Winter

It snowed a few inches, and it's cold. It's winter - no big deal. It makes everything take a little longer, but we're equipped for it!

But back in Hawaii ...

I was walking on the beach one morning and saw this tractor:

Lots of farmers prefer a certain brand of tractor and are very brand-loyal. We've had many brands and have done well with them all. BUT! Since moving to the farm I know what color each brand is. Kubotas are usually orange.

The very friendly hotel guy operating it told me the tractor cost $24,000 and that the sand raker cost $39,000. He said it was sent from Connecticut - and that the price didn't include shipping. He asked if I was from the farmer group at the hotel. (What gave it away? That I was asking about a tractor on a beach? And snapping a picture? I could've been just a really invested tourist.)

I asked why it was teal, and he said they painted it to match the rest of the hotel equipment. He showed me where you could see the old orange line of paint in the cracks.

He told me he'd been using it for a year, and he said, "I've got no grumbles."

I loved hearing that unusual phrase, and I liked the nice, clean tractor rows as far as the eye could see. No grumbles here, either.

Pineapple farm

I love a tour. Factory tours, farm tours - how anything is made. So when Kris and I passed the Dole Plantation in Hawaii, of course we stopped!

The road to the plantation was already lined with pineapple fields:

And then we took a narrated train ride out to see them up close.

Jim Dole, a new Harvard grad, bought 61 acres in Hawaii in 1900. He did well ... so well, in fact, that in 1922, he bought the ENTIRE ISLAND of Lana`i. As they said, "He transformed it into the largest pineapple plantation in the world, with 20,000 farmed acres and a planned plantation village to house more than a thousand workers and their families. For nearly 70 years, Lana`i supplied more than 75% of the world’s pineapple, becoming widely known as the “Pineapple Island.”

Back at the garden, we saw the more mature pineapple up close.



What a beautiful fruit!

We also learned about the planting, growing cycle, and harvesting. Planting and harvesting are done by hand. I was really surprised. Seems like someone would have invented some planter and harvester in the last 100 years.

I even took a picture of the FAQ, since it was good.

I, honestly, didn't know how pineapple grew. Seeing it up close was so interesting.

The fresh pineapple at the end was a great advertisement for a finished product. We actually ate pineapple every day we were in Hawaii. I love farm tours, I love eating ... what a great tour. It wasn't just a farmer thing. The place was packed.

We're back home on the dairy - producing milk! Thank goodness we're not still hand-harvesting it.