Ray and Lucy digging in the black mud to plant taro, May 1994. Note the dead California grass, and the saw. To make a ditch we cut out squares of the roots.



The "ditch lo'i" worked pretty well. Below is Tomoe tending taro in July 1994.

Joseph started spreading hono hono to all areas of the swamp we conquered. (Note the toasted California grass in the background behind Joseph and Tomoe, and the verdant hono hono in the foreground.) Hono hono is soft to walk on. If you don't have something growing you'll sink right down into the mud. 7/94

This was December 1992, so the tree Jim is holding has grown that much in just one growing season.

In the first year or so we didn't use RoundUp (Guy wanted to see all the data on environmental studies first; RoundUp biodegrades quickly, and was one of the few herbicides listed for use in sensitive wetlands). So back then about all we did was take care of the trees in hono hono areas.

Once we got RoundUp in our arsenal, we could start conquering the California grass. There were a few remnant taro plants out there, probably from the old days when this was a taro farm. We gave them a little fertilizer and space, but not much else.

One day on a lark we harvested a clump of taro. At home we cooked the whole plant (leaves, stems, and chopped up corm) in a pressure cooker with coconut milk and salt. The idea was to make something resembling palusami, a tasty treat sold at Samoan groceries. It was awesome!

(You can get a real recipe for palusami at http://www.samoa.as/recipe2.htm.)

Lenny's horses were a treat in the early years. These shots were taken on "the island" in March 1994. Above Jonah and Lucy say hello to Fancy. Then Jonah helped Pua get up on Fancy. You could say Vinny rode Nik Nak a little (note the rope, cowboys).

The standard swamp day in winter started with a crack of dawn surf (most days we were the first guys in the water, sometimes a good half hour before first light). Below is Jonah screaming in a Haleiwa Ali'i barrel on the E.O. 3/94