March 2008_New business cards and a brochure

We decide it is time to get our brochure together and to re-make our business cards...

Here is an inside look of our three-fold brochure.
You can click in this sentence to download a full copy of our coffee farm brochure in PDF format to your computer.



Also, we thought the new version of our business card turned out very cute...

September thru December 2007, The Mill is Finished, We Sell Out of Our Prior Business for Good, Huller Get Installed at the farm

September 2007_We sell our building in St. Louis, after having owned it for 18 years. I mention it because having a Kona
Coffee farm like ours (almost 12 acres) is pretty much a full time hobby. So other distractions you have that take your
energy and time cannot “help” you with focusing on your farm. This transition is a welcome turn.

At the farm, we had a family that had moved in and they were supposedly to help, primarily with weeds. After slacking for almost a year they take a 3 week vacation in the middle of our heavy weed season -- after being asked to leave a few weeks prior. Amazing.

So we have been picking, weed whacking (although that chore was supposed to be “gone” surprise it is not gone), and winding up some old distractions.

October 2007_About to get all the pieces together. We have bags supposedly on the way. We got a sealer and a nice
weight scale at yard sales (did you know we are yard sale fanatics?). The huller got here from India last month and it should
get installed after the Kona Coffee Festival activities in early November.

November 29, 2007_Yes the huller did finally get to the mill and here is a picture of all the fanfare...later a guard is added but the machine is operational at this point...

January 2007, A Coffee Seminar on Tree Pruning and work continues on our mill at the South side coffee farm

January 2007_Seminars and work on the mill continues...


We go to a coffee tree trimming seminar January 6 2007, with featured speaker Bob Smith.
Bob Smith actually came up to our farm just before we got possession and advised us of the REAL condition of the trees (we had thought big and tall trees were just extra healthy -- but really it indicated many had simply not been trimmed for years -- but with some hard work you can correct that at least)...


January 12th 2007, the parchment storage room is in progress (it is at the very back)...The forward area is the dry mill section where the roaster, huller, etc. will go.

In December 2006, One highlight is attending a Kona Coffee Farmer's Seminar at a local organic kona coffee farm

December 2006_Our Climate Controlled Coffee Storage Room Project starts; Get our coffee logo completed!

12/11/06 Getting it into the final planning and design stages. It will involve some moving of soil, building the frame, determining
what type of dehumidifier or air conditioner or a combo unit will be used. How to monitor the humidity in the room, etc.


12/13/06, We attend a coffee workshop about drying methods. This is a coffee dryer!



12/13/06, Bob Nelson shows his custom made coffee rake! This is his farm we are at where the seminar is being held.
Bob has got the rake in his hand. Recognize the guy far back left? That’s Rick Funk again who a couple of months prior was pulping our coffee before our mill was ready to work. Rick has a similar dryer that he built so he had some input at the seminar.

September 2006, We get our plastic cover put on our drying deck at the Kona Comfort Farm

091406, Hoops Up!

091706, We get the plastic greenhouse cover (hoshidana cover) fully erected -- yeah!!



This actually went rather smoothly. It was fed up from the bottom and unrolled from the middle.

August, late 2006, The mill is getting close to being finished at the farm

082306, The Mill Progresses fairly fast at this stage...


083006, The Mill Progresses...The rain is unrelenting...



Later when the floor is down, it is treated to help preserve it.

August 2006, Work on the coffee mill continues and we get more weed whacking equipment

081006, We get a second Shindawa Trimmer (the real thing!) from Farm and Home



We also had picked up a truckload of wood for mill construction...


081406, Christine and Ken Sheppard work diligently on the mill, even when it rains which it did a lot...

May 4, 2006, We are still working in between old and new places, Lucky gets lots of attention

May 2006_We are boxing up and packing up at the old home to move to the farm...The farm “came with” an existing dog called “Lucky”. The story is that he was “Lucky he did not get shot” when he wandered onto the property. He was in his twilight time but still had some spunk. He liked to stay in the garage or in the flower beds and all the people coming into and out of the house doing their work became friends with him.


Lucky sometimes gets in the car whether you want him to or not...

May 1st 2006, A new fence is installed at the sustainable farm.

050106, The house has a nice big back yard, but it needed a barrier fence to keep our dogs contained and safe...
One thing about being “in the country” is that there are many dogs (big ones) that tend to run and roam.
Our dogs are small and probably would be attacked if they are not kept within the boundary of the back yard. Thank goodness the back yard was already well located to the back of the house, well suited for the dogs, and not impossible to retrofit!

April 23 2006, Some unexpected junk needs to be picked up and moved off our South Kona Farm

042306, Unfortunately we discovered loads and loads of trash we needed to haul away...

April 2006, We Get Possession of our Hawaiian Farm in Honaunau Hawaii

April 2006_We get possession of the farm

Yes, finally we get possession and it is a long period during which we move from one place to the other and at the same time attempt to get started with clearing out some junk left by the previous owner.
While getting things to the final packing stages at the previous house, we get this house painted on the inside.
We also start getting a new solar water heater system put in.
We continue to try to control weeds all during this time.


We quickly found out the weeds are a BIG chore -- with everything else we can’t seem to keep up.

We look at a SKAG mower that is supposed to make short work of this problem. I wonder???

November 2005, We find a slightly used Honda ATV at a Hawaiian yard sale and bring it back to put it to work at our coffee farm

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November 2006_We get a Honda ATV from a yard sale

Believe it or not -- we find amazing things at yard sales, in this case a hardly used almost a year old ATV...







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October 2005, We attend a Small Equipment Seminar for Kona Coffee Farmers

October 2005_We have been studying and learning about coffee farming since February 2005. We attend a “Small Equipment Seminar” that is lectured by Ken Sheppard. (You can see a photo about this on our “We own and operate Kona Comfort organic farm” page.) Ken actually designs and sells some coffee farm equipment and can consult with you and install other equipment. As you might suspect not all coffee equipment is equal. Take a look at his website here: Ken Sheppard’s Coffee Equipment Home Page

This is Ken Sheppard giving his lecture at the Small Equipment Seminar October 2005