Sunday, April 19, 2009

Ho'oulu ʻĀina








Yesterday, I spent the morning at Kalihi Valley Nature Preserve to kokua with the spreading of limu into some of there plots. Gorilla ogo and mudweed (3nd Pic. from top) was spread over the rows and than dug into the soil (top Pic. below). Kalihi Valley Nature Preserve is pioneering the use of Avrainvillea and is having success. I learned that when they incorporate avrainvillea into their compost piles, they layer it with shredded tree trimmings and it takes about 6 to maybe 9 months to completely decompose. Yesterday, we dug fresh avrainvillea & gorilla ogo right into the plots for the first time without it being composted prior to. That's how confident they are about the use of avrainvillea as nourishment for the lepo in addition to other composting materials. I am experimenting with the composting of avrainvillea in a small garden plot also in Kamiloiki (bottom Pic. below) and will keep you posted as to how it goes.

We also spent time weeding and hiking around the preserve.

For those of you have been involved in the pulling of invasive alien algae from Maunalua Bay and than watching it go bye-bye to places unknown. Now, you can see the whole mauka - makai connection by seeing that what we have been viewing as rubbish only, is not rubbish. It is a valuable resource that can be used to enrich the land and grow food, flowers, native plants & trees. Solomon Enos is a great teacher and they are doing great things in Kalihi. They are a great model to learn from and follow in ahupua'a land management. They hope that their Nature Preserve can serve as a template for other communities to learn from and incorporate into their own ahupua'a.




Monday, April 13, 2009

Huki for Pōʻakolu, ʻApelila 8th




Last Wednesday's huki rendered 2266 lbs of invasive alien algae - plus some because I think the scales are still of by about 5%. Per Marion, we pulled this amount in only 1.75 hours which included having the trucks loaded and ready to go. Our efficiency is really improving.

To date, we have cleared 10,355 square feet of invasive alien algae from our plot at Paiko Beach or just 1% shy of a quarter acre (see pics). This is a great accomplishment by all the volunteers and something to be proud of.

Kalihi Valley Nature Park






Big mahalo to all volunteers who made it out for the March 24th huki. We finished with about 2700 lbs. of invasive alien algae (IAA) plus some. Maika'i loa! YOU GUYS ARE DA BEST!!!

In the afternoon, the IAA was transported to Kalihi Valley Nature Park where we had a great meeting with Puni, Casey and Solomon in Kalihi Valley (see attached pictures). What they are doing at Kalihi Valley Nature Park is truly amazing. We can all learn from what they are accomplishing and the awareness they are creating in us all to malama ka 'aina. Looking forward to having them come and visit us in Maunalua soon.

By the way, they have been successful at composting Avrainvillea and re-introducing it to the 'aina to nourish the lepo, grow kalo, 'uala and other plants. Very encouraging and hopefully this can be passed on to other farmers and plant nurseries for further evaluation to see if it might be helpful to them.