Hog Heaven: Home of Wild Pigs, a Coffee Farm, and a
Container Barn

Mike M. doesn’t have to go far to get a delicious cup of Hawaiian dark roast in the morning. Just a few steps from his front door is the site of his own coffee production company, Pua’a Lani (Hog Heaven), which was created using a SteelMaster metal shipping container cover and two salvaged shipping containers.

Coffee Plantation’s Porky Problem

Mike, who moved from California to Hawaii, purchased his new property from a couple who had already planted 600 coffee plants on the premises but hadn’t started true plantation operations. He was excited to step in and pick up where they left off until he ran into a porky problem—wild pigs!

The previous farmers left a gate open when they left and in the short time it took Mike to move in, the pigs established themselves as co-owners of the property citing squatters rights. He didn’t want the pigs dispatched or to unleash them back onto his surrounding neighbors so he corralled them all and allocated to them the side of his property he wasn’t using for growing coffee. 

After Mike corralled and relocated the pigs to one side of the property, he began to refer to their new home as hog heaven (Pua’a Lani), where they remain until he is ready to cultivate more crops.

How the Barn Made the Farm

With the pigs partitioned to their side of “heaven,” Mike turned to ramping up coffee production. The good news for him was that he had fertile land, his porcine neighbors under control and a 600 coffee plant head start. The bad news was that the “farm” he bought only had a 200-square-foot greenhouse for all of the agricultural storage and equipment storage so before he could start farming he needed a practical building for the property. 

The plants on the property can produce thousands of pounds of coffee and require using a variety of farm and coffee processing equipment – all needing adequate space and storage. To start farming in earnest, Mike needed an all-purpose barn. 

Initially, Mike was planning to purchase an S-Model 40 x 40 Quonset Hut for a storage facility and a coffee processing area. However, when Sales Manager Scott Buckman introduced him to one of SteelMaster’s most innovative creations, the metal shipping container cover roof, Mike decided that it was better suited to fit his needs.

Using shipping containers means that at the start of your project you have a place to store and shelter material from the elements, which is especially useful in an area that gets about 150 inches of rain a year.

“It’s a huge advantage to doing this even over the conventional steel building because you start off with the two containers. I had 300 square feet of dry secure storage for all the materials and the roof itself,” says Mike.

DIY Construction

It really is do-it-yourself. It can be done. – Mike

Construction in Hawaii can be tricky, labor is expensive and materials can be hard to get and costly. Mike needed to get his farm up and going quickly and in a way that wouldn’t break the budget, so DIY construction was a critical factor. 

Initially worried about attempting the project at all, Mike discovered after constructing the first arch that it was certainly a task he could handle. He found that putting up the arches was the easiest part of the project, and that overcoming his initial anxiety was more challenging than the actual construction itself. Luckily, the valuable guidance and support from his friend, Tom D., greatly boosted Mike’s confidence and without Tom’s encouragement, the arches might still be sitting on the pallets.

Steps to put the project together

1. Dug and prepared the posts:
   • Excavated 11 posts (each 1.5 feet in diameter) 4 feet deep into the ground
   • Filled each post hole with concrete to secure them firmly in place
2. Installed the Containers:
   • Positioned the containers 50 feet apart and then spanned them with the metal container roof 
3. Constructed 2nd Level:
   • Added three more support posts down the center of the structure 
   • Built 2nd floor for roasting and bagging coffee 
4. Add Endwalls and Doors:
   • Once the floor was up, Mike used the shelter of the arches to begin construction of the endwalls

Pua’a Lani Coffee Thriving in Hog Heaven

After taking care of the wild pigs and building a container barn for the farm, Mike began coffee production and has turned the fledging coffee plantation he bought into a business that brings happiness and caffeine to everyone who visits or sips. 

Mike offers tours of Pua’a Lani (with friendly dogs acting as assistant tour guides!) and a selection of some of the finest coffee in all of Hawaii.

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