Spring into the truth - I mean, why not - America and Canada · Sunday April 26, 2009 by colin newell
Keywords being Napolitano, McCain, 911 Myth – Border security – Terrorists from Canada.
Okay. Listen up. I saw no point in writing my own spin on this… because James sums it up with aplomb.
Bottom line (for those too weak to click on the link above…)
911 terrorists did not cross the Canadian border into the US prior to the 911 attacks. They came from Britain, the United Arab Emirates and… Florida. Yea. Florida, where they were doing flight training. And they had been in America “legally” for some time.
One of the most obvious sub-thoughts about the American zeitgeist is the following (which I believe to be true…)
- Americans spend about as much time thinking about Canada as they do wondering if their next breath contains life giving oxygen (which is to say, rarely)
Americans are not alone in their blithe ignorance of Canada. I had a telephone conversation with a colleague in Australia who was unsure about what currency stiffens up our wallets; American dollars, Euro, what?
Actually, mate… we live in Igloo and we don’t use money – we trade Hudson Bay pelts and get from A to B by canoe… generally in inhospitable weather…
and that has been the rumor for over a hundred years…
as for the right now from the Canadian perspective?
Get used to explaining to our Southern friends…
as if they will listen.
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Spring into the Victoria night life - with the Shark Club · Saturday April 25, 2009 by colin newell
When you are 19 to 34 years of age, it is commonplace to put on some tacky threads and hit the night life – to head to the other side of the tracks – to see how the other half lives…
And when you turn 35… Well…
There comes a time when you stop going out on the town…
Which is utter nonsense.
Now unless you have popped out 2 or 3 kids and have been lost at sea for the prime of your life, there are many great reasons to grab the car keys or the cab fare and seek out the gritty side of the downtown.
Example: I am coming up on my 5th century on the Planet Earth…
Duh. I mean… my 5th decade. Yea. That is what I meant.
And I have one very important reason to go out on a date night from time to time:
A much younger wife.
Oh. And the lack of kids.
The Shark Club (many locations in Victoria, Vancouver and the interior…) is custom made for a tasty and thirst quenching couple of hours on the town.
But you have to love at least one of these four things:
- Girls in short black dresses and revealing tops balancing trays of savory snacks and steins of local beer.
- Crowds of girls on the town in party dresses.
- Parched and beefy dudes in plaid shirts with a desire for cold beer and/or girls in party dresses.
- Loud and colorful sporting events on the High-definition flat-screen TVs (of which there are about 28 in each bar).
It is a fun place, really. The wait staff are sweet, mature and ultra professional and courteous. I have never seen an order of apps (we ordered calamari, ginger spicey beef and BBQ Chicken wings) and 2 pints of ale come to a table faster – it could not have been more than 5 minutes from order to delivery. The food at the Shark club is a click ahead of places like Boston Pizza and Earl’s – and the eye candy for both genders is mind numbing.
Alas, I only have eyes for one – and she always comes home with me.
So get out there… into the night. Because, it won’t bite.
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Kona Coffee Farming: Escape or Reality? · Thursday April 23, 2009 by colin newell
What actually makes a Kona coffee farmer, who are they, why are they doing it, or just for the mental exercise: Could I too become a filthy rich, days-in-the-sun, surfing, shooting-the-breeze Hawaiian coffee farmer? This is a highly subjective, behind the scenes explanation of the most pressing question folks seems to have on their minds when they meet one of us coffee dudes. So for the sake of it, let’s categorize:
Cherry farms
are often held by the same family over three or four generations. These farms originated to provide additional income to the day jobs working the sugar cane fields in the 19th century. The high number of children and grandparents enabled the owners to do the unpaid coffee field work in the mornings, evenings and Sundays. Most Kona coffee is grown in the vicinity of family farmer’s residences; planted between rocks in irregular patterns, ranging from 100 to 1,000 trees per acre, often interspersed with other crops and some shade trees. Nearly all is sold as freshly picked coffee cherries to large processors, who also throw in a few bags of free fertilizer. The parcels range between 1 to 5 acres and are often leased in 40 year terms. This is and always has been the backbone of the Kona coffee industry. None of the farmers has to worry about government inspections regarding pesticide or herbicide usage, or coffee quality standards. The cheap lease of the land, which requires some agricultural practices, justifies the small profit. Living and housing in Hawaii is expensive and the rural lifestyle eases the financial burden a bit. Most cherry farmers have a Japanese, Phillipine or Hawaiian background and reside in the South Kona district. Age group: 50 – 90, 2 to 3 family generations under one roof. Many are members of the Kona Pacific Farmers Coop and not linked to any farmers organization. No web presence or farm tours offered.
Coffee Plantations
in Kona are increasing in size, but there are only a few names in this category. All are owned by corporations or individuals with financial backing from the mainland. Their sizes range from 20 to 60 acres, and often contain other outlying parcels. In this production system recommended seedlings are used, the rocky land is being bulldozed, row planting, proper cover crops, mulching, manuring, weeding, and pruning methods are practiced. Nearly all use chemical fertilizers and herbicides as they are purely profit driven. Their coffees are always inspected and certified by the State. Most of their harvested coffees end up as highly profitable “Kona Blends” to duped tourists, who believe this coffee being pure Kona beans. The rest is sold to green coffee brokers in Japan and the US mainland. In addition to their own production they buy from smaller farms freshly picked coffee cherries at a fluctuating per pound price. They also pulp, drymill and grade coffee for farmers lacking the required big equipment. When buying from them look for their private labels, otherwise you’ll get the coffee pooled from many farms. Traditionally these large plantations in Hawaii went bust in recessions because of their high overheads. Some of them are in serious trouble right now and seem to be running short of cash, not being able to pay the cherry farmers on time as required by law. Owners and managers are nearly all long time Caucasian residents of Hawaii, who are experienced with the local political culture. They organize in the Hawaii Coffee Association and Hawaii Coffee Grower’s Association to maintain the faulty legal status of the Kona Blend laws. Age group: 35 to 65; ‘good old boys’ networkers; SCAA members and exhibitors; all offer guided farm tours, farm stores, and professional websites. Their Kona coffees and Kona Blends have a strong presence in US mainland and Hawaiian stores.
Gentlemen farms
or “Snowbird farms” grow coffee on their properties as a hobby, as a tax incentive or because a vacation property is zoned as ‘agricultural’. One can completely relinquish the actual work to one of the larger plantations, who then in turn provide some roasted coffee upon request just in case the owner wants to sell a few bags under his/her own label. These types of farms are not meant to be profitable but this doesn’t indicate if their coffees are good, bad or excellent. Some are organically cultivated. The owners have other sources of income and only reside part time in Kona. Under US tax law a property qualifies as a ‘farm’ when generating more than $1,000 in sales p.a. Gentlemen farmers are mostly Caucasians who strife for living a calm, easy Hawaiian life and have a story to tell when asked for what they are doing all day long. Geographically in the North Kona district centered around Holualoa. The 55 to 80 year old group consists of retired, married couples, single women. They have no professional affiliation or only nominally memberships at the Kona Coffee Council and the Kona Coffee Farmers Association. Some have websites and generally no farm tours are offered by them.
Boutique farms
are yet another category but constitute the fastest growing segment. The vertical integration of the growing, processing and direct marketing to the customer and owning all means of production is essential. A small profit margin is indeed possible but it needs a multidisciplinary approach by the owners to keep any outsourcing to a bare minimum. About a quarter of them practice organic farming and they are environmentally concerned. Yet the combination of advancing age, hard physical labor and lack of computer literacy are challenging for many. But also big egos nurtured in prior high flying professions stand in their way: farming makes you humble but not instantaneously. A number of these farms defaulted during the current recession, because their owners overlooked that equipment needs to amortize and public awareness of Kona coffee was always low. Building a solid customer base for a farm takes approximately 5 years. Learning the ins and outs of coffee farming about 3 years. This group of farmers sees the faulty Kona Blend law as the largest stumbling block to a higher price for Kona coffee. Yet they oppose quality control and state inspections of their product, which doesn’t fly with the government. Owners are mostly mainland Caucasians and are sometimes married into Hawaiian families with various ethnic backgrounds. One can meet a colorful assortment of the human species in this group: The aging hippie, the retired colonel, the liberal professor, the activist lawyer, the Silicon Valley mini tycoon. They organize occasionally and challenge the legal status quo of the legislature. Age group: 40 to 75, couples, gay couples, single women, single guys. Affiliation: Kona Coffee Farmers Association or none. Mostly homemade webstores, shop presence in a few Hawaiian stores, farm tours offered upon requests.
There you have it. None of this background info indicates that a particular Kona coffee tastes better than the other! As long as it’s not a ‘blend’ or fake of course. The border lines between the categories are also not so well defined as one farm can be a ‘boutique’ but also offers processing. Or it could appear like a large plantation with managers and all, but is held afloat by the partnership income of a big time law office in L.A. Or a fourth generation Japanese cherry farm made it successfullly into the cyberage with a dazzling webstore.
Kona coffee beans grow regardless and despite of the local politicking on their behalf. A coffee tree doesn’t judge its farmer by skin color, age, sexual orientation or prior profession. Just if it gets its leaves properly tickled from time to time…
Joachim always tries to tickle the leaves of the BLUE HORSE KONA COFFEE trees the way they like it. Their farm in South Kona was developed from pure cherry farming into a boutique/family farm, but also offers wet processing and sun drying to neighbor farms.
Spring into a better Planet - on Earth Day 2009 · Wednesday April 22, 2009 by colin newell
Originally conceived in the Fall of 1969 at an event in Seattle, Washington – it was declared that the first Earth Day would be in April of 1970 and every year after that.
Personally, I do not think I was aware of Earth Day til the eighties – Here are some random thoughts from yours truly from Earth day’s past… of how I would have thought about those days if I was actually paying attention to anything…
- April 1970 Are the Beatles really breaking up? How will this effect the Planet?
- April 1971 TV show Dark Shadows goes off the air – the Planet has been saved from Barnabas Collins. You really need to be older than 35 to get this.
- April 1972 Rolling Stones release Exile on Main Street – dang these Stones are old and they look old doing what they are doing. They should have retired when the Beatles retired.
- April 1973 Skylab is launched releasing tons of shit into the atmosphere… not so good.
- April 1974 148 tornadoes affecting 13 states and 1 Canadian province in 18 hours, the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history – The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured. Earth angry
- April 1976 Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Earth is soon to be turned to plastic and silicon.
- April 1981 Space Shuttle Columbia passes flight tests dumping millions of pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
There are an estimated 6.7 billion humans on the Planet. That is 4 times the number a mere 100 years ago. This is serious. For this reason (and other reasons) I will not be having children – and I encourage as many people as possible to, at least, limit their number of offspring to 1… if that. Better yet: Get a dog or a cat. They are less messy.
Happy Earth Day!
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