Yes, the actual day has passed, but giving thanks for the many blessings we have in Hawaii should be a daily event. For the last several months, it seems many folks have been focusing on the negative, so let’s try something healthier.
For this exercise, let’s, for the moment, not focus on how Native Americans, Hawaiians, African-Americans, Filipinos, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Irish and so many other ethnic groups were treated as they tried to fit into the American scene. Let us not focus on the two world wars of the early 20th century that killed an estimated 100 million people.
Let’s not focus on the 1940’s and onward. Many American Japanese were treated as enemies. They lost their homes and were sent to interment camps. Then came the 1950s, with prejudice against African-Americans and folks of the Jewish faith as they were being labeled communists. The 1960s came along with continued violence against African-Americans plus the Vietnam War splitting our nation until the war came to an end in 1975.
The next decade was scarred by the mistreatment of soldiers returning from Vietnam trying to find their place in society back home.
And this goes on and on until we are here today. It sounds dismal, and we cannot forget the terrible price we pay for fear and hatred when it is allowed to consume our sensibilities.
But now is the time that we instead can emphasize the power of love and healing in our thoughts and meditations every day.
On the Big Island, we are somewhat insulated from much of the world’s turmoil. The tropics of the world have many places with as much beauty as Hawaii, and there are many places where you can find friendly people.
What is unique about Hawaii is that not only is it a beautiful and friendly place, we have a form of government that allows us to live in relative safety and prosperity. Our form of government attempts to allow for rule of the majority with protection of the minority. It is just enough capitalistic that it rewards free enterprise and just enough socialistic that most folks have food, shelter and medical care.
Now some readers would disagree, but compared to most tropical African, Asian or American countries, this is a reality. Haiti, for example, fought for freedom from the French centuries ago, but its own internal politics left it a country where one never really feels safe. Most people live very close to hunger and illness and have a relatively short life span. They are enduring, tenacious and hard working, but without an environment that allows their talents to prosper, they struggle to thrive.
Some of the Haitian farmers with whom I have worked would be millionaires if they lived in a place such as Hawaii. Like Haiti, the same is true for places such as Guyana, Nicaragua, Ghana and Timor.
Sometimes we forget how fortunate we are. Too often, Thanksgiving is about eating too much rich food and the worry that the weight gain likely will continue until New Year’s or maybe Easter. Unlike much of the tropical world, we usually don’t have to worry about from where our next meal will come. However, it should be the perfect time to sincerely give thanks for all the many blessings around us in Hawaii Nei every single day.
Not only do we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, we are blessed with the abundance of a great variety of food crops.
We celebrate this abundance with mango festivals, breadfruit festivals, and we just finished celebrating our special coffee with the Kona Coffee and Cultural Festival.
From 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, we will celebrate the annual “Going Nuts For The Holidays Festival” at the Old Kona Airport State Recreation Area Pavilion. The festival celebrates the amazing coconut and macadamia nut, but lets not forget the cashew, pili nut, kukui nut, tropical almond and scores of other potential tree crops we can grow.
This event will give folks an opportunity to meet island farmers and learn from their experiences. For more information, check out www.hawaiisanctuary.org.
Even though we are talking nuts, remember fruits and nuts go together.
Hawaiian gardeners can grow many tropical fruits, including citrus, mango and avocado, but often overlook some favorites from warm temperate climates such as apples, peaches, pomegranates, figs and persimmons.
Persimmons are among the favorites and can be found in markets now. Also known as the kissing fruit, the persimmon grows here and produces heavy crops. The rather familiar name comes from the puckering qualities of unripe fruit.
Aside from the amorous tendencies, the persimmon has long been a popular dooryard fruit in the cooler upland sections of Hawaii. The generic name, Diospyros, literally means “food of the Gods.” This prestige began ages ago in China and Japan.
The flavor of the fruit is excellent. It is a concentrated food because all of the sugar is quick energy producing dextrose. However, many persimmon varieties are astringent until fully ripe.
Persimmons do best upon lighter upland soils that are well-drained. You are in luck if your property has a good soil, but if it doesn’t be sure to spend some time on improving the soil with fertilizer and compost.
Persimmons like full sunlight and ample room. The planting site should be an open space no closer than 20 feet from the nearest tree canopy.
If the planting site is a lawn area, practice clean cultivation around the trunk of the tree. In removing weeds do not dig deeply, as many feeder roots of the tree grow close to the surface of the soil.
Fertilizer requirements for persimmons are vague. The trees seem to thrive on applications of a good garden fertilizer mixture containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potash plus minor elements. A standard type such as organic 8-8-8 is satisfactory. Apply the fertilizer in the spring at about the time the tree starts to leaf out.
Two close relatives of the persimmon also can add interesting and delicious fruit to your garden and table. The black sapote, Diospyros ebenaster, from Mexico is occasionally grown in Hawaii.
The tree is evergreen, up to 25 feet, with a fairly compact rounded habit and handsome in aspect. The leathery leaves are bright green and shiny.
The fruit is round, from 2 to 5 inches in diameter, and dark olive green at maturity with a conspicuous persistent green calyx like the persimmon. The thin skin encloses a soft pulpy flesh that is a dark chocolate-brown color, giving it the name of the fruit. The pulp is soft and sweet. Addition of orange, lime or lemon juice improves the flavor of the fruit that can be eaten fresh or cooked.
The mabolo, Diospyros discolor, is rare in Hawaii except on Round Top above Honolulu where it can be found growing wild. This tree from the Philippines is medium size, with leathery, oblong, pointed leaves 4 to 10 inches long, light and smooth above and much paler and more or less silky or hairy beneath.
The fruits are 3 to 5 inches in diameter, covered thickly with short reddish brown hair. The flesh is cream colored, rather dry, sweet and aromatic, usually with several rather large seeds. Seedless forms are known with moister and sweeter flesh of good quality.
Check with local nurseries for these fruit trees and more to make your home gardening fruitful. Remember, one of the best ways to count our daily blessings is by spending some time in the garden and appreciating the fruits of our efforts.
This information is supplied by the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. For more information about gardening and landscaping, contact one of our Master Gardeners at 981-5199 in Hilo or 322-4892 in Kona.
