Relocating to Puna

[Scott_S]

Hi Pam, I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed and appreciated the time you have taken to post your adventure in Hawaii. I purchased a chemtainer water tank after I read your posting about them, and there has been lot's of other useful information. So please keep it coming.

Thanks, Scott

[pslamont]

The Saga continues. The Ford truck burned up the clutch; It's parked and I am looking for another truck. That Ford was a quick, short term fix that lasted a year; I should count my blessings! Am now in the marked for a V6, 4x4, preferably extra cab and more preferably a Toyota. Hilo dealers basically know me now... and the search is on for a used truck. Wish me luck.

The foundation on the house is looking GREAT. Piers are poured and cured, posts are up and the beams and joists are in place. It's very exciting.

The vegetable garden is looking good but fruit flies are definitely stinging a lot of the squash. Corn certainly is tasty.

The trees in the orchard are doing well. We have added plums and mountain apples this last month and they seem to be happy.

Rain is creating more and more mud. Some vehicle or other seems to be stuck in a pasture once a week. Getting them out is a hoot!!

We now have running water in the kitchen of the cabin. A garden shower is half built in a clear roofed greenhouse in a nice little corner of forest filled with ferns and such. We are also working ever so slowly on the compostimg toilet system.

So... nothing really new but lots of progress in lots of areas. Contiue to be in touch and to stop by to see what we are doing. It's fun to share.

Speaking of sharing, seveal of you have phoned to ask if soil is still available; it is. Just give me a jingle and schedule a time to pick some up.

Pam



Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

[pslamont]

For anyone who might be interested, I have photos up on the freecycle web page. You have to join the freecycle yahoo group to view them.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecyclingBigIsland/

From this page, to to photos and then choose Lamont Ranch.

This would be a good site for everyone to belong to anyway. It's a greqat place to share your "junque/treasures".

Aloha!!

Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

[pslamont]

Wow, things are really moving along. The deck is in place and the walls are going up. One day it seems like a mansion and the next everything seems too small. No wonder people go crazy buildig houses. Thank goodness I have some great guys working on this and it is coming along. yayyy

Fourteern and seventeen year old guests have arrived; daughters of two friends. They are having a ball so far. I provided them with the Jeep to drive but so far they have chosen to hang out with me. Today they had a mud skirmish and came out looking like mud women from Borneo. It was hilarious. The next two weeks certainly should be entertaining. We bought a cheap slip-n-slide for the next great rain day.. that should be a hit!!

We are waiting for Helco to get the transformer in place. Then we will have temporary power, which is good because the henerator blew up again yesterday. Machines!!

Good machine news though: after only FOUR appointments, the Sears repair man has finally repaired my washing machine. I nearly kissed him. Three weeks of laundrymat and I was ready to start wearing clothes for 4 days or throw them away when dirty. I love my washer!!

We have managed to get the cabin nearly completely wired and will be able to tap into the main line after it has been run to the big house... yayyyy

Let's see... we have baby pigs coming this week so we have to get moving building a pig pen. The girls seem to be interested in helping with that. It should be a hoot too.

We continue to have dirt available for anyone with a pick-up truck. It's been so long now that it has tons of grass growing in it. Probably not as attractive a deal but we still have it for anyone interested.

That's all for now. Mahalo and Aloha

Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

[pslamont]

WORKING WORKING WORKING... wow. There are now half framed 18 foot walls for the great room on the house. This is just TOO MUCH!! You are all invited to come see the progress. It's really something now. Although not exactly the look I planned due to excavation problems, this is surely the most exciting project I have undertaken.

Dogs are doing well. A couple recent emergency visits to the Vet have taught me how very lucky we are to jave Dr. Seska at the Kilauea Veterinary center in Keauu. She is just wonderful, and her prices are totally reasonable.

We made great progress on the pig pen today. Corner posts are in cement, the first wing of the house is built and we have begun trenching the fenceline. The plan is to put the fence a full foot into the ground and staple it to wood, then bury the ffence line in 2inch minus rock. This should discourage the pigs from digging under the fence. We did place the 18 x 9 foot enclosure under the edge of the tree line with one large hapu'u within the enclosure. Piggie Paradise!! We'll give it 36 hours or so to cure, then start stretching fence. We used ohia for the corner posts so it looks rather bohemian, but we did put in 4x4 posts for the gate. We wll pour a two foot deep concrete threshhold so the pigs can't dig under the gate either. Lastly, the mesh of our hogwire fencing is too large so we will reinforce it with smaller mesh for the lower 2 1/2 feet. Being a lazyish city kid, we put a mini pig house... elevated 12 inches to keep them out of the ran... with a roof and gutters. The gutters drain to what will be the water trough so I won't hav to worry about watering them quite so often. Anyone try t build a concrete trough? I have an idea how to do it but welcome information or... help!! Oh, the things you have to think of to get baby pigs.

I took one of my many falls a couple days ago. Falling isn't really a big problem, and landin is getting to be less of a problem as I gain practice but levitating lumber and such out of the way is yet to be accomplished, so y curremnt bruises have given new meaning to the phrase DEEP PURPLE. Despite my extreme clumsiness these days, I continue to work hard and it gives me great satisfaction to be a very real part of this mighty project.

A nice walk demonstrated to me that the children's playhouse is a huge success... the local kids love it and the roof feeding the water tank is very efficient, keeping us with a good water supply. The fruit orchard is really faring well. Alex, my gardner, has just loosened the soil around each tree and fed with well cured manure. The vegetable garden is less than successful. though we have harvested, it has been meager. I will ave to continue to work on technique as well as crop choice and build more trellising. Still, it's good overall.

That's about it for now. I am beat, so off to bed for me. As always thanks for your interest, your support and your good thoughts. Aloha!

Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

[angela]

quote:

---

WORKING WORKING WORKING... wow. There are now half framed 18 foot walls for the great room on the house. This is just TOO MUCH!! You are all invited to come see the progress. It's really something now. Although not exactly the look I planned due to excavation problems, this is surely the most exciting project I have undertaken.

Dogs are doing well. A couple recent emergency visits to the Vet have taught me how very lucky we are to jave Dr. Seska at the Kilauea Veterinary center in Keauu. She is just wonderful, and her prices are totally reasonable.

We made great progress on the pig pen today. Corner posts are in cement, the first wing of the house is built and we have begun trenching the fenceline. The plan is to put the fence a full foot into the ground and staple it to wood, then bury the ffence line in 2inch minus rock. This should discourage the pigs from digging under the fence. We did place the 18 x 9 foot enclosure under the edge of the tree line with one large hapu'u within the enclosure. Piggie Paradise!! We'll give it 36 hours or so to cure, then start stretching fence. We used ohia for the corner posts so it looks rather bohemian, but we did put in 4x4 posts for the gate. We wll pour a two foot deep concrete threshhold so the pigs can't dig under the gate either. Lastly, the mesh of our hogwire fencing is too large so we will reinforce it with smaller mesh for the lower 2 1/2 feet. Being a lazyish city kid, we put a mini pig house... elevated 12 inches to keep them out of the ran... with a roof and gutters. The gutters drain to what will be the water trough so I won't hav to worry about watering them quite so often. Anyone try t build a concrete trough? I have an idea how to do it but welcome information or... help!! Oh, the things you have to think of to get baby pigs.

I took one of my many falls a couple days ago. Falling isn't really a big problem, and landin is getting to be less of a problem as I gain practice but levitating lumber and such out of the way is yet to be accomplished, so y curremnt bruises have given new meaning to the phrase DEEP PURPLE. Despite my extreme clumsiness these days, I continue to work hard and it gives me great satisfaction to be a very real part of this mighty project.

A nice walk demonstrated to me that the children's playhouse is a huge success... the local kids love it and the roof feeding the water tank is very efficient, keeping us with a good water supply. The fruit orchard is really faring well. Alex, my gardner, has just loosened the soil around each tree and fed with well cured manure. The vegetable garden is less than successful. though we have harvested, it has been meager. I will ave to continue to work on technique as well as crop choice and build more trellising. Still, it's good overall.

That's about it for now. I am beat, so off to bed for me. As always thanks for your interest, your support and your good thoughts. Aloha!

Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

---

[angela]

Sorry, first time I've posted here. Pam I just spent the last few days catching up to speed your adventures. You truly have a talent for storytelling. Takes you to another place. We bought 7.39 acres up North Peck road, and will be building in Janauary. Your post on your road saved us some mistakes..thank you. Do you have any suggestions on someone to fence our property in? Also how about any bulldozers who work up there. I called every one in the yellow pages and could not locate a bulldozer willing to go up there. Keep the story coming. Aloha...Angela

[Walrus]

Aloha to Pam and all,

After reading this forum for about a year I want to thank everyone. The forum has been loaded with usefull information. I missed my chance to meet the "pslamont" while visiting the BH in May. I did drive up Greenwood road from my place in Fern Forest to look around. Did'nt recognize your driveway!!!

Has anyone any information they are willing to share about HPM or Honsador builders?

Mahalo,
Walrus de Multnomah

[pslamont]

Walrus,
HPM and Honsador are not builders, but building supply companies, and Honsador is FAR LESS EXPENSIVE with equal or supeior materials. Each have kit homes you can purchase but you have to find your own builder or build them yourself. Hope that helps....


Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!

[Toni Browne]

HPM does at least help locate a builder and the other subcontractors by ram-rodding and managing the bidding process' etc...Does Honsador do that???