moving to na alehu

[herbenator]

im moving to na alehu in November 06...purchasing 20 acres of raw land and trying to figure out what kind of tools i need to bring that i already have...ie. chain saw's, chipper, log splitter
etc. especially concerned about the brazilian chrismas berry tree, can it be used for any thing? can it be burned? do i need a splitter? any input? Help

[Carey]

The Christmas tree berry flower does make a very good, cinnamon hinted honey, if you are into bees. (it is sold in many farmers markets on island) The fruit can be eaten, best if blanched to lessen the acid.
Not knowing your lot specifically, but most acreage lots here definately need: chain saw, chipper, shrub wacker, machete, plow, backhoe (this also depends on your lot, are you in the old soil area of Na'alehu?) ....as to the log splitter, what elevation are you (only because that would determine temp., and that would determine if you would even want a fireplace...)ie. if you are on upper Ka'alaiki, you might want a fireplace on Winter nights, below 11, probably not! If you don't burn the wood, you just let it rot (which is pretty quick here).
Most tools you will want, & since you are probably packing a container bring 'em along, you can always sell here if you have the room to pack 'em. Some people also buy their container (THIS WILL NOT SAVE YOU $$ ON THE SHIPPING, but you have a lockable place to store things when you get here.) If you are planning this, make sure you can get it to your property (a call in advance to your moving co....) & can store it on your property (call the county).
Beautiful area down there, and there is a daily (weekday) free bus to Hilo, that even stops in the Volcanoes Nat'l Park!
Enjoy!
Aloha, Carey

[David M]

If you think you have any need for a tractor, and with 20 acres, you just might, give serious thought to bringing one, Really good, used ones on island are rare and new olds will cost you more than buying on mainland and shipping in your container.

David

Ninole Resident

[Hotzcatz]

I've seen some nice wood turnings done out of Christmas berry. If you have any larger sized trees, you could make a wood turner happy somewhere by saving chunks of the trunk to be cut into bowls and such later. It does have a nice brown colored wood, if you get some really nice sized ones, perhaps you can cut them into lumber? I have an uncle who has a house made out of walnut. Everything wooden - doors, window frames, siding, rafters, etc. are all solid black walnut. Everything else is fieldstone. He basically built it out of the materials on the site and he started out in a walnut grove. It is about a 1,800 square foot house, too, so it is bigger than a basic cabin. Perhaps you could do lava rock and Christmas berry? There are portable sawmills the folks around here use to cut up the eucalyptus robusta, koa, kou and other hardwoods, perhaps one of those would fit in your container?

[Andrew]

Just for the record it is spelled Na`alehu. It's one word not two.

Aloha,
Andrew

DiveHilo Dive Club Website:
http://www.divehilo.com/

[oink]

Use caution if you are not famaliar with the "Christmass Berry"(Brazilian Pepper) trees. Some, actually quite a few, react to the sap like poison ivy. They are very hard to get rid of.

S. FL Islander to be

[Hazen]

eek those things are Brazillian pepper! Man, didn't know we had those here. I did a some ecosytem rehabilitation in Florida and tore out lot of those. They tend to drop about a million seeds every time you look at em funny, cutting em down is akin to getting rid of starfish by chopping them up and throwing them back in the ocean, just more starfish. I HATE to say it but, the most effective technique there was multiple and timed round-up treatments. You gotta get every generation of seeds, thorough burning works, but i'm not sure how advisable tht is out your way. Just stay on top of them and learn to spot and kill seedlings. I would look up Hawaii gov info on advised techniques.

good luck and congratulations!