Look who stopped by the farm today… it’s Tim! We did some catching up today while cracking cacao pods.
Tim used to live with us on the farm for about two years. He planted a lot of our cacao trees that are now starting to produce pods. Tim is a long time volunteer and member of the Mauna Kea Reforestation Project helping out Mark ‘The Sandalwood Man’ planting out sandalwood and mamane trees on the mountain.
The Hawaiian sandalwood is known as ‘iliahi and it was actually one of the first agricultural commodities that came out of Hawaii. Around the 1790’s the Hawaiians harvested sandalwood to export to China until King Kamehameha III declared a harvest ban in 1849. This over harvesting combined with wild cattle, goats and sheep grazing destroyed the native forest ecosystem. In 2010 our state was pressured by conservation groups and Earth Justice to finally start constructing a fenced area on Mauna Kea to establish the Palila Critical Habitat for the critically endangered Palila bird. This is where Tim and Mark planted hundreds of new sandalwood trees.
So this morning Tim picked up a bunch of sandlewood trees in Hilo and gave me one to plant out. Sandlewood is very difficult to grow here. Its not the biggest fan of clay soil, and they like having lots of drainage. Per Tim’s recommendations, I planted the tree on a slope and where it can get a good amount of sun and not get blasted by the wind. It’s also interesting to note that sandlewood is hemiparasitic, meaning that they can steal nutrients from nearby host plants. So I planted a sesbania and several kale plants for it to snack on.
I really hope this tree grows. Did you know that sandalwood nuts are delicious? (and expensive) They are crunchy like rice crispies and Tim and I agree it would be amazing covered in Hawaii grown chocolate.
Originally posted on 2021-07-15, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.