This month we have gone from one extreme to the other. We left behind the cold to visit Maui mid-month. We had a lovely time there, enjoying the warm weather and sampling foods we got from local farmer’s markets and restaurants. One of my favorite markets is held three times every week at the Queen Kaʻahumanu Center mall. There are usually eight to ten vendors there who have just about all the fresh produce you need, plus other items like baked good as well.
farmer’s market at mall
We typically eat our breakfast and evening meals at the condo where we stay, and those meals feature the local produce. One night we enjoyed a meal of roasted eggplant, okra, baby bananas and pineapple along with macadamia nut crusted mahi-mahi. Everything was local including the fish. We love eating local food whenever and wherever we go, and Maui is a great place to do it.
dinner with local goodies
We also ate salads on several occasions, and they featured local goodies including lettuce, carrots, cucumber, radish, jicama, macadamia nuts, sunflower shoots and goat cheese. We got the sourdough breads from a local bakery, and I made crostini or croutons to go with the salads.
salad for dinner
One highlight of our trip was a tour of a pineapple farm located on the slope of Mt. Haleakalā . It was an informative tour, and we came back with three Maui Gold pineapples to enjoy while we were there. The production of the pineapples is very labor intensive, with much done by hand. There were fields with pineapples in all stages of production, from newly set out, to flowering, and on to harvest stage. We also got to taste one right out in the field. You can’t get any more fresh than that!
pineapple field
pineapples sizing up
pineapple flower
When we returned it was bitterly cold and a few days later we got a big snowfall. I had harvested a few things before the trip, including lettuce from the greenhouse.
winter lettuce
And before the snow came, I made a large cutting of the heirloom collard greens I have growing in the vegetable garden. The leaves have been frosted on and frozen, and are tender and sweet tasting. We have enjoyed eating these for several meals and have a few more left.
assorted collard greens
The snow was a bit less than forecasted, about eight inches in our area though nearby places got over a foot. It was a dry, fluffy snow that blew about and drifted in places, and my wife and I stayed in for as few days until the roads improved and it was safe to venture out.
January snow
Next up on my agenda will be seed starting activities as well as garden planning. I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!
