Coconuts: lesson 1
One of my blogging friends mentioned to me, before the trip, the possibility of getting some nice, black skies. So this shot is for Ehpem, whose wish is, apparently, my command.
But aside from that, check out that very tall coconut tree!
Most houses, especially ones that are away from the villages, have their own coconut trees: coconut is a dietary staple on the island. The trees begin to produce fruit about 5 years after planting; a tree can live for 90 years. On our culture walk, we found out that coconut milk is used for baking, in place of cow’s milk. (The only cow’s milk we saw in the grocery stores we went into was shelf-stable, non-refrigerated milk imported from New Zealand. I don’t have concept of how much things cost, but my feeling was that imported milk was probably a bit on the costly side.)
The scuba divers on our trip got slices of fresh coconut as post-dive snacks. That’s almost a compelling enough reason to take up diving.
Our cabin, or bure, was named Niu, or “coconut.”
And, coconuts are harvested by picking them up from the ground after they fall out of the trees. Except when you want a green coconut; you’ve got to scale a tree for those.
In the foreground, you can see a banana tree. Fijian bananas are very small, with thin skins, and are very sweet. A good start to the day was a banana, a hunk of papaya, and a slice of coconut. Yum.
Taveuni Island, Fiji
photographed 7.5.2013
Posted on July 22, 2013, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, black and white photography, fiji, melinda green harvey, one day one image, photo a day, photography, taveuni island, taveuni island fiji. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
>>coconuts are harvested by picking them up from the ground after they fall out of the trees
Sounds great, however last time we were in Hawaii my wife treated herself to a relaxing massage under the palms… relaxing until a coconut fell on her foot. Her bruised toe made walking difficult for the rest of the trip.
Oh well, every good has some risk.
Love the dark skies along with the bright clouds.
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OUCH! There were some coconut trees on the property where we stayed and one morning I saw a broken coconut on the ground under one of the trees. I don’t know if it landed on someone’s head/toe/etc/ on the way down, or if it broke of its own accord.
There was a very large coconut plantation that surrounded the resort; I had the impression that coconuts just sort of careen down all year round, so I hope the folks who go in to pick them up off the ground have some sort of armor to wear!
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I don’t think I want to be under a tree when the coconuts are falling. The one in the photo (a beauty, by the way) looks pretty, pretty tall.
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The trees do get really tall. There were a couple of areas where there were trees growing on tops of high ridges, which gave them sort of a feathery look since the trees were almost all the same height, with the same amount of leafy canopy.
I took this from the window of an open-air bus. It was a pretty efficient way to see the countryside, but a less efficient way to photograph it…
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Great picture that transforms paradise into a threatening place ….
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It was only threatening if you were under a coconut tree….
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Hi, and thanks for the mention! That it is a very lovely black sky indeed.
The idea of a coconut falling that distance onto my head is not appealing, in fact it sounds deadly. And if you wore a hard hat, then what about whiplash, and strikes to the shoulders? A green apple falling on me is bad enough.
Still, the tropical islands have a lot to offer and if dodging coconuts is part of the package, then it could still be just fine!
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So, maybe the scuba divers in my group had the right idea – even the tallest coconut trees don’t lean THAT far over the water.
Glad you like the sky!
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