to the west we go...

so, we are on the move again. sorry to whomever we did not get to see or did not get to see enough of. okay, that is enough midwestern apologizing for basically doing nothing because we are in the transition to becoming westcoasters. we do not really know what that means yet, but we do know it means not midwestern. not that we do not like the midwest. it will always be our home.

so we made it to eugene! and it is fricken freezing here and raining everyday, all day. what the hell. we thought we came late enough to skip this shit but apparently not. the new farm we are at is awesome. they say it is the slowest spring they have experienced in over thirty years. crazy. at least we can ease into the farm life. we already got a day off! wahoooo! (i am excited about it, joe is so-so). we have basically covered in mud head to toe so far every day. but we got cute rain outfits to wear so we stay semi-unmuddy once we de-raingear. the farm is massive. rows and rows, and LONG rows. the setting is absolutely gorgeous. everything is so green here from all the damn rain. there are hills surrounding us at the farm. and giant fir trees. and mud. we will get some farm pictures soon. if anyone cares. yesterday we planted shit loads of squash. we have also been doing a lot with the strawberries...weeding them, harvesting them, eating them. yum!! they are so good.

the pictures are from our trip out here. we stopped in the badlands, buffalo bill state park, devils tower, yellowstone, and the grand tetons. it was amazing. i did not have too many cows going through all the mountains although i am sure joe would say otherwise. the old subaru did pretty well too!

we moved in with my cousins and it working out great so far (for us anyway!). the house is beautiful and we have a huge space upstairs!

that is all for now...possibly/hopefully update soon.

chels and joe




buffalo chillin on the side of the street in mammoth hot springs in yellowstone.


HuGE waterfall near canyon village in yellowstone.


joe scoping out wildlife in yellowstone.


bikeys (joe said it) and buffalo bill state park.


devils tower. huge.


the essentials for road trip camping. an IPA, nutritional yeast and a jaw harp.


badlands!



joe and the badlands.


the packed-ass car.


the grand tetons.


more grand tetons. amazing.


joe told me to get fire wood, so i did. or tried anyway.


joe cookin dinner for me. attracting GRIZZLY BEARS.


once we got to oregon, this is what we saw. SNOW????!!!!!!!!!!

visitors

guess who is coming to visit us in five days? here is a clue...

jobless, homeless and poor.

yup, that is what we are now. we are done at the farm. over. although, we have already been over there three times in the last 2 days because we are lost. pretty soon they will probably get sick of us and put up some kapu signs (no trespassing). maybe not, we are pretty cool to hang out with.

so, right now, our lovely friends sarah and jared were so kind to let us stay at their jungalow down the street! we are so lucky!! we are out of the rain too, in a mini jungalow thing. it has been pouring ALL MORNING and afternoon. it never stops. winter has official arrived even though it is the first day of spring. it is even cold. like 64 degrees.


the dietels just left the island (minus joe of course). we had a GREAT time. stayed at mamas fish house and in napili on the west side. mamas fish house was the party place. we had jens birthday party and kevons retirement bash with lots of splash (pineapple and passionfruit wine, Yum)! the beach was beautiful. the waves on the north shore are huge. there were a few rainy days here and there. then we went to the other side of the island--hot, sunny and touristy. we got to lounge around on the beach for three whole days. drinking martinis the neighbors gave us (the wife gave us all of her husbands booze because he gets too crazy she said). relaxing and reading. it was great. it all went by so fast! and then they were gone.

we had so much fun, joe and i are in family vacation withdrawl. we feel lost. and we realized we have no job. no home and very little money. damn. the end is near. tomorrow we get the car though...freedom!!! we get to roll around the island in an old car with $4/gal gas prices. scarrrrrrrry.

anyway, just thought we would do a little update thingy. we leave in less than three weeks. But, we have friends coming this thursday which we are VERY EXCITED about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! krista and e franklin!!

monk seal on hamoa beach! what a coincidence.


whale! we went on a whale watch with the family and saw billion and trillions of whales.


water cave at waianapanapa state park



joe and his brother pondering life together at black sands beach at waianapanapa state park in hana


joe and his mother playing yahtzee. do not really know what susan is doing with her lei, but whatever.


joe with his last banana harvest at the farm


waterfall time. we did a group farm trip to kipahulu and saw wailua falls.


green onions from the last harvest. yum.

light hawaiian rains followed by pure sunshine until the next fall. the birds are out. the waves are big. the tide pools are clear. the air is fresh. maui. 29 days left.

Tsunami!!!

Saturday morning started out with phone calls from nervous mothers beginning at 5:30. After hearing of the earthquake in Chile, and the threat of a tsunami coming our way we couldn't really go back to sleep. It's not everyday that you hear a tsunami is coming! We spent the morning reading up on when the tsunami was coming, and how big it might be.




All was calm and beautiful when we went outside in the early morning.

Starting at around 8am little dinky planes flew around the coasts with sirens warning people to get away from the coasts and get to higher ground. Many of the lower lying roads were shut down, and people on the west side had to move to higher ground if they were below the fourth floor. It seemed like this was going to be a hell of a tsunami with all of the precautions that were made. Knowing this everyone was really excited for the chance to see the waves come in. At the farm we are at about 500 ft elevation, and over a half mile away from the ocean. So really safe, and a perfect viewing spot!



You can see how stressed out we all are at our "tsunami party" on the deck.



Waiting for the big one!

After gazing out to sea for over two hours we all gave up, and realized the tsunami was a no show. We all were a little dissapointed that there wasn't even any big waves, but overall thankful that nothing serious happened.

Pictures from around the farm

Were bringing blogs back! Yeah! Okay, we don't want to overload you with blogs all of a sudden, but we are so excited that we figured out how to work this thing again.

This post is going to excite all of you foodies and gardening nuts. Here are some photos from a day in the life of a wwoofer at Hale Akua Garden Farm.



Beets! Mississippi Market represent



Big beautiful beets!



We sell Turmeric locally, and also to Rainbow Grocery coop in San Francisco



Chard grown in joe's garden, lehua





Beets and fennel



Lovely Grace garden



Ginger drying in the seedling room



Joe has harvested hundreds of pounds of Ginger!



Biochar demonstration at the Ma'a Conference. http://www.mauialohaaina.org/schedule.htm



This is the view we wake up to every morning from our room!



This is our swimming hole which sits on top of a 200 foot waterfall!



Vegan chocolates from friends back in MN!



The parents!



the rejects :(

Nearing the end

With only two weeks left on the farm I put myself up pretty bad. Now we know are sickles are sharp after one sliced clear to the bone on my ankle.




Chels has been taking good care of me!



Last weekend we spent a few days with the newlyweds on their honeymoon. We started with a tour of the farm, followed by a hike through a bamboo forest, and then we went to a barefoot bar on the westside for happyhour. The next day we went snorkeling at a few great spots south of Makena. Mahalo Tamma and Fitz for the great weekend.



Fitz admiring the view from the condo.

Below are a few pictures of our most recent trip to Kipahulu.





Chelsea and Lala on our hike to Waimoku Falls in Kipahulu



One of the places we camped in Kipahulu, "coconut grove"





Waking up and watching the sunrise in paradise



Playing around in the amazing banyan trees



Now that I finally found out how to upload pictures from my damn iPod hopefully we can catch you all up on some of our past journeys.
Love,
joe and chelsea