Hawai'i (and my Dad's farm) in a Ferrari FF

My Dad and Mary Lou's farm was one of the stops on this tour of the Big Island in a $350,000 Ferrari FF. You can fast-forward to about 6 minutes in to see his farm. My dad said the hosts and crew for the show were nice and very professional. Later in this video they summit Mauna Kea, which brought back some memories for sure!



As awesome as this car is and fun it would be on the Big Island, I think I would still prefer something like the Jeep we rented the last time we were there. So much of Hawai'i is still a bit rough and having a real 4WD vehicle simply means that you can visit more places, which is surely the point of a vacation in paradise! (Click on either of the links in this last paragraph to see some of our Jeep adventures.)

Hawai'i 2011

Here are the still photos I've uploaded so far from the Hawai'i trip.

You can see the set on flikr here.




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Dad's Engine

My sister and brother-in-law are visiting my father out it Hawai'i. My dad likes to restore old engines--by which I mean old farm/industrial engines of the type used to pump water or run mills, etc. Here is footage and explanation as he starts up a 1931 Fairbanks-Morse engine which he has restored at attached to a generator. He can run his whole house and the guest house on this engine quite efficiently. The start-up procedure at the minute mark is pretty neat. Basically you just give in a shove and it starts running. There no electricity in this engine whatsoever. It was built to be tough as nails, too, this thing spent many decades rusting the tropical weather before my dad got a hold of it and restored it.



And people wonder where I get my technical bent!

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The Tay's....

People sometimes ask me where the name "Tay" comes from. Actually, it's a very old family name. I was named after William Tay, who came over to America in the 17th century. I assume he was Scottish given that "Tay" is both the name of a town, a loch, and the longest river in Scotland. A ship's register has his occupation listed as "distiller of strong spirits." We believe he was born in 1608. He married Grace Newell in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1644. She was 13 years younger than he (23 to his 36). Together they had eight children (Grace, John, Isaiah, Abiel, Peter, Nathaniel, Jeremiah, and Elizabeth). He lived to be 75. His wife managed an impressive 91 years!

Nathaniel married and had eight more kids. Among them, another William Tay, whom I believe is the William Tay that fought in the French and Indian Wars as an officer commissioned by Samuel Adams. This William married Abigail Jones and the two of them had one child, Samuel Tay.

Samuel fought on the Patriot side of the American Revolution, rising through the ranks. Quite a few other men with the surname of "Tay" are listed on the Patriots' Rolls as being from the town of Woburn, so I suspect they were all cousins and siblings. The Woburn Militia was one of the principal combatants at the Battle of Concord Bridge, which was the first Patriot victory of the Revolutionary War.

After the war Samuel and his wife had one son, another Samuel. Several more Samuels follow down the line until you get to Samuel Wright Tay, also known as "Tutu" (the Hawaiian word for "Elder." He moved to Hawai'i in 1910 with his wife. At that time Hawai'i was a U.S. Territory with lots of agricultural production. His skills an engineer were no doubt in demand! They had no sons, so "Tay" died out as a surname, however it continued as a given name.

Their daughter Alice Elizabeth Tay married my grandfather, William Washburn Moss, Jr., and the two eventually settled back in Hawai'i after spending some time in New England and having three kids. One of them was my father. I'm not sure how my parents chose "William Tay" in particular, other than it is a historic name in our family, but I'm glad they did.

So... That's the basic story of my name!

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The 1848 Jenks Carbine

When I was a kid living in Kansas my dad had three antique rifles hanging over the couch in the living room. One was a colonial flintlock musket made in the 18th century. The second was a muzzle loading civil war era musket of a type that saw a lot of action in that war. It's still in great condition--in fact my dad and I would load it up with black powder and shoot it the back yard sometimes!

1848 Jenks Carbine
The third rifle was much more unusual--an 1848 Jenks navy carbine. It's a short, light-weight rifle designed for use on a ship. We nicknamed it "Tiny." I imagine it was possibly used in ship-to-ship battles or possibly on patrols sent ashore. Who knows how far around this world this rifle may have gone. When I was a kid I was allowed to play with this rifle when I had permission (keep in mind, this in an antique and perfectly safe).

Anyway, my dad decided to donate the rifle to the NRA firearms museum. The NRA blog says this was the first donation they've received from Hawai'i and that they expect to put it on display. Kind of neat to know that something I played with as a kid is now in a museum.

My dad notes the following:

The curator of the museum has determined by serial number that it was issued to the Navy's Pacific Squadron in the late 1840's and early 1850's. That squadron was largely in the far east, and saw action in China in the mid 1850's.

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Tay in Hawai'i - 1992

Continuing our Hawai'i posts, here are two pictures Meg uploaded of me in Hawai'i in 1992.
Just look at those chiseled calves!

My first game bird--damn thing was almost bigger than me!

The story of the turkey goes like this. Wild turkeys (among other edible beasts) roams the mountains in Hawai'i. They have no predators but breed quickly, so if they wander onto your property they are pretty much fair game. I was taking a nap when my dad woke me up and gave me the rifle. I took the shot from about 50 feet and killed the beast (not a very challenging shot--I must admit). Luckily, the rifle scope was not properly calibrated, so the bullet killed the bird cleanly but didn't make a complete mess of it. Dad helped me strip off the feathers and skin and we put in on the BBQ for supper.

I know, not everyone who reads this blog will understand why this was a great experience for me, but I do have a clean conscience eating meat from the grocery store knowing that I have no ethical qualms about killing animals for food. In fact, I'm much more ethically troubled by what happens on corporate feed lots and giant chicken operations than hunting fields.

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How the Moss's Got Into Fish House Punch

My Dad just finished his 7th round of Coffee picking this season on the farm. That makes for about 3,500 lbs. of cherry--he expects to set a new production record. Interesting to me how a farmer can radically improve the yield of even a well established orchard with good practices. At first the yield declined as he pruned and weeded, but then it started producing more than twice what it when he first inherited the farm from my grandparents.

BTW, my father has a weather station at the farm that logs the data online. Those of us shoveling snow can just look on data like this and be jealous:

Sick--just sick.

Anyway--about Fish House Punch. Our version this year substituted Apricot Brandy for Peach Brandy (which is hard to find in the LCBO, for some reason). It turned out really well, but I think I should experiment more with the recipe. Different rums, for example.

So my mom decided to share the story of how we got into making this deadly brew:

Fish House Punch--from my memory---the very first time that I heard of it was when we tasted some at Tay and Chris' home in Ohio. They had made some for a party they had hosted. We started to make it the first sunday in Advent after we moved to Wichita and we had the lvingroom furniture rehopolstered and custom drapes made at the Ethan Allen store for the livingroom picture window. The reason I remember this is because I had gone to a presentation at the store about colonial christmas traditions and was given a handout with recipes. I had watched a film that day that showed an old New England village and in one of the homes, the family had made Fish House Punch and was serving it to people who stopped by to visit. One of the recipes on the handout was for Fish House Punch. We decided to try making it and when I checked in my Williamsburg Cookbook (which I think Lynne now has) the recipe matched the one from the handout from the store. It became a tradition quickly to make Fish House Punch the first sunday of Advent. We learned early on that it is very potent and people can get easily plastered!! Anyway, that is the story as I remember it.

By "Tay" above she means my Aunt Tay, not me. Yes, Tay has been both a man and woman's name in family (which I think is pretty cool).

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Charlotte in Hawai'i

Here's a picture of my niece, Charlotte, at my dad's place:



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More Publicity for the "Naked Truth" Calendar

The Calendar my Dad's wife and their friends made to promote the cause of 100% pure Kona Coffee has gotten more press. The Star Bulletin's article makes more of the feminist angle and makes it clear that the calendar "suggests everything but reveals nothing," as Mary Lou Moss is quoted saying.

Apparently they sold out of the first printing and are going to print another run. Good for them!

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"The Naked Truth" Calendar

Regulars to my blog know that my dad and his wife grow and sell Kona Coffee in Hawai'i. Most of the "Kona" Coffee that you find around is actually a blend of real Kona Coffee and cheaper stuff, and loose labeling laws allow the big mills to be deceptive in their advertising. Needless to say, farmers like my dad are big into protecting the reputation of 100% real Kona Coffee. One of their efforts along these lines has produced a semi-nude calendar entitled, "The Naked Truth about 100% Kona Coffee."

A local paper has the scoop:

"A bold step was needed, and we took it," said Mary Lou Moss, a Kona coffee farmer who operates Holualoa-based Cuppa Kona and came up with the idea for the calendar.

The calendar, which sells for $12 on the trade association's www.konacoffeefarmers.org Web site, aims to "tastefully" depict farming activity that takes place each month of the year on Kona coffee farms.

Eleven farmers agreed to be featured in the calendar, including "Miss May" Cecelia Smith of Smithfarms, who said participating wasn't easy but was helped by champagne consumption. (source)

I'm so proud. You can buy one of their calendars from this link...

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Hawai'i

My dad and various members of my extended family live on the Big Island of Hawai'i. The first member of my family to arrive in paradise was my great-grandfather, known as Tutu (an informal Hawaiian word for "elder"). Tutu was a civil engineer, an important trade at the time given the expanding agricultural industry. His wife joined them and they raised a family out there. One of their daughters, Elizabeth Tay, married my grandfather, William Moss, Jr., and they moved away from the Island for some years before returning as they neared retirement age.

They bought an old coffee farm near my great-grandfather's old place (which is still in the family). At the time the two structures on the place were little better than barns, but my grandparents converted both quite nicely. Every few years I would go out to visit. Playing with the cows and sailing with my grandfather on his boat are special memories for me.

After my grandparents passed away, my father retired to the farm with his wife. They continue raising coffee (my dad could be considered a third-generation Kona Coffee grower), as well as chickens and cows. They rent out the guest house for vacationers and indulge their hobbies. In my dad's case, that includes restoring old engines, brewing beer, and growing the coffee.

Kona Coffee is a special treat. Much of what gets passed off as "Kona Coffee" is really just a blend of 10% Kona and 90% cheaper stuff from Brazil, Columbia, or God-knows-where. But pure 100% Kona Coffee is a thing of beauty. My dad sells it for $22/lbs, if you're interested.

My dad has a weather station that uploads data to the web, so here's a chart of the daily temperature range for the last year:

Note how it rarely goes above 80 or below 60 (26 or 16 in Celsius). That's pretty sweet.

Hawai'i is on my mind today because my sister Meg is there with her family for some vacation time. I'm also planning to visit after Christmas this year, finances permitting. The place is in my blood and I do miss it...

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Kona Coffee Parade Video

Here's a video of a parade in Kona, Hawai'i, where my dad lives. He grows Kona Coffee and is very involved with some of the local farmers to promote the interests of the best coffee on earth. That's him driving a jeep he restored around the 2:45 mark in this video. The float he is pulling won first prize ($500) in their division.



I have some pretty deep family roots out there. My Great-Grandfather settled there back in the day and raised a family. Hawai'i is a very special and unique place that I'm privileged to be able to visit sometimes. I highly recommend it. If you are looking for a place to stay, consider my dad's guest cottage. Yes, he and his wife have a hard life out there. Sigh.

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