Day 4: Captain Cook: Greenwell Day

January 14, 2016

In the late 1850's, an Englishman named Henry Nicholas Greenwell came to the Kona region afer a stint in the British army, and a crack at sheep farming in Australia and store keeping in California. Greenwell established what became the biggest cattle ranch in the area, and is also credited with creating the Kona coffee industry. The Greenwell clan grew rapidly, producing a bewildering family tree, readable on Wikipedia. The original Greenwells were pillars of the community around Kealakekuua, with their general store and post office next to the farmhouse being a focal point. The store was run by Henry's wife Elizabeth, who carried on with it into the 1930's.

A granddaughter of the original couple, Amy BH Greenwell established a garden preserve nearby, to protect many of the original plants used for food, clothing, and medicine by the Hawaiian people. Similarly, another Greenwell (Amy's father?) established the Kona Historical Society to preserve the culture of the original ranchers and farmers.

Today, within a couple of kilometers of our hotel, there are five Greenwell related things to see. There is a modern coffee farm and roasting facility, producing a well regarded Kona coffee. Then there is the original general store, operated as a museum, and nearby a Portugese style stone oven, where traditional baking is demonstrated a couple of days a week. After that, we have a traditional small coffee farm, operated by the Historical Society and showing the life there of original Japanese farmers. The farm itself was later snapped up by the Greenwells and thereby came under control of the Society. Finally there is the Amy BH Greenwell ethnobotanical garden.Scenes from starting off from the hotel:

Roadside avocadoes. Too bad we really do not have the facilities to prepare them

Wild turkeys. The island also has lots of wild pigs.

We began the day wandering out into "Greenwell land" not being quite sure where and what all these activities were. But quickly we fell across the bake oven. They had fired it up at 7 a.m., and by 9 were just shovelling out the coals and getting ready to roll dough into balls that would end up in groups of seven in baking pans. It's a "hands on" demonstration, and soon Dodie was in there, rolling Portugese sweet buns like a pro.

Keawe (Mesquite) used to fire the bread oven.

Testers with different varieties at the Greenwell farm

The Portugese connection comes because in the 1870's Portugeses from the Azores and Madeira immigrated to Kona to take part in the cattle industry. Incidentally, something they brought with them was the small stringed instrument that came to be called the Ukelele.

Dodie and the other people put together about 100 pans of rolls, which were set out for their second rising. Meanwhile we headed over to the former general store. Here the Society had an effective device going. Nomally (if you are me) you walk into any museum like setting, absorb the general ambiance and then aimlessly glance at a few of the items on display. Very soon you are ready to go find a latte and croissant, or something. But here they handed you a "shopping list" attributable to someone from the period/community. It's not a scavenger hunt, but rather the lady behind the counter searches out the things on your list, and takes the opportunity of explaining/commenting on each item. Our lady displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of the goods and the community, and it made for an enjoyable 40 minute presentation.

We hurried back to the oven, because the rolls are for sale and we sure did not want any swarms of (other) tourists snapping up our treats. As it happens, there was lots for everyone. We sat for a while with the two trays we bought, waiting for them to cool. It's quite amazing that the oven starts near 900 degrees, and some half dozen hours later can still cook a chicken.

(If you are thinking how come we worked on the rolls and then had to buy them -yeah, they have a great Tom Sawyer operation going!)

Next up for us was the historical coffee farm. The focal point is the farm house, which is done up in the original Japanese style, including low tables and straw mats on the floors. Though in some quarters this house might be called a "shack", even all these years later we found it suffused with a kind of elegance. Perched on a hillside, it was breezy, and out the windows were scenes of lush tropical plants. The kitchen is still in use, with very small woodfired stoves. The wood used is coffee tree prunings, and the cooking imbued the house with pleasant smoky aromas.

Out on the grounds, orange trees were loaded with fruit, and they encouraged us to use a basket on a long bamboo handle to snag a couple. Although said to be navel oranges, we found them to be very mild and extremely juicy. We sat for a while and chatted with a young man of Japanese descent, who was playing the role of the farmer, showing us the little coffee mill that was part of the operation. He does this only part time. Otherwise he is a yoga instructor.

Donkeys carried a lot of coffee in this hilly territory

Look Sabrina, a nice sewing spot - check the bunch of bananas outside.

Our farm guide/ yoga teacher was born right here. Less than 1/3 of Kona residents are white.

Our final stop was the ethnobotanical garden. We had heard from one of the staff at the oven that the garden could be scheduled to disappear. We asked the lady there behind the counter and got the emotional revelation that the staff would be unemployed as of the 31st. Say what? We are talking about a place harbouring all kinds of endangered plant species!It seems Amy Greenwell left the place to the Bishop Museum, and those guys now are concentrating operations on the more tourist rich Oahu. I would like to see the terms of Amy's will, because that sucks!

Well, we enjoyed what will be our second to last walk around this low key but great place. We will go back for one last look before leaving town in a couple of days. Anybody want to buy some rare tropical plants?

The Greenwell garden shop has many shelves of interesting books.

Look Jeremy - these are just a few of the exotic woods on display

Words at the Greenwell garden that need to be taken to heart by the owners and the state

We thought about cycling back north toward Holualoa, but decided we had actually had enough fun for one day. Tomorrow we will turn up the effort, if not the distance, by descending to the sea at Kealakekua Bay. Beyond that there is a "Place of Refuge", always a good idea. Then on the way up there is the "Painted Church". All this sounds like good basic Grampies fare, except the darn uphill bit!

Postscript: Dengue Fever

Dengue fever is a virus, something like West Nile that has the disturbing feature of being spread by mosquitoes. Actually the mosquitoes catch it from humans and then pass it on. There has been an outbreak of Dengue going on here for the past few months. One of the hottest hot spots is right where we are: Captain Cook. In fact two nearby beach parks have been closed because of the risk. We put on lots of DEET when we went into the "bush" at the ethnobotanical garden, but we have yet to see even one mosquito around.

On the other hand, we had planned to take a tour by horse drawn cart down into the Waipio Valley, when we reach Honokaa. However yesterday's paper reports that the valley access has been shut down. We might still cycle to the valley rim, but going down into the jungle seems to be out.

The Dengue outbreak does not seem to be letting up.

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 78 km (48 miles)

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