January 2012 – Dragon Fruit, No Till/Till/HELP, Storms/TreeTrim, Compost

Posted on January 30, 2012 by bill_krenz

FIRST SUNRISE

First sunrise, on the first day, in the first timezone, of the year 2012.

DRAGON FRUIT

A cactus growing up the side of one of our cabins produces Dragon Fruit once a year.

The bright red fruit have a soft, white interior, with a mild, interesting taste.

Here the fruits are sliced for eating. The red skin comes off easily. To increase the number of dragon fruit plants, we are using the tiny black seeds to propagate.

NO TILL, HAND HOEING, TILL, DISK, PLOUGH, AND PLEASE HELP

Our tests indicate no-till as the best way to improve the long term fertility of soil. But when the weeds get out of control, action is required. Hand weeding is too labor intensive - and in the rainy season, minimally effective. The first step up from no till is hand hoeing. But even hand hoeing disrupts the soil a few inches down from the surface.
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DEC 2011, BREAKUP, FILLING RESERVOIR, CORN SEED

Posted on December 27, 2011 by bill_krenz

A week before Christmas, most of the crew leaves to spend time with their families on their home islands. To celebrate this end of the year holiday time, we have a breakup party – just before everybody leaves. Lacking reindeer and a sleigh, we improvised with Santa coming in a loader.

Part of the breakup celebration was a video of farm crew doings over the past year.

Most of what we do in December is preparation for having minimal staff for a month or two (post breakup). Mature green crops we cut and cover with weed mat. Mature crops we harvest and plant green manure (beans and/or corn).

We plant more than usual, removing weed mat from covered beds and planting them to get into the ground now what we would normally plant over the next month or two.
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Posted in Green Manure, Organic Farm Produce, Organic Farming | 10 Comments

November 2011, Fixing Reservoirs, Simplification & Technology, the Perfect Bean

Posted on November 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

Rainy Season and Reservoir

Above is run off from some of the Nukasa gardens as the new rainy season begins. Rainy periods alternate with dry periods, but we never know how long dry times will last. So we wait for dry windows to jump on the tasks that can’t be done with wet soil.

One such project was bring in clay to stop leaks in the village reservoir (one of the three reservoirs at Naitauba). After a couple days of only light showers, a dry day was predicted to be followed with a lot of rain for days. We decided to go with the clay lining.

We used the bulldozer to loosen up clay near the farm buildings.

Here Solo Finau directs Pei in the placing of clay into the dam surface.
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October 2011: RECORD BREAKING KUMALA, WATER, CELEBRATIONS, BIRDS, AND DURIANS

Posted on October 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

KUMALA LEVU

Levu in Fijian means large, or big. Here (from left to right) Usaia Mataika, Tevita Sisi, Yasa Rai, and Ledua Sele hold just harvested kumalas. The kumala held by Yasa Rai weighed in at 16.5 pounds or 7.5 kg. For Naitauba these Kumalas are record breaking.

Here Mosese Caqusau and Tevita Sisi hold good sized purple kumalas. Although we did not weigh these, they are smaller than the current kumalas. We generally plant two types of kumala here, purple and yellow.

We are not sure why these kumala were large. Last year, in the same area, kumala were very small. This year, although this has been the dry season, it has rained heavily every few days. Last year we had months of no or little rain.

We have also been working to improve the soil in this area by growing green manure (corn and beans) and adding soil nutrients prior to planting roots. Above is corn and mung beans planted 8 weeks previously. The left picture is a control with just mung beans and corn planted. To the right we have also added Nitrogen, Boron, and Magnesium to the soil.
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September 2011: Sweet Jackfruit, Leaking Reservoirs, Strong Tomatoes

Posted on September 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

JACKFRUIT

We now have around 20 producing jackfruit trees and are working to further increase the number of producing jackfruit trees. Here Mosese Caqusau harvests jackfruits.

Jackfruit are seasonal, with most fruit coming over a few months. But then lesser numbers will continue off season. Evidence suggests that jackfruit have been cultivated for at least 3000 years (and possibly 6000). They are of the same family as mulberries, which also do well here.

Jackfruits come in differing sizes, but can get large.
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August 2011 – Mysterious Signs, Diet vs Farming, and Wild Bees

Posted on August 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

MYSTERIOUS SIGNS

Here are three simultaneous water spouts off the shore of Naitauba. We have never seen this before. Altogether, the current weather is unusual.

Generally by now we would be into the dry season. And a number of times in the last months it has looked like the dry season had arrived. Here we install a fuel drum to reactivate a farm well to provide water for irrigation.

But then, when we got the irrigation going, it would rain again. There are some who are predicting because of global changes (a synchronous La Nina and Southern Oscillation) that the coming months will be wetter than usual in an area that includes Fiji.

Another unusual (non weather) happening is the aggressiveness of the fruit piercing moth. This moth is always a problem, but until now lemons, if we picked them before they got too ripe, were not a problem. Here a jelly like substance comes out of holes where a moth has inserted its proboscis.

Once struck by the fruit-piercing moth, a fruit rots instead of ripening. Above the small black holes on a black sapote made by the moth cause the entire fruit to rot. Currently the moths are going for lemons and black sapotes much earlier in their life span. To deal with this we are picking lemons smaller. Black supotes, however, if picked early will not ripen.

Another sign is more young cows. Again we don’t know why this is happening now.

While not unusual as a sign, stick bugs are at least strange. No they are not a colorful plastic toy for kids. These are bugs. The one here was in vegetation surrounding a patch of bananas. The Fijians call these “mimimatas”.
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July 2010 – Beans, Alien Life Forms, Trees

Posted on July 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

RAIN

July and August are generally dry months. But not this year. In July we had 6.4 inches of rain. Much rain came in the beginning of the month, but the rest of the rain spaced evenly over the month, helping the vegetables and trees to take off.

MUCUNA

A year ago we got a small bag of mucuna seeds which we planted in 3 beds.

We got excited when in 3 months, the mucuna grew hugely. Above is the growth coming from just 40 seeds. This is good because a lot of organic material can go back to the soil, they fix nitrogen in the soil, and their prolific roots help to create humus. The mucuna beans are also strong enough to choke out weeds. All of this makes for a great green manure crop.

But to be part of what we normally use, mucunas would need to produce seeds in sufficient quantity. For months we got leaves but no seeds. Then moving into our winter, seeds appeared, and in large quantity. By the way the mucuna seeds are eaten in some places, but only by people that are really hungry.

We are getting between 1 and 2 buckets (20 litre of seeds) from the small bag we started with. To get the seeds from the pod, we dry the pod, crack the pod open with a knife, pry it all the way open by hand, then just pull out the seeds (or beans). We are looking for better ways to do this.
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Posted in Green Manure, Organic Farming | 18 Comments

June 2011 – Crop Circles, No Till, and Bulldozer

Posted on June 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

Coconut crab moving a coconut.

Speaking of moving around, please check out (after you read the update) the “Help Now” tab. We are at crisis point and could use your help. Thanks.

Crop Circles of Naitauba

For green manure and a rotation between vegetable crops we have been using a mixture of beans and a fast growing local corn. This produces much organic matter and thus far is working well.

But then areas of mashed down corn in the middle of corn patches began to appear. At first we thought it could be swirling winds.

But then we noticed what was happening to the corn in and around these knocked down areas.

Galas turned out to be the culprit. The galas, instead of taking down single corn stalks, now go inside the corn patch and take down corn in an area. We continue to work for an effective way to deal with the galas. Even though the corn is for green manure/mulch, it is still good to collect enough seed to plant other areas.

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May 2010 – Tomatoes, Fashion, Roots, and Fruits

Posted on May 30, 2011 by bill_krenz

Tomatoes and Cukes

Our tomatoes and cucumbers tend to start off healthy, set fruit, but then after a while they start to die off and the period of fruiting gets cut short. Without knowing the cause, our efforts to solve the premature die off were unsuccessful. Here Bill gets into the details of what is happening in the plants. Of course Bill did have some help.

What we found is that the roots (especially around the root crown and even up into the main stem) would rot out and the plant could no longer get the nutrients needed to support life. Our research indicates that we are experiencing Fursarian root and stem rot, which is caused by a non-benign fungus.

The possible solutions include trying soil in a different location, using a plant variety that is resistant to the fungus, and decreasing the fungus in the soil. We are doing all three. For the tomatoes we found a seed that is resistant. We will be planting in other areas. Above Timoci Vunisa tries a technique called soil solarization. The bed is covered with clear plastic and the heat from the sun cooks the fungus. Then the soil is inoculated with a benign fungus that controls the harmful fungus.