Mauna Kea Tea

05/18/2023

Green tea. Mutation.
Variegated.

Maybe it’ll make a nice hedge.

05/16/2023

We stopped for mulberries while picking tea. Jackson was climbing up higher, trying to get away.
Not high enough for a good climber girl!

04/06/2023

….

03/08/2023

02/23/2023

Today sumi-temae, or charcoal fire practice.

Setting charcoal,
Fanning,
Breathing.

My fire is still a little temperamental.
I find myself blaming the wind.
Fire tells me, “I am just a reflection of your mind. You need more practice.”

With practice
The motion will be
More synchronous
And the mind be
More calm.

02/01/2023

Sencha Tea ceremony practice.

Did you know sencha in traditional tea ceremony means decoction or extraction at boiling temperature?

This practice really brings connection to ancient time when tea was a medicine.

01/16/2023

A view from our new tea house.

08/16/2022

Summer field with my favorite helper.

05/25/2022

I don’t think it’s just me that it is so calming and satisfying to watch sheep eat grass.

Farmer’s perspective: Endless weeding, one of the hardest part of farm work, is done naturally. They recycle weeds and keep themselves fed. No need to compost, no herbicides sprayed, no fertilizer purchased, no back breaking weeding….
They don’t eat everything, but some of the most noxious weeds are their favorite.

And if you are wondering, they do eat tea leaves too.
Give and take. Share some good tea with good helpers.

05/23/2022

Nice low hanging lehua. Feels like I’m part of bonsai.

05/12/2022

Many tea ceremony practitioners appreciate simplicity and natural beauty of Bizen and Hagi pottery. The more we practice, the more emotionally connected to the tea pot we become as if we are molded around the tea pot.

Tea pots for a tea practitioner are much like a flute for a flautist. Beautiful experience of tea is our music.
I’ve come across some expensive tea pot that never adopt my hands.

This tea pot is Asahi-yaki from Kyoto. I have used more than 10 years and it grows with me. Unique pattern of stain continues to develop on kannyu, or cracks on glaze, reminding me of my habit.

05/02/2022

Road side giant eucalyptus tree fell into tea field. County road crews cleared the road, and they said they’ll come back to clean up. It’s been a week already.

Tree from 2018 is still sitting there. We ended up clearing most branches in 2018 so we don’t have very high expectations for county crews.

On the positive note, tea plants are very resilient. We’ll cut some damaged branches and they’ll come back strong next year.

In the meantime, we’ll inoculate shiitake mushrooms on fallen eucalyptus logs.

Shiitake and tea share similar climate. And tea is our reminder to think natural and think outside the box.

Humility and gratitude are difficult things to practice when we need them the most. There are alway many ways to look at the same problem. Which side we want to look will shape who we are.

We’ll be contemplating while sipping tea.