Goodbye mainland, Aloha farming!

Welcome to the Big Island

While WWOOFing around the country in 2012, we always heard that Hawaii was a great place to WWOOF , and it seemed like a good jumping-off point to begin our world tour. Six weeks ahead of our planned arrival in Hawaii we started the now-familiar process of sending out WWOOFing inquiries. Our previous success rate when looking for farms was about one positive response for every 5-6 requests we sent out. But, this was not so in Hawaii. Dozens of emails later, we still had only received a few responses, all negative. A few farms couldn't take us because we would only be staying one month, but most were simply full. Another hurdle we encountered is that Hawaii has its own WWOOF program in addition to being in the WWOOF-USA directory. But, since we would only be in Hawaii for a month, we decided it wasn't worth the $25 fee.
Originally, a WWOOF membership connected volunteers to an international directory of participating farms. As the organization grew, individual countries began creating their own WWOOF groups, and now, it seems states are doing the same thing. Although this demonstrates a growing consciousness of the importance of sustainable food movements, it has become prohibitively expensive for traveling WWOOFers to obtain all the memberships they need.

Looks like we've arrived

With five days to go before we left and over 40 unsuccessful emails queried and rejected, our search was becoming increasingly frantic. Fortuitously, we received an unexpected email from a friend of a friend of a previous WWOOF host. We both heaved a sigh of relief when Tane, after reviewing our application, invited us to come and help out for a week at his farm, Adaptations.
After brief layovers in San Francisco and Honolulu, we arrived in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Being used to tight security, we both marveled at the open-air airport. Tane greeted us with leis, in traditional Hawaiian fashion, and took us straight to the kava bar to enjoy a traditional Hawaiian drink. Kava is made from pounding the root of the kava plant and mixing it with cold water, and tastes either like a fresh leaf (Randy's opinion) or a stick (Holly's). After relaxing with a couple of coconut shells of kava and getting to know each other a bit, we headed out. Twenty five miles and one long and bumpy road later, we arrived at the farm.

Raised beds on a volcanic slope (ocean in background)

Tane and Maureen have a seven-acre farm nestled in the foothills of Mauna Loa. Being on the side of a volcano, their volcanic stone soil makes New England's ground look like potting mix; so, the bulk of the farming is done on a system of raised beds, hydroponics, and "dirt bags" (large cloth pots). The farm's principal production is microgreens, edible flowers, greens, turnips, radishes, lemons, cinnamon, avocados, and herbs. Together with a network of other local farmers, they supply resorts, restaurants, and a 70 member CSA.

Microgreens!

Three days a week farm employees Mary, Kevin, and Doc come and we help them harvest, package, and replant the microgreens, greens, and whatever else the restaurants ordered that week. On the other days we work on special projects, such as clearing a bank to deter rat damage, or setting up a new hydro table. The hydro table is a self-sustaining system with a solar-powered pump cycling water past plants sitting on an inclined table. The pump only runs water down the table when the sun is shining, which is the only time it would need watering.

The Dew Drop Inn

After work there is plenty of time for relaxing at the Dew Drop Inn, the solar-powered cabin we are staying in. Like most houses here, the cabin's walls are not actual walls, but screens, since it is Hawaii and "cold" is a foreign concept. The cabin, secluded in the jungle, has a beautifully tropical view; banana trees in the foreground and the ocean in the distance. The view is especially spectacular from the roof, where we enjoy watching the sunset, fiery oranges melting into the Pacific haze.