Seeing Maui from a New Angle

Having lived on Maui since a kid in Haiku School, I saw Maui go from an underdeveloped, Hippie Days on up to the present.
It certainly is not the same Maui I explored on foot, bike and jeep. Back when most places only had a latch to keep the gate closed to prevent animals from getting out, where now No Trespassing signs cover the landscape,

Shirota's Pineapple trucks were an active part of the neighborhood when I was a kid.

there used to be just the occasional Kapu signs, which most ignored, because most people knew the land owner and respected the property.

Shirota`s garage that housed most of his vehicles at the fork of Haiku-Pauwela road. Building is long gone.

Now properties are gated, patrolled and even have home owners watching their million dollar homes from somewhere in the world complaining if they saw on camera someone walking along the ocean front, as if it belonged to them.

Part of the MA'A Kipahulu Tour

I have seen a recent re-awakening of family (ohana) values, community centered groups and a lifestyle conducive to small farmers begin to take root again.
I am proud that I was honored enough to be a part of many of the community groups, if you read this blog, you will know who some of the most predominant ones are in my opinion and the people that made them possible.

 

 So many people devote such an enormous amount of their time to getting these groups and organizations off the ground, sometimes with, but often without the government help needed, but they do it because they have the passion and belief deep within them that they can make a difference.

 

Knowing the the keiki and the food are the future they continue pushing on to make a change.

The small farms provide not only the healthy and sustainable foods, but also the seeds of plants that will help grow a better tomorrow. One free of engineering and true as can be to the nature of the plants they come from.
 

 Many foods could be the answer to a world reaching out for answers on how to be fed and these answers could be right in front of us with no genetic engineering needed.
 

The people of Maui push on to educate and bring to the rest of the world the lessons learned and yet they are just on one small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It can seem overwhelming to many and yet so simple to those willing to see the answers that are right in front of them.

So after a lifetime on Maui, seeing and being a part of all the changes, health, economics and family spreading out, I have chosen to move from Maui and while the world holds many amazing places, just the good old USA has enough to keep me busy for awhile.
While I may live in other parts of the U.S. in the coming years, Maui will always be a part of me. So with that said, my blogging about Maui issues will be through the eyes of those that remain to live there. I expect to see many new sites and life from a different angle.

Aloha to my friends, next stop for me is the bluegrass festival for Fathers Day on my way northward to a new home in Oregon.
Guess I will have to come up with some new blog names to reflect what I end up doing. Or maybe just take it all in for awhile and just rearrange my online presence. I suspect I will post more on Google+ and build out from their system. We'll see.

Jim Hall

Be there for Bee Health

An email from Danielle Downey on a meeting at the college about Bee Health and The Hawaii Apiary Program.
Being based in Halo, it's a great chance for Maui people to talk story and hear her Manao.

"Aloha Honey Bee friends!
The Hawaii Apiary Program is hosting expert collaborators to improve honey bee health in Hawaii. Please join us to hear about this work, there will be a public presentation this Tuesday at Maui Community College, 5pm in Ka Lama 103.

Hawaii Apiary Specialist Danielle Downey will describe Hawaii Department of Agriculture's project with resistant stock, and introduce collaborating researcher Dr. Bob Danka, whose work has produced Varroa resistant stock, including the stock being evaluated in Hawaii. Dr. Danka is a Research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS Research Lab in Baton Rouge, he has studied Africanized Bees, honey bee pollination factors, and breeding bees with better pest and disease resistance, working with the industry to transfer this technology to beekeepers. 
Tom and Suki Glenn, of Glenn Apiaries, are also cooperators in this project with Hawaii Department of Agriculture and will be present for discussion. 

Read more about the work of Dr. Bob Danka: 
http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=1258

Read more about the work of Glenn Apiaries: 
http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/vsh_hawaii_queen_bees.html

Read more about the VSH bee, which is being evaluated and maintained to help Hawaii's beekeeping industry:
http://www.extension.org/pages/30361/varroa-sensitive-hygiene-and-mite-reproduction

We hope you can join us, and please help spread the word. 
Mahalo,
Danielle Downey

--
Danielle Downey
Apiculture Specialist
Hawaii Department of Agriculture/
UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
16 E. Lanikaula St.
Hilo, HI  96720
808 936 5483
ddowney@hawaii.edu"

Moving Sale Maui Kahului, Almost Anything

MOVING SALE TODAY SATURDAY MAY 10, 2013 EVERYTHING GOES!

43 years of tools/ hardware, furniture, dressers, refrigerator, stove, cabinets, 15 speed bike. All goes today. Or to Non-Profits Monday.

Even 55 gallon plastic barrels, plants and left over aquaponic systems. (No Fish) Green house with 2x6 & 2x4 with shade cloth and screwed together with metal brackets. Disassembly required but probably less than an hour. Rubber maid 40 gallon tank and 100 gallon Rubbermaid fishtank with cover.

Ryobi Portable Planer AP1301 S/N BA074443535
Dremel 18" Variable Speed Scroll Saw Model 1800 s/n 48804 1899
Ridgid FlipTop portable work support
Craftsman 10" Table Saw Model 137.218250. s/n RCW4163
Rockwell Drill Press series 11-100 s/n FH-7007
Makita Chop Saw Model 2414. s/n?
Ryobi Hand Router Model R161. s/n 874270 0142
Bostitch Indusrial High Power Round Head Framing Nailer Model N88RH
Craftsman Medium Duty Impact Hammer (air) Dremel MultiPro hand tool with accessory kit
Dewalt heavy duty hand sander DW412
Remmington power fastener & .22caliber loads
SnapOn Ct30 battery powered impact wrench
Columbian Router bits Dremel High Speed Rotary Saw
Craftsman Saber Saw
Tradesman 18 guage 1-1/4" Brad Nailer
Black & Decker Mouse Sander
Skilsaw HD77 Worm Drive Saw
Tile Saw and various accessories
Campbell Hausfeld compressor 13 gallons 125 PSI Max
2 head outdoor Halogen lights on stand
1 head halogen work light
Power Star 1200 watt 2 stroke generator

Todays The Day!

Listen to the Na'au. The Brain is just there to distract you.

Our Lima (Hands) use it, the Maka (Eyes) often relies on it, the Ihu (nose) is influenced by it, the Pepeiao (Ears) too often believe it, the Waha (Mouth) becomes to Nui (Big) and repeats what it saying and the Opu (stomach), well it often listens to it more than it should.

Our Brain can seem to be the center that all parts of us listen to. Yet it is the Na'au (Mind/Heart) that really speaks the truth.

When we listen only to our Brains. When we believe we have control. When we believe how our Brain interprets our senses, we are in many cases ignoring our Na'au.

If the feeling you get in the center of your gut is uneasy when your Brain is calling the shots, chances are it is not in our best interest.

When the Na'au is calm and feels peaceful while the Brain is working out the details, then is when we are on the right track.

Listening to the Na'au is not easy today, the information we are bombarded with, the advice of others, the cries from everyone that wants us to save them, when they should be listening to their own Na'au are too often used by our Brains to lead us down the wrong path or to satisfy our egos, which are just extensions of our Brains.

So listen to your Na'au when the questions and situations of life come calling.

Jim

Maui Earth Day Celebration 2013

While munching food from places like Flatbread (One of Maui's most generous Community donators, supply boxes of their famous meetings each month at the Maui Farmers Union United meeting, alongside the wonderful and tasty Maui Farm Fresh Locally Grown and prepared foods), Sipping on Maui Made Maui Coconut Kefir and about 19 other food vendors, you could be listening to music of people such as Makana, Dr. Nat & Rio Ritmo, Haiku Hillbillys and many more!

All this while sitting, standing or dancing in the wonderful almost secretly forgotten Keopuolani Park Amphitheater. A beautiful sheltered grass and tree lined valley in the desert region of Kahului Maui, Hawaii.

If your eager to learn, discuss and be informed on subjects like the side effects of having radio frequency Smart Meters, why Maui's beautiful blue skies are turned into looking and smelling worse than an L.A. freeway from Cane Burning or just disappear from a bright blue clear morning to a heavily overcast sky as Chemtrails slowly streak and spread across Hawaiian skies and what the advantages of building an industry around Sustainable Agriculture, or why one of Maui's largest Agriculture operations products like (GMO) Genetically Modified Organisms may be unhealthy and yet not required to be included on the label of the foods we choose to eat. Then the lively discussions taking place at noon should be of interest to you.

Maybe your burnt out from it all and just need a break and some healing. There will be a multitude of vendors and Crafters providing massage to Maui Made Products.

This all takes place on Sunday April 28, 2013 in Kahului at the Maui Keopuolani Park Amphitheater for only $7 from 10am to 6pm.

Stop by and support our small local farmers at the Maui Farmers Union United booth and check out some of the nicest and stylist Hats, Shirts and even cooking aprons. Find out more about them and join, you don't have to be a farmer, anyone that eats food should be a member, Find them also at www.MauiFarmersUnionUnited.org.

For more on the Maui Earth Day event, go to www.MauiEarthDay.org. 

Demo Aquaponics Built For 2013 Maui Body and Soil Conferences at Home

(I previously thought I lost this post and published a shorter version. Well, blogger did save it and here it is.)

After working in short bursts, utilizing almost all left over material, with my brother Randy's help. I then proceeded to work from Midnight to 4:30am to finish my, I'm thinking hybrid, demo Aquarium Aquaponics to display at the 2013 Maui Body and Soil Farm-Health Conference held at the Maui Tropical Plantations, April 11th to 13th.

With just enough time to load the Aquarium Aquaponics and all the internet modem & router (mahalo AKAKU), two away radios, (Mahalo Vision Enterprises) and projection equipment with screen, squeeze in a shower and be on-site with all the other volunteers. I did manage to have it run successfully for 3 days and nights at the event.

I managed to get 10 Tilapia of various breeds and junior sized, so as not to eat my 10 various colored goldfish carp in the aquarium. Planted Taro, Royal Oak Lettuce, Beets, Stir Fry Greens, Chinese Cabbage "Won Bok", with yellow Marigold and violet Torenia for color.

The hybrid Aquarium Aquaponics was basically a planter I drilled 6 small weep holes in the bottom, a layer of Ricky Apana and Vince Mina's (IMO) Indigenous Micro Organism infused BioChar to hold water and then a bio-active layer of cider from my mature grow beds with plenty of worms populating it and an over all main overflow, in case holes plug or I the water flow was too much.

All run with a air driven water pump from a ECO AIR 2 air pump. Specs: 4.5 liters per minute, 1.7 pressure, 4 watts energy moving the water. Some tricky air/water pumping adapted from Glenn Martinez of Olomana Gardens and past State President of the Hawaii Farmers Union United, (he passed the baton to Vincent Mina as the new acting, then officially elected State President of HFUU and member of the Maui Farmers Union United.

The 2013 Maui Body and Soil Farm Health Conference was a big hit and my Aquarium Aquaponics is still running at home on top of my Jacuzzi Aquaponics system. Minus one Tilapia, travel shock I think and unfortunately all the goldfish koi. Apparently the Tilapia thought they were there for dinner, their dinner. At least the Tilapia had the courtesy to wait until after the event to feast.