Acai Seeds

Today my friend from work Christian came out to Hakalau to help out.  We layed out 1 row of weed mat, weeded all the current plants and planted ~90 nanaea, 32 mamaki, and about a dozen koaia.  The weeds are getting tall and were tricky to pull without damaging our koaia.  I will plan to mow soon.

Jake recently ordered some acai seeds online.  they arrived and I picked them up today.  I read up on germination techniques and started them 5 minutes ago.  We ordered 1000 seeds and hope to get at least 500 trees in about a year or so.  We hope to have enough trees for the Miuse's property in Pepeekeo and our Hakalau property.  All the info that I have read seems very promising as acai fruit(pulp) is very expensive and Hamakua is one of the only suitable climates for unirrigated acai in the Nation.  We need to decide how much area to designate to acai palm cultivation.  We can fit a bout 100 trees per acre.  These seeds are from the BRS Para dwarf variety that has been developed by the Brazilian government to be shorter and more productive than wild grown acai trees.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I do a good job germinating our baby acais and can get them robust and ready for the ground.  Mahalo to Jake for making this important  investment in acai seeds, We will do our best to protect it.

Work trade

This past Friday I was able to do a fencing job for Kuʻulei who will let us use his tractor mower in return.  I spent 6 hours repalcing 150 feet of barbed wire and redoing an H brace(took longer than I thought).
I spun past our ʻaina and saw that one koaiʻa from the first planting was 30 inches tall.  I was stoked to see such good growth in just 2 months.  The grass and weeds are coming on strong, and I am planning to mow in early April.
On Sunday Uncle Kekoa and I attended a revitalizing ʻulu workshop in Puna.  It got me pumped on ʻulu and the potential for good on our ʻaina.  Hopefully interest grows as more people grow this important food.  Hopefully there will soon be a place in Hawaii for farmers to process their ʻulu into a gluten free flour.  I will need to find a way to acquire the ʻulu varieties we need to have fruit year round.  I met some good people and got a really good feeling there.  I shared some koaiʻa keikis and brought home 2 ʻulu from Puna(Hawaiian variety I think).  Really good experience, Houlu ka ʻulu.

The Grazed orchard concept

Basically the idea for our grazed orchard is to fence off ~8 acres with 4 ft. hogwire, protect each tree and put in grazing animals in to control the understory(grass, weeds) and cycle nutrients.  Sounds simple enough right?  In actuality it will be a complex balancing act that will require knowledge in many different aspects of agriculture and sound planning.  There is no perfect species of animal for our unique purpose and we will need to be wise and open minded when it comes to selection.  I have not found an orchard like this around to model ours after and don't know for certain which tree species will tolerate grazers well.  So we are starting off on theoretical knowledge and hope that as we plant trees we will gain the ike that we need to be efficient.
This is the picture that I have in my mind.  ~ 8 acres fenced with 4 ft bezinal hogwire.  240 trees planted 30 feet apart in rows that run straight, but as level as possible, with 30 ft spacing between rows.  We will have 20 trees each of Ulu, coconut, citrus, avocado, lychee, macadamia.  We will also plant 10 mango and 10 mixed fruit trees.  The Idea of having many different fruit trees will not only add diversity of available food, but will show us what species works best in our system and serve as a model for others thinking about doing similar agriculture.  We will also grow 100 mangosteen trees. Specific varieties will include, but are not limited to:


Ulu - Rare autia(tahiti), Lipet(Pohnpei), Maafala(samoa), Yap(duh), Meinpadahk(pohnpei), Afara(tahiti), Ulu(hawaii), Puou(Samoa), Meitehid(Pohnpei), Ulu tala(Samoa), and Meiarephe(pohnpei).ulu varieties

Coconut - Malayan red dwarf, Malayan yellow dwarf, select productive tall trees.coconut varities

Citrus - Tahitian lime, meyers lemon, flame grapefruit, navel orange, valencia orange, tangerine, tangelo.
citrus varieties
Avocado - Kahaluu, Kainaliu, Hakalau(wild on Property), Murashige, John Holley,
avos
Mango - Tommy Atkins, Florigon, Keitt.
mango varieties
Lychee - Kaimana, Kwai mai, Groff
lychee
Mixed Trees - Durian, starfruit, rambutan, longan,

Macadamia - Kau, Makai, Keaau, Keahou.
macs
Mangosteen - 100 trees with a lemondrop mangosteen planted in the same hole as a rootstock(grafted onto tree to increase vigor)
mangosteen
Fruit trees cost money and some of the trees we desire are hard to find, so we will plant trees as they become available.
Finding the right animal for our orchard is a tough job.  Qualities we are looking for include being hardy and disease resistant, relatively short, controls grass and other weeds, low maintenance(labor input), and is productive in terms of meat and reproduction.  There are animals that are favorable for some qualities and poor for others, and anything over 5 feet or 500 pounds are out because they would damage the trees(cows, horses, etc.)  Here's a few that I have been looking up with brief descriptions.

Dorper sheep - is a hybrid sheep with a great meat carcass that has shedding wool that does not need to be sheared.  It is not too tall and very productive.  A ewe can lamb 3 times in 2 years and have twins 50% of the time.  It would graze well on grass and weeds.  The drawback of Dorpers and sheep in general are that Hakalau is too wet.  Sheep in wet areas are prone to hoof rot and other foot sickness.  Treatments include fungicidal foot baths and periodic inspection and trimming of hooves and might be more work than we are willing to take on.
dorpers
Barbados Blackbelly sheep - This breed of sheep was developed in the humid tropics of the Caribbean.  They are noted for foot rot resistance, parasite resistance, and fertility.  Their main draw back is their small size, although meat is said to be lean and non "muttony".  As far as sheep health goes this may be the best fit for our climate.  A cross with dorper sheep might be the ultimate sheep for us.
Blackbellies
Mouflon sheep - horned hair sheep with good lean meat but small body size.  Introduced as a game animal they are hardy and thrive on the Big island.  The ewes have single births once a year.  Hakalau is wet for mouflon, but I think they would be healthier than most domestic breeds.
mouflon
Goats - There are many types of goats that would do well in our orchard, but the meat is less favorable than other animals.
goats
Kunekune pigs - This interesting pig from New Zealand is a miniature pig(-300lbs) that can be fed grass alone.  In my opinion free range pigs would be easier to manage than sheep and pigs are very prolific.  Kunekune pigs are not available in Hawaii to my knowledge.
kunekunes
Muscovy ducks - eat bugs and slugs and supposedly taste great.
muscovies
Chickens - Eat fruit fly larvae and other pest and different varieties can be used for meat or eggs
chicken breeds
Bees - Pollinate trees and give us honey
bees in hawaii
As with the Fruit trees, animals cost money and can be hard to find.  We will not be able to utilize them until we have put up our fence and tree guards.  I am not sure exactly which animals to use, and may initially use what is available and gradually improve the quality of our herd.



Pros
- No mowing, weeding or poisoning of grass and weeds.
- meat, eggs and honey
- turn competitive grasses and weeds into a 100% organic fertilizer.
- Less input of fertilizers if any
- provide a model for sustainability with little outside inputs, with many types of produce for home use.

Cons
- animals need different amounts of care, work and supplemental feed.
- high initial costs of quality fence, tree guards and livestock.
- some tree species may be incompatible with grazing.
- untried theory that could turn out to be more work and less productive than a conventional orchard.

So the first 6 trees have gone in and I will continue to collect other desired trees and keep searching for the right animals for the job and hopefully they will be available when we have enough money for our fence.

First orchard trees

Friday 3/4 I went to Hakalau and planted the first trees in the orchard section of the property, here's what went in.
2 ulu- 1 rare autia(tahiti), 1 lipet(pohnpei)
1 avocado - kainaliu
1 grapefruit - flame
1 Mango - Tommy Atkins
1 Mangosteen + 1 lemondrop mangosteen for rootstock.
I also planted another row of koaia(~80 trees)

I drove up Chin Chuck and checked out Kalai Aiona at Mahiai ihi o Wailea, an organization with 20 acres who plan to grow maile under a native understory.  Their maile greenhouse was impressive but they were having trouble getting their native trees established.  I will keep in touch so we can learn from their experiences.

I also met with Kuulei and will be repairing a ~150 ft. section of his barbed wire fence in exchange for using his mower.

Long break

It's been a while since my last blog, and I have not been going to Hakalau as religiously as in January, but it is always on my mind as I try to balance family, work and life in general.  On Friday 2/18 Keahi and I went down to Hakalau and laid out a row of weed mat.  I will need to purchase more wire for pins and get more weed mat from Hilo Termite.  We also planted about 150 lehua huli; most of them in holes dug previously for smaller huli that did not make it.  It sucks when things die, but through trial and error we will  find the proper way to raise dryland taro in our system.  We also repaired some weed mat that had been pulled up by the wind.
The koai'a all looked healthy, but I am anxious to see what their growth rates will be for the first year.  Hopefully there will be a noticeable growth spurt in the near future.
On 2/20 Lahela and I went for a walk up Hakalau river valley to a waterfall that is special to us.  We seen many species that I would like to bring up to the property including kukui, hau, ulu, banana, kalo, niu, mamaki, ti leaf, hoio, and hala.  I have noticed that plants may differ slightly from place to place in Hawaii even though they are the same species, and would really like to have the plants from Hakalau represented and taken care of on our property.  Anyway here are some photos of our hike.

I've been lagging on making a master plan with an outline for the whole property and will probably need to ask my 'ohana for technical help.  Another factor is that the plan is constantly evolving.  Though the goals and basic design are pretty much set, there are a thousand different ways to tweak the system for more efficient production and any plans made will need to be well thought out and flexible.  I am open to any suggestions and constantly try to talk to people about what we're trying to do to see if there are people around with insightful information that could help us achieve our goals for this 'aina.
This past Saturday 2/26 We(Lahela, baby and I) drove to south Kona to The Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden for their annual Grow Hawaii festival.  There were all sorts of practitioners using  polynesian plants to revive Hawaiian cultural practices.  From tapa makers using kauila i'e, to a group of kupuna making lauhala hats.  There was even an old hawaiian man doing traditional feather work using more commonly available bird feathers.  There were a few good talks including a relaxed mana'o sharing with Keoki and Yvonne Carter and uncles Jerry Konanui and Kanae Keawe.  After their talk I told uncle Kana'e that I will be coming to him to ask for consultation on creating our own ethnobotanical garden on the Hilo side.  It was good to hear these practitioners manao on Hawaiian cultural practices today so that when we plant our Polynesian plants we will have a realistic plan for them to be utilized and not just be planting a living museum.  Another cool talk was a round table discussion of six managers of botanical gardens in hawai'i including managers from Limahuli and Kahanu Valley.  They discussed what makes each Garden Unique as well as the value of having genetic preserves.  I got to talk to Kamaui, a manager at Kahanu Valley NTBG, who help to preserve over 120 varieties of ulu.  I asked him about specific varieties that produce abundantly in Hawaii, and which varieties to get to ensure a year-round harvest.  Ulu trees are in high demand for them, but hopefully I can work with him to acquire the varieties that we desire for our preserve.
The Gardens were nice and neat, but I thought that they would be more extensive.  Amy Greenwell's is the the premier ethnobotanical garden on the Big Island, and going there further convinced me that our Uluhou project is a worthwile endeavor and is something that will be utilized by our island ohana.  Having said that, I am thankful for Amy Greenwell's Garden for the service it provides the island and think it is a valuable cultural and genetic resource.  The burden of protecting our cultural resources should not fall on a single entity.  By creating more cultural minded gardens we can improve the diversity and utility of such gardens.  Hopefully this can also inspire, promote and enable more practioners, for how can we make tapa if no more wauke?
In March I will be looking for a good day to get the family out and do as much weed mat as possible so that in March/April we can put in another 400-500 koai'a.

birds eye view

I was lucky enough to snap a picture while flying over for work yesterday.

today I was able to transplant 172 koia into dibbles.

Na Koai'a

The koaia(acacia koaia) is an endemic Hawaiian hardwood tree that normally grows to 25 feet, but can grow taller under certain conditions.  It was traditionally found scattered in mesic to dry regions from sea level to about 3000 feet on most of the hawaiian islands including Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Kauai.  As with many Hawaiian plants, different populations often displayed different traits and habits.  Koaia is a close relative of the better known koa(acacia koa) tree.  Koa usually occur in the wetter climates and higher elevations of theses Islands.  The Koaia's most obvious differences with koa are, a far shorter height(koa regularly grow taller than 100 feet), smaller, thinner Phyllodes(false leaves), and a different arrangement of seeds in their pods.  Although koaia's potential wood yield is far lower than koa's, Koaia wood is usually denser, darker, more finely grained(curly) and far scarcer than koa.  Koaia wood's density and strength were valued in traditional times and it was used for purposes similar to those of kauila or 'uhi'uhi.  Koaia was also called koaie.  Wood used for making fish hooks had a particular curved grain that would make for a very strong hook and was called koaia.  Wood that would be fashioned into ie or tapa beaters was called koaie.  Currently koaia is a federally listed species of concern and only occupies a small fraction of it's former range.  reforesting with this native tree can have many benefits that rival and surpass the value of it's beautiful wood.

Here are some reasons that we have chosen koaia as the foundation species of our restoration project.

1.  It is a threatened endemic hawaiian species - Since man has step foot on Hawaii we have introduced species that fill our needs and desires often displacing and devaluing the ones that were already here.  If no one helps these species grow and thrive they may be gone before we discover their true value.

2.  It is a nitrogen fixer - Koaia and other legumes have a symbiotic relationship with different strains of rhizobium that are able to convert the abundant nitrogen present in our atmoshere into a form of nitrogen that is available to plants.  Nitrogen is one of the essential macro nutrients needed by plants to survive.  Nitrogen fixing trees do a great service to the land and can be hugely beneficial for the fertility of the soil.

3.  It supports other native species - In addition to providing nitrogen, koaia collect and capture passing rains, can resist and block strong winds, provide filtered sunlight for understory species like maile and ferns, and produces and abundance of leaf litter that suppresses weeds and adds organic matter to the soil.

4.  It has a strong surface root system that will prevent soil erosion

5.  It is better suited to our location then koa - Koa trees at lower elevations often are damaged and die due to attacks from twig borers.  Koaia seem to be less suceptible to them as well as other pests and diseases. 

6.  It is a beautiful tree - Many koaias have been grown recently as landscape plants for their umbrella shape, silvery leaves, and distinctly hawaiian look.

7.  And of course it is a valuable hardwood - Koaia'a uique characteristics and scarcity make it a very valuable wood.  In fact I do not know of anywhere it can be easily purchased, and the practitioners who use it are always on the lookout for available wood.  If we choose to harvest selected trees in the future, we can provide a valuable resource for those looking to preserve native practices.

This is how the koaia system will be layed out.  There will be 19 rows of koaia containing about 100 trees each oriented perpendicular to the slope making each tree in a row equal in elevation.  The result will be rows that will not be straight but rather follow the contour of the land, hence the name contour rows.  These rows will be spaced 18 feet apart and individual trees in rows will be spaced 6 feet apart.  Each row will be planted in the center of a 5 foot wide weed mat with planting holes cut out that will run the entire length of the row. The top and bottom edges of the weed mat will be secured every 6 feet with 6 inch pins.  There will be a 13 foot swath between each row that will be mowed periodically.  after every 5 rows of koaia a 35 foot space will be left clear for swales for growing kalo.  Swales will be cut and mounded perfectly level to hold large amounts of water and nutrients.  The eventual build up of organic matter in this swale will increase it's ability to absorb water and make the soil more biologically active.  these swales will recharge the water table and create a moist environment for growing kalo.  Even though the koaia system's primary function is to restore fertility to the land, kalo is a non-invasive crop that hopefully can thrive with the forest species without taking away from their function.  This system will also include other native and polynesian introduced plant species that will enhance it's fertility, productivity and/or beauty.  The total area of this system will be around 7 acres.

The Hawaiian name for these trees "na koa" is very fitting, for they all will work and some will perish for the pono of this aina.

swales   cloud seeding  koa/koaia  nitrgen fixing trees  native restoration species  hamakua soils

Laulima outplanting

Many hands make light work.  We had a lot of help for our Saturday(2/5) outplanting.  It took 25 of us about 2 hours to plant
~410 koaiʻa
~110 nānea
1 ʻulu
1 puakenikeni
1 halapepe
The planting went smoothly and we had the right tools for the job(mahalo NARS,TMA).  I think our system of contour weed mats are going to work great for our native plants.  We are thankful to all who helped for bringing their good energy with them that morning.  It was great to see the kids doing their part and just enjoying themselves on the ʻāina.  
The koaiʻa planted so far represent a little more than a quarter of what we eventually want to have for this property.  I will need to collect and propagate more koaiʻa.  How quickly I can do this will dictate how long the land will be bare.
I think the outplanting was very encouraging for everyone, and now 2000 trees doesn't seem too daunting of a task.  We just need to keep chipping away at it and continue to ʻimi pono.  Mahalo again everyone for your help and we hope you will return again to hoʻopili ʻāina.

Getting ready for more trees

This weekend(1/28-1/30) we were able to get out to Hakalau 3 days.  Here's what we got done.

Friday- I was able to meet with my co-worker who runs a cattle ranch.  He was nice enough to come out to Hakalau and give me his opinion on using cattle to maintain the bottom section of the property.  We decided that using electric fencing would not be a good idea and that we should wait until we have a high quality hog wire fence before using animals to graze.  I was also able to cut and lay out a bunch of weed mat.

Saturday-  Jake met me in the morning and we cut up some weed mat.  We now have more than enough prepared for the 500 trees that we have ready for out planting.  Kekua arrived with lunch and we went through the areas designated for kalo.  We had a good time planting ~300 huli(30 piko uaua, the rest lehua).  We have about 200 more huli that Kekua will plant some time this week.  While planting we talked about goals for kalo production and the alternative farming methods that we want to employ.  We are very excited about this endeavor.  We hope we can succeed in collecting and maintaining 5-10 valuable maoli strains and starting a taro breeding program, all while producing the highest quality poi.  I do not know of anyone else incorporating kalo into a native reforestation plan and kekua and I are thankful for the opportunity to try it out.  We were lucky to get a good rain today to help the kalo get established.
     kalo varieties     kalo breeding

Sunday-Lahela and I drove out to Hakalau and layed out some weed mats.  Mom and Uncle Timmy were nice enough to watch Hāwelelani so that we could get some work done.  We prepared enough mats for ~300 koaiʻa.  Earlier in the week I purchased wire to make some pins.  I think we found the right length and design for pins strong enough to withstand some decent wind.

I hope to do a koaia out planting this Saturday 2/6.  If I can lay out more weed mat I would like to plant 500 trees.  I hope this date will work for everyone, but we can postpone if need be.

I am curious to see what the property looks like after our unusually heavy rains today.  Hopefully there was not too much runoff with all the bare dirt.  We are reforesting this ʻāina to prevent this very scenario, but are at the mercy of the rain until the trees get established.

Mahalo everyone for your help and hopefully we can have a successful planting day this Saturday.

Aloha ʻaina

Take care of the land and everything will be taken care of.
Since starting this blog I have had updates and pictures to post, but never really took the time to share manaʻo or a mission statement with everyone.  In today's world no one seems to have the time or energy to care for the land.  It is hard enough to cut our grass and maintain our yards, should we expect people to contemplate whether grass is what the land wants to have growing on it?  In a better world we would.
It seems that everyone has been infused, consciously or not with the notion that God gave man "dominion" over the Earth and that the Earth's primary function is to provide us with what we need and desire.  This differs drastically and is the antithesis to what the Hawaiians believed about the ʻāina.  "O ka ʻāina ke aliʻi, ke kanaka ke kauwā."  Our ancestors recognized the endless value of their natural resources and gave the ʻāina the respect and reverence that it deserves.  In the Kumulipo, man is the youngest sibling to hāloa, the trees, the birds, the fish and even the dirt.  The kanaka's kuleana was to be the caretaker for all the older ʻōhana.  How has our view become so skewed?  We must humble ourselves and realize that we need the Earth, the Earth does not need us.

Humans are dependant on the Earth for our water, our food and even our air; and what do we give the Earth in return?  We cannot even take the time to consider the outcome of our lifestyles.  Some estimate that prior to the arrival of Captain Cook the native population could have been as high as 800,000-1,000,000 kanaka maoli, an amount only slightly lower than today's population.  Prior to western contact all the food consumed in Hawaii came from Hawaii.  Today Hawaii imports 90 percent of our food!!!  The truly sad thing is that back when our ʻāina supported all of our food needs our resources were far less strained than they are now that they only support 10 percent our food needs.  Our fisheries have been decimated and many species of fish may never be able to recover.  Most of the plants used in everyday life by hawaiians are on the verge of extinction if not already gone.  How could this gross mismanagement of our resources have taken place under our noses. We have allowed ourselves to take what we want without heed to the natural cycles of life.  It is hard to stand against the current of resource exploitation in this dog eat dog world, but with our global ecosystem on the verge of catastrophic collapse we must find a way to exist in a more pono manner.  To me pono does not just mean righteous, nor is it a static state that we can remain in.  To me it is pure intent in the pursuit of righteousness.  In our lives we may make mistakes and do hewa, but if our intentions are pure and we see the folly of our ways we can remain pono.  We must apply this manaʻo to our the way we manage our resources.  We must see that every thing we do, everything we consume has a reaction.  We must hold ourselves accountable and keep our intentions pono so that the reactions that we cause may be positive.

I said earlier that the Earth does not need us.  By us I meant humanity as a whole and the effect that we cumulatively have on the Earth.  What the Earth does need is enlightened individuals who can envision a better way of living.  Kanaka with the courage to live true to their ideals of a better more sustainable world and can inspire others to follow.

Uluhou, new growth, like fresh shoots emerging from the stump of a once great tree.  This is what I envision for Hakalau.  After generations of being bent to human desire, thousands of gallons of chemicals, countless tons of soil loss, and the removal of diverse ecosystems to make way for mono culture crops, this ʻāina will have a chance to be heard.  I pray that we might be receptive to her voice and that our actions will be in accordance with the desires of this land.  How can we hear the voice of the ʻāina?  The same way we hear the holy spirit, by faith.

Take care of the land first.  This manaʻo will dictate all work done on this āina.  If your main objective is to make money, go someplace else.  Even food production will have to be done with the overall health of the ʻāina in mind.  If we all end up broke, but the land is better off, we will have succeeded.  In today's world this may seem illogical and absurd, but I believe this is the right direction for this ʻāina and for all of the world.  This would not be possible without the support of our aunty Liz.  There is no way that I could buy a piece of property and expect to make zero profit off of it.  This project will take the same generosity from our whole ʻōhana in different forms to succeed.  I know that we will make mistakes, but I hope that along our journey will 'imi pono no ka ʻāina and inspire others to do the same.

Land is cleared

The bulldozer is done!  I went down to hakalau on Saturday morning 1/22 to see how things had turned out on the property.  I am thankful that we had a dry week so that the bulldozer could operate effectively.  I also thought that the upper(koai'a) section was pushed very nicely and had more dirt left behind than I thought there would be.  Danny opened up 2 water diversion channels instead of 1, and he opened a driveway on the upper Hilo side of the property as we had discussed.  On the negative side the bottom(orchard) section was only quickly smashed and looks messy.  With the decaying plants it will make it hard to drive and we might not be able to mow it.  The plants that were cleared from the top section were pushed into a 20-30 foot wide pile that runs about 500 feet from the top of the property.  As the picture shows this is a massive pile.  We will need to manage this pile so that we can somehow make use of this valuable dirt and organic matter.
Overall I am very pleased with how has been prepared for us.  Enrique could have saved himself money and just smashed all of the plants, but he showed that he truly cared about leaving the land as good or better than it was when he first leased it.  The upper section is clear and will make planting and mowing very easy, I just gotta plant some seeds to hold the dirt.  The bottom section though messy is manageable. I am currently trying to figure out the logistics and the proper way to use portable electric fencing and cattle to keep the grass and weeds down until we have all of our orchard trees, our permanent fencing and our grazers.  Even the draceana pile can be utilized.  We need to find the right crop that could grow in such loose soil(forestry trees, sugar cane, neem, ho'io).  On Saturday I planted about 50 slips of the Mokuau purple sweet potato variety in the pile just to see how they turn out.
I also finished surveying the land on Saturday.  I borrowed Conrad's laser level again and flagged out the proper contours for each set of koai'a rows.  It was easy enough, but showed me that the rows do not keep consistent spacing across the property and the rows will need to be tweaked a little to work.  It is also evident now that the open area at the top of the koai'a section will be much larger and the open area at the bottom of the koai'a section will be much smaller than expected.  We may need to remove rows from some areas and place them in others.
This week while camping at Kioloka'a I was able to collect and sow many seeds including
~500 'uki(dianella) seeds
~50 cuttings of Mokuau purple sweet potato with red skin originally from Moloka'i
1000+ mamaki seeds from a very nice tree selected for large leaves and dark red veins
100+ halapepe(p. hawaiiensis)
50+ maile seeds from dryland varieties in Manuka
~200 hoawa(p. terminaliodes) seeds from Lama unit(Manuka)
Germination rates and times for natives are hard to guess, so we'll just have to wait and see what pops up.
Kekua Is going to help us to plant kalo along with our koai'a.  This will help us to complete our goal of having a food forest, and will help us tremendously in finding out what it really takes to grow kalo organically and sustainably in our new type of system.  I hope that it will be fruitful and worth the work he will put in.
So Ben calls me on Tuesday night and asks me if I want 500 lehua hulis!!!  At first I was scared to take on this kuleana because I had not seen the land cleared or surveyed the taro areas yet.  But after talking to Kekua I accepted Ben's gift, and we agreed that over the next few week's Ben will give us more hulis totaling about 2000 which will be greatly appreciated.
This coming week I will be picking up and cutting more weed mat and purchasing more wire for pins.
Hopefully we can have planting sites prepared in 2-3 weeks for our remaining 800+ koai'a.
I will also meet with a coworker of mine on Friday out at Hakalau to see if grazing of cattle is a feasible option.
Mahalo ke akua for all the blessings.  Even in a "slow" week for our Uluhou project a lot of good things were accomplished and I am enjoying riding this wave of momentum.  When people see something positive happening it amazing to see the generousity that they show towards it.
1/22 - 4 work hours

Alu ka pule i Hakalau.

I ka laʻiākea o ka uluhou e māpu mai ai ke ahe lau makani, e pā ʻoluʻolu mai i ka lihilihi o nei makamaka o ka ʻāina. Me ka ua nāulu e kupu ē a ulu ē, lau ē a lālā ē, kumu ē a paʻa ē ka ululāʻau o Hakalau, a lau aʻe a mau loa.

It is with great pride that I write to you all, kuʻu ʻohana, kuʻu kamaliʻi hiwahiwa, nā makamaka o ka ʻāina, with overwhelming support for the enormous endeavors Kualiʻi dreams for this ʻāina, ka Uluhou O Hakalau. Ua pā nō koʻu naʻau i ke ola nō o kona mauli. I am touched by his words of wisdom, I am humbled by his knowledge of pono land management and conservation and I am truly inspired by his vision for a sustainable, rich future for our Hawaiʻi and generations to come.

As the eldest Lindsey kāne of our generation, Kualiʻi has lived up to his name, not just to stand as an aliʻi, but moreover to take on the responsibilities of a beloved aliʻi who will sacrifice all to provide his people with a fulfilling life, ke ola pono, to care for the land as it has cared for us, mālama i ka ʻāina, and to always look to the higher source for enlightment and support, ke ao mālamalama o ka lani keha.

May we continue to be inspired by our ancestors who have come before us, may we remain firm in our aspirations for a prosperous life, may we fulfill our responsibilities to our children to pass on the knowledge that will provide them a firm foundation, grounded in the past with visions for a better future. May we do this always with loving hearts, thoughtful minds, and enlightened spirits.

Alu ka pule i Hakalau ē, ola kākou a mau loa ē!
Kaʻala Fay

Kanu hou, Ulu hou

Early this morning, 1/16/11, our ʻohana gathered together to plant the seeds of this great work.

It was a beautiful morning.

The area we were planting today was already cleared and prepared.

Along with Koaiʻa, there was nanea and mamaki to be planted.

After a pule and some instructions from Kualiʻi, we got to work!

 We dug each hole and planted each mea kanu with love in our hearts.

 

 Everyone, from our Puna Lei, to our kamaliʻi were there to kōkua and kākoʻo.

Even our muli hope.

"ʻAʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia." - No task is too big when done together by all.

With happy hearts we say, "Out with the old...

 

...and in with the new!"

To our brother Kualiʻi, we are so incredibly proud of you - for your vision of a better future and your dedication to the work that is needed to achieve it.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to hoʻoulu hou in this beautiful place.

- Kuʻulani Muise
                                                                                                                                                                     

Ke Kanu Mua

Thank you Ku'ulani for the beautiful pictures and mana'o.  You have a wonderful gift of capturing special moments and sharing them with everyone.

Today's outplanting was a great opportunity for the family to come together on the 'aina and plant the first of many trees.  I hope that the children will forerver feel connected to this land.  I also hope that through watching the koaia grow they will be inspired to do positive things for the 'aina and understand that with proper guidance great things can come from tiny seeds.  

The more I walk and work this land the clearer the picture gets, and I hope that it will have the same effect on everyone.  Everyone there today is a vital part of the success of this land and I hope that we all will feel free to share our mana'o with each other on what is important to each person and how it can be incorporated into our land management plan.

Today we planted

85 koai'a

~85 nanea

17 mamaki

2 loulu(p. affinis, p. forbesiana)

2 'iliahi

1 holei

It took 13 of us about 2 hours of light work to accomplish this

Yesterday Kekua and I used a laser level to layout and pin down the weed mat for the planting rows.

Doing this small section has shown me what it will take in terms of materials and work hours needed to complete the entire koai'a forested area. When the bulldozer is done with the land clearing we will use this experience to efficiently lay out and plant the rest of the rows.  In between working(about 6 combined work hours) we talked story about how to incorporate kalo into the koai'a section.

This coming week I will be camping for work and will probably not be there when the bulldozing is done.  Danny(the operator) and I have talked about what needs to be done and I feel that he will leave the land in a satisfactory condition.  If not, I will need to follow up with him and Bob Shumacker.

Mahalo to everyone who help today and everyone who worked to get us to this point.  We send our love and Mahalo to Aunty Liz, may we continue with her blessing.  Today's planting symbolized a new start for this 'aina, a time for uluhou, new growth.  May we find the strength to do the work that is needed to bring our vision for this 'aina into fruition. 

Land clearing underway!!

Yesterday, 1/13 the bulldozer arrived and started clearing the parcel.  The bottom half was smashed and was done quite quickly(1 day).  The upper portion is larger and will probably take 2-3 days to complete, but pushing all the plants leaves a nice clean area for koai'a planting.  Danny is a great operator and I never saw him get off the machine till pau hana.  Enrique's tractor and Flail mulcher came yesterday, did a row a left.  They decided that it took too long and did too much wear and tear on the machine to be feasable.  It's too bad because it looked really good.
I was also able to deliver enough weed mat to the property for this weekend's planting.  Jake, Micheal and I were able to cut and prep enough mat for about 1800 linear feet or three rows.  Preparing the mat took longer than I thought it would, but we figured out a good system and we should get quicker.
Tomorrow  Kekua and I will go out to the property and flag out the contour of the land for the placement of Koai'a rows.  Planting nitrogen fixing trees on contour is a practice done by permaculturalists to halt erosion, increase surface water absorption, add nutrients to the soil, provide infrastructure for other species and build up organic matter.  Later, if we are able to encorporate swales, we will add to the effectiveness and efficiency of the system.
If all goes well we're going to try to put some trees in the ground Sunday morning.  Seeing the land cleared give a true sense of how large the property really is.  Today I felt a little uneasy about the daunting task ahead.  Once the koaia are in and doing well I will feel a lot better and everyone's confidence will grow along with them.  This has been a productive week and I hope to keep the momentum rolling.  Mahalo ke akua for opening all the doors for us and mahalo everyone who has helped thus far.
Today: 8 work hourspermaculture water harvesting  Nitrogen fixing trees

bulldozer reschedule

Today I met with Enrique and Bob Shumacker, the bulldozer owner.  There was a miscommunication and the machine was not delivered to the property today.  Nevertheless it was a good day.  I got to meet bob's operator, an old hawaiian man named Danny.  We went over the work to be done and they agreed to do all that I expected that they would and said the machine would reach the property on Thursday or Friday.  When Bob and Danny left Enrique and I hung around and I told him a little about what we are planning for the property.  We figured out that a flail mulcher that Enrique owns might be the best option for clearing the top of the property which has a smaller draceana than the lower part.  We took a ride to California foliage growers facility and looked at their machines and operation.  We drove to fields in Pepeekeo and looked at rows that had been mulched and I thought that it looked great and very clean.  So after talking story for about 2 hours this is the plan that we came up with.

*The bulldozer will push/scrape the top 3 rows which are tall draceana cane to the Hilo side of the property and out of the way
*The next 30 rows are small draceana(minuta) and we will try to mulch them in place with a tractor and flail mulcher and save the organic matter for the koaia.  If the mulcher does not work well the bulldozer will push the plants to Hilo side of the property.  I have a good feeling about the tractor and flail working really well.
*All rows below row 33(about halfway down) are tall draceana cane and will be smashed in place with the bulldozer and left to decompose.
*An access road at the mauka Hilo corner will be opened through the sugar cane and leveled.
*A water diversion channel will be bulldozed through the burm that runs mauka to makai and splits the property, which in the future will be used to direct water away from Hakalau stream an toward a seasonal stream that is the property's Hilo boundary.
*The tractor and flail will arrive at the property sometimes before Friday pending some repairs.
*The forested areas of the property will not be bulldozed because they serve the purpose of erosion control and are stable in that they will not readily be invaded by weeds.  This allows us to deal with these areas at a slower pace and remove only what is necessary to accomplish our goals.
*Bob and Enrique will work out a price for the bulldozer which will be paid by Enrique.

If we use Enriques machine it will save him money on the bulldozer which is charged by the hour.  I also think that the mulch left on site will benefit the soil tremendously.  So even though plans have been set back a little, I see it as a win win situation.
For some clarification the area occupied by the top 33 horizontally arranged rows(about 9 acres)  will be used to grow ~2000 Koai'a, house a polynesian ethnobotanical garden, create habitat(koai'a) for other native species, and have land left open for short term agriculture or for future land use.

The land below row 33 that has been used for tall draceana(about 7 acres) will eventually be a grazed orchard.  The Draceanas on the below row 33 are quite large and will create a lot of mulch when smashed.  The planned land use determined the type of machine.  Smashing and leaving the plants in the orchard area is acceptable, but the upper portion needs to be more neat and level, so it needs to be mulched or scraped.  I feel that we have a plan that will use available resources efficiently and be in the best interests of all parties involved.

Uluhou O Hakalau project start!!!

Aloha, this is my first blog and I'm not to tech savvy so bear with me.
Tomorrow 1/11/11 the old leasee of this property owned by my Aunty Elizabeth Lindsey will remove the last of his property with a bulldozer and give us a clean slate to start our efforts to ho'iho'i and ho'onani this 'aina.
For more than a decade I have dreamt about what I would do If I could on this land and it seems almost surreal that the kuleana is passing on to me tomorrow!!  I remember every time I would drive past Hakalau bridge I would look mauka and tell the land "no worry, I coming I coming."  During this time my grand plans have changed and evolved from ridiculous to a plan that is solid, pono, and possible.  Nevertheless I am excited but anxious to be starting out with such a large responsibilty and a budget of $0, with nothing but boundless good energy to carry us through.  We will need to seek guidance and assistance from many diverse sources for this project to be successful. My family and I will bear the kuleana of planning, implementing, gathering resources, and of course labor.  I have no delusions of this being easy, but as long as we stay pono, hiki no.
I am working on a master plan with a map of the different functioning sections of this 'aina to show how they will compliment and work with each other to create a cultural and conservation minded sustainable system that will nourish our bodies and spirits.  But for now I will go over what we got and what is coming up for the next week or so.

1/11- KC(me) meet with Enrique(leasee) and his equipment operator to oversee removal of plants and land preparation.  Bulldozer arrival @ 9 am, hopefully work will be done by 1/13.
*make sure plant removal is as complete as possible.
*designate areas for organic waste to be stored for decomposition.
*open access points and water diversion points.
*leave necessary material as mulch in strategic areas to halt erosion and run-off.
*maintain good relations with Enrique.
*~5 work hours(WH)

1/14- KC pick up and have brief orientation on bobcat from Kuulei.
*Mow areas not bulldozed.
*Develop an efficient system of doing so.
*figure out machine hours and fuel usage for each of the 8 annual mowings.
*work out price or work exchange for mower use.
*5 WH

1/15- KC+1 or more use laser level to flag out rows for koaia on precise contour.
*make flags of 3 different colors totaling about 200.
*gather and transport weed mat canvas from Jake if possible.
*precut 5 foot wide strips of weed mat with 4 inch holes centered every 6 feet.
*Layout and secure weed mat with pins in 600 foot rows using about 300 pins per row.
*6-8 WH

1/17- 'Ohana outplanting/groundbreaking.
*Plant 600 koaia
*set up tent and make lunch
*share mana'o and goals
*borrow 5 dibble sticks from NARS
*~10 WH

Planning and other small kuleanas such as plant and seedling care @ Kaumana  house will be ongoing.

Here is what we got
Plants ready for the 'aina
600 koaiʻa, 200 nanea, about 100 random natives including hōlei, loulu, koʻokoʻolau, ʻōhāwai, ʻōlapa, kolea lauliʻi, halapepe, and alaheʻe.
Plants ready in 2-3 mos.
300 koaiʻa, 200 nanea, 100 hōʻawa, 50 māmaki, plus another batch of koaiʻa seeds started hopefully enough for 500 plants in 6 mos.
Orchard trees
3 mangosteen, 1 rare autia(tahiti) ʻulu, 1 lipet(micronesia) ʻulu, 1 kahaluʻu avocado, 6 wild avocados for rootstock, 1 tommy atkins mango, 9 wild mango for rootstock, 1 flame grapefruit, 3 samoan coconut
Other
*Unspecified amount(choke) of weed mat-mahalo Jake
*Use of Mower-mahalo Kuʻulei
*Use of planting tools-mahalo NARS
*Use of Laser level-mahalo Conrad
*10x20 tent
*trucks to move plants and people
Needs
*Weed mat pins 2000(~$150)
*Diesel gas 10 gal(~$45)
*A whole lot more stuff for future duties will be updated as they come up.  A list of needs and costs will be included in master plan.

Any manaʻos let me know, aloha a hui hou