Friday, September 22, 2006

Cup of Coffee

Here it is, organic shade grown Maui coffee in my back yard. Have a cup while I work on a more lengthy post.














If only it came dried, defleshed and roasted right off the tree I might actually have a cup of home brew. Bananas are so much easier.

6 comments:

christin m p in massachusetts said...

Wow -- a naturalist and a survivalist. That is so cool that you know how to grow and roast your own coffee beans. Since you said bananas are so much easier, I'm wondering -- Do you have your own banana tree?

My youngest brother told me that when he first moved to Hawaii, there were a couple of times he needed to climb banana trees to have something to eat. He was so Bohemian back then -- he still is in a lot of ways -- mostly having to do with what I think you once referred to as "an exotic look" and "a grand entrance" -- not an everyday thing for him, so it took us all by surprise at first. There must be something in the air in Hawaii and Massachusetts... And Florida too I think.

Christopher C. NC said...

I have pilferage rights in many of the garden I tend so I let other people grow bananas for me.

christin m p in massachusetts said...

Pilferage rights is a nice job perk. Do you also get some free mangos and pineapples and avocados?

No matter where I've ever lived, I've always been lucky enough to have neighbors who give me vegetables from their gardens -- especially tomatoes (which only taste good if they're fresh from a local garden) and different varieties of squash. We have grape vines, raspberries, two apple trees, and a cherry tree right in our yard, but -- with the exception of the raspberries -- most of the fruit doesn't seem to ripen well -- I'm not sure why. My Mom has two walnut trees in her yard, and those don't ripen well either. But she does have a knack for growing nice vegetables, as well as beautiful foliage plants and flowers.

What do you professional growers do to fruit trees, groves, vines... that nature doesn't?

Anonymous said...

M m m m
delicious. I always thought it would be fun to grow my own coffee.

Christopher C. NC said...

I have Avocado, Orange and Papaya in my garden. The list of fruits I can collect else where is rather long. Not many people grow Pineapple and when they do the fruits are dwarfed usually since they are not pumped full of chemicals.

What professional growers do hopefully is grow the right plant in the right climate under the right growing conditions that gives the plant what it needs to grow well and the time to ripen.

Hi Becky. Welcome to garden blogging. Coffee is a very easy plant to grow and for you would possibly make an attractive foliage house plant. I don't think you will be selling beans to Starbucks though.

Annie in Austin said...

The coffee plant is really attractive, Christopher - but that amount of beans wouldn't keep me awake for very long. I've been drinking it for too many decades.

It's too hot here to grow most apples or raspberries and we can only grow bananas as an ornamental here in Central Texas. The tops freeze off before they can fruit, then resprout in spring. Our Loquat trees do great, but many winters sees the fruit frozen before it's developed. We can grow peaches - well some people can grow peaches, and some get Pinapple guavas. The Meyer lemon plant comes inside when there are frosts, but does make some lemons!

There are pecan orchards over to the southeast, peach orchards to the south west, and pick your own blackberry farms scattered around, as well as a lot of good grocery stores for the bananas and coffee.

Annie