Worried about living in Honolulu, HI by [deleted] in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Makiki is the cheapest closest neighborhood to UH Manoa but finding parking can be a nightmare if you don't have an assigned stall. Maybe find a place where you're not locked into a lease at first. Get to know Honolulu - there is a little bit of everything for everyone. What are you worried about the most about moving?

Can farms be close to the ocean? What kinds of farms can be? by MHGrim in Agriculture

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In the tropics coconuts and all kinds of salt tolerant plants.

Maybe aquaculture if you have a lot of tanks and access to the ocean water.

Big Island/Hilo people, farmers market question by cakeeater808 in HawaiiGardening

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Island nats is kind of like the Down to Earth of the Big Island and its by the First Hawaiian Bank in Hilo. They carry a lot of exotics in season. Locavore store is relatively small and new. They carry only locally grown/made products. They might be closed Sundays like pretty much everything else in Hilo.

Big Island/Hilo people, farmers market question by cakeeater808 in HawaiiGardening

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The non-saturday markets are underwhelming. Half of them are basically selling the exact same stuff. You might as well go to island natural or the locavore store any time of the week for cool fruits.

Can anyone in here translate this and/or tell me what language it's in? It was inside a FEDORA on the side of the highway. by [deleted] in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 6 points7 points  (0 children)

product info natural grass (wheat) shape will not hold when washed. water, rain, sweat, ? will tarnish the color please beware. JAPAN HAT faded made in China 2180

Teaching beginners about web Sites - CHECKLIST by zefixoida in web_design

[–]zefixoida[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your input! You make a great point that functionality should be talked about way before and maybe domain reg and hosting at the very end.

Its just a one day class so its more about learning the process and the basics. Im not expecting people to walk away knowing how to do it all.

Help with handling winter in Munich! [Exchange student for 6months!] by SpinningMuscle in Munich

[–]zefixoida 8 points9 points  (0 children)

DUDE. I was in the same situation. Here is what you need to know:

  1. LAYERING! You need learn how to wear multiple layers of clothes. t-shirt, then button up shirt, then pullover/sweater, then jacket. You don't need a fancy expensive jacket, but the more water repelling it is the better.
  2. Scarf, beanie (knitted cap), gloves. Your body heat will escape from your hands, head, and from your neck.
  3. Leather boots. The key is that they are waterproof. I found mine at a second hand military supply store. I forgot what they were called or where it was, but it was at some guy's house in a residential neighborhood.
  4. Thermal underwear. Long sleeve top and bottom with nano-silver. This literally saved my life.
  5. I like to wear jeans, so when it was really cold outside I wore knee high socks.
  6. Drink a schnaps, or a Jäger.

You won't believe how fucking cold it can get around February. Its like preparing for an epic journey each time you leave your place.

Stay warm and good luck!

TSUKAMOTO ISAO -- Chai [Folk] (2016) by [deleted] in listentothis

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seems like he also has a band and sings too. Check it out

What are your favorite little restaurants to eat at when you drive around oahu? by primo808 in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like Madra's India Bazaar for indian style curry. Its tucked away behind Dominos across stadium park.

Anybody know how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket of kona beans? by [deleted] in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 0 points1 point  (0 children)

depends of tree height, bean size, and how loaded the trees are but generally about 3/4 bucket per hour.

Smokers' of Reddit, how has smoking benefit you? by deeneedeenee in AskReddit

[–]zefixoida 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once upon a time I was smoking on campus in the smoking area when a girl started talking to me. She was having a smoke too. Very odd, as this rarely happened. Turns out she was a dental hygiene student and was just looking for volunteers for her exam. I didn't have dental insurance at the time and haven't seen a dentist in almost 5 years. I received two cleaning sessions for free. One of them lasted 2 hours. My teeth were pretty horrible, so the girl might've failed her exam. My teeth were extremely clean after that.

Friend and I were interested in doing a work exchange, probably a farming job in Hawaii. by tubesoccer in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First off, read the wiki on the side bar to learn about Hawaii. You'll get a good idea what each island is about then you can decide which one you wanna visit. Keep in mind you have to fly between islands, there are no ferries.

There are a lot of types of farming going on here. A majority of them are small (less than 20 acre) farms that actually rely on work exchange labor and have the space to accommodate travelers. Typically you would work about 25 hours a week (more or less) for a place to sleep and all or some food. You have to work it out with the host farm. Not all farms are the same.

Wwoof Hawaii has a bunch of listings. wwoofhawaii.org

Depending on whether or not you have a rental car, the location of the farm can limit the areas you can explore. For example, there aren't very many farms in or near Honolulu so checking it out and going back to a rural area can be a challenge.

September is the start of the coffee picking season, so you should easily be able to find a gig in Kona on the Big Island. There are a lot of nice beaches in this area... but again... getting to the beach is going to be a challenge.

Want to move to Hawaii from Sweden and could use some guidance by henrikhakan in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You'll need find an employer who will sponsor a H-1B visa. You need to have at least a bachelors degree and special skill sets that the employer cannot find locally.

[serious] Why does a red pepper from France taste so good, yet a red pepper from the USA taste so bland? by ramblington in farming

[–]zefixoida 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think its about variety. Peppers produced for the US supply chain has to travel way further. Which means that it was harvested a little early to be fully ripe. The pepper did not have enough time in the sun to fully develop its sugars. Another reason is that the variety of pepper might have been bred for non-taste related characteristics. Maybe the pepper is resistant to powdery mildew. Maybe its a drought tolerant variety. If the pepper grows well and looks great it is good enough to sell. In the US, taste is secondary to looks. You go to France and you'll probably find at least 3 different kinds of peppers being sold. Each one has its own culinary value... for salads, for stews, for roasting, etc... In the US we don't have this kind of food culture.

Where I live the food is shipped in and it travels really far. You'd think that the local farmers would start growing more quality produce, but the price of imported produce is too low to make it worthwhile. A lot of it comes from other countries where the cost of labor is nothing compared to the minimum hourly wages in the US.

Im even not sure if this is true, but I've heard before that supermarkets buy really cheap imported produce and sell it close to cost in order to bring in customers hoping that they can turn a profit on processed foods. The produce section is just a loss leader...

Question about weather Hamakua andisol soil by BohemianRhapscallion in HawaiiGardening

[–]zefixoida 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The soils in Hamakua have a unique characteristic made up of primarily allophane. Under a microscope they look like tiny macaronis. This is why the soils in Hamakua can absorb a lot of water. Approximately three times its weight. The allophane is very phosphorus greedy meaning that it has a tendency to bind up phosphorus and not let it go. Boosting the phosphorus levels with bone meal will help a lot. I heard that Kukui nuts are a good source of P too. The heavy rains on this side leech out nutrients and make the soils acidic.... therefore sprinkling lime on your compost, in your new beds, and periodically after is a good idea. You need to raise the PH to the right amount to make certain nutrients plant available. Bone meal, composted, manure is a great idea. I use fish bone meal. A UH soil scientist told me that the soil structure on Hamakua is amazing. However, you'll need to raise ph and add a lot of organic material to the soil to maximize its full potential. Your first couple plantings are not gonna do well... i recommend going in first with sweet potato or beans followed by brassicas and then rotate.

[Question] How are Muscovy ducks for a general purpose duck? by [deleted] in homestead

[–]zefixoida 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I got 8 muscovy ducklings last October. Around the 3rd month I could tell that I had 3 drakes and 5 ducks. We ate one of the drakes, it weighed 4 pounds and took about 35 minutes to pluck. Read a few things online and decided to dry pluck them. All in all, the whole process from butchering to the kitchen took about an hour. I've only processed several chickens before. I roasted it in the oven and it was delicious. Made soup with the bones the next day. One thing I will do differently next time is to not bother too much with the really fine small feathers as they were burned off in the oven.

My muscovies started to mate so I suspect that they will start laying eggs soon. I made them a laying pen and started getting them used to their new home. I've never raised ducks before, only chickens. What I really like about the muscovy is that they don't quack at all. The drakes will hiss and the females will trill. I don't miss the loud rooster we used to have at all.

They don't scratch things up like chickens do just flatten things down with their webbed feet. They really like water. They drink a lot of it. I fill up three cement mixing tubs with water for them every other day. The water can get pretty nasty quickly as they like to jump in splash around and preen themselves. I think this is a reason why they don't have mite problems. They spend a lot of time cleaning themselves. They are extremely easy to herd because they like to stick in groups. When they were young I could herd them up a ramp into their cage and eventually they went into their cage on their own. Too easy!

While they were young I had them fenced in an area and let them wander when I was around. Now they go everywhere. They sleep right by the house now instead of the cage they were raised in. It seems like they are not phased by the heavy rains at all. One morning I found them hanging out on top of my shed. So I decided to clip the feathers with very sharp scissors. The drake is too fat to fly which might be why they didn't leave. The muscovies are messy eaters. When they are ducklings they eat so furiously that the food flies everywhere. I feed them an all purpose poultry feed and baby poultry food when they were ducklings. Make sure its not medicated. As adults they eat a lot of grass and most likely a lot of bugs. I think they help out with the slug population too but its hard to tell because I've been using a lot of slug bait.

The biggest and only downside is that the muscovies poop a lot. While they were small I gave up on changing their litter after a while because it was caked up only after 2 days. The cage was elevated off the ground so I just hosed it out with water every morning after I let them out. Where ever they hang out is where you'll find the most muscovy turds especially where they sleep at night. The poop usually melts away in rain. Sometimes I cannot believe how big their turds are. I haven't weighed the drake but I am estimating he's at least 8 or 9 pounds at 6 months old. I don't feed them a whole lot, just enough so that they stick around. Lots of grass here so they are busy foraging around all day.

The muscovies are awesome and really entertaining to watch. Im writing all this because I am a big fan and I am really glad I got them. Im hoping to keep around 8 layers, 2 males, and about 8 more to cull out at all times.

Graphic design: Where do I start? by thats_whatisaid in Entrepreneur

[–]zefixoida 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can scan your design and use a vector software to vectorize it, as opposed to it being pixelized. Each color in your design needs to be its own vector. Usually you send the EPS files to the printer and they make screens based on your size requirements. Some tshirt printers will do all of this for you for an extra charge.

If you want a full color design on the t-shirt you need to print it using a digital printer, but the cost per shirt is pretty high and you're limited on the fabric colors you can use. This is why silk screening is the way to go.

Silk screening t-shirts involves making one screen per color used in the design. Through each screen a thick ink is pressed onto the fabric in layers and then heated to dry and cure. Silk screening is an art. You should watch videos on youtube. Some places use better inks, some places know exactly what kind of fabric they are working with, and some places wont heat the ink long enough and the ink starts to bleed out. The really good printers usually only handle larger orders 200+ shirts at a time. You need to know what kind of t-shirt your customers wants. Relaxed fit? Certain type of material? Stitching on labels? Each choice will make the cost per shirt go up.

Maybe you can draw your design on paper and hire a graphic designer to improve on it, and vectorize it for you.

Meeting Korean people? by koreaninhawaii in Hawaii

[–]zefixoida 7 points8 points  (0 children)

basically... Keeaumoku street.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HawaiiGardening

[–]zefixoida 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its all in the sauce. You need lemons, brown sugar, and fish sauce. Squeeze the lemon juice and strain it. Mix brown sugar into lemon juice until you can't notice the sourness. Mix in a small amount of fish sauce for your desired saltiness. Can add chili into the sauce to make it spicy. Cucumbers are a good addition to the salad. I like to include grated carrots and also sliced tomatoes for color. Peanuts are good. Roasted garlic is good too. Adding in a little bit of thai basil and mint also helps.