Jaki-ed Auction and Garden Update

Andrew and I went to the annual Jaki-ed awards ceremony and silent auction (this was back in September, but I finally got the pictures). Around the room there were about 30 mats hanging up on the walls. All of these mats were made from cut-up pandanus leaves, and each takes hours upon hours to make.

The silent auction was interesting—you just had to write your name on a piece of paper that was under the mat you wanted. If someone else wanted it then they'd write his or her name and a higher amount. All the mats started out at $20 (which is an awful price for how much time and skill it took), and some went as high as $700 (if I'm remembering correctly).

 I got a mat. It was done by Enila Horiuchi from the Aillinglaplap Atoll, and I liked hers best of all. All the proceeds from the mats went directly to their makers, many of whom are widows and weaving is how they make their living on their outer islands.

 A mat from the 1800s—incredibly well done. Part of the purpose of this auction and bringing in these weavers from different outer islands is to preserve the tradition of weaving that is a part of Marshallese culture. I'd love to learn how to weave at least something simple.

Update on my garden: The #10 cans aren't working out for me so much, but the blue earthboxes are great! My cucumbers have morphed into something amazing!

 They started overflowing onto the tomatoes' turf, so I screwed some nails into the wall and hung up the chunks of wire that we had snipped off earlier. Pretty soon that wasn't enough, so I built a trellis (after searching the island for some netting and coming up with nothing) out of twine and little sticks. Now the two plants have crossed the trellis, so I'm not quite sure where they'll go next.

 I learned how to pollinate cucumbers. The male flower is the bright yellow that you see there in the front, and the female flower has a mini-cucumber thing behind it.

 My moringa tree. It's hanging on, but I'm not terribly hopeful.

 Tomatoes about a week or two ago—they are huge now!

 I expanded and got some pepper plants, some egg plants, a pumpkin, and I've planted some peas, more lettuce, and basil.

 We had a terrific storm that blew salt water onto my dear cucumbers, so the leaves got blasted. They will be okay, I think.

 Cucumber plants traversing a sturdy, cheaply made trellis. Those sticks aren't even tied on—they're just woven in. I learned that trick from my first grade teacher, Miss Labrum.

First two cucumbers. They were SO GOOD!!! I've never appreciated them so much in my entire life.