The past five weeks have flown by faster than I can believe. This last week in particular has been nonstop and disappeared right from out underneath my feet. We were at Hale Akua Garden Farm and Permaculture Center where we had inside beds and access to a hot tub that overlooked the ocean. Finally our nomadic clan of farmers has dispersed like a puff of dandelion seeds, but happily most of us are staying on the island for a while longer, so I’ll be able to see them around.
Most of this week was dedicated to working on our final projects (there were other activities planned for the afternoons, but thanks to pouring rain and thunderstorms, that time was available for our design teams – I would have loved to spent time working in the gardens at Hale Akua, but I’m very grateful we had the extra time – I pulled several late nights as it was). My group designed the Kuleana Cooperative, a worker owned cooperative with a permanent farmer’s market, a food hub with aggregation and distribution zones, an education center with legal and financial offices for farmers, and incubator farms. Our group spent a long time debating the flow and layout of our design, both overall and specific attributes. We talked with Jenny how Americans in general are bad at working in groups; we have not yet mastered collaboration over competition. It was definitely a process, but I’m grateful for it. I believe our project was better for the multitude of perspectives and passion. My individual element was the permanent farmer’s market, which Jenny (our client) wanted as an Ibuku structure. Ibuku is a premier bamboo design and construction company. My biggest challenge was how to balance aesthetics with functionality. Eventually I came up with a design that fit 60 10 by 10 ft vendor booths, a kava bar, an area for food trucks, a loading and unloading zone, a kombucha cafe (on the second floor), and a meditation space with a view out to the ocean (on the third floor). The outside featured a jasmine trellis, canoe crops, and flow forms. Forrest designed the plants for the entire property. Melo designed the energy systems, which included solar panels in the parking lot, several rainwater catchments, and a permeable parking lot. Foot designed the human interactions, a very important part of our project because we want this to be an example for other food hubs and for the community. We want people to see our herb garden or composting system and think, “Wow, I could do this.” We got great feedback on our presentation, Evan said he was ready to donate $1 million and was impressed at the cohesiveness of our team. Jenny said it was incredible and is taking our posters to her board. Nothing beautiful in life comes without a struggle. I’m incredibly proud of my team and our final design.
That evening we had our talent show, which Jenny said we were required to participate in to receive our Permaculture Design Certification. I played a very poor rendition of Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind on harmonica. Some highlights were Melo’s rap about the program and Mahalellujah, Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah rewritten with a Hawaiian vibe, performed by Jenny, Bloom, and Anahata, and Taryn’s chocolate cake.
The next morning we had our graduation ceremony. One by one we got up and shared our emotions and experience with the group, and then everyone called out compliments of the person standing, and then we received our certificates. There were more than a few tears.
I’m blown away with gratitude and love for this program and the friends I’ve made in the last month. Such a surreal and epic experience. Now I’m transitioning to Whispering Winds Bamboo Cooperative in Kipahulu, where I’ll be doing an internship for the next five weeks.
Mahalellujah