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.

Taking Back Control

From last Friday, April 14, 2017, I came to the garden with a desire to cut those ever-growing pesky weeds that always outgrow our plantings. We recently bought a new tool that blends the maneuverability of a trimmer and the power of a mower. This hybrid of a mower/trimmer went through those weeds like butter! What a gratifying feeling to finally have the power to control the weeds! However, there are still more weeds to go through, but I believe that since the purchase of the new mower we will finally be able to step forward in our progress of maintaining Mālaola.

Picture of weeds before being mowed down. Weeds were about waist high!

The new mower is a godsend! Finally can see the bases of our own plantings.

Our banana trees are producing fruits! A great snack for a good day's work.

Tidying up the Ti Patches

What a fantastic day! This youthful group from Halau Kaululauae were very enthusiastic in keeping the ti patches tidy and free of weeds. Nevertheless, there were other tasks throughout the day; competition on who can pull out the biggest weeds from the ti patches, small groups hastily gathering crown flowers and 'a'ali'i for lei-making, and propagating more ti! This young group of hula students did a lot for the garden. More than they know!

Thank you Kumu Miki for bringing such a wonderful group!   

Removing weeds from the ti patches.

 

Collecting crown flowers for lei-making later in the day.

Cutting more ti and planting the ti cuttings into the soil.

Halau Hula Kamamolikolehua Officially Joins Our 'Ohana

We are so fortunate to have gained the support of Halau Hula Kamamolikolehua, under the tutelage of Kumu Pohai Souza, at the Malaola. The Halau is connected to Halau 'o Kaululaua'e by lineage and has committed to quarterly volunteer workdays in 2017. Today was the first!

We had a tremendous showing of dancers of all ages and parents/spouses, about 50 in total! Their help could not have come at a better time because of the overgrowth of weeds and pohinahina due to all the rain we've been experiencing. They sure worked hard!

We thank everyone for their kokua, which resulted in a great accomplishment! Special thanks to Darlene Loo-McDowell and her husband for hauling the greens for recycling.

Happy New Year! First Workday of 2017

Happy New Year to all our viewers! We hope that you had a wonderful 2016 Christmas and a great celebration into the new year!

We got through the first workday of 2017 fine, thanks to comfortable, cool weather. We put in a handful of plants, and hopefully we will see them grow vigorously in the coming months! It was a great first workday of the new year.

One of the few plants we outplanted in the new year. 'Uki'uki.

Small Naupaka.

The ti leaf patches needed some tidying!

Laying Out A Path

A big thanks to the clouds for giving us an overcast day! However, the recent showers from a few days ago have made the weeds grow wild. Weeding as usual, but today marks the beginning of small walk path for the garden. It's great to see progress again!

Continuous trips to putting the mulch in the wheelbarrow.

Removing the weeds from the walk path.

The walk path covered in wet and dark brown mulch. It's a start!

Preparing for the addition of two wiliwili trees

Our sincerest apologies to our readers who are keeping up with the Malaola blog. There have been recent changes in the past few months on who will continue Malaola's growth. My name is Jamison Domingsil, and through the guidance of my colleague, Sayo, as well as reading and listening about the steady progress of Malaola, it is a privilege to take part of this special place and to carry out the visions of the garden that have been set in the past.

October Rains shower the garden inducing growth of unwanted weeds.

A special thanks to the volunteer crew of Monsanto for continually keeping the garden well-kempt.

One of the two wiliwili trees planted in November. They continue to look great in the garden to this day!

Mahalo to Monsanto!

We were blessed with the many helping hands from Monsanto who helped us clear many, many bags and truckloads of weeds at the Malaola in August and September.

 Thank you so very much to these kind and hard-working people. The garden is looking better than ever and is ready for new plantings!