08-28-2017, 12:10 PM
Having lived in Hawaiian Acres and Orchidland Estates, our preference was for OLE. Like all large subdivisions it's impossible to characterize an entire subdivision. There are different elevations, micro climates, types of neighbors, etc on every street. Depending on what you want to grow, you may find the lower subdivisions add to your options. People talk about aquaponics a lot, but I've never actually seen a commercially viable operation here. I'm sure they exist, but it's a lot more investment and work than they sound. I'm sure fish food costs crazy more money than it does on the mainland just like any other livestock feed. You'll never make the money back raising the protein compared to raising chickens that forage most or all of their own food. On the other hand whatever crops you are growing you'll have to protect from the chickens. Not just yours, but the wild ones too.
You won't be able to just pull up to your new property and start cranking out the crops. It's taken us over 5 years of trial and error to find out what will grow well here and we are learning more every day. Things that grow well for our neighbors just a few hundred feet above or below us, don't necessarily grow well on our farm. The four growing seasons aren't just about hours of sunlight and temperatures, it varies the type of pests you'll be dealing with as well. Most of the mainland seed packets they sell here at all the stores don't produce food here, and even the UH seeds developed specifically for Hawaii you'll have to try them all in every season to see what works for you at your specific site. These things take time with a lot of trial and error.
RLW is a serious concern and for that reason we only grow things to be eaten raw that are easy to clean, like tomatoes.
You won't be able to just pull up to your new property and start cranking out the crops. It's taken us over 5 years of trial and error to find out what will grow well here and we are learning more every day. Things that grow well for our neighbors just a few hundred feet above or below us, don't necessarily grow well on our farm. The four growing seasons aren't just about hours of sunlight and temperatures, it varies the type of pests you'll be dealing with as well. Most of the mainland seed packets they sell here at all the stores don't produce food here, and even the UH seeds developed specifically for Hawaii you'll have to try them all in every season to see what works for you at your specific site. These things take time with a lot of trial and error.
RLW is a serious concern and for that reason we only grow things to be eaten raw that are easy to clean, like tomatoes.