.  We always appreciate the chance to get away and know that everything (and everyone!) is taken care of…And we all enjoy so much our return to our precious home.

Let’s see….there’s always so much going on, and lately we have been focusing on the gardens.  We are trying to get in our spring/summer plantings.  All are young plants right now, so we looking forward to the bounty in a few months!  And along with our veggies in the garden we will also have MANY avocadoes!  Right now there are hundreds of small ones on our trees, and we are trying to be patient as we watch them grow.  Also, of our four goats, one is pregnant and due sometime in June….(we think…we bought here from a goat dairy, and they couldn’t guarantee when she became pregnant)  We are looking forward to having more goat milk, since our youngest boy loves to drink lots of it, and we really want enough to make cheese and yogurt.

And in September our third child will be born!  I am half way through my pregnancy, enjoying this time of relative comfort…and looking forward to welcoming this new little one.  I wish I had more energy to do all that I would like on the farm and in the kitchen, but I am trying to recognize that I am growing a baby and taking care of two little ones, so I will focus on what I do accomplish rather than what I don’t!  Parenting is so special, and I feel blessed that we can do such a unique job of it, spending all our time at home with our kids.  Soon there will be a home schooling update too.

All is well on the farm, even with all the work to be done.  We always look forward to the changes that will come, and we enjoy our days together.  Until next time…

We will miss her so much.  She was a big part of our life, an important family member.  We have learned some things from her death, and hope to give our young dog Koa much affection and care for a long life.  Animals are such a part of our life here on the farm, and we always respect them and their living and dying here.  Kahana was a one of a kind dog, and she will be greatly missed.  Let’s hope she is bounding through fields, full of energy and joy…chasing mongoose…eating all her favorite foods, like avocados, coconut, raw beef, and bones….We want her happy and at peace.  We loved this dog…She was so unique. 

We stay here and watch these changes…Me, my husband and two children. We are sitting in the center of it all, watching everything spinning around us. And most often, we jump in and run with it all. Right now, in this moment, I am at a place of sitting still. Slowing down. Letting life and all it’s beauty come to me. It’s hard on the farm, in the jungle, to sit and just be. But I am learning to love it, and realize it’s the most important thing we can do. Just let go, and rest. Trust that life will continue, and be abundant and amazing.

We are seeing the struggle of living in community. It’s a beautiful thing with a tough edge. We see the reality and want the connection with others, yet realize how difficult it really is to live so intimately with other human beings. We are at a place of introspection, of settling into our own relationships, here, as a family unit. We still continue our outreach, since the passion is one of telling others that there is a different, more simple, more sustainable and gentle way to live. So hopefully that is what this will be…A telling of one family’s story that is trying to live a genuine, natural, loving life. Keep reading…There will be more to come…Each moment is new.

I woke today to my usual alarm clock: the morning light, the birds chatting and the sound of Carl, our next door neighbor, softly chopping wood to smoke the food for his roadside barbeque stand that is halfway to Hana from here on the Hana Hwy. After appreciating the new little ocean view from my little garden cottage, that was created yesterday from come clearing that Zeoc and friend Adam did, I walked over to the yoga space for some stretching and morning meditation. On my way out I noticed a new bunch of ripe strawberry guava next to the yoga space, so I brought a ladder over from the garden shed and began my breakfast with fresh little tart guavas right off the tree! Then I headed up to the barn, our community space and kitchen, and had some fresh papaya from our land, followed by a little miso soup. Next I walked down to the garden and did a walk-through while harvesting green beans, potato greens, red and green leaf lettuces, italian parsley and napa cabbage to have ready for a lunch salad. I also pulled up a head of napa cabbage to process for sauerkraut. I brought my goodies up to the cottage and greeted Micah, Jen, Zeoc and Manny for the morning and checked in about how the night went. Not so good for Jen as it turned out that Manny was fussy through the night so she didn’t get much sleep…it’s hard to be a one month old and premature at that, but even harder to be the mother of a one month old premature baby! I felt deep appreciation for Jen, inspirationally patient and grounded mama, getting through last night so Manny can feel safe and met in this exciting new world.

While Micah told me all about his morning, I sat on the deck viewing the ocean and cleaned and shredded the cabbage for the sauerkraut, then sorted through the jungle peanuts I am sprouting to find the good ones to plant as starts today. The rest went into the compost bin for the chickens. And a handful of fresh ones went into my mouth for a mid-morning snack, along with an orange from our friend’s property up in Haiku. These peanuts are an experiment in growing more of what we like to eat here…some of us are kind of big peanut butter fans, so the idea of growing our own peanuts and making our own peanut butter instead of getting it from the store, is enticing. These are Amazonian jungle peanuts so hopefully they will thrive in our climate.

After doing some dishes, I headed back down to the garden to start weeding what will be a new patch for mung and adzuki beans. Grateful for the little drop in temperature today and the breeze, I pleasantly drifted into weeding meditation and my growling stomach was what brought me out of it an hour and a half later. I then had a lunch of salad and our fresh herbed goat cheese, along with some leftover mushroom seaweed soup and brown rice, and a banana from our neighbors Steve and Theresa’s banana orchard, which we help to maintain a couple times a month. After lunch I packaged the freshly made goat cheese then it was back to the garden to finish weeding the bed. While I was having lunch, Micah and Jen came out and made some headway on the bed, so gladly I didn’t have much left to weed. I then turned the soil, broke it up a bit, shaped keyhole beds, and then turned in goat manure. Then I cleared the pathway to it of some overhanging comfrey leaves, used those to mulch the squash mounds planted by our work-trader Sarah last month. Zeoc came down to harvest some yacon leaves for the goats and also took some of the comfrey to feed them during milking. I then watered the seedlings in the garden shed, bucketed up some sifted coconut husk compost, started those peanut seeds and noted all this in our garden journal.

The light was growing dim already! So I hopped up to the barn for an outdoor solar shower, which was just warm enough on this overcast day, then went back to my place to relax a little, write in my journal and read a little from the Permaculture Design Manual. Next thing I was hearing the dramatic and ongoing telltale ringing of the gong by a three year old named Micah, calling me to dinner. Jen had baked whole wheat bread and made a beautiful lentil soup featuring dollops of taro which she had just harvested today from the garden. These tasted like yummy little dumplings! We feasted and talked about the day and our plans for tomorrow and enjoyed Manny sitting up in Jen’s arms and watching all the action at dinner, including some hysterical facial expressions. We talked about making sourdough starter and plans for building an outdoor kitchen next to the barn that will feature a rocketstove, a small, super-efficient wood-burning cookstove. Then we heard the rain start coming down outside and felt relief after these dry days for the gardens getting a chance to drink at last! We cleaned up and Zeoc and I discussed plans for the kombucha batches we’ve been brewing: he likes them young and I like them older and vinegary, so we decided, I think, on each having our own batch to work with, ha ha. I said my goodnights and headed over to the barn to email a friend for tips on getting a sourdough starter started and also to contact my friend who builds rocketstoves for a living to invite him over to build one for us. Then it was off to bed, a little more reading first (I’m sucked into a particularly dramatic Anne Lamott novel at present) and then falling asleep to the sounds of the crickets, occasional bursts of rain and the ocean waves crashing down in the distance.

Micah and Jen both had birthdays this past week and the mood was very festive. Micah took Zeoc, Jen and Sydney kite flying and Zeoc, Jen and Micah went to see the Hana Arts presentation of “Guys and Dolls” to celebrate. All community activities like this are a lot of fun! We also enjoyed a hike up to the Hana Cross in beautiful sunshine.

Jen is due in late May for the birth of our second child. Her pregnancy has been going well, with the third trimester being much better and easier than the first two. We are super-excited about the arrival of our new baby, as is Micah who is ready to be a big brother at three years of age.

We have been enjoying an abundance of Brazil cherries, bananas, papaya and purple sweet potatoes, as well as our regular crop of jungle greens which we love in salads and sauteed or steamed or…. Also, we’ve been having fun experimenting with different ways to eat ulu, or breadfruit. Our favorite so far was Dave and Pam’s ulu pudding with walnuts and bananas. The cherries have been featured in smoothies and a yummy compote served over Zeoc’s famous pancakes. Ah, life is good!

We have four goats, two of which are milking and the other 2 are pregnant. We get approximately 3 quarts a day from them, when we milk them at 6 am and 6pm. We love when the new babies arrive…These ones are due around Nov. …. Micah enjoys picking them up and playing with them, for as long as they allow him! We are very thankful for our goats, for they provide us with a very important portion of our diet. We make cheese and yogurt from the milk which provides us with excellent nutrition!

Our chickens provide us with another great source of food…We have about 34 of them now, half of which have just started laying. Throughout the day you can hear them clucking away, announcing the proud arrival of an egg. I love going out to feed them, since they greet me with such enthusiasm! As they see me walking over to the gate, they all run, and half fly over to meet me…Of course they are just excited that I am going to feed them, but I like feeling like they truly missed me and are just giving me a warm welcome. Whenever I’m feeling a little tired or have a headache, I try to get out to sit with the chickens. It’s a great way to keep Micah occupied since he runs around trying to catch them, and it’s just so peaceful for me to sit and watch them go about their business. They scratch and play and give themselves dust baths. They are the perfect cure for a long day!

Sometimes a guest comes and visits the chickens. He’s orange with a tail and whiskers…And his name is Maui. Occasionally he decides to follow Micah and I around for the afternoon, and he’ll make his way into the chicken yard. I never let him in, I just watch as he ingeniously finds his own way to enter. Last time he was trying to squeeze under the door, but finally decided to climb half way up and then squeeze through an opening. It was great entertainment watching him! He never bothers the chickens, but they seem quite interested in him! Some of them even try to fight him…He just ignores them though. He’s a great, mellow, loving cat. Just never try to pet him when he’s lying on his back, because he likes to attack! His sister is a beauty. Pualani, which means “heavenly flower” is a sweetheart, and so loving. She’s a great mouser too!

Kahana is our lovely dog. She is about 3 years old and is a black lab mix. We sometimes wonder how we ever lived without her! Her sweet spirit and mellowness are two wonderful aspects of her personality. I think her favorite pastime is going for walks on the dirt road with us, and bounding off into the woods looking for mongoose! Speaking of mongoose, I would swear they are another addition to our animal family…Or they would like to be! They continue to make their homes around our chicken yard, so they can sneak in and snatch the eggs before we get out there to collect them. Recently we have been catching one or two a day in our have-a-heart traps and then we release them a few miles up the road. There really is an endless amount of mongoose, so it’s an ongoing project trying to “mongoose proof” our chicken yard!

To me, life on the farm would not be the same without all our wonderful animals. I really find such joy in watching and caring for them every day. And to have Micah raised in such a way, learning to care for and respect animals, is a priceless treasure. Our lives are abundant in many ways, and our animal family is one very important part of keeping us grateful.