Manawai Estate Chocolate

This week marks a new chapter for Sweet Paradise, the purchase of 7 acres on the Hana Hwy in Haiku for farming cacao.
Who would have thought that at 58 I'd become a farmer and yet the very thought is quite exciting.
I currently have several hundred trees in a greenhouse . Not knowing the exact parentage of the seeds we tasted all the pulp and gave each batch a name based on its taste aling with pics and descriptions of its pod. Thick or thin wall, shape and color, number of seeds and pulp quanity. These things may be needless info ... Or not.
Our collection sports names like sweet and juicy, lychee, green apple and fruit loops.
Its exciting to think that in just 3 years we could be making our own chocolate from these trees.
With a sustainable goal in mind we are also planting all the other things we use in our chocolate production- lilikoi vines, blood oranges, coffee,cloves, starfruit and vanilla .Being in natures seasonal rythmn gives value to life and appreciation for our food sources.
Although I've never farmed on a large scale , property development and small scale orchards have been part of my past when I owned a large boarding stable for horses. It introduced me to rural life, tractors, chickens and moving earth.
So here we are in Hawaii on a new farming journey and a goal to have a sustainable chocolate production.
Stay tuned as the journey unfolds.