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Organic coffee cherry
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Hapu'u forest
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Sunset from the lanai
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Nestled just below the South Kona Forest Reserve, our organic farm clings to the slopes of Mauna Loa Volcano in a kipuka, a hole in the lava that the legendary Madam Pele, Goddess of the volcano, chose to spare. We have a'a lava flows on both sides, and deep rich soil within. The farm is 42 acres, with much of it undisturbed rain forest reserved for giant native Ohia trees and giant tree ferns, hapu'u. There are wild orchids, smaller ferns, and a myriad of other native Hawaiian plants. Wild turkeys, pheasants, finches, boar and smaller creatures share their habitat with our organic Kona coffee. The i'o, our native hawk, nests in the Ohia and circles for prey overhead.
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This is home, so the old adage, "there is no fertilizer more potent than the farmer's footsteps" is practiced every single day. Walking is rigorous as the terrain rises at a 20% grade from 1750 ft to 2250 ft makai to mauka (ocean side to mountain side). Jackson the dog races back and forth impatiently while we toil up the hills.
Of course no herbicides are ever used here. We pull weeds by hand, or cut them with a weed wacker or mow with the tractor. Slowly, the grass that we sowed is gaining ground over the weeds. The hidden creatures we nurture are earthworms, benefited by constant mowing which produces literally tons of mulch to help with soil building, an important job on an organic coffee farm.
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In addition to organic Kona coffee, we have tropical fruit, bamboo and interesting ornamentals. It is in this setting that our main crop, Certified Organic Kona RainForest Farms Estate Coffee is nurtured daily by weeding, feeding, pruning, mowing, or picking. The farm is growing larger as we plant more organic Kona coffee trees each year - trees that we raise in our nursery from seed. So that from seed to cup, this quality product is organic and flavorful, produced from Kona's most pampered beans.
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