The Art of Landscaping

In addition to the work I do here on the farm, I landscape on an organic coffee and mac nut plantation in the Honaunau area, about six or seven miles away. It mainly involves pulling vines from the tops and bases of coffee trees, sometimes with the aid of machetes, and dragging the coffee trees that have been cut down during the trimming process, to the edge of the grassy/rocky road that runs through the property, and stacking them in piles. Luckily, there is a canopy of spiky leafed macadamia nut trees that provide shade while I'm working. It gets pretty hot out there, in part because much of the ground there is lava rock, which traps heat due to its dark color. It's a job that I appreciate doing. I am beautifying the land, spending time out in nature, and getting good exercise. Like Harvy, Lama (short for Malama Lama, which means to "care for," like a caretaker), my foreman, never really looks over my shoulder, just kind of does his own thing, offering suggestions every once in a while, and ultimately marvels at the finished product. He always supplies me/us with fresh lemon water and banana/orange/ginger/goatmilk/hempseed smoothies and encourages me to take breaks when I sees that I am working hard. We are situated on the slope of Mauna Loa, surrounded by beautiful views of distant forest/jungle, laced with transparent white from the foggy haze that rests upon volcano. When I hear the neighbor's roosters crowing and the chickens clucking, I am nostalgically reminded of the Belizean countryside. The dogs barking form the other side of the lava rock wall when I am near is kind of annoying though.
I also enjoy the opporunity to landscape at Sun Bear (which is not very often). There are aggressive weeds that grow at the top of “A2,” which is the section just above the packhouse, on the far left of the farm. Since we were low on starts for planting, Melinda (who is Harvy’s wife and works one day out of the week), instructed Keola and I to take a couple knives and cut them down. The leaves were light green and fuzzy like the skin of a peach. I cut close to the base of the weeds and tossed them behind me, proceeding to pull up the vines that were spreading across the soil at their base. As I continued to cut, I noticed there was another plant, growing underneath the foliage, like Sideshow Bob hair (except it wasn’t curly). I asked Keola if he knew what it was, and he said it was medicinal -- comfrey. It can be used to treat bee stings (You can take a leaf of the plant, chew it in your mouth to release the juice, and then apply it to the affected area. It will draw out the poison). Intrigued that this plant had a use, I decided to leave them there.
At one point Keola, said: “Wow, look at this snail! It’s too big to even get back in its shell!” I looked over, and he was holding the largest one l think I’ve ever seen -- its dewy, purple body glistening in the sunlight, alert with its antenas stretched out to either side. “If I was starving, I would totally eat this,” he said, opening his mouth and lifting it towards it. Of course he didn’t take a bite, and instead returned it to its home.
The last five or ten minutes I spent uncovering the four comfrey plants, I realized that landscaping truly is an art form. The same way that a muralist must stand back from time to time to make sure that their work as a whole is balanced, in landscaping you must make changes where necessary -- touch up, perfect. In the end, the comfrey had breathing room, with the vines and weeds rolled down the slope like a blanket pulled down to the foot of its bed. Soon after, Ollie came by and completed the job by throwing the weeds onto the perimeter of the property where they were out of the way.