More coffee!

We just milled the HH coffee. We got the highest scores ever by the state certifier! The coffee is looking so good. It's hard to believe we still have more to pick. The lack of rain and stress on the trees, increased our peaberry percentage of the harvest. We are still having to irrigate and keep hoping for some rain. It looks like we may be getting some at the end of the week.

New Harvest

Today we cupped some of the new harvest. This part of the farm was added to Heavenly Hawaiian a few years ago. This is the first real harvest off of these trees after four years of hard work. The coffee is very, very smooth. We cannot wait to share this 100% Kona coffee with our friends and customers.
Things are still bustling at the farm. The harvest continues in full swing. Trudy has been gone for a week on a much needed vacation. Hopefully, she will bring some rain with her.
The 39th Annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival is coming up Nov 6-15. This is always a great time for the coffee industry. We are competing in the Crown Cupping Contest this year. With how great this tasted, things look promising.

Heavy Harvest

Wow. Things are going crazy here. The harvest is looking to be one of the biggest ever. Its a good thing we built another hoshidana. The floors are covered! The trees do look beautiful covered with the ripe cherry. Nothing beats a field full of coffee trees. Looking out at the orchards, its easy to see why Kona coffee is considered the best in the world.

The floor is in!

Work is progressing much more quickly on the new hoshidana. It is a good thing, since we are going to be needing the additional space. This year's 100% Kona coffee crop looks to be another award winner.
Editing is coming along also on Dave's book about Peaberry Kona Coffee. This book is aimed at kids and the art work is amazing.
We will be posting pictures of the new shed very soon! Hopefully by then the roof will be finished!

Dry Weather

Aloha All,
For it being wet season, it has been terribly dry. The trees are loaded with cherry and are stressed. This is actually a good thing. Stress on the trees at the right time makes for a better tasting coffee. Today it has gotten very cloudy so we may yet get some rain. Otherwise we will use the irrigation system. The dry weather has also made the pigs come closer to the houses. The pigs dig and make a mess. Sparkle and Ewok don't even bother the pigs. So much for having watch dogs!

Made In Hawaii

Aloha All,
Last week Thursday-Sunday was the Made In Hawaii event on Oahu. Vendors from around the state came to show their wares. Thousands of people flocked to this event. We had a great time meeting other vedors and sampling the wonderful items all from Hawaii.
We are picking again. This harvest looks to be awesome. The trees have really done well under Miguel and Lupe's care. We have had many tours this past week and are having a large group over tomorrow.
The new hoshidana is slowly coming together. We need to get it completed before the peak harvest comes in. The weather has been tricky. We had a hurricane scare but didnt get anything from it.
Well we better get going and process the coffee. It is a beautiful day to be working outside.

Making progress

We are slowly making progress on the new hoshidana. The floor joists have been primed and are in place. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and stay sunny for a few days so we can get the rest of the floor done.

Dont forget to visit us at facebook! Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Holualoa-HI/Heavenly-Hawaiian-100-Kona-Coffee/94298311491?v=app_2373072738&viewas=0#/pages/Holualoa-HI/Heavenly-Hawaiian-100-Kona-Coffee/94298311491?v=wall&viewas=0

We are also on twitter!

New listing with www.morethanfair.org

Aloha,
Exciting news we are now listed as a grower with www.morethanfair.org Our family based and family friendly farm is going to have an excellent year. We hope you visit our website at :
www.heavenlyhawaiian.org

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and stay safe.

July!

Wow. It's hard to believe it is July already. We started picking coffee on Monday. The repaired demucilager is working great.

We had tours yesterday and another today. We love sharing information about the process of growing coffee and the work involved on a coffee farm. Of course people love tasting Heavenly Hawaiian Farms coffee the most. Visitors enjoy the smooth body and flavor of our award winning 100% Kona Coffee.

Have a great day!

We are on twitter

Aloha,
We had another busy weekend. Work is progressing slowly on the new hoshidana due to the rain.

We are now on twitter! https://twitter.com/HeavenlyCoffee

We are going to be picking coffee this week. It looks like another wonderful crop is coming along. The trees are very full of ripe cherry and it's only June!

Have you been sharing your Heavenly Hawaiian coffee with your family and friends? Make sure to order from our website at www.heavenlyhawaiian.com We would love to hear your comments on our blog also.

Friday

This week sure flew by quickly. Miguel checked the trees and we will start picking on Monday. What an early start to the season!

The trees look awesome. We are also planting a small vegetable garden. We have to be careful what we plant as some plants (like tomatoes) attract nematodes. We plan mostly on herbs and other relatively carefree plants.

Trudy has been busy filling up the planters with flowers and other greenery. The farm is looking great.

Have a great weekend!

Gathering of Eagles

One of the greatest things we love to see: the brave men and women who serve our country enjoying our coffee. These are soldiers stationed in Iraq.

Aloha Friday

Its Aloha Friday. We had a very hectic week. The rain didn't stay away long, so we still have lots of painting to do.

Today, we are hosting a luncheon which should be fun. We coffee people are a lively bunch. As with all farmers, the topic will be the weather and the upcoming harvest season.

Sparkle and Ewok will enjoy the extra attention. They are so spoiled. Sparkle has not been a good girl about her diet! We just don't know how to keep her away from the avocadoes. She also gets treats from the workers which doesn't help her.

Well, I need to get the food ready or we won't have much of a luncheon. Have a great weekend everyone!

Building

Work has begun this week on our hoshidana (drying shed) this week. The boys are prepping the wood with primer and Miguel is starting the framework. Things were going great until the rain came in.

We expect to be picking the next three weeks. The TOF (The Other Farm) trees look great and will be ready first. The HH trees will be ready a little bit later. Its great to see the trees loaded with cherry.

Sparkle and Ewok keep getting to the avocadoes that fall to the ground before we can get them. Those two dogs just keep getting fatter and fatter. Mary's pet pig Zippy gets the half eaten avocadoes. He is one spoiled piggy!

Time to go help Miguel with the framing. Its a beautiful day to be working outside!

Painting and More

Hello!
Saturday was spent painting. One area was so cramped, Dave wound up with red paint in his hair. That sure was hard to get out.

Sunday we were all set to paint, when we realized we had agreed to host a birthday party for some friends. Over 50 people showed up. We didn't have to do much work for it which was nice. Our friends brought everything and did all the work. The pool got a good workout!

Hopefully, today we will be able to get some more painting done.

Building time

The materials arrived today for the new hoshidana (drying floor). We will be busy priming the wood and getting everything ready for construction. Hopefully the rain will hold off for a few days so we can get all the painting done.

Miguel and Lupe's (the outside farm managers) kids are both helping out here and enjoying the pool. At least someone gets to swim! Mary's girls will be back next week and also having fun in the pool.

Well, we had better get back to work!

A New Week

Aloha All,
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. We had some rain but not much.

We spent Sunday afternoon sanding the drying decks. It was a lot of work but we need to get the decks repainted before the harvest season begins. We also are getting work on adding a third drying deck. Last season we had a hard time and kept running out of floor space. This harvest looks to be even bigger so we are making sure to be prepared.

Saturday June 20 is the Farmfest and Ukulele Jam in Holualoa. This looks to be a fun event to participate in. We are hoping to have a good location for our booth.

Our houseguest Marge leaves tomorrow. She has been wonderful. We will miss her and of course her wonderful cooking. We sure got spoiled.

Have a great day!

Been Hectic

Aloha,
Time is flying by. Harvest season is just around the corner. We are still short on rain but we did have a nice shower last night.
We have a wonderful house guest this week. Marge is an incredible cook and has been spoiling us everyday. Today we got to enjoy homemade biscotti with our coffee. Life cannot get much better.
Sparkle and Ewok have been indulging on too many avocadoes . Its hard to make them stick to a diet with so much temptation around. We have been walking the farm daily and they waddle along with us. We have spotted two kittens in the lower coffee field. Hopefully they will stay and keep some of the pests away.
We finally got the demucilager fixed just in time for the season. In just a few weeks we will find out how good of a job we did on the repairs.
Have a wonderful weekend!

Aloha Monday

Aloha,
Another fun and busy weekend! The coffee is flowering again. This is the fourth flowering! This means a busy harvesting season. Repairs on some of the equiment continues. A farm is a never ending job but given the surroundings, its a joy. The turkeys have been hanging out and strutting their stuff. It will be fun when the baby turkeys are hatched.
Lots of orders and time to get to work!

The weekend

Aloha,
I hope all those who are mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

Dave went sailing both Saturday and Sunday. The weather was great as you can tell by his sunburn. It had been years since Dave had been out sailing. He really enjoyed being back out on the water.

Trudy got to have some much needed peace and quiet. Then she and Dave had a nice dinner out for Mother's Day.

We got some rain last night. We really needed it. This is looking to be a very dry wet season. The trees have perked up with the rain. The rain cleared out the vog too. The view to the pier is awesome today.

Back to work!

Today is a busy day!

We finally got a bit of rain yesterday. We may have to turn on the irrigation though if it stays this dry. The stress is good for the trees and makes for a better bean.

The pigs are getting braver. While walking the farm last night, two sows and at least a dozen piglets emerged from the banana trees. That was quite a sight. Sparkle and Ewok bravely did nothing.

Its Wednesday and today the cruise ships come into Kona. We can see the pier from the office and we usually get some folks to come up for a tour and visit.

Happy Monday

We had another busy and fun weekend on the farm. To prove that we aren't all work and no play, we went to two cookouts.

Saturday afternoon was the HCA cookout at the Greenwell beach house at Kainaliu Beach. The day was absolutely perfect. We had a great time.

Sunday's cookout was hosted by the Rotary Club. This was held at Pu'u Honua O Honaunau also known as City of Refuge. Another great time with great people.

This time of year is when the feral pigs start reproducing. Baby pigs are cute but they grow up to be big pests. Feral pigs are a big concern on the farm as they like to dig around the coffee trees. This can weaken the root system. Sparkle and Ewok don't like them around either but aren't inclined to do much about it. That is actually a good thing, as the boars have very large tusks. We are going to have some traps set up.

Even though its wet season, it has been pretty dry. So hopefully we will get some rain soon. We are fortunate that if need be, we can use our irrigation system.

Have a great day! Time for a stroll around the farm.

If its Wednesday, its....

The day the cruise ship comes in. Today is a beautiful day. The Kona winds have been keeping the vog away.
Ewok and Sparkle were disappointed they didn't get to ride into town with Trudy. She is on her way to pick up some visitors for a tour. They will have an awesome view of their ship from the farm.

Welcome To Our Blog

Aloha,
Welcome to the blog for Heavenly Hawaiian Farm and The Other Farm. We are located in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. We are David and Trudy Bateman. We moved to Hawaii in 2005 from Olympia, Washington. Dave is a retired Colonol from the US Air Force Reserves, and also a lawyer and real estate agent. Trudy is a retired ER Nurse. We live on the farm with our two dogs, Sparkle and Ewok. Sparkle is Ewok's mom and they were part of the package when we purchased the farm.
Harvest season is now over. The work isn's though. Now is the time to prune and fertilize. We have had several rounds of the Kona snow. Kona snow is nickname for the flowering of the coffee trees. Seven months after the trees bloom, it will be time to start picking the coffee cherry.
Please follow our blog and learn more about us!