Give up your day job, I think you should seriously think about it. Welcome to Kumu Aina Farm in Hawaii. Kumu means teacher and Aina means land in Hawaiian. Together it sort of means teacher of the land or land of wisdom. The land has come to be just that; though initially we were just transplanted mainland suburbanites whom the new neighbors took bets on to see if we’d last in this off-the-grid world of overgrown jungle. Not to say we haven’t had trials and tribulations, but we’ve managed to survive and flourish for over eight years without city water, sewage, electrical power, curb side garbage collection, and telephone lines. And we learned to grow our own food, raise cows, sheep, goats, pigs, bees and chickens.

I recall sitting out on the patio furniture by the pool on a typical hot South Florida July and talking to one of my best friends who lives in Hawaii. I remember when she moved to Hawaii in the year 2000 and most people were surprised and thrilled she was going but I wasn’t. I didn’t understand why she would go to Hawaii of all places, it was so far away. But here I sat, by the pool, talking to her and complaining that, my husband, Bob and I were in a rut and something needed to change.

Life had gotten to be the same old, same old. I had recently quit my job as a catalog production supervisor for the largest office supply company in the world and my husband has just completed his air conditioning contractors license and started his own company. Both a successful career/business and we had good paying jobs.  But I had been in the advertising world since college and he’d long been installing air conditioners and getting late night pleas from friends (and friends of friends) who’s air conditioners broke down. So my bestie did what any good friend would do and gave me some advice, “Why don’t you move to Hawaii?” My first response was to laugh, as I’m sure most people would do, when imagining something so impossibly different from their current lives.

The more we talked the less funny and the more practical the idea became. After a while, I went into the house, found Bob, in front of the television and gave him the reasons me and my friend came up with, that him and I should move to Hawaii. He turned to look at me and said, “yes”. From that moment on we never looked back, never second guessed ourselves and within a few weeks were on an airplane to Hawaii to look for a place to live.

Have you ever thought of taking the plunge and changing your life? We’d love to hear it. Post it in the comment section. Mahalo!