The Johnny Chronicles by John Peterson

Author:John Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: -
Published: 2022-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Pigs

It was after one of the Mauna Kea 200 races that Johnny and his buddies drove the Huli Maka Flippa van out to Pahoa to scout a piece of land which might be good for macadamia. It was a forty-four-acre jungle with trees ranging in height to one hundred feet and thick foliage covering every square inch. They decided to walk from one end to the other but found it nearly impossible. Normal people would have turned back but they had just finished a grueling two-hundred-mile dirt bike race and were not about to be defeated by a bunch of plants. It was slow going indeed, but they ultimately hacked their way to the other side.

The land had two redeeming qualities. It was relatively flat, so it could be worked mechanically once it was cleared (unlike most of the rest of the island which is steep and rocky and suited primarily for D-9’s). And it was covered with big trees. This was a good sign since any tree, including a macadamia nut tree, should do well here. So, Johnny made a deal on the land without consideration for the fact that he had no money left and would, therefore, be unable to do anything with the jungle he was now responsible for.

Fortunately, he met a papaya farmer who was looking for virgin land where papaya grows well. This guy was willing to not only clear and plant the land but ALSO to pay rent in an amount sufficient to cover Johnny’s nut. Since papayas grow straight up for three years before flopping over and being abandoned, it was perfect. In this way, “Johnny” cleared the jungle.

Then came the real work. Johnny and Matt would hop a plane for the Big Island Friday night, pick, shovel and plant for two days, and fly back to Honolulu Sunday evening. It was very hard work, and they could only do a few dozen trees at a time. Later they would wise up and dig holes with a rented backhoe and later a hydraulic auger. But, instead of having to plant a dozen trees they were looking at several hundred, and it wore them out. Sometimes in the evening they would go into Pahoa for dinner, but their abused bodies would reject nourishment and bedtime was occasionally preceded by projectile vomiting. In the night the pigs would come - in the morning the mess was gone.

This was the first tip off that pigs lived in the jungle. As the years went by, they would see many of them, but paid little attention since they weren’t causing any problems. It was a blissful coexistence for about ten years. When the trees started bearing nuts, things got serious.

Macadamia trees take forever. A seed will grow in a pot to a graftable tree in eighteen months. Scion wood from the particular variety you want to grow is then grafted on, and six months later the grafted seedling is ready to plant. Six or seven years later,

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