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This week was our last together in the Permaculture course. Sunday I left Whispering Winds with another student after we had packed up to get a look of the other side of the island. Eventually we made our way back to Hale Akua, the last location for our tour. This magical place is a jungle hotel off the Hana highway near Haiku complete with real beds, private bathrooms and showers, salt water pools, saunas, and hot tubs overlooking a misty waterfall. However, with the due date of our projects so near- I wasn’t able to really revel in this place as much as I would have liked to. On Monday we had lecture in the yoga studio that touched on finishing points about designing for clients. Jenny and Evan brought sample designs and sketch-ups of their work from past jobs to give us direction for the projects we were designing. That afternoon we attempted to tour the beautiful farm on Hale Akua- but the torrential jungle rain cut our tour short and continued for the rest of the week so that only a portion of the farm was explored. I can’t tell you how happy I was to not be in a tent for this very wet weather. The next day we met Gabriel Howearth who was one of the original founders of the Seeds of Change organization that has saved and shared seeds in order to save entire plant species from existence. For example, we were told that amaranth and quinoa would not be available to grow today without Gabriel’s work. He touched on the great importance of seed saving and enchanted us with details about using Sonic Bloom (certain frequencies and songs at specific times of the day) to stimulate plant health. He also touched on several propagation and seed saving methods. Gabriel and his business partner are starting a farm in HI called Ono Gardens where he will help teach what he knows to the interns and students that they hope will visit.

For my design project my group was tasked to design for a property in Kipahulu that Spencer will be leasing. This project was very tricky because Spencer is leasing land from a Texas developer who wishes to turn it into tea production fields and expensive manor housing. Not only that but the property has a 1400 ft change in elevation within just one mile. The developer has already started work on roads and maintenance buildings that he wants to put in, so Spencer is compromising with him on some parts but also utilizing part of the land to grow a nursery business that he hopes will be prosperous enough to fund a buyout of the land. Much of the design we came up with adjusts the developer’s plans, focuses on the immediate future of the nursery, and includes a long term plan to respect the old Loi’ farms and native graves on the property while also inviting in community relationships. It took a lot of time to finish this project, but our group very easily kept peace with each other while the storms around us raged (and by storms I mean the fighting and frustrations of other groups).

After little sleep Tuesday night we presented Wednesday morning. It was really wonderful to see how differently each group thought about their design projects and the strengths that each person brought. After lunch we had some activities to boost self confidence and after dinner we had a mandatory talent show. For this I wrote a poem about the ocean. Some people wrote songs, sang opera, Alanna even played harmonica! I wanted to celebrate the completion of our course but after the talent show and slide show of pictures from the course, everyone was exhausted.

The next day we had to prepare for check out, ate a lovingly made brunch (our last meal from the beloved Taryn and Chance), and met in the yoga studio to be awarded our certificates and say our goodbyes. On Tuesday, Jenny had offered to take me on as her intern as long as I could find a place to stay for the month. Only two of the farms we visited were taking interns and Alanna filled the position at Whispering Winds. Ahimsa was still available but that required tent camping and a lot of heavy labor because the farm has been overgrown. Unfortunately the climate and the limited time to rest took a toll on my health and I did not see this as a healthy option for me. Jenny had also contacted HAPI farms and asked others if they could use someone with my business and marketing expertise- but I knew I would learn more working with her for a month. So in between finishing projects and packing up my bags I had still not found a place to live and was allowed to stay in a spare bed at Hale Akua Thursday night since staff were staying one more night. Luckily, a stranger that gave me a ride back from Open Mic on Thursday told me the next day while I was out with staff member Elise and her partner (so I could stay local to Haiku since Spencer went back to Kipahulu) that he worked out a situation with his landlord so I could stay in the house a few days until he moved out. So, my new home for the month is where I am now, just a ten minute walk from Jenny’s offices at little house down the road surrounded by fruit trees, jungle scenery, and a LOT of wild chickens.

 

This week the water showed herself, but electric inspiration filled me up.

I’ve had a hard time feeling grounded lately. There has been a constant flow of work, education, exciting trips that combine both, and integration into the Maui community with her enticing overflow of celebrations. We’ve arrived at Ahimsa, and it’s pouring rain. We wait a few moments and as the rain clears a bright blue building is revealed, trimmed with ornate gold and topped with a giant lotus flower and crystal. We’ve arrived at a sanctuary and temple- of which the community kitchen lounge we are able to come together in. An indoor kitchen, couches, and even a pool table? That certainly makes camping a little easier to do for so long. I’ve set up my tent near a pond for the privacy it keeps.

The final weeks to really dial into our design capabilities are near. We have lectures in the tea house on the technicalities of designwork like map graphics, map orientation, and clarity. Jenny is leading the week since Evan has work to do in Colorado, and she is giving us bountiful knowledge from her years of experience with permaculture consulting. The prominent theme of the week is how to analyse “invisible structures” which exist socially, financially, within governance, and legally. This firstly includes the restrictions of resources, zoning laws, and acknowledging or interviewing clients and who else has a stakehold in the land. However, permaculturists need to dig deeper and practice dynamic analysis by connecting with all of those who will be on the land- understanding their motivations and designing to encourage social community. Jenny showed us an example of this with a design she did for a village model in the bush areas by a river. She designed the village to be made of connecting pods with huts gathered in a round pattern. This creates a small community of each pod and with their focus connectivity provides line of sight for protection from any person that would have to travel through the middle of each pod to get to any huts. Jenny also understood that the women built their community with eachother when they went to wash clothes and tell stories in the river- a vital location for them with the prevalent oppression of men in that particular culture. Because of this, she designed “secret” trails branching off from each pod toward the river so that the woman may leave quietly without speculation of the men. Another way to design for invisible structures would be to have community spaces for farmworkers- and put this near the tool shed or include an enjoyable spot with shady trees for them to take breaks while working. This increases efficiency of their work because they can put their tools away when they lunch or because they have a more pleasant space to hold in between work.

We also had Forrest, a staff member on the team, teach us more about seeds and seed saving. I never knew how many species had been lost and it has inspired me to spend time saving seeds (as long as they are true to seed) from my own garden for guerilla gardening and sharing with my community. The first seeds I could save might be from an ashwagandha shrub- a plant that I did extensive research on for my plant profile project. I chose a plant that grew on Evan’s farm because during a tour of the herb garden there I was told of it’s healing abilities for fibromyalgia which is one of the autoimmune diseases I have. As I was helping cook that day two of my peers made me a tincture with it and calendula to help my chronic pain. So this week I dove into its roots and the magical abilities of this Aryuvedic medicinal herb. We were also asked to make a guild of harmonious plants to support it and I did so with plants and trees that can also be grown in the Pacific Northwest that harbor healing medicines for the nervous system. I even came up with a way to organize my guild based on each plant’s elemental correspondence and that element’s relationship to each direction; North=Earth, East=Air, South=Fire, and West=Water. This partly may have been inspired from honoring the directions and elements in the medicine circle meditation that our host, Blue Mountain, gave us at that area of our tour.

On Friday, Ahimsa hosted a private water ceremony that our class was invited to join. The ceremony was a lament for the waters that were redistributed from the natural land of Maui and rights of Kalo (Taro) farmers instead to be used for commercial pineapple and sugar cane plantations. This night was also a celebration for the healing that water provides and a hope that they will run freely again. Local musicians and practitioners performed water ceremonies/songs of their own- though many knew that stronger connections needed to be made to the native Kalo farmers who were not present though they were invited. In the end a magnetic band of indigenous people from the New Zealand island of Mauri performed and enlivened the audience with their respect to their gods and all gods we must work with to protect and respect the water. After this I was inspired to use the water the way I know best- by starting a painting from watercolors.

The water can be furiously fierce as well and as the rain continued my tent became too flooded for me to sleep in. I moved to sleep in one of the group vans we have, but all the magic of this week didn’t dampen my inspiration. After the hands on work of one day, Jenny pulled all of the women in our group aside to take us on a moderate hike to a beautiful secret spot. Down we went and eventually found a beautiful space where the river lets out to the ocean. Surrounded by lush trees on this small rocky shore, we dipped ourselves into the water and I let the frustrations of the first few weeks wash away with the flowing river. I am so grateful that she held space for us to just exist and feel mama ocean in the beautiful place we have made a home from on Maui.

Sailing On

 

 

This week the winds blew hard and forced us to adapt, integrate and find balance.

We unpacked and started to settle in at our lecturer Evan’s farm Pono Grown. I was lucky enough to set up my tent in a loft barn space and I have traded some hands on hours for helping out in the kitchen. Some of the work load coupled with long days and active nights have proven difficult for me to efficiently manage with my autoimmune diseases- but I am learning so much by preparing food. Our cooks Taryn and Chance have been harvesting a variety of ingredients from whichever farm we currently are on and making fresh dishes from the aina (land). In this week alone we have made flatbreads from turning manyoka (a root that I helped process by cutting and peeling) into dough and very yummy stir fries and curries. It’s been a whole new world to learn how to use every part of the plant you’ve harvested in dishes as well as cooking from a tropical palette. For instance- sweet potato leaves can be turned into pesto and most types of stems can be sauteed to add to any vegetable medley. Taryn also gave us a demonstration on how to make vegan golden milk- an anti-inflammatory concotion that most effectively enhances the body’s ability to uptake nutrients and benefits from tumeric root.

The Kona winds blew strong this week but we packed in a lot of curriculum. Starting with zones and sector mapping- the social permaculture threads are starting to reveal themselves in our lessons. Zones label areas of your external space according to its relative use in your daily life. On a deeper level, zones are designed for integration and to create accessible what elements of your land you most want to be present with. What I appreciate about this lesson is that while Zone 0 is for your home space, there is an even deeper level of Zone 00 for self. Allowing room for introspection, managing, and growth of self is impertinent for permaculturists investing their energy toward re-naturalizing intentional wild spaces. If there is no connection or understanding of our own natural self and how we contribute to the earth- how can we expect the earth to give back to us?

Sector analysis has to be done almost first in a design in order to understand the existing elements of the land. Everything about that land’s behaviors from the sun, wind, climate, water flow, topography, wildlife, and even potential hazards like landslides and fires need to be drawn from observation. As soon as we began practicing this type of connective observation I’ve seen my surroundings in a different way. Some observations Evan shared about his land were to notice the plants that exist for themselves and the magic that they hold without having to be “useful”. There is a strong old avocado tree in his property that I really connected with and he talked to the class about the importance of allowing some things to just be and let them grow. That tree doesn’t hold much fruit anymore, or at least nothing that would be viable to consume, but it is a perfect shady spot for the preschool class that comes there to play on and admire and be protected by a little pocket of rich, pure nature.

As the new moon passed we shed our anxieties and dove deeper into the dynamics of community living. Interacting with the same people for almost the entirety of every day has been an experience I’ve never had and has guided me to be more intentional with my behavior. Reflecting this, most of the week has been a combination of elements to be considered when designing a permaculture system. From soil building, to water catchment, compost and animal introduction; every part must be considered for optimal symbiosis with the land. We planted baby trees and put intentions of love and strength to excel their growth because every energy that interacts with the land and the flora are being absorbed. It’s amazing to know that one day they will grow tall and lush with fruit and that Evan’s family might be climbing and gathering abundance from them to share with the community.

There is value in the space we hold and this week has taught me to honor the space I take up respectfully and harmoniously.