Any Chance on a new topic of Moving to Puna?

[riverwolf]

Hawaiideborah...

very nicely said. good for you and congrats.
enjoy, River

riverwolf

[amf217]

I am guessing the chamber of commerce won't be referring anyone to this thread, but it has good information and reality to it. Had laugh about fire ants they have been in Fl. forever wait till you see a cow catcher, not sure of its real name, it's about 3/4 to 2 inches and when you step on it it laughs, frogs and toads worry you? Try gators that think dogs are candy. See there are downs to any where you pick, still Puna has more ups then downs. The weather, I like rain, the people( I don't like people, so it's good) the feeling that my neighbor will leave me alone. Any where is what you make it, the worse thing you can do is move to any place and then tell the locals " well in so-so we used do it this way" if it was so good wtf are you doing here?

I like it here in the shallow end of the gene pool

[Hotzcatz]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mary

Andy you said-

"The climate is the best. I LOVE the rain. The more the better.As an avid gardener, you can't get much better in my mind. "

i am curious why it is you think gobs of constant rain is so great for gardening. my tomatoes are rotting and full of mold and mildew because of the rain, the rain leaches all the nutrients out of the soil constantly, i have to amend the soil consistently (which by the way is costly and time consuming) just to maintain my garden. the rot and the mold and the mildew that rain causes in my garden is the worst problem. so many of my plants have been killed this year. i wonder what it is you do to keep the mold and mildew off of your plants, because i must be missing something here. sulfur spraying and baking soda does not work for me.

---

Add biochar to the soil to hold the nutrients. Space the plants further apart so the breeze can circulate to keep down the mold. You need a little bit of a breeze, but not too much so take that into consideration when planting. Put them in the sunniest spot to keep down mold and mildew, too.

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled topic of Moving to Puna, although "gardening challenges" should be on the list of considerations if the folks who are considering moving are avid gardeners. It ain't easy gardening in the (sub)tropics and there is a HUGE learning curve.

---

"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[mary]

thanks Hotzcatz,

i have used biochar inoculated with compost on half of my coffee trees i planted last year and half went without the biochar,just the usual compost, cinder, ext. i did that to compare what might grow better. they are all spaced 10 feet apart. i don't see any difference in growth. both lines of coffee trees look about same to me both grew about the same hight, i don't see anything spectacular on the biochar side of things. i think biochar is a bit of a hype just like neem oil is. i have had better results with sunflower oil and a bit of egg yoke mixed in then super expensive neem oil.

there is a learning curve to growing things here that's for sure. never thought that it would be not so simple when i was moving here when i heard people complaining about so many of their stuff wilting/ dying due to mildew as a result of rain.

[coppercoin40]

lol, me thinks you must be from Ketchikan as well Terracore! Hilo to Pahoa felt cosmopolitan to us as well after many years unconnected to a road system! Guess we still have stars in our eyes from those Hawaiin nights cuz we really want to make a change and go back for good...gonna try!

quote:

---

Originally posted by terracore

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carey

For ANYONE moving here... this is a VERY rural area ....

---

Puna rural? Try living 14 years in a town unconnected to any road system. I think Puna is quite cosmopolitan.

---

[Bullwinkle]

when I saw the sears - and their tool department within driving range - i was sold

I used to have to mail the diesel injectors out for rebuild by ups....

rural is much better than isolated - grin

[terracore]

quote:

---

Originally posted by coppercoin40

lol, me thinks you must be from Ketchikan as well Terracore! Hilo to Pahoa felt cosmopolitan to us as well after many years unconnected to a road system! Guess we still have stars in our eyes from those Hawaiin nights cuz we really want to make a change and go back for good...gonna try!

quote:

---

Originally posted by terracore

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carey

For ANYONE moving here... this is a VERY rural area ....

---

Puna rural? Try living 14 years in a town unconnected to any road system. I think Puna is quite cosmopolitan.

---

---

Juneau- but close enough.

[coppercoin40]

good forum, things to think about... for us many of the negative aspects of life on the big island such as aging family, distance from children and grandchildren, Hilo rain - we have dealt with these issues for many years already. Living on an island with only 36 miles of road and over 200 inches of rain a year, Alaska Airlines ripping us off to get 'off the rock" because they are the only air carriers has made it to costly to see family that is stretched from Oregon to New York. If we lived in the lower 48 we would not be able to afford the gas to drive the distance very often either. This is what happens when families start to grow up. We drove all the way around Hawaii, it took us 10+ hours with just a few touring stops along the way! It only takes an hour or less to drive my community road system! Tired of shoveling snow in the winter, slanting rain in the summer, rotten fruits and vege's off the barge, frozen bananas, frozen bread & milk - the list of negatives goes on for where I am from (along with a healthy list of positives as well.) Alaska is a harsh environment, it takes a lot of guts and perseverance to make it here - and we have for 20 years. Someone told us "if you can make it there for that long you will not have a problem adapting to Hawaii!" We are looking forward to hopefully moving there soon. We stayed 6 weeks in Puna and loved it. The rain was coming down in bucket loads a few times but it was warm rain we enjoyed snorkeling in the Kapoho tidepools & Richardson's Park. We ate healthier, fresher foods and were more active because of warmer weather. There was much aloha spirit on the island, more than experienced on other islands. We were not partial to the Kona area, it seemed to dry and desolate, although it has its own beauty to find. We went through Ocean View at dark so were not able to get a feel for that area. I have noted the property prices are very low there for decent houses. The low cost of a home purchase in that area is attractive but I am wondering what the pitfalls are (?) it seems as though gardening in HOVE would be easier as I imagine the snails and frogs do not take to the lack of rain, so less worry about rat lung disease (YUCK!) I know the distance to Kona or Hilo is quite a ways which means you must plan ahead and make that trip once or twice a month. I am sure work is difficult to find unless you bring your own talent and skills through possible in home business. can anyone give me some plusses and minuses on the differences between Puna & HOVE? thanks for any input!

[P.T.]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy

I've been here 3 years. For me the few negatives have made me want to leave a few times. The job market sucks. I've got a BA and 25 yrs of experience in my field and can only get a retail job where I am treated like dirt on a daily basis and paid a wage that my contemporaries on the mainland consider abusive ( their words). Employers take advantage of the poor economy here knowing they can work you to death because they can easily, in their minds, replace you.

---

Welcome to the club!I couldn't say better.
Just want to add that it seems like on BI they never heard of 40 hours week.A lot of people work 24 ,some lucky to have 36.

[terracore]

quote:

---

Originally posted by coppercoin40

good forum, things to think about... for us many of the negative aspects of life on the big island such as aging family, distance from children and grandchildren, Hilo rain - we have dealt with these issues for many years already. Living on an island with only 36 miles of road and over 200 inches of rain a year, Alaska Airlines ripping us off to get 'off the rock" because they are the only air carriers has made it to costly to see family that is stretched from Oregon to New York. If we lived in the lower 48 we would not be able to afford the gas to drive the distance very often either. This is what happens when families start to grow up. We drove all the way around Hawaii, it took us 10+ hours with just a few touring stops along the way! It only takes an hour or less to drive my community road system! Tired of shoveling snow in the winter, slanting rain in the summer, rotten fruits and vege's off the barge, frozen bananas, frozen bread & milk - the list of negatives goes on for where I am from (along with a healthy list of positives as well.) Alaska is a harsh environment, it takes a lot of guts and perseverance to make it here - and we have for 20 years. Someone told us "if you can make it there for that long you will not have a problem adapting to Hawaii!" We are looking forward to hopefully moving there soon. We stayed 6 weeks in Puna and loved it. The rain was coming down in bucket loads a few times but it was warm rain we enjoyed snorkeling in the Kapoho tidepools & Richardson's Park. We ate healthier, fresher foods and were more active because of warmer weather. There was much aloha spirit on the island, more than experienced on other islands. We were not partial to the Kona area, it seemed to dry and desolate, although it has its own beauty to find. We went through Ocean View at dark so were not able to get a feel for that area. I have noted the property prices are very low there for decent houses. The low cost of a home purchase in that area is attractive but I am wondering what the pitfalls are (?) it seems as though gardening in HOVE would be easier as I imagine the snails and frogs do not take to the lack of rain, so less worry about rat lung disease (YUCK!) I know the distance to Kona or Hilo is quite a ways which means you must plan ahead and make that trip once or twice a month. I am sure work is difficult to find unless you bring your own talent and skills through possible in home business. can anyone give me some plusses and minuses on the differences between Puna & HOVE? thanks for any input!

---

As a fellow SE Alaskan who has also spent a lot of time on the Big Island (and about 1/2 way through the process of moving full time) my opinion is that the only things that are "worse" are the job market, taxes, and the cost of electricity. When we were there last the gasoline was cheaper than Juneau (in Hilo and at Costco in Kona, everywhere else it was the same price or more expensive). Then again, I'm spending over $100 a week on heating fuel in addition to electricty in Juneau so the overall cost is cheaper. I'm also paying about $150 for water bill and $40 for garbage, neither of which we pay on our Puna property. There are costs associated with catchment, but if you're in Ketchikan you're probably using catchment anyway, and Hawaiian catchment systems don't freeze in winter forcing you to use the water truck. We were planning to move to BI closer to retirement but in a twist of miracles both my wife and I were able to score job transfers there. Compared to the cost of housing here, they are practically giving real estate away on the BI. As much as people complain about the health care on the Big Island, they have real hospitals so you don't have to fly (on the only airline with monopoly pricing) to Seattle every time you get an ingrown toenail. And the food! There is so much cheap, wonderful healthy food in Hawaii. For what we pay for a full cicle farm box in Juneau, $40 worth of produce you can literally buy in Hawaii for $2-3 at the farmers market. And it's FRESH. Not that we have it that bad in Juneau, up in Barrow they spend $10 for a gallon of milk or a rotten cantelope.

You see a lot of people posting about how horribly expensive things are in Hawaii compared to the mainland. They are talking about the other 48 states. As I mentioned in another post, beer that is brewed right here in Juneau is CHEAPER IN HAWAII. How the hell does that even happen? I'm like 8 miles away from the brewery but to get a good price I have to travel 4,000 miles. (I asked somebody at the brewery about this and they explained that it has to do with distribution agreements and that Juneau has one of the highest alcohol taxes in the USA).

So yeah, I guess if you're used to living in Wyoming there is probably sticker shock moving to Hawaii. But it's not the most expensive place to live. I have a friend in Ketchikan who was paying $1200/month in heating fuel. He finally paid $10k for a new furnace and got his bill down to $800/month. They say that if Iran is attacked then the price of heating fuel will double. So he'll be up to $1600/month. And if he doesn't pay it, his pipes can burst. THAT'S expensive.