Su Ba

Here’s one I was presented with yesterday at our farmers market. A lady wanted to know which variety it was so that she could grow those seeds too.  And she wanted to sell her excess cucumbers to me because she couldn’t eat that many.

Tomote de árbol is the "tree tomato" in Hawaii, also called the tomatillo. It is a perennial small tree-like plant that grows well for me as a forest margin tree. This means that it prefers some sun, but also shade and lives along the edge of a woods or forest in the zone between dense tall trees and low brush and grassland. I have been told that it grows in the full sun in places, but mine do better in the margin area.  It is a long lived perennial in the tropics. Mine typically last 7 to 10 years. It is hardy and plants can be replanted barefoot style.

The fruiting is seasonal. Fruits are often abundant. The thick tough skin is not eaten. The soft pulp inside is usually eaten in Hawaii  as a tart but also sweetish fresh fruit. One either bites or cuts off the pointy end and then sucks or squeezes the pulp out directly into your mouth. When making jams or mixing with other ingredients, the fruit is cut in half and the pulp scooped out with a spoon.  It is not used as a substitute for slicing tomato.

I have seen three different varieties here in Hawaii, although there could be more. The red is more tart and astringent. The yellow the sweetest. And the orange pleasantly tart and with some sweetness.


As for a perennial slicing tomato or cherry type tomato, here in Hawaii the plants will last for a full year or more. I have had plants that are still producing at 1 1/2 years of age, but they are no longer robust. I normally take tip cuttings to create the next generation of plants, usually doing that in September. Cuttings can be taken at other times as long as the mother plant is not over mature. September works good for me because the new plants are starting to produce just at the time in want to pull out the old plants. Old plants do not do well through the winter months here, but young plants grow and fruit just fine.

I can only tell you how this works in Hawaii, but this information may help you.

As an instructor for home food production, it drives me batty to have a student approach me with some crazy picture they got off of some social media site showing an impossible garden situation. The, as yet non-educated novice gardener, wants me teach them how to duplicate this marvelous gardening success story. And often they suspect I’m a sorry excuse for a teacher because I can’t. Geez, I really cringe when I see one of those phony pictures pop up.

My hubby is strictly a lettuce fan —- iceberg or romaine. Me, on the other hand, like to make salad out of an assortment of greens, which I grow myself…..
Leaf lettuces, especially the red oak leaf types
All sorts of Asian greens, especially tatsoi, various bok choys, and Chinese cabbage especially one called Tokyo Bekena.
Spinach
Amaranth
Chard/beet greens
A little bit of basil

I’m not fond of arugula or mustard, though I know people who love them in salad mixes. Same for malabar spinach, which I like cooked but not raw.

Force grown dandelion is delightful served with a hot vinegar/bacon dressing. I could eat this every day!

Michael Cox —- a couple of reasons for transporting the pig live : #1 if it is too small, raise it for a few months to grow it larger for your needs. #2 if a sow or a handsome boar, keep it for breeding. #3 hold it until the timing is right, such as wanting fresh meat for a luau or festival. #4 transport it to an area where the pig population has disappeared. A few comments about this last one. In the hills behind a certain town here, Nature Conservancy (and maybe with county or state help) cleared out the feral pig population, much to the dismay of the local families who depended upon the pigs to put food on the table. So the local pig hunters remedied what they saw as a problem by restocking the forest up in the hills with breeding pigs.

Mike Barkley —- I always cut the blood vessels deep in the neck where they exit the chest. While bleeding out makes butchering less messy, my top reason for doing that is to prevent a stunned pig from recovering and taking off. A good head shot has never left me with a stunned pig, but it could happen some day. So bleeding out prevents surprises.

Jack Edmondson —- Perhaps Hawaiian pigs are different from mainland pigs, but I’ve never had a pig hesitate to enter a trap that contained pig blood, even abundant pig blood. I’ll shoot a pig and then drag it out of the trap. But always there is blood in the trap and plenty outside the trap. When I first started trapping, I would carefully clean a bloodied trap and move it to different location. Then once I didn’t have time, and knowing there were several pigs still out in the pasture, I just reset the trap and took my captured one home for butchering. I returned two hours later to find #2 pig in the trap. Since that time, I have always used non-cleaned traps with no problem.  The only thing that keeps a pig from entering a trap here is if it has seen another pig inside a trap. They look, learn, and never enter a trap no matter how enticing the bait. Those pigs have to be either shot from a distance or snared.

Also around here, no way could pigs be sorted with a carrot and rope. Our pigs are highly distrustful when trapped, will bash the trap sides like bulldozers, will grind their teeth, bark, and charge, and will bite the trap bars. Unless we are talking about little piglets, there’s no way to loop a rope over a foot. Just couldn’t be done unless one had the rest of the day to hope for a lucky footstep. Placing a loop over the head is easier but still difficult enough. Much easier to choke it down then quickly tape the pig’s legs together and then to its body.

It’s interesting to see how things are different in different locations.

I had a friend who raised rabbits and canned the meat for feeding her dogs. I guess you could do that with pork. I’ve never tried canning, so I don’t know.

Did they just discard a trap?  Or did they set one up with the intent of catching one?  

Anyway……. A trapped pig can be dangerous and strong, They are like mini-bulldozer/ramrods combined into one very strong and angry animal. They can instantly switch from flight mode into attack mode. They can ram to sides of a trap with amazing speed and power. And at least the ones in Hawaii, they can jump. I’ve seen them easily leap atop a 3 foot high rock wall. And I’ve had my own pigs jump over 42" high barriers when they desired to. So be careful approaching a trapped pig.

Except for piglets under 20-25 pounds, I always shoot the pig while it is in the trap. Then pull it out to let it die before loading it into the back of my truck. Piglets I will lasso through the bars of the trap and tie them to the bars. When all are thus tied, I’ll open the trap and fish one at a time out and place them into a smaller havahart trap for transport back to my farm. I used to use duct tape to bind them up, but I had one get loose that way, so I now stuff them into a havahart for the short ride home.

I know of some local pig hunters to will remove are large pig from a trap by choking it down with a lasso, then binding their legs. Then take it home to their specially secured pig pen. But that takes muscle, more than I have.

Here in Hawaii our pigs do not travel in groups. A mother with her sows…yes, until they get about 3-4 months old. And littermates may stay together until 4-5 months old, sometimes longer. Not that you can’t find a small group hanging around a food source, but they don’t generally herd up.

I trap pigs year around for meat. I use a sturdy trap about 2’ by 4’ with a guillotine door that is tripped by a plate the pig steps upon. I have another trap I can borrow that uses a trip wire in place of a plate. Both work well.

I’ll post a photo later when I have a chance.

I catch about 50 pigs a year. That’s about all that I have the time to butcher out. Almost all go to local families or the local soup kitchen. Occasionally I will get a pig that is gamey, and that goes to the local puppy rescue to feed the dogs. Of course, my own dogs get to enjoy fresh pork (cooked) all the time.

I use a 22 rifle to dispatch a pig while it is trapped. A well placed shot to the forehead drops them instantly. I’ve never tried "behind the ear" shot, though I know of people around here that do that. But such a shot is difficult with a trapped pig. I’ve never missed with one shot (hope I don’t jinx myself by saying that). I’ve never had to make shot #2. I’m careful and take my time.

We skin our pigs here rather than scald them. I simply wash the pig down, dry it with towels, then skin it. The skin, hair and all, goes into the feed cooker to feed my own domestic pigs. I usually raise one pig on the farm to utilize the garden waste, turning it into pork.

Most pigs I’ve caught are under a year old. I’ll get 20 to 25 pounds of deboned meat from most of them. The bones go to make broths, then burnt for soil additives.

It boggles me that people complain about the feral pig population explosion. Why don’t these pigs just get harvested for food? If not for people, then why not for dogs? My dogs have always eaten pork and do just fine. And my chickens adore pork too. Of course, it’s always cooked.

Ra, how well said…. Reaction mode versus observation mode. Yes!!

No time for lunch today, but yesterday was fresh baby spinach salad topped with fresh mango, dressed with sesame dressing. Yum. The spinach I grew myself. The mangos I traded for and was local. The dressing was given to me by a friend who had purchased it but didn’t find it to her liking.

Tomorrow will be a homemade soup—- rice, beans, green onions, and tomatoes cooked in chicken broth, seasoned with local smoked/cured ham. Only the rice isn’t local. I haven’t gotten around to growing my own rice yet…. and maybe never will. I’m running out of time to try that.  But I’m pleased that the soup is mostly local. I’ve tried this soup before and it was delicious.