I never fully realized the impact my farm would make connecting people with people. It dawned on me at a recent wedding of one of our friends, who had once stayed at Kumu Aina. Looking over a group of guests at the wedding and seeing them laugh, dance and talk to each other made me […]
A lot of farmers choose to provide volunteer workers with room and board in exchange for help on the farm. We started accepting workers we met at the farmer’s market or those that came to the farm to inquire. Later, we would join various web sites that brought workers together with farmers. Since we have been doing it for many […]
Ten years ago, my wonderful husband and I gave up a fairly successful life in Florida to move to an off-grid farm in Hawaii. We had a 3-bedroom house, a pool, a hot tub, a beautiful garden, and good friends that lived close by. When I left, I remember shutting my front door for the last time and […]
The lava was moving fast, and in one day it grew 400 yards! That’s four football fields. There was no stopping it and by the end of the month of September it was predicted to eat up our town of Pahoa, Hawaii, and cross over the highway. There was lot of denial and panic. I […]
When we first moved to Hawaii and met our neighbors, it wasn’t, “Hi, what’s your name?”, it was more, “Hi, what is your diet?” Diet or what one ate was more important than your name. We met all sorts of people with all sorts of diets–primal, raw, vegan, fruitarian, instinctive, etc. Whole communities were based […]