With the great weather - plentiful rain & sunshine - in Hawaii, and with the situation with gasoline, rising costs of groceries, etc., I recently decided to start a vegetable garden. I’m busy, don’t have lots of time to tend to a garden, and frankly never really got into it, so after learning about “container gardens,” I was game for it.
And boy, oh boy, am I amazed. In less than a month, I’m seeing the beginnings of cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and eggplants. Take a look! (Following this video clip, I describe the progress in still photos, below).

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The weekend of July 4, 2008, I stopped by Rosette’s Nursery in Hawaiian Paradise Park, and picked up an armful of miniature pots, seedlings, and a big bag of soil to start my container garden project. Too lazy to dig up a huge plot of land, the “container garden” idea seemed smart to me. I lined up some old wood boards atop a few makeshift stands (5 gallon containers, blocks of wood, whatever I could grab), and made a long counter that stood about 2.5′ high. That was the beginning.


This rinky-dink looking collection of potted vegetable plants was my start.

I’ve been on a schedule of daily watering, and fertilizer once a week. I’m using an organic fertilizer (at my roommate’s insistance - he was with me when I bought the stuff); the fertilizer smells like fresh vegetables, especially when you spray it onto the plants. And the plants LOVE it.
By the 2nd week, the miracle of nature was rapidly doing its thing. The 3 images that follow were shot 2 weeks after the first planting.

Jump forward another week, it is July 21, and while watering the kids this evening, my eye caught what looked like a mini pickle - no, its a CUCUMBER! At closer inspection, I found that the cucumber plant has begun growing vegetables! Over the past week, it started blooming little yellow flowers (as have the squash, eggplants and tomatoes), but the cucumber is the first to actually start looking like vegetables!



The last image is a shot of the lettuce - far cry from the rice grain-size seed I dropped into an old styrofoam box 3 weeks ago.

This past weekend, we took our good friends Christian & Elyse, who live on the Hilo side of Hawai‘i Island, on a West Hawai‘i get-away - and followed them with our pesky cameras. With luxurious accommodations at the Hilton Waikaloa (home of the Kohala Spa — a small piece of heaven) and adventures that included a dolphin encounter with Dolphin Quest Hawai‘i and night-time diving with Mantarays (courtesy Bottom Time Diving Adventures), not to mention dining at Wasabi’s and Rio’s - both on Ali‘i Drive - it was a weekend our friends wont easily forget.
Watch the YouTube™ sneak peek of the episode by clicking on the image below, or download a Windows Media Player version of the file (4mb) by clicking on THIS LINK.
Watch as Christian & Elyse give us a review of their weekend, with footage from the Hilton Waikaloa, Dolphin Quest, the Greenwell Store at the Kona Historical Society, and some ono kaukau at Rioʻs on Aliʻi Drive.

And don’t miss the unbeatable Kama‘āina Discounts now available - find them at http://www.bigisland.org/getaway

Plan on participating in one of the most important events to take place in Hawai‘i this year, the E Mālama ‘Āina Festival, November 7-8, 2008. Learn more by going to the Official Website of the E Mālama ‘Āina Festival by clicking the image below:

There’s never been a better time to vacation right here on Hawai‘i’s Big Island. Getaway and explore one of the world’s best vacation destinations, spend more time having fun and less time traveling. Residents are welcomed with big, BIG savings all summer! Like hotels from $75. And activities up to 50% off. This summer, explore Hawai‘i’s Island of Adventure. It’s a Big Deal!!
Learn more from the Hawai‘i Island Visitors Bureau, online at http://www.bigisland.org/getaway

After our recent shoot on Kaua‘i where we did “Lihu‘e by moped,” I’ve been haunted with the question of why I wasn’t driving one of those things at home. Just one more fueling of the Volvo pushed me over the edge, and ba-da-boom, I was talking story with the owners of the Hilo-based Insane Cycle Imports about purchasing one of those bad boys. One test ride and I was hooked.

Sam, on the left, and his lovely wife Kim (a sweet young Hawaiian couple) own Insane Cycle Imports, and take pride in the work they do. Rounding out the team at Insane are Toshi Lopez (A Japanese Puerto Rican braddah!), Perry Johnson and Trenton Aurello. They know their stuff, and are well-known in the circle of motorbike enthusiasts on Hawai‘i Island.
But the best part of it all, I think, is when I pull into a gas station (a rare occurrence) to “Fill Er Up.” From absolutely empty, a fill up is $4.74 for the whole tank.

Its a lovely conversation piece, especially with the frustated person at the gas pump ahead of me, filling an SUV with more than $100 of gasoline…
Watch for our participation in an upcoming moped weekend ride organized by the guys at Insane. That’s going to be fun!