August 2011 Newsletter
Macadamia Nuts – Welcome to the 2011 season
Aloha from Monika and Roger,
The new season has begun and we are off to a great start. As of the end of this month we are already into our third picking. We hope that we can continue to serve you in this year and we want to assure you that we are working hard to supply you with the freshest and healthiest Macadamia Nuts possible.
Due to an increase in our operating expenses we had a 5% price increase (see next page). We also added small nuts to our price chart for our customers who buy these regularly. If you’re interested in small nuts, we’d be happy to send you a sample with your next order. Just drop us an email or give us a call.
The fence is holding up well and a lot of pigs are moving out giving neighbor farmers a headache. The trees look healthy and love the extra organic nutrients that we added to the fertilizer. All in all we are very happy with the results.
A word to our subscribers: Your prices are locked in for 12 months at the prices you started with. Whenever that period ends, we will continue your subscription with the new prices.
Please accept our thanks for letting us provide our Macadamia Nuts to you.
2011 - 2012 Pricing
Qty lbs |
Price nuts |
Price per lb |
Shipping (U.S) |
Total |
11 lbs WIS |
$ 37.40 |
$ 3.40 |
$ 13.00 |
$ 50.40 |
17 lbs WIS |
$ 55.25 |
$ 3.25 |
$ 16.00 |
$ 71.25 |
51 lbs WIS |
$ 153.00 |
$ 3.00 |
$ 48.00 |
$ 201.00 |
102 lbs WIS |
$ 270.30 |
$ 2.65 |
$ 96.00 |
$ 366.30 |
500 lbs WIS |
$ 1,105.00 |
$ 2.21 |
tbd |
tbd |
1000 lbs WIS |
$ 2,100.00 |
$ 2.10 |
tbd |
tbd |
Shipping: nuts are shipped in USPS flat rate boxes if not otherwise specified
Shipping to Canada: Medium Size FRB $ 29 and Large Size FRB $ 36.
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As a thank you we will add a free Lehua* honey with all orders received before September 30, 2011 (one per customer).CLICK HERE to order some nuts and redeem your FREE HONEY
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Here on our farm we are surrounded by ōhi`a trees. The ōhi`a lehua belongs to the myrtle family and is endemic to Hawaii. It grows from sea level right up to the tree line and is the most common native tree in the Hawaiian Islands. It can be tall in favorable situations and small when colonizing recent lava fields. Ōhi`a lehua is one of the few honey plants that is native to the Hawaiian Islands. The Lehua flowers come in red, orange, yellow and white (more info to follow with the honey*).
Mahalo, Monika Nauen and Roger Wing
*This enchanting story of young love and jealousy is attached to your free honey
In Hawaiian Mythology, Ōhi`a and Lehua were two young lovers. The volcano goddess Pele fell in love with the handsome Ōhi`a and approached him, but he turned down her advances. In a fit of jealousy, Pele transformed Ōhi`a into a tree. Lehua was devastated by this transformation and out of pity the other gods turned her into a flower and placed her upon the ōhi`a tree. Other versions say that Pele felt guilty but was unable to reverse the change, so she turned Lehua into a flower herself. Separating these united lovers is not encouraged, and it is said that when a lehua flower is plucked from an ōhi`a tree, the sky fills with rain representing the lovers' tears.
* * *
March 2011 Newsletter
Macadamia Nuts - The 2010 season has come to an end yielding triple the harvest of 2009
Aloha from Monika and Roger,
The harvest season is over and we want to give you an update on what is going on here in our farm.
We are very pleased to say that the fence did its job. The pigs’ diet no longer consists of our Macadamia Nuts.
Our orchard is pesticide free and the supplemental nutrients that we added to the organic fertilizing last year worked great for us. The trees are looking healthier and are producing more and larger nuts.
We're at a critical stage now with the trees in full bloom. Excessive wind, rain and high humidity can damage the flowers. Our bee keeper recently delivered 32 strong bee hives to help pollinate the flowers. We've been lucky so far and have seen many new nuts setting. From this stage, it takes about six months to full maturity.
For a while we worked with natural insect repellents. If you found some remains of garlic or rosemary or if you wondered about a little whitish dust on the nuts that explains it.
It was a very busy season for us and we can’t wait to go on vacation. We are leaving at the end of May and we will be back on June 20th. Please order nuts now and order a big enough quantity that will last you through the off season. We have plenty of nuts at this moment but last year our inventory was gone in no time, so please do not wait.
To our subscribers: Relax and sit back, your supply of nuts is safe and you do not need to do anything. We plan to ship your monthly supply for June and July out by the end of May before we go on vacation. After our return we need about two weeks for cleaning and maintenance and then we are ready to start with the new crop.
We expect the new picking season to begin in July; those nuts will be ready for sale in August.
Thank you all for your continued business.
Monika Nauen March 2011
Roger Wing
Good to know: Why are nuts shiny or have a dull appearance???
The shiny nuts were harvested during dry weather and the dull nuts while we received heavy rain. The soil sticks to the husks and then dulls the shells as they pass through the de-husking machine.
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September 2010 Newsletter
Macadamia Nuts – The 2010 season is under way
Aloha from Monika and Roger,
As a lot of you know it has been a real challenge for us over these last few months to ship out orders as quickly as we would have liked. We are quite pleased now to let everyone know that the area under the trees is loaded with fresh fallen Macadamia Nuts and that we have tons of nuts available now.
We completed several projects on the farm over the off season and we expect to see the benefits from them soon. We know that we have spoken to you previously about losing nuts on the ground to wild pigs here in the rainforest. Happily, we completed fencing the entire orchard just as the nuts were starting to drop. We now have well over a mile of sturdy fence that is doing its job at keeping the pigs out. We estimate that we lost over a third of our crop last year to them. Now we just see a path beaten down on the outside where they keep looking for a way in.
Also, this last spring, we had both a soil and a leaf analysis done. The trees were looking a bit weak with some yellowing and other signs of stress. The test showed some deficiencies and recommended additional nutrients. We are now using an inorganic fertilizer in addition to our organic fertilizer to keep the trees healthy. Of course, we still do as much organic as we can and we still mulch the husks and the leaves and return them to the orchard. We also want to emphasize that we do not use and never have used any pesticides.
Due in part to the price of these improvements at the farm and in part to the fact that everything costs more, we will have to increase the price of our nuts (see next page). For customers with running subscriptions, the price stays the same until the end of the subscription period.
Our thanks to all of you for your patience, letting us get these small problems worked out. We are now at a point where we are sure we can maintain a steady supply of high quality Macadamia Nuts. This summer there has been a lot of hard work done in the orchard, and by the end of the harvest we expect to have our storage building complete. That will be the last major improvement we need to have in place in order to serve you year round.
Thank you kindly for your patience and understanding.
Monika Nauen - September 2010
~*~
Prices of Macadamia Nuts 2010/2011
Qty lb |
Packaging |
Price nuts |
Price per lb |
Shipping (U.S.) |
|
11 |
FRB* USPS |
$ 35.75 |
$ 3.25 |
$ 12.00 |
$ 47.75 |
17 |
LFRB* USPS |
$ 52.70 |
$ 3.10 |
$ 15.00 |
$ 67.70 |
51 |
3 LFRB USPS |
$ 147.90 |
$ 2.90 |
$ 45.00 |
$ 192.90 |
102 |
6 LFRB USPS |
$ 255.00 |
$ 2.50 |
$ 90.00 |
$ 345.00 |
500 |
tbd |
$ 1,050.00 |
$ 2.10 |
tbd |
tbd |
1000 |
tbd |
2,000.00 |
$ 2.00 |
tbd |
tbd |
*FRB – Medium Size Flat Rate Box (for Canada $ 28)
*LFRB – Large Flat Rate Box (for Canada $ 35)
The 2010/2011 prices are valid until we run out of nuts.
Subscriptions
We offer a great way to save time and money by subscribing for one year of regular deliveries.
A subscriber gets the price for the quantity that he subscribes to for the year (12 months).
Example:
You subscribe for 51 lbs every 3 months and you receive the 102 lbs price.
You subscribe for 11 lbs once a month and you receive the 102 lbs price.
If you choose to subscribe, you are under no obligation to continue and may cancel any time prior to two weeks before your next scheduled shipment.
- Your subscription will run for 365 days from the date of your first order. We will automatically charge your credit card every time we ship out your order.
- The price of the nuts in shell will be the same for the 365 days of your subscription.
- If you already subscribed earlier in the year and your old prices are better than under this new pricing structure we will honor the better prices until your subscription ends. If the new pricing is cheaper, the subscription will start anew with the better pricing.
- At the end of the 12 month period: If you like your subscription as it is, do nothing and we will automatically continue your subscription with the new prices. If you do not wish to continue, you may cancel anytime by phone or drop us an email.
To subscribe, choose a quantity and frequency of delivery and credit card for payment.
FAQ’s
Q: What means “wet in shell (WIS)?”
A: “Wet in shell” means that the nut is very fresh. We try to pick every couple of weeks and then after husking we spread the nuts out in open bins where they dry naturally for up to 6 weeks. To us these are the best tasting nuts, but we are not sure what the birds think. The fresher the nut, the higher the moisture content (water) of the kernel. The kernel is also a bit larger and so may stick to the shell. If not handled correctly a fresh nut can spoil faster than a drier nut (see proper storage).
Q: What means “dry in shell (DIS)?”
A: “Dry in shell” nuts start out the same as the wet in shell, but after drying naturally for up to 6 weeks, they are low-heat dried at about 100 degrees F for 24 to 48 hours. This process reduces the moisture content of the kernel even more, thereby shrinking it, allowing it to separate from the shell. This process increases the price a bit, but you can do this oven-drying yourself to save some $$, if you wish.
Q: When is Macadamia Nut season?
A: The season in the Puna District of Hawaii, begins between June and August and ends in January.
Q: When is the best time to buy?
A: Due to the improvements we have made in our orchard and processing facilities, we should have nuts of premium quality all year around. Barring any damaging acts of nature, you should expect to buy quality nuts throughout the year.
Q: What is an immature nut?
A: An immature nut is one that has fallen off the tree too early. The kernel is smaller but may be sweeter due to the higher sugar content and is fine to eat. Some birds… and people prefer them.
More Information:
Proper Storage:
The nuts are shipped fresh. If you buy WIS or DIS nuts, in either case there are steps you should follow after receiving your order. After receiving your order, take the nuts out of the cardboard box. We ship in Mesh Bags that are perfect to hang in a dry place for storage. If you occasionally squeeze the bag and mix up the nuts you will further the natural drying.
If you want them drier you can also use your home oven to dry the nuts even further. The lower the heat you use, and the better the air circulation, the healthier your Macadamia Nuts will remain.