Within our first moments here we were told what a magical island we stood on. Mama Maui is a lush, thriving forest bursting at the seams with biodiversity and life. This island has almost no plants with intimidating thorns, barely any are poisonous, and almost no predators to speak of. We have all had a few nightmares about finding the infamous centipede coiled up under clothes in our tents- but even their sting can only hurt temporarily. Even the spiders with their boxy horned bodies cascade along beautiful webs that decorate the outdoor dining area and leave us to eat in peace.
There has been a positive force around the sentiments of community living like “many hands make light the work”. We have been graced with people who harvest each land we are staying at to incorporate diversity in each dish. We eat together three times a day, talk about the foods we are eating, how they were grown and harvested, and where to find them on the property. I am looking forward to helping the cooking process so I can also start making use of all the nutrients Maui has to offer. After each meal we wash our own dishes and split into various tasks to sanitize and clear the small cooking/eating space. We have learned to be responsible not only for ourselves- but for the well being of eachother as well.
After breakfast we begin lecture- which this week has been held in the Moloka, a round, carpeted and opened up “hut” next to the very forested hill. We are taught by Jenny Pell and Evan Ryan who continue to provide solution based learning for the foundations of permaculture and how to apply them for different situations. It’s amazing that the teachings of permaculture are meant to transform mindset as well and can be applied socially, emotionally, even spiritually. Our lectures have always included a component of action or observation, or even a combination of the two to check our understanding and encourage our thought process toward permaculture design.
The next half of the day consists of some kind of “hands on activity” which is where we help with the workload for the place we are staying. This week the main project has been to clear out and replant the chunampas area which is part of a creek. In 4 days the place has been completely transformed- I was able to contribute with weeding and replanting a bed of taro and tumeric. Throughout this week of hands on activities I also drew observations of how to harvest sugar cane and tumeric as well as peeling the tough skins off of manioca root.
After dinner we might have optional activities for us- this week that consisted of community interacting “ice breaker” activities to get to know eachother, a documentary called Seeds of Permaculture, a slideshow about permaculture principles, examples, and some of Jenny’s story, and many of us went into town for an open mic event to be more immersed into the culture of Haiku, Maui. On Saturdays we have potlucks and invite the community over to be a part of the feast- many musicians from open mic night came last night and there was music around the bonfire.
I write this in preparation to pack up and leave this beautiful valley at Haiku ‘Aina Permaculture Initiative and move on to the next farm. Hopefully we are leaving bucket toilets far behind us as well. I am grateful for time spent so far, and looking forward to experiencing more reasons to fall in love with this gentle jungle island. Until next week- Mahalo.