Journal

Winter in Hawaii

Contrary to many people’s perception of Hawaii, we do have seasons. The winter season is generally known as the rainy season: when big surf occupies the North shore and calm surf faces the South side (the opposite is true in the summer). Stormy winds often accompany the large swells arriving from the west. With the increased rains, and temperatures dropping down into the low sixties, as it has in the last few nights – brrrr!, we are drinking more hot brew just to keep our thin-skin warm. When you grow everything that you serve, and when you rely on the natural elements to cure your herbs, you can only really count on one thing for sure come the winter in Hawaii: a limited-production season. We are grateful for the clouds and the rain that feed our plants as well as the shorter days to rest; but with less sun, the truth is, we are limited to the amount of herbal tea we can make. Although this winter we have had some beautiful weather on the North shore of Kauai, winter has once again proven to provide a limited supply in our gardens, and an enduring drying-time for our solar dehydrators as well. Genna checking the solar powered Dehydrators

Genna checking the solar powered Dehydrators

Curing herbs in the winter by sunlight alone in one of the wettest places on earth is certainly a challenge, but we are up to the task. We are experiencing curing conditions of two plus weeks during some rainy periods. In addition, we are taking extra care to prevent any moisture from entering into our tea storage. We take pride in providing the freshest and highest quality herbs from the richest, volcanic, organic soil; so quality-control is of the utmost importance even when it comes to packaging them to be shipped to your doorstep. We welcome herbal and gardening enthusiasts on island to lend a helping hand and see the art of curing our Kauai Farmacy herbs from harvest to final product. If this isn’t a possibility for you right now, we enjoy sharing this experience in our newsletters and videos on our youtube channel so you can feel one-step closer to what it is like to be here on the farm. We humbly and gratefully accept our fate and at the same time appreciate that growing our herbs in the jungle is what makes our herbs so special. And one of our biggest objectives in building the infrastructure of our herbal tea farm is to keep the jungle the jungle. Instead of laying gravel to pave a road to our back pasture tea house, we decided weeks ago to hand lay a coconut mulch path. This approach to land-stewardship preserves the paradise with which we grow herbs synergistically within the natural and organic formations of the land, its indigenous plants and wildlife. We consciously try to counter the Counting Crows song lyrics, “Paint paradise and put up a parking lot”, which may seem like an easier approach, but fails to keep the natural and organic dynamics of the land preserved.

We are consistently adding to our supply of Tulsi, Comfrey, Lemongrass, Ginger, Lemon balm, Chaste, Coffee, Cacoa and so many other herbs. We are always embarking on creating new herbal experiences for you, and have recently introduced a few new plants in our nursery. Aside from growing these new plants from seed, we have also recently planted new herbs in our gardens including Gravel root, Cardamom, Tahitian Chestnut, Lime Balm, Annatto, and Katuk. We are excited for these wonderful new garden herbs to find homes in our herbal tea and powder blends. With the completion of our four new solar dehydrators, this Spring promises to be our smoothest productive season to date. It really feels like after five years of laying infrastructure, Kauai Farmacy is maturing and growing into itself. There is certainly a lot of room to grow, and growing is something we know very well. We hope you continue to join us while we venture into growing Kauai Farmacy and expanding as we take plant medicine to new heights.