Welcome to Volcano

    All of our anticipation and excitement over the last six months of planning has led up to this point. In some sort of surreal frenzy, we made our way to Volcano to see our plot of land for the first time.

Of course, no voyage would be any fun without food. We stopped by the Hilo farmers market to stock up on some fruits and veggies before continuing up the mountain.  Passing Mountain View village at 2,500 foot elevation, we arrived in Volcano village at its 3,700 foot elevation perch.

We arrived to our plot on I'iwi circle drive and were met with a wall of green. After hiking through the dense jungle to a strip of meadow behind the property, we received a warm welcome by the neighbors in the adjacent property.

With the sun beginning to set through the ohia trees and hapu'u ferns, we got to work carving out a clearing for our temporary tarp-covered living area. Byron climbed into the ohias to set up a sling and rope system for structure. I couldn't resist the photo op.

 

The following morning, we unpackaged our little wood burning stove to make a cup of ginger tea. The quaint-ness of it all made it that much more delicious.

 

The forest here is beautiful and we are very interested in keeping it as thick as possible. The large ohia trees and hapu'u ferns are an especially big priority as we clear and build on this land.

One of the plants that is easily cleared (and very easily re-grows) is the 'awapuhi ginger. It grows in patches of flexible, 4-6 foot shoots throughout the forest. On our first full day here, I worked through the entire property, hacking the ginger and pruning the dead fronds off of the ferns with a machete. Byron got to work making a shed out of young guava tree trunks.

The effects were dramatic, and by the end of the day, Byron and I were able to walk (not hike or wade) through our property to scout out possible places to start clearing for a driveway and house. We were easily able to see where all of the ferns and trees were growing as well as get a feel for the level of the ground.



~~ Next up on our list of projects is clearing the driveway! The dirty work is about to get dirtier.