Farming

The primary task across the river on our Himalayan Acres agricultural land is to keep the vigorous guinea and elephant grasses mowed down next to and between the rows of noni and hardwood trees. However, the tractor must stay a distance from the tree to avoid bumping and breaking its lateral branches. To accomplish this and still mow grass right next to the trunk, we mount mowers that stick several feet out to the right side, beyond the tires. Our old Ford tractor has just been fitted with a new rotary mower on the back which is stronger than the previous mower. It needs to be strong enough for when the grass sometimes gets extra tall and thick. Some extra reinforcement was added to handle the weight of the mower.

At the front of the tractor is mounted a small rotary mower that sticks out even further. It is able to safely cut right next to the trunk because the blade is underneath a slightly wider circular disk which turns freely and can roll against the trunk.

As the price increased for shipping our noni juice in large totes to California for bottling and labeling, then shipping it back to Kauai, it became apparent that we would save money in the long run by doing the bottling and labeling ourselves. This also gives the flexibility to bottle in small batches as needed rather than filling up large totes all at once.

We invested in a bottling and labeling machine. Today we share some photos of the labeler. It has many moving parts and is finicky during the setup process for each labeling session. The machine not only applies a label, but also stamps a expiration date on the label. All the micro adjustments must be perfect and often require sacrificing a few labels initially. Once it is running well, the rest of the session usually proceeds without a hitch. One of our part-time employees, Doug, does much of the bottling and labeling, under Arumuganathaswami’s guidance.