http://washedashore.com/eggsntea ben and deb's farm in ahualoa Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:39:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Meet “Lil' Buff,” a super-friendly hen amongst our motley crew of 9 remaining gregarious hens. [gallery link="file" columns="5"] The Buff Orpington is a dual-purpose breed and lays tinted brown eggs. She has golden plumage with lots of fluff around her legs and tail. Lil' Buff's calm, curious temperament makes her an ideal ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2010/02/lil-buff-orpington-hen/ On the morning of January 29, we got a visit from a batch of kids from Honokaa Elementary.  I got to spend a few hours with them, showing them many parts of the farm, teaching them about the trees and plants, the fruits and the tea, the chickens and the ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2010/02/farm-visit/ Some recent items of interest: How much do we rely on California for our food?, Big Island Weekly Modern Marvels: Tea (hulu video, 44 minutes) is full of fascinating tea information, even if it covers machine process black tea a little too much (Hawaii gets a mention in the first 5 mins) Long ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2010/01/interesting/ Tea: We did our third tea harvest on November 30, processed as a green tea.  We have actual packaging now with a logo and label.  Several people bought it to give as a holiday gift.  As our first green, it was delicate and floral and nice, and it sold out ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2010/01/farm-update-4/ As those of you following on facebook or twitter may know, we sold out of our second harvest of tea in early November.  I can see from the happy growing tea plants that it's time to harvest again, but the weather has been very rainy for a couple weeks ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/11/tea-and-tours/ Origami Inflatable Hen - Gallina de origami Leyla Torres combines two of my passions in this video diagram: origami and chickens. She demonstrates her inflatable hen from duo-colored origami paper and folds a waterbomb base, with the hen color on the outside. I first learned the inflatable hen from Leyla at Origami ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/11/origami-hen/ Today's title comes from a very timely article published in The New Yorker (Sept. 28, 2009) by Susan Orlean, "The It Bird - The return of the back-yard chicken." Tuesday evening, Ben & I presented "Hawaii Backyard Poultry Management" as part of "Practical Agriculture for Hamakua 2009". In case you missed ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/10/chicken-will-endure/ Now that we finally have some processed tea to share, it was time to make a site for the tea side of our farm. It's still very simple, just a beginning, but here it is: Ahualoa Tea Farm Our second harvest, as an orthodox black tea, turned out great. ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/10/new-tea-farm-site/ The tea has been growing powerfully this wet summer, since the last pruning on July 5.  The field was covered with fresh harvestable tips in an astonishing 1 month after the last harvest, but at this stage, we're still building up the fullness of the hedges, which means letting the ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/09/second-tea-harvest/ The poha fruit is commonly associated with Hawaii.  It grows vigorously in most parts of the state, almost as a weed.  You can buy poha jam at the farmer's market, and kids snack on it wherever it found.  We have poha on our land, growing vigorously.  On wikipedia i found ... http://washedashore.com/eggsntea/2009/09/physalis-the-poha-genus/