What's New! (December 2, 2005)

Happy Holidays everyone!

I can't believe it is already December. The pickers just arrived at dawn and are starting to pick another round. We are very happy that our trees are doing exceptionally well. They have produced very heavily this year and are still looking green and not stressed. Our attention to their health is really paying off.

The last month has been very dry here in Kona and it has been windy as well. We have the irrigation system all set up on electricity now that our house is completed and that is making it very easy to adjust the amount of water the trees are getting.

It appears that is round of picking will be good sized, probably 6000-7000 pounds. There does not appear to be a lot of green cherry left on the trees so we expect that the next and probably last round will be small. Then on to pruning just after the first of the year.

Holiday Gifting

We have been very lucky to have several corporate customers who give our coffee as gifts to their employees and clients during the holidays. We have a really cute gift pack we've done that has two of our 2 ounce packages tucked into a Hawaiian print cellophane pouch with a raffia bow. If there is something special that you'd like to have us put together, just drop us an email or give us a call. We enjoy working on some custom ideas to provide you with that little something extra for your holiday gift list.

What's New! (November 2, 2005)

Wow. This is turning into a very good year for Makahiki Farms coffee. The trees are healthy and the crop is big. We still do not have our own processing mill up and running yet so we have been fortunate to have several small, but highly respected private mills to do our wet milling for us. The last few rounds have been quite large so we think we are past the bulk of the heavy work. Our picking crew has been picking 2500 punds of coffee cherry per day. That is a lot of coffee so we hope that we will be up to the challenge when our mill is completed.

We've moved into our new house on the farm (yay!) and have been able to utilize the new climate controlled storage room for our parchment. We will be having our recent picking rounds combined and dry milled then graded and certified within the next few weeks.

Our farm ripens earlier that many of the farms further up the mountainside. We expect to have about 3 more rounds of picking this season. We should be be right on our pattern of doing the last round right after Christmas. Then we will prune in early January.

Kona Coffee Cultural Festival 2005

It is that time of year again. During the first few weeks of November every year the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival highlights Kona coffee through numerous events such as parades, tastings, art shows and contests such as formal cuppings and picking contests. The fun starts this Friday. This year's theme is "Honoring Kona's Pioneer Spirit". Check out the schedule at http://www.konacoffeefest.com/

What's New! (September 5, 2005)

We just finished our third round of picking this week and the crop looks wonderful. This was another large round of over 6800 pounds. A little smaller than the last round but the next round is shaping up to be quite big. The next picking should be in about 3 weeks.

The trees are holding up to this heavy load of fruit. We've been giving them lots of tender loving care with foliar fertilizer, granular fertilizer and fertigation (that's liquid fertilizer through the irrigation system).

Nancy is excited that we will soon be able to replace the battery-operated irrigation timers with a fancy new electric one. She'll be able to set up and monitor the fertigation from one spot instead of having to walk our five acres multiple times to set and then unset the timers. We all appreciate the little things in life.

Cream of the Crop 2005

In early August, we participated in the second annual "Cream of the Crop" coffee tasting. This year it was held on August 6 at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. We were lucky enough to be chosen to participate again this year and had a great time meeting people, giving out samples of our coffee and talking story. It was a great venue with lots of desserts, some fabulous Kona coffee and some lovely music by guitarist Chris Yeaton. And it was all free to the public. If you plan to come to Kona in the summer of 2006, this is a "don't miss" event for coffee lovers.

What's New! (July 23, 2005)

The 2005 harvest began a few weeks ago at our farm. We picked 1700 pounds of coffee cherry which is quite a large amount for the first round of the year. The pickers even remarked about how big the cherry is this year. The second round will be this coming week and looks to be a big round. We're very proud of the condition of the orchard and have been getting quite a few compliments. Our hard work is paying off.

The last few days we have been attending the Hawaii Coffee Association's annual convention. It is being held at the newly renovated Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa here in Kona. There have been some very interesting speakers as well as exhibits and lots of Hawaiian coffees to sample. We are always interested to hear what the folks at the university have been doing as they are very supportive of coffee producers as well as Hawaii agriculture in general.

Cream of the Crop 2005

If you will be in Kona be sure to get in touch with us. We love to show off the farm. If you'll be here in early August, don't miss the second annual "Cream of the Crop" coffee tasting. This year it will be held on August 6 at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. We were lucky enough to be chosen to participate again this year and look forward to meeting people, giving out samples of our coffee and talking story.

What's New! (May 13, 2005)

We've been working on tree nutrition lately. We spread a round of high nitrogen fertilizer a few weeks ago. The trees are looking excellent and have a lot of cherry growing on them. They need the extra nitrogen to help them sustain that heavy fruit. We've had several big flowerings this Spring which is turning into a lot of fruit.

The weather has turned into what is pretty normal for Kona. The mornings are clear and sunny and quite warm. Then as the afternoon arrives so do the clouds. It gets over cast and most days we get a rain shower. The coffee trees love it.

Some of our trees are getting heavy and bending over a bit due to the weight of the cherry. We use bamboo poles to prop them up. Bamboo is very strong and holds up the coffee verticals quite well. At the end of the season we just mulch them with the mower and let them decay along with our prunings so they add to the organic matter in the soil.

Need a gift for that coffee lover in your life?

My niece graduates from college this weekend. Do you know someone graduating who has acquired a taste for coffee while studying for finals? How about introducing the new grad to the smooth taste of Makahiki Farms Kona coffee? Give us a call or send us an email and we'd be glad to help you put together a nice gift basket.

What's New! (March 22, 2005)

We can't believe another harvest season is has come and gone and now the next one is forging ahead. The last couple months we have been working on some weed control, irrigation improvements and coffee nutrition. The result is that the trees look great and are poised for a great crop this year. We had some warm, dry weather for a few weeks and it has rained a bit in the last week. The coffee trees need some dry weather in the winter, followed by a wet season in order for them to flower well. That's what didn't happen last year and the flowerings were very sparse. The result last year was a lot of nice healthy trees and some lovely big beans, but a lower than average yield.

We have a big bloom today - we call it Kona Snow. I took quite few pictures. The bees are very happy as they toil away at pollinating the flowers. And the orchard smells wonderful. Coffee is a relative of the gardenia and the flowers have a pleasant scent. The flowers only last a day or two so if you are in Kona in the spring and are able to view this event, you are lucky indeed.

Need a gift for that coffee lover in your life?

Mothers' Day is coming! Wouldn't mom like to sip some yummy Kona coffee for Mothers' Day brunch? We can make a lovely basket for mom filled with coffee, mugs, and even a T-shirt. We ship USPS Priority Mail so there is plenty of time to get a basket off to the mainland. Locally, we can even deliver it in the Kona district.

What's New! (January 18, 2005)

The harvest for 2004 has come to an end at our farm. We did a small round of picking right after Christmas. The crew came in on January 7th and 10th and pruned. The branches that were removed are chopped up in place by a flail mower and left as mulch.

Pruning is very important in coffee production. The coffee cherry forms on the new growth. We do Kona-style pruning at our farm. That means every tree is pruned every year. About 1/4 of the tree, the oldest vertical, is removed. The tree is cleaned up and suckers are removed. We leave just one or two suckers to allow them to grow for the coming years as new verticals so that each tree has 4 verticals of various ages. The highest yields are on the verticals that are 2 and 3 years old.

Need a gift for that coffee lover in your life?

Don't forget that Valentine's Day is approaching. Kona coffee makes a great gift. Wouldn't your sweetheart like to sip some warm Kona coffee on a chilly winter day? We can put together a nice gift basket for you. Just let us know what you'd like in it and what loving message you'd like to put on the card.

Keep reading "What's New Current"

Keep reading "What's New 2007"

Keep reading "What's New 2006"

Keep reading "What's New 2004"

Keep reading "What's New 2003"