Mahi ʻAi

Who do you share your vital resources/time with? Who would you risk depending on for community sharing and protection in hard times?

My husband has helped me to reconnect with the ʻāina. He is a passionate mahi ʻai (farmer). He has reminded me how important it is to be sustainable by growing food. When I first started dating my husband, he proudly showed me his backyard where he grew ʻuala, kalo, māmaki, ʻōhiʻa ʻai, ʻōlena, and papaya. He would make me smoothies with the papaya from his trees. We would make tea from the māmaki leaves and ʻōlena root. I loved harvesting from the yard. He also had his own compost bin. Growing and harvesting from the yard made me realize how unsustainable my lifestyle was. Instead of buying packaged produce, we could be harvesting and gathering from our own land. Instead of throwing food waste into the trash, it could be going into the compost bin to make soil.

The neighbor would bring by food to my husband sometimes. This type of community sharing became unfamiliar to me. Sharing with neighbors was so prevalent as a child, but as I grew older this gesture was so uncommon. I believe mostly because my community was changing. Kailua was slowly losing this sense of community and resource sharing as the influx of tourism grew. However, Hoʻokuaʻāina has brought back community sharing to Kailua. Hoʻokuaʻāina is a non-profit organization that perpetuates Hawaiian culture through the cultivation and preparation of kalo. I rely on them for ancestral foods like kalo and ʻulu. My husband and Hoʻokuaʻāina have really shown me how to be resourceful and sustainable.