Hana Ho
Ok, so I have been staying in the botanic gardens in Hana, Maui for the last 11 days. We are camping outside of the directors office up on the hill off the highway and the gardens is down the bottom on the flood plain.
Hana is on the East Coast of Maui, to drive here from the airport took 3 hours and the road winds up and down along the eroded volcanic valleys and sharp corners. Apart from the fact that the other interns couldn't camp if their lives depended on it (this is the least camping I have ever engaged in. There is a lunch area with a big roller door that houses the kitchen and two tables and then the office which has internet, phones, bathroom, shower, etc. On the plus side the internet doesn't really work so at least they have been playing cards instead of on the internet).
Anyway, we got to the gardens and set up, me and tory are around the back away from everyone and my tent is a leaky bivey bag but is nice and homely. We are cooking communlly too which is nice cause back on kauai everyone eats quick processed food and not together.
We are staying on land that used to belong to Jim Nabors. He is a wierd American celebrity who was in one of the first TV shows ever, the andy griffiths show (I hadn't heard of it and the interns looked at me like I was mad). He bought this old sugar ranch land after the sugar industry was folding in the 70s. Before that it had been ranch land and before that tropical rainforest with a polynesian society at the bottom of the hill. He has a house on the land that the office is on but isn't here. When he bought this as a getaway and hobby farm he planted heaps of mac nut trees. There were 13,000 macadamia trees on the land but a few thousand were destroyed by a cyclone in 2002. The day we flew in we went shopping to stock up on food and then arrived around 3pm. I walked the property and collected mac nuts as I walked.
The gardens is on land that was aquired by a polynesian family durring an event known as the great mehele which occured in 1831 (i think) when hawaii was united as a european style monarchy under one chief/king. Before this there had been islands united under one ruling chief or ali'i who was part of the rulling class with powerful mana and the people pampered their chief and commoners were forbidden from touching the chief or sitting when the chief walked by. Anyway, after contact with Cook in 1778 the islands were then united under one ruler King Kamehameha around 1812. One of the ways he became king was by capturing a european sailboat called the Fair American along with 2 seamen and then had a high tech weponary advantage over all other ali'i.
The great mehele was when the land stopped belonging to everyone and being the commons on which the people lived and mimiced the european system of land ownership. Like in similar land aquisitions in North America, families that had adequate knowledge of english and money could aquire large plots of land at the expense of the community. Anyway, this Family, the Kahunu family, got the land by getting in the sack with the sugar barrons from England that wanted the land to make cash and promised this too the family. In the 60's as the islands agriculture industries were folding the land was deeded to the garden by some of the family decendeant as it had become overgrown and on it was a large Heiau from the 15th century which is an ancient polynesian temple and living space. Over 40, 000 people used to live there before the english brought disease. Although it must be remembered that the hawaian counted in blocks of 4. 4, 40, 400, 4000, 40, 000 and 40,000 was often used for really large numbers. Anyway this heiau is a national monument and really big and really old and really sacred.
" It also contains the Piʻilanihale Heiau, a National Historic Landmark believed to be the largest ancient temple in Polynesia. Dating from the 16th century, it is constructed from lava blocks and is 341 feet (104 m) by 415 feet (126 m) in extent, with a 50-foot (15 m) high front wall." - wikipedia
The gardens are wonderful, there is a team of 6 gardens and 1 nursery worker and the director. The gardens has a huge ulu or breadfruit orchard with over 200 cultivars from all over the world. And then a canoe garden with polynesian introduced plants, the heiau and a beautiful wild volcanic coastline. Hana is a small rural community that is predominantly Hawaian. The town used to be a bit of a booming hub back in the 40's when sugar was king but the collapse of sugar and a cyclone reducd the community size drastically.
The gardeners are all hawaiin guys bar one and it has been amazing talking to them and learning form them and experiancing hawaii hawaii.
Last week we weeded numerous garden beds, weeded the heiau and removed invasive trees from the edges, played hawaiin sport games with hawaiian children, made and threw spears, picked breadfruit, made compost and compost tea and shot the breeze. I went fishing with two of the gardeners eric and earl and vanray and some other local boys and had a blast out there on the rocks. The moon has been filling since we got here and is full tonights.
This past weekend we went swiming in the caves in the area and also at the beach and the director made us brunch with is wife and two kids in toe. Best coffee I've been able to get my hands on in a while. Eric and his mates came over for a Barbeque which was ace. We smoked the meat and stuff with mac nut shells. However, the other interns didn't really understand how a barbeque worked and didn't realise it would just be the guys bringing big slabs of meat and beer. We all had a good time though, Eric taught me to play some ukelele which I really liked. I also walked the coast which is like 4 miles and saw the most amazing sea I have caught in a while, big churning waves pounding on the rocks. Some nights we can hear it from up on this mountian. There are river mouths that were called the drum becuase the sea could be heard so loud up the river valley.
This week has been tops too. Starting Saturday was the aloha festival in town which is a celebration of hawaian culture. We saw a town street parade on Saturday with an elvis car and horses and the fire brigade and school groups making hula floats. There was also a mock procession of the old hawaian courts with the king and his wife and the ladies in waiting and the guards and the herelds and the protector of the mana and the prince and the conch horn blowers. Sunday was a fishing contest and monday we played volley ball in the park with community members. Tuesday was the the teen dance so we went fishing with eric down on the old cane wharf.
Today we weeded an taro patch up in the hills on the other side of town. It is a community farm tacked on the the national park where taro or kalo is cultivated in the tradional way. We wallowed around in the muddy paddies and ripped up the plants we were harvesting and drowned the weeds. The cultivation is amaing. We ripped out the whole plant, cleaned it in the stream and then cut off the korm and the leafs and the stem that is left can be replanted in the field. We then hiked up to a 400 ft waterfall through a bamboo forest. Was fucking increadible. I harvested a big bag of macnuts in the evening and then went to the town talent night. Tomorrow is the bread fruit cook off and hawaiana night and friday we are having a luau in our honour down in the gardens. This two weeks have been amazing.
Have had no real outside news but I saw a headline at the genral store about hte economy being totally fucked, no suprises there. Realy glad I've just been trained in Machette use and spear making and throwing for when we need to catch our own food and build our own shit.
Which segways nicely into the other thing I've been filling my time with here, my intern project. I've been designing a commnity farm for the hana community so I've been checking out the land that the garden has recently aquired and belonged to the old TV star I was on about in the beginging. I'm setting up a plan for reclaiming the clam and building a permaculture community farm to make subsistance food and use time controlled grazing to clear the land of invasive speices and produce beef and pork and chickens for participants. Has been really good getting a understanding of both the land aspects and also the beauracricy required for getting grants, networking etc. Going well thus far, will give a bigger update on that another time.
Hope you are all well, I love you all. After this we have 2 weeks back on the south shore of kauai, two on the north and a final two on the south. Still don't think they will be able to top Hana. I'm gonna do some more coastal restoration projects and a few bike rides. Then I'm going fly to the Big Island at the end of November and either wwoof or bike tour, I haven't decided yet. Then I have my course at the begining of January. As the plan stands now I'm going to head to belau in Febuary and then take it form there.
Stay well, till next time.
Peace
Harris
Hana is on the East Coast of Maui, to drive here from the airport took 3 hours and the road winds up and down along the eroded volcanic valleys and sharp corners. Apart from the fact that the other interns couldn't camp if their lives depended on it (this is the least camping I have ever engaged in. There is a lunch area with a big roller door that houses the kitchen and two tables and then the office which has internet, phones, bathroom, shower, etc. On the plus side the internet doesn't really work so at least they have been playing cards instead of on the internet).
Anyway, we got to the gardens and set up, me and tory are around the back away from everyone and my tent is a leaky bivey bag but is nice and homely. We are cooking communlly too which is nice cause back on kauai everyone eats quick processed food and not together.
We are staying on land that used to belong to Jim Nabors. He is a wierd American celebrity who was in one of the first TV shows ever, the andy griffiths show (I hadn't heard of it and the interns looked at me like I was mad). He bought this old sugar ranch land after the sugar industry was folding in the 70s. Before that it had been ranch land and before that tropical rainforest with a polynesian society at the bottom of the hill. He has a house on the land that the office is on but isn't here. When he bought this as a getaway and hobby farm he planted heaps of mac nut trees. There were 13,000 macadamia trees on the land but a few thousand were destroyed by a cyclone in 2002. The day we flew in we went shopping to stock up on food and then arrived around 3pm. I walked the property and collected mac nuts as I walked.
The gardens is on land that was aquired by a polynesian family durring an event known as the great mehele which occured in 1831 (i think) when hawaii was united as a european style monarchy under one chief/king. Before this there had been islands united under one ruling chief or ali'i who was part of the rulling class with powerful mana and the people pampered their chief and commoners were forbidden from touching the chief or sitting when the chief walked by. Anyway, after contact with Cook in 1778 the islands were then united under one ruler King Kamehameha around 1812. One of the ways he became king was by capturing a european sailboat called the Fair American along with 2 seamen and then had a high tech weponary advantage over all other ali'i.
The great mehele was when the land stopped belonging to everyone and being the commons on which the people lived and mimiced the european system of land ownership. Like in similar land aquisitions in North America, families that had adequate knowledge of english and money could aquire large plots of land at the expense of the community. Anyway, this Family, the Kahunu family, got the land by getting in the sack with the sugar barrons from England that wanted the land to make cash and promised this too the family. In the 60's as the islands agriculture industries were folding the land was deeded to the garden by some of the family decendeant as it had become overgrown and on it was a large Heiau from the 15th century which is an ancient polynesian temple and living space. Over 40, 000 people used to live there before the english brought disease. Although it must be remembered that the hawaian counted in blocks of 4. 4, 40, 400, 4000, 40, 000 and 40,000 was often used for really large numbers. Anyway this heiau is a national monument and really big and really old and really sacred.
" It also contains the Piʻilanihale Heiau, a National Historic Landmark believed to be the largest ancient temple in Polynesia. Dating from the 16th century, it is constructed from lava blocks and is 341 feet (104 m) by 415 feet (126 m) in extent, with a 50-foot (15 m) high front wall." - wikipedia
The gardens are wonderful, there is a team of 6 gardens and 1 nursery worker and the director. The gardens has a huge ulu or breadfruit orchard with over 200 cultivars from all over the world. And then a canoe garden with polynesian introduced plants, the heiau and a beautiful wild volcanic coastline. Hana is a small rural community that is predominantly Hawaian. The town used to be a bit of a booming hub back in the 40's when sugar was king but the collapse of sugar and a cyclone reducd the community size drastically.
The gardeners are all hawaiin guys bar one and it has been amazing talking to them and learning form them and experiancing hawaii hawaii.
Last week we weeded numerous garden beds, weeded the heiau and removed invasive trees from the edges, played hawaiin sport games with hawaiian children, made and threw spears, picked breadfruit, made compost and compost tea and shot the breeze. I went fishing with two of the gardeners eric and earl and vanray and some other local boys and had a blast out there on the rocks. The moon has been filling since we got here and is full tonights.
This past weekend we went swiming in the caves in the area and also at the beach and the director made us brunch with is wife and two kids in toe. Best coffee I've been able to get my hands on in a while. Eric and his mates came over for a Barbeque which was ace. We smoked the meat and stuff with mac nut shells. However, the other interns didn't really understand how a barbeque worked and didn't realise it would just be the guys bringing big slabs of meat and beer. We all had a good time though, Eric taught me to play some ukelele which I really liked. I also walked the coast which is like 4 miles and saw the most amazing sea I have caught in a while, big churning waves pounding on the rocks. Some nights we can hear it from up on this mountian. There are river mouths that were called the drum becuase the sea could be heard so loud up the river valley.
This week has been tops too. Starting Saturday was the aloha festival in town which is a celebration of hawaian culture. We saw a town street parade on Saturday with an elvis car and horses and the fire brigade and school groups making hula floats. There was also a mock procession of the old hawaian courts with the king and his wife and the ladies in waiting and the guards and the herelds and the protector of the mana and the prince and the conch horn blowers. Sunday was a fishing contest and monday we played volley ball in the park with community members. Tuesday was the the teen dance so we went fishing with eric down on the old cane wharf.
Today we weeded an taro patch up in the hills on the other side of town. It is a community farm tacked on the the national park where taro or kalo is cultivated in the tradional way. We wallowed around in the muddy paddies and ripped up the plants we were harvesting and drowned the weeds. The cultivation is amaing. We ripped out the whole plant, cleaned it in the stream and then cut off the korm and the leafs and the stem that is left can be replanted in the field. We then hiked up to a 400 ft waterfall through a bamboo forest. Was fucking increadible. I harvested a big bag of macnuts in the evening and then went to the town talent night. Tomorrow is the bread fruit cook off and hawaiana night and friday we are having a luau in our honour down in the gardens. This two weeks have been amazing.
Have had no real outside news but I saw a headline at the genral store about hte economy being totally fucked, no suprises there. Realy glad I've just been trained in Machette use and spear making and throwing for when we need to catch our own food and build our own shit.
Which segways nicely into the other thing I've been filling my time with here, my intern project. I've been designing a commnity farm for the hana community so I've been checking out the land that the garden has recently aquired and belonged to the old TV star I was on about in the beginging. I'm setting up a plan for reclaiming the clam and building a permaculture community farm to make subsistance food and use time controlled grazing to clear the land of invasive speices and produce beef and pork and chickens for participants. Has been really good getting a understanding of both the land aspects and also the beauracricy required for getting grants, networking etc. Going well thus far, will give a bigger update on that another time.
Hope you are all well, I love you all. After this we have 2 weeks back on the south shore of kauai, two on the north and a final two on the south. Still don't think they will be able to top Hana. I'm gonna do some more coastal restoration projects and a few bike rides. Then I'm going fly to the Big Island at the end of November and either wwoof or bike tour, I haven't decided yet. Then I have my course at the begining of January. As the plan stands now I'm going to head to belau in Febuary and then take it form there.
Stay well, till next time.
Peace
Harris
posted by Angel Ironhead at 7:47 pm
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