Hubbell's Hog Heaven and Liz's Happy Hens: a Farm Tour

Contented pigs with no smell and no flies! Happy chickens protected from mongoose and heavy tropical rains.Animal feed crops and trees being grown on broken pahoehoe lava rock. All this on a one and a half acre suburban setting, thanks to the cultivation of indigenous micro-organisms (IMO). Going beyond basic organic farming methods, Liz and Mike walk you through their productive little farm in Pahoa, Hawaii, where they practice Korean Natural Farming as taught by Master Cho. Hubbell's...
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Contented pigs with no smell and no flies! Happy chickens protected from mongoose and heavy tropical rains.Animal feed crops and trees being grown on broken pahoehoe lava rock. All this on a one and a half acre suburban setting, thanks to the cultivation of indigenous micro-organisms (IMO). Going beyond basic organic farming methods, Liz and Mike walk you through their productive little farm in Pahoa, Hawaii, where they practice Korean Natural Farming as taught by Master Cho. Hubbell's Hog Heaven is home of the first Natural Farmed pig litter in Hawaii and the entire USA!**********Here's a book review by Sonia Martinez, cookbook author and freelance food writer for several publications in Hawaii, including the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network, Ke Ola Magazine, & The Hamakua Times of Honoka'a. She has her own food & garden blog at Sonia Tastes Hawaii.**********Hubbell's Hog Heaven & Liz's Happy Hens: A Farm Tour by Elizabeth Cannon is a book about an innovative one-and-a-half acre Natural Farming project near Pahoa, Puna on Hawai'i Island. Liz and her husband Mike Hubbell had farmed organically on the mainland for over 30 years. But when they retired to Puna six years ago they decided to farm their mostly lava-covered land using Dr. Cho's Korean Natural Farming Method. They attended several Natural Farming presentations and even took a trip to Korea to experience well-established Natural Farming methods first-hand. This gives an idea of how serious they have been about their project.In this primer, Liz covers the basics of Natural Farming with indigenous micro-organisms (IMO's), relates the fundamentals of building a piggery, introduces their experience raising and caring for several litters of pigs, describes their inventive and successful method for raising chickens and eggs, and talks about their long-term sustainability goals. Liz's writing style uses plain down-to-earth language, so that even people who don't farm (or are chemistry majors) can understand and enjoy the read.She includes in entertaining detail how she and Mike started the whole project, what worked and what had to be rethought, as well as their plans for the near future. Particularly interesting were how they built their piggery and Mike's idea for what has been coined 'the Hubbell Bubble', their innovative chicken house. Liz's Happy Hens produce dozens and dozens of eggs, and the chicken project was photographed and explained from start to finish in great detail, making it easy to follow the process.You can read about the excitement of their first litter of pigs (which by the way was the first litter of pigs born by the Korean Natural Farming method in the United States), and also what they plant in their little farm as food for both their livestock and themselves.The farm has been visited by many school groups and people interested in natural and organic farming methods.