Getting Lost...

Last evening I decided to try to check out some of the land that I've been living/working on. It's 5 acres of overgrown, soil not lava rock, land. We haven't nearly gone through most of it! It's a lot of land! I decided I would do a "perimeter check". I was hacking (with a machete) through the dense bush, making trails. I came across a detail maze of wild pig trails everywhere. I was hoping to not run into those guys. They are pretty afraid of us, but if you stumble upon them and their young you will probably have to deal with their razor sharp tusks. That is something I don't want to do.

I found hundreds of banana trees. There was soo many. There are bananas everywhere. Most of them won't producing because of the cane grass, or ferns growing all over them. I came across a family of coconut trees, two matured ones producing and 4 young fellows growing towards the sky. It started to rain on me really bad so I decided to seek shelter. I hid it out under need an immature coconut tree for 10 minutes as the storm passed. I decided to move on, when again I got hit with another quick storm. I had to hide in a pig trail underneath the ferns to stay dry. After that passed I decided to move outwards towards the road. As I started getting out towards the main road the ferns grow thick, really thick, and extremely tall. It was getting dark and these ferns were towering over my head all around me. There were bananas to the right, avocados to the left, and ferns as far as my eye could see in that area. There were also the vines vining up the ferns trying to choke them out, the cycle of life brought to you straight by nature.

The ferns were so thick it was getting tough chopping through all of them with my weak machete. I decided to get low and crawl through the mazes of pig tunnels everywhere. That worked pretty good for a while until it started to get really dark. It get's dark out here really fast since we're so close to the equator. I knew I had to get out of their quick and fast. So, I saw the tree line, which was full of mangos, liche, and avocados (all not fruiting, some flowering) and new that would be the best spot for me to go. It wouldn't be too dense of a walk out because of all of the shade these fellows provide. At this point, it was down pooring. I was drenched!

Continued....

The sky was dark and the ferns were above my head. All I could hear was the rain coming down, harder and harder. I have to admit I was getting a little worried. I wasn't that far away from the main road and the tree line to take me there, but deep inside I was a little iffy. Maybe this was because of the thoughts passing through my head of if this was the real bush, and I was far away from everything. The fact that I didn't have a safe zone/ shelter already set for night time would've been a huge mistake.

I got down on my knees, turned the head lamp on and crawled underneath all of the large ferns, popping my head up on occasion to see how far away I was. The ferns I was coming up to looked like they doubled in height, but thankfully it was just a hill. I was finally close to the tree line, and the rain was coming down the hardest I've seen it so far. With a few swipes of the machete I made it out of the bush and cut underneath a large, untamed, beautiful, flowering avocado tree. I was thankful to be out. Now all I had to do was cut a trail through all of the vines vining up the tree and I was free! The avocado and lychee tree provided some shelter from the rain while I made my final move out of there.

I was free, back on the road to the house. I hadn't showered in 11 days, our water catchment system didn't fill up until the night before. I didn't care that it was cold, I was taking a shower! I made it back to the homestead, stripped down, and took a quick, cold shower. It was enjoyable. I finished the night with some wild harvested avocados, some store bought tomatoes and pepper, and a nice fresh guacamole. Got in my sleeping bag, and did some reading until I drifted away- dreaming of those 5 acres of land that will one day feed mass amounts of people...

I love life!

There is so much to say! I don't even no where to start! Lets begin with PICTURES. It takes too much time updating on this webpage. If anyone has any tips that will be great!

When I first came out to hawaii my plan was to travel all of the main islands. I have made it to the first one DHARMA FARMS HAWAII. I have gotten a chance of a life time and I am not backing out of it. I will be staying here for another month. I am staying a cabin that has no electricity, water catchment for a shower and sink. It has 5 acres of beautiful, lush, great soiled land. It is completely overgrown and will be convereted into a food forest. A lush, beautiful, permiculture food forest!

We (Joe and I), have planted 12 banana trees and cleared down a bunch of tall grass to plant veggie beds there. We are getting a nursery set up. Every food we eat that is tastey, we will grow into cakies (Hawaiian term for babys) and plant them throughout the property. So far we have mamee sapote, green sapote, black sapote, rambutans (red and yellow), avocado cakies, banana cakies, jakfruit cakies, mulberry and many more. We will be planting soo many herbs and veggies! Joe is planning on staying, while I will be leaving. This is the opporturnity of a life time!

Joe has plans to survive off of his land as soon as possible. He also plans on setting up a "Free Food Stand" at the end of his driveway and selling some extra produce at the farmers market. Free Food Stands are so beautiful. Imagine being on a long bike ride, you're 30 miles into it, another 20 more to go. You come up and over this crazy hill and all of the sudden you roll upond 20 free mangos, 12 free melons, 30 avocados, 10 banana stocks, bags of tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers and more. You can stop and eat this beautiful feast and then move on, spreading the seeds all over. Poor families with no land could eat, and even help collect the food. It's something we all need to think of!

Life on the islands are sureal. The weather has been perfect, raining everyonce in a while. It rains just enough to water the plants, and this is usually while you're sleeping. So far the locals are great! You see a few occasional thugs (like anywhere) giving you the stink eye because you're a haole (white mainlander). But that's it. No problems. I've been biking all over the east coast. I've done over 200 miles probably so far. It is beautiful. Just catching the sun, breathing in, seeing the coastal line. Life is trully beautiful when you can live it!

Who knows, maybe I will stay here until I go back home. It feels great to be a part of something so new and so permenant.But then again....!

Dharma Farms

Aloha ;)! I'm on the lovely east coast side of Hawaii right now! It is beautiful out here. It rains on and off, but it is enjoyable. At the moment it is sunny and warm! Absolutely wonderful!!

I"m hanging out at my first farm called Dharma Farms. I am staying at an unbelievebly awesome farm house. I have my own room, even though most nights I crash out on the hammock outside. The owner is a great man name Allan Yoza. He is teaching me great information about life. This is truly a great experience to be here.

The main crop is Noni. Some may know it from it's medicinal properties. Whenever there is a problem, Allans solution is always "put some noni on that" ;). It is awesome here. I love it. There is a large farm spot called "Mango Land". It has these trees that have got to be 75 years old. There are tons of these things! It's great because the trees pop off at all different times. Actually, there are mangos I've been eating every night for dinner!. I would be eating more, but alot of the mangos get mangled my the lava rocks on the bottom. Currently, I am looking for fishing nets to hang below the Mango trees so they can have a soft landing! These are some of the greatest mangos I've ever had, and they are wild!

There are tons of bananas tree all over the properties, including the farm house. Right now there is a lot of citrus, jak fruit which I'm about to leave right now to pick, Ulu (breadfruit), small amounts of greens, avocados, liche (not in season) and some more I can't think of! Extremely easy to sustain yourself here in the summer time, I'm having a small amount of difficulty because it is winter. I'm trying to get set up on other local farms for different varities, so it will be easier. There is also a farmers market right in town on Saturdays with everything I can possibly imagine (rambutons, durian, sapote, sapodilla, etc). I can't wait to hit that up! Trying to save money though!

I've got to boogy, got to go pick some jak fruit and mangos for food. Clear down some jungle to farm some new spot, setting it up permiculture style! Then we got to go under the moonlight and prune noni, pick noni, and swing machettes while stumbling on lava rocks!

If your coming to the Big I, make sure you stop here! As I said, Allan is great. Really good vibes, funny, smiling, and lovable. Also, there is a KRSNA gathering on the weekends. They serve pizza among other things. I just eat the salad, all fresh! Just need to have an open mind and respect everyones belief and culture, it is amazing different aspects on life you can take on on doing this!

DON'T FORGET TO STOP HERE!

PS, I will post some pictures up soon. I need to do some stuff before I get there! JAKFRUIT AND MANGOS HERE I COME!

"Mom's like her choose Jif"

So, my flight has been cancelled! Everything is going hay-wire right now. I was suppose to travel from Boston to Atlanta to Las Vegas to Honolulu to Hilo. The problem is that we (boston) are in a storm and it's coming from south east us (atlanta). So we can't fly in it! The airlines tried booking me a new flight flying out of Boston tomorrow @ 6am. That's not going to work because I need to be on my flight to Honolulu at 2am!

So, what I am trying to say is that thankfully I have a great mother who is doing everything she can to help me out. I have no idea what to do, but she is a super woman! Lets just hope everything will get worked out so I can make it to hawaii without extra charges, because I have $25 dollars for this trip. Yes, only $25 for 3 months! Lets see how I will hold up!

Thanks mom :)

The Trip

I'm leaving today at 620pm EST! This is going to be amazing! I will be traveling on my bike, wwoofing on farms for 3 months on the beautiful islands of Hawai'i! This is what I will be bringing:

Surly Long Haul Trucker (bike)
B.O.B YAK Trailer
Helmet
Panniers
Bike Shorts
3 Days of clothes (+extra und's ;)
30ft rope
Twine
Bike toolset
1 book
Hemp (re wrapped on pencil)
Rain gear
Spare inner tubes
Tire pump
Bathing suite (doubles as shorts)
Knife/sharpener
Video Camera
Hammock
Mozzi Net
Tarp
1 medium towel
Maps of Hawaii
Flashlight
Sleeping bag
Toothbrush/paste
Duct Tape (re wrapped on pencil)
Journal
Back pack

Thats everything. Looking at it, it looks like a lot. But in reality everything is pretty small and compact. They all fit no problem in my panniers, attached to the bike, and some in trailer. There will be more then enough room to fit extra fruit in my trailer while farm/island hopping. Lets see if I sacrafice anything down the road!

The guilted meal

Mmmm, there is nothing like a mono 5lb meal of grapes :) So delicious, thirst quenching, and fueling. There is only one problem when it is January on the Northeast coast of the US, your food comes from everywhere but home!

I usually eat guilt-free. There is nothing but love, care, and peace in the food I consume. It's great because that becomes a part of me. It's vitalness and love just vibrates through out my body, truly wonderful.

I've accepted the fact that my food may come from California, Washington, or even sometimes South America. I've told myself that the impact on the growing of fruits and veggies are so minimal to other impacts that it is somewhat okay that it is being shipped far away. I know that one day (which is tomorrow!) I will be able to pick delicious foods by hand and eat them right there on the spot. So I have accepted this.

This meal of grapes were a tough one to eat. I had pre-ordered these (15lbs) from my usual supplier and picked them up on friday. The box was labeled "S. Africa". These grapes were shipped from South Africa to United States! That is some serious distance. Some serious miles over tha land, across the seas, and finally onto the states. These grapes have seen more than I could ever imagine! They have traveled halfway around the world to get to my plate! I have heard on average food travels 1950 miles to get to our plates.

I can't live like this for long, we need to sustain ourselves! Permaculture, here I come!!!

This was a delicous meal. Everything came from western US. SO there was still some serious distance! It's 1lb of smooshed strawberries, 1.5lbs of sliced strawberries, 2lbs of apples, and a stock of celery!

It truly hit the spot. It was a great combo! Sweet and salty! It made me excited. This is definitely a great meal to leave on!

Goodbye Massachusetts!

Goodbye Mass, I will miss you! I will miss everything that you have offered to me; I will miss everything that we have done together, and most of all I will miss everyone that will stay with you. Untill we meet again!




I now have 26 hours untill my flight...

The Adventure

I will be living in Hawaii for 3 months while devoting my time and effort to local farms. I joined a work exchange program called WWOOF (WorldWide Opportunity of Organic Farming) which supplies you with farms that you can lend a hand to. In return of the work that is done (which is usually minimal, around 3 hrs/day) they provide you with shelter and food.

I am a raw vegan, so work exchange in hawaii will be awesome! I eat large amounts of tasty fruit and Hawaii has an abundance of it. I will be using my own energy by biking to get around the islands. I plan on hitting up all of the islands, but we will see what is in store for me!