Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Kava Botany Growing kava on Pentecost

P

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast
Wow! So much beautiful kava! :) That was very interesting to watch and see the process although I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. Can anyone tell me what they were doing with the roots in the white sack? I thought maybe at first they were washing it, but I didn't see any water and it looked like he was pounding it or something or trying to make more fit. Dunno. Cool video. Thanks for sharing it. :)
 
kastom_lif

kastom_lif

Kava Lover
Ibbygirl said:
Wow! So much beautiful kava! :) That was very interesting to watch and see the process although I couldn't understand a lot of what he was saying. Can anyone tell me what they were doing with the roots in the white sack? I thought maybe at first they were washing it, but I didn't see any water and it looked like he was pounding it or something or trying to make more fit. Dunno. Cool video. Thanks for sharing it. :)
Click to expand...
Those looked like a bag of stumps (lewena).

Man lo video ia hemi talem olsem...

"What is kava, here on our island of Pentecost? So, I wanna tell you a little about kava. How they plant kava... until harvest time... and you sell it... and get money. Kava on Pentecost, there are 3 kinds of kava: borogo, green leaf, and one they call in local language "fabu", meaning stone kava. If you don't know, that means "stone kava." These are the three kinds they plant on Pentecost. When you plant one kava, it takes you many years to make a harvest. Now, first it depends how you put the kava in the ground. First one, you put kava in the ground--it doesn't mean you just plant it. You prepare it, until after 7 days have gone by, it starts to grow, then you take it and go plant it. We say you make a nursery here. You keep it 7 days then you go and plant it out. Don't you think kava work is finished. Now your work is to watch for vines and grass or all things that can kill the kava. You must look out. It takes 1 year, then it gets to a level like this. These are 1 year old plants. Now, this kava gives you only a small krunk. It means, after you've tended kava for 1 year it is weak. So after a year kava grows up another level, and it gives you better effects, and you can negotiate at the market for it. When kava is 3 years, for your information, it will put on the most weight in each stump. Then at 4 to 5 years and more; six years, that's when we say the kava is not light. When kava is 1 to 3 years it's light. Heavy kava gives big money, it's 4 to 5 years. That's how you make money. When kava grows to the level of 4-5 years you can make money now. You arrive at your kava garden. What do you need? What do you develop? You make a business because you guarantee that there is money. That's something when you are talking, you can say you have money in your mouth for real, when you're planting kava. In addition to that, you can make money with it, you can do everything when you think about it. You can make kastom for a funeral. You can make kastom for a marriage, a pig ceremony, or for any kastom ceremony or any chief you host on the island of Pentecost, you need kava. So for your information again, to do it up right, you need kava. This is the style on Pentecost where we cut branches of kava for re-planting. After you cut off all the leaves, if you don't have enough branches and you want to plant, like, a whole hectare, we use "two ring", you cut it short like this. If you have lots of kava but you want kava to grow fast, we use the whole branch of one. In addition to that it depends how you care for it. You tend it badly, your kava dies. You care good, your kava lives. So these are branches we just cut today. We will prepare them, and we will make a harvest here. We'll make a harvest and we'll be carrying 150 kg in one bag. So we got kava here, we're getting it. We re-use the branches. After one week we plant them back, it keeps the business going. Preparing kava, for you to plant kava. Please feel me when I tell you: rest the kava stems for 7 days. The nursery where you must rest them for 7 days, this is it here. You dig a hole. Don't dig it 1 meter deep. 40 cm is fine. Once you've dug out some soil you put in a kava branch at an angle. Don't just toss them in the ground. Make sure no branches lay together or cross one another or they will rot. Make sure that you space them out: put in one branch and cover it up with ground, then another branch, and cover it up well. This is a nursery where we're resting the branch cuttings right now. It's a shady place where we know that the branches will not die, and you don't waste kava. This here now, is where we go to negotiate and sell kava. That man down there who buys our kava, he's just "John from Santo." You have to cut out the lateral roots when you sell kava to him. Put the rus (waka) in one bag, and put the stampa (lewena) in another bag."
 
Last edited:
P

Pounigirl

Kava Enthusiast
kastom_lif said:
Those looked like a bag of stumps (lewena).

Man lo video ia hemi talem olsem...

"What is kava, here on our island of Pentecost? So, I wanna tell you a little about kava. How they plant kava... until harvest time... and you sell it... and get money. Kava on Pentecost, there are 3 kinds of kava: borogo, green leaf, and one they call in local language "fabu", meaning stone kava. If you don't know, that means "stone kava." These are the three kinds they plant on Pentecost. When you plant one kava, it takes you many years to make a harvest. Now, first it depends how you put the kava in the ground. First one, you put kava in the ground--it doesn't mean you just plant it. You prepare it, until after 7 days have gone by, it starts to grow, then you take it and go plant it. We say you make a nursery here. You keep it 7 days then you go and plant it out. Don't you think kava work is finished. Now your work is to watch for vines and grass or all things that can kill the kava. You must look out. It takes 1 year, then it gets to a level like this. These are 1 year old plants. Now, this kava gives you only a small krunk. It means, after you've tended kava for 1 year it is weak. So after a year kava grows up another level, and it gives you better effects, and you can negotiate at the market for it. When kava is 3 years, for your information, it will put on the most weight in each stump. Then at 4 to 5 years and more; six years, that's when we say the kava is not light. When kava is 1 to 3 years it's light. Heavy kava gives big money, it's 4 to 5 years. That's how you make money. When kava grows to the level of 4-5 years you can make money now. You arrive at your kava garden. What do you need? What do you develop? You make a business because you guarantee that there is money. That's something when you are talking, you can say you have money in your mouth for real, when you're planting kava. In addition to that, you can make money with it, you can do everything when you think about it. You can make kastom for a funeral. You can make kastom for a marriage, a pig ceremony, or for any kastom ceremony or any chief you host on the island of Pentecost, you need kava. So for your information again, to do it up right, you need kava. This is the style on Pentecost where we cut branches of kava for re-planting. After you cut off all the leaves, if you don't have enough branches and you want to plant, like, a whole hectare, we use "two ring", you cut it short like this. If you have lots of kava but you want kava to grow fast, we use the whole branch of one. In addition to that it depends how you car for it. You tend it badly, your kava dies. You care good, your kava lives. So these are branches we just cut today. We will prepare them, and we will make a harvest here. We'll make a harvest and we'll be carrying 150 kg in one bag. So we got kava here, we're getting it. We re-use the branches. After one week we plant them back, it keeps the business going. Preparing kava, for you to plant kava. You're hearing us tell you: rest the kava stems for 7 days. The place where you must rest them for 7 days, this is it here. You dig a hole. Don't dig it 1 meter apart. Space them like 40 cm. Once you've dug out some dirt you put in a kava branch. Just toss them in the ground. Make sure no branches lay together. It can rot. Make sure that you space them out--one branch, ground covers it up good, one branch, ground covers it up good. This is a place where we're using branch cuttings now. It's a place where we say that the branches are not dead, and you don't waste kava. This now, is where we go to negotiate and sell kava. The man down there who buys our kava, he's just John from Santo. You have to cut out the roots when you sell kava to him. Put the roots (waka) in one bag, and put the stumps (lewena) in another bag."
Click to expand...

Wow! Thank you so much for putting that transcript up. That was incredibly kind of you! I really appreciate it! :) :love:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top