Making Progress Feels Good!

Volunteers from Halau Hula Kamamolikolehua made their fourth visit to the Malaola this year. While we had a smaller crew than previous visits, it was the shortest work day because the task wasn't as huge. We still worked on the pohinahina, which grows like a weed when watered. But it is muchmore manageable, especially since the water system was modified. Many thanks to DuPont Pioneer for making those changes for us! We are so fortunate to have the company's support!

One of the most commonly heard comments from today was, "Wow, the garden looks so much better than last time!"

With the winter rains coming, we are ready to plant more trees!

Here are some photos from the work day.

Great job, everyone!

Clean Up Crew from Kamamolikolehua

Today we held our second work day this week, this time with Halau Hula Kamamolikolehua (this is their third visit). The team was composed of people ages 5 - 70+ finished the work that started this week with Monsanto's team. We focused on the pohinahina near the crown flowers and the plumerias on the northwestern corner of the garden.

We also transplanted some 'uki 'uki plants in the shade of the kukui. We think they will like it better there.

And we got to install a few more plants like 'olena, pikake, and even a koa (bred to be resistant to the koa wilt disease -- mahalo to Hawai'i Agriculture Research Center).

It was a beautiful day and everyone felt very accomplished. The Malaola is coming alive!

Monsanto Comes to the Rescue Again!

What a blessing it is to have a big crew of hard-working volunteers from Monsanto, the neighboring farm, help us at the Malaola. This is not their first time bringing large work crews. Last year, they came numerous times. We had them tackle the big job of containing the pohinahina, which is a beautiful plant, but has taken over much of the garden and has even ventured into the road.

They also took out a lot of weedy vines and grasses and dug some new holes for plants, all by hand.

To top if off, they helped out so much by removing the waste material that literally filled about 20 truck loads.

We simply could not have done it ourselves. Mahalo nui loa to Monsanto for supporting the Malaola and the Malama Learning Center.

Two Halau Combine Helpers at the Garden

Today we had the pleasure of hosting two halau hula -- Halau 'o Kaululaua'e and Halau Hula Kamamolikolehua. We started bright and early (7 am) to beat the heat, though it did get quite hot even by 8 am!

Kumu Mikiala Lidstone and Kumu Pohai Souza both attended with their haumana (students) and families. We had another great showing of volunteers -- about 55 in total -- and they were among the hardest working we've had!

The pohinahina was trimmed back considerably and Kumu Mikiala showed us what we can do with the trimmed branches -- make lei! She demonstrated the process of pounding the outer layer and stripping it (very carefully) from the "bone" so that the fiber and leaves and be twined to make a maile-style lei.  We had a new appreciation for pohinahina after that demo!

We're so thankful for the consistent kokua that we have been fortunate to receive at the Malaola, which is becoming a true resource for the hula community. We're happy to make these connections, and thank DuPont Pioneer for making this all possible.