How is Hawaii like New Hampshire?

Dakota, a 20-year-old Texas Longhorn, is one of over 600 cattle that Carole recently visited at Kualoa Ranch on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. 

Come to Christmas at the Farm on Dec 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Your kids can sit on a Curious Bleu, a Highland steer, snuggle a calf, feed the critters, and more. Sign up here.

It's late November as I sit in front of an open window with a refreshing breeze caressing my face. It's almost 10 p.m. in New Hampshire, but the sun shines on lush green lawns, tropical flowers, and palm trees. I'm in Hawaii. What is a New Hampshire farmer doing in Aloha land?
My curiosity was piqued when friends invited us for a week on Oahu. Husband Bruce and I had never been to Hawaii, and after deep and thoughtful consideration – maybe a minute – we said, "Yes!"

We arrived in Hawaii before Thanksgiving and, right off, paid our respects to the USS Arizona, which was one of the battleships sunk in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The ship remains in place as a poignant memorial to its 1,177 sailors who died that day. Since then, the final requests from 44 surviving Arizona sailors have been granted, and when they died, they were interred in the ship along with their shipmates.

Of course, we did some sightseeing, ate shaved ice at Matsumoto's in Hale'iwa, and climbed a few mountains, but it didn't take long to miss the sweet scent of eau-de-cow. We'd seen some Oahu cattle while driving but needed an up-close and personal experience with them – and maybe a dinosaur or two.

Dinosaurs? Yes, of course. "Jurassic Park" was filmed on the largest cattle ranch on Oahu. Kualoa Ranch, owned by the Morgan family, is a 4,000-acre home to 600 cattle, 70 horses, and about a gazillion film sites. "Jumanji," "Welcome to the Jungle," "50 First Dates," "Godzilla," "Mighty Joe Young," "Snatched," and more were all filmed on Kualoa Ranch, and the proof is the leftover props. Our bus tour drove by fields used to film "Jurassic Park." We got to walk in a field dotted with Styrofoam dinosaur bones and a 20-foot gorilla skull used in "Skull Island."

We didn't see any live dinosaurs on our drive, but we met Dakota, a 20-year-old Texas Longhorn steer with soft eyes and sweeping horns that reminded me of my Highland cattle back on Miles Smith Farm in Loudon. Dakota swung his head around as we approached him to say, "Yes, I know I'm a handsome boy. Do you have any carrots?"

In 1793, Capt. George Vancouver brought the first Texas Longhorn cattle to Oahu. Before long, the rough cattle found their way into the villages, ravaging gardens and terrorizing gardeners. Without any cow-handling skills, Hawaiians needed help, so vaqueros (cowboys) were brought from Mexico. They built fences to corral the wayward beasts and taught the Hawaiians how to rope and brand them. Cattle ranching thrived in Hawaii and became an essential part of agriculture on the islands.

Dakota shares a paddock with the lovely Matilda, a 3-year-old Santa Gertrudis cow also with long horns. We were told that these two will live out their lives at the Kualoa Ranch, but some of the cattle, mostly Angus bovines without horns, will end up as delicious steaks and roasts served at local restaurants and sold in the Kualoa Farm store.

Local food is big on Oahu, just like in New Hampshire. However, slaughterhouses must first catch up with demand for locally raised meat, so the Hawaiian Legislature recently allocated $6 million to build a new livestock-processing plant. This will help the islands become more self-sufficient.

Very soon, we'll say a sad aloha to Hawaii and fly home. Much as I love New Hampshire, I'll dream of warmer weather and tropical breezes until around May.

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Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm, where she raises and sells pork, raw milk, eggs, and beef. She can be reached at carole@soulecoaching.com. Come to Christmas at the Farm on Dec 16, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Your kids can sit on a Curious Bleu, a Highland steer, snuggle a calf, feed the critters, and more. Sign up here.