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...

July and August 2007, Wet Mill is finished and another coffee picking season starts

Outside, we seem to be graced by some of the neighborhood peacocks!



July 2007_Wet Mill is done

Besides having a climate controlled room put into operation quite some time ago, we also now have a wet mill to take the pulper portion of the equipment (taking it off the sundeck).


August 2007_Picking season

We don’t get started as late as last year!

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...

June 2006, Painting inside the farmhouse continues and some new solar water is in the works as well

June 2006_Painting is in progress...Ken Sheppard starts doing some work...New Solar Hot Water...Washer and Dryer being moved to garage...

060706, This is one of the first days Ken Sheppard was around the farm, here I think he is building a base for the solar water heater to sit on;
Ken is the same who lectured at the Small Equipment Seminar back in October of 2005. He continued to help outside where he would build the coffee mill and with that get us started in the right direction.

May 11, 2006, Time to Work on the farm truck that came with the organic farm in Hawaii

051106_We take the farm truck from the farm to the other house. It takes a couple of days to clean it up, replace turn signals, make some rail holders for the back end, change the spark plugs and wires. We really liked the idea of a small pickup that we thought would come in handy for hauling coffee bags and stuff like fertilizer -- and it could help us with the move of course.


The oil came out like sludge..

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