Turkeys and Weeds

GobbleGobbleGobble...we were shocked to hear the sound of a Tom Turkey in our backyard. We knew there were turkeys on the island, but we've only seen them up in paniolo country up in Kamuela.

We had no idea they were in our neck of the woods. He's pretty well hidden in the bush...can you see him? He was huge!

Must be our week for wondering birds. In addition to the large Tom we had a stray black chicken walking up the driveway to our house. Mrs. Drake (one of our ducks) was staring her down while I tried to coax her to stay by throwing her some organic feed. She was chicken and ran into the woods. Mrs. Drake just stood, stupefied, and then our lovely red cardinal couple swooped down and had a feast.

Remember that ulu'he fern I said the boys and I are going to tackle this summer? Well here is a couple of pictures of it. It's great in some areas because it chokes out all other weeds, but right now it is choking out some food and plants that were previously planted.

It is very easy to weed. It is a short lived fern and fairly brittle. It takes a looooonnnng time to decompose, so we will pile it up and break it down to use for mulch.

Above: Our drake Jemima (named before we knew his sex)...um Jemima you better move before we start a fire :)

Above: The boys helped me find these pineapple plants which were completely buried in ulu'he. Below: Reeve weeded and found this coconut palm.

I do not have a before picture for the after picture below. I went to town with our weed wacker, now decked out with wire whips vs. the plastic ones. The plastic ones broke too easily. I went through 10ft of wire ones the other day...it was well worth it! Before the weeds were right up to the cabin...now there is a nice clearing. This is the cabin we lived in when we arrived last year. We lovingly call it the Aloha Cabin...the one we are living in now we call the Ohana Cabin. The overturned blue 600 gallon water tank in the background was our catchment. We're working on this cabin...needs a catchment and electric.

There are some nice banana trees around the Aloha Cabin.