Wood Valley (AKA the prdouce aisle)

Sorry, this view is currently owned by the Nature Conservancy

A lazy, sunny afternoon here on the Big Island brought us up to Wood Valley, a lush area of pastureland, macadamia nut trees, and coffee farms all perched a few hundred feet up from the ocean...basically heaven on earth.  And heaven it is for a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks who are lucky enough to call this area home. I'd come up here once before and collected enough wild guavas growing on the side of the road to make cocktails one evening with but had no idea the bounty that was waiting to be found...or better yet, stumbled upon.  After a visit to the beautiful Buddhist temple, including a dollar donation to their cause and for letting us look around, we set out up the road by foot to check out the surrounding neighborhood.

For you at home, take notes on how to manifest free fruit...1. set out lots of small bowls filled with yellow liquid (let's say your favorite beer). 2. stick incense in bowls of uncooked rice. 3. place apples on pedestal. 4. achieve produce ZEN

We forgot our grocery bags at home and there was a major lack of kiosks with shopping baskets and carts along the stroll (we'll be returning to leave a comment about this in the comment box at the temple), which we soon discovered to be a major issue for by the time we returned to our car all pockets, hands, and arms were full.  Apparently our $1 dollar donation to the temple rubbed Buddha's belly the right way (despite the fact that they asked for $5 dollars/visit...yeah yeah, we only had $20s and one single, alright) because this hour long jaunt put any trip to Pike Place Market to shame...both for its selection and price...FREE.

The walk started off with a bang,  minding my own business, taking in the views, the sun, and the sweet smells in the air when I glance down and BOOMTOWN...avocado, just sitting there on the ground, waiting for somebody to take it home.  Having never grown up anywhere that you could grow avocados and with throwing down several bucks for one at the store being the norm, this was huge.  Spirits high, we continued on.  Oh hey look a bunch of macadamia nuts on the ground.  You'd think we were squirrels preparing for winter as we filled our pockets. 

After being harassed by a bunch of large, white haired, dreadlocked dogs (they were behind a fence) and saying hello to the local horses we turned around.  What's that in there, looks like a bunch of lemons growing...oh, nope, aint no thang...just an orange tree growing in the woods in the middle of nowhere.  I ambled through spider webs and, oddly, a boozehound's of collection old glass bottles and jugs (fyi there was a makeshift camp site down the road that thwarted our pillaging of a nearby guava tree) and picked a handful of perfectly ripe, delicious oranges.  Our carrying capacity almost maxed out, we rounded the home stretch.  What's that in the middle of the road...must have fallen off the truck...SNAP...the best smelling mini sweet potato known to man.

We returned to the site of the initial avocado discovery and searched for more but to no avail.  Zen Buddhist lesson of the day...nature's bounty cannot be found, because it finds you... Woah, put that one on a Yogi Tea tag.  With about $20 worth of produce we journeyed home, passing the local grocery store and what remained of the farmer's market that morning, set for the week to come.

L to R: Oranges, ginger (not found on this walk, but plenty was there), avocado, sweet potato, guava, macadamia nuts)

And to quote Tyrone Biggums of Chappelle Show fame, "Tastes just like it smells...DELICIOUS!"

-Nick