APRIL - EARTH MONTH! SUST`! INA BLE MOLOKAI! FIRST EDITION - 2010 FASHIONED BY TRADITIONAL SCULPTOR, ALAPAI HANAPI. THIS STONE CARVING IS OF HINA, MOTHER OF MOLOKAI, WITH HER `UMEKE (GOURD) HOLDING THE WINDS THAT PROTECT OUR ISLAND. ABOUT OUR SUST`!INA BLE MOLOKAI DESIGN The Sust `!INA ble Molokai design The design also touches upon The school of manini fish and the kalo captures the love that we have for our Molokai`s reputation from ancient (taro) growing represent the momona island home. For many of us, Molokai is times as `"ina momona (the fat or of Molokai that we strive to restore. a living being, a beloved kupuna abundant land). The ocean appears as a The dual black and white imagery of (ancestor) and cherished member of net or a basket weave, connoting an the manini and kalo depicts our our `ohana (family). For this reason, we abundant harvest. collective dream to restore the pono are fiercely protective of her. Molokai (balance) of the land and sea through Nui A Hina - the Great Child of Hina - living sustainably and renewing our is enfolded by her mother’s embrace. connection to nature. Placed in the Hina’s hair adorns Molokai, like the center of Molokai is a bowl of poi, the kuahiwi (mountains) that attract the physical manifestation of Haloa, the first mist and call the rains of blessing upon born and hiapo (eldest brother) of the us. Hina is manifested also in the people. In deference to Haloa, when hinahina flowers that blanket the the poi bowl is on the table, families do coastline. Hina is present too in the not argue. In that spirit, we remain phases of the moon that mark the committed to each other as a times for planting, harvesting, fishing, community and seek together pathways resting and regeneration. to sust `!INA bility. COB HOUSE ON THE HOMESTEAD by Malia Akutagawa We paid a visit to homesteader Kealoha Peltier’s impressive cob home in Mahana on February 20. We were treated to an intimate view of the interior of his home: a beautiful living room with a fireplace decorated with an attractive maile design, and a spacious kitchen with great storage, countertop space, and replete with an earthen pizza oven! The Peltier `ohana have added special finishing touches to their home, with the walls painted white, clay tiles placed on the floor, and re-used coconut tree trunks for ceiling beams. The family is steadily working on extending the home to include additional rooms. The Permaculture Research Institute of the USA (PRI-USA) brought their students by that morning to learn firsthand how to build a cob house and kokua with the extension of one of the walls where the bedrooms will be located. The students were working throughout the week at Joe Kennedy’s farm down the road, learning the permaculture methods Joe has employed for many years with cardboard to add nutrients to the soil and retain moisture; and growing aquatic plants in shallow ponds fertilized by little fish and dropping portions of the algal mat directly onto the soil to naturally fertilize the ground and prepare it for planting. The students stopped by at Kealoha’s to work up their appetites before opening Joe’s imu full of kalua venison, sweet potato, and a spicy vegetable dish prepared Indian style. The students helped Kealoha prepare a mixture of Molokai red dirt, dried grass gathered from the land, and water in a cement mixer while another sieved gravel particles to provide filler for the wall construction. Cob is a centuries’ old method similar to adobe that combines clay, sand, straw, water, and earth to create homes that are fireproof, earthquake proof, and inexpensive to make. Kealoha demonstrated how to lay a good foundation of stones along the bottom of the wall being constructed. From there the students began adding the cob mixture to build the wall and smoothed it with their hands. It brought me back to childhood memories of making mud pies. To make play one’s work seemed like the ideal way to build a home, especially when many hands make the work light. Throughout the family’s homestead is evidenced an ethic of aloha `"ina and conscientious living with the incorporation of sust`"inability strategies that include installing a small windmill and solar panels for energy and the crafting of an outside sink and pulehu grill made of cob construction. Kealoha acknowledged his wife Janie as the research genius who has helped him to develop a sust`"inable home. As a former beach boy in Waikiki, Kealoha felt he left one dream to pursue another, one instilled in him from the memories of his grandparents’ simple lifestyle and deep love for the land. TO HEAL AN ISLAND Sust`"inable Molokai is looking at begin taking on projects throughout Practicing Permanent creative and viable approaches to the island to restore `"ina momona. Agriculture on Molokai restoring our island’s denuded and We envision Molokai’s mountains eroded mountain slopes, heavily silted filled with food forests and land In November 2009, the Permaculture reefs, and threatened water table. The dedicated for community gardening Research Institute of the USA (PRI- USA) held a course at Roshani and grandfather of permaculture, Bill and agriculture as a way to ensure John Nash’s property in Kawela with Mollison, in his Global Gardener greater food security for our island. interested students from across the series highlighted the national We envision the watershed restored, country. They were given the challenge response to the dust bowl that topsoil on our mountain slopes of creating permanent agriculture on 2 crippled the agriculture industry replenished through conscientious acres of a parched and heavily eroded during the Great Depression in the land management that incorporates landscape. 1930s. Swales were built with shovels permaculture and traditional and sweat by the many work crews methods, while integrating economic Instructor Andrew Jones led the group. led by engineers and hydrologists. To strategies that bring our goat and He gave them a quick review of the this day, the miles of swales dug over deer population into balance. We permaculture design process before 60 years ago have proven a successful understand that by caring for the land heading out for a site tour. Site conditions (minimal rainfall, soil strategy in holding topsoil and above, we also care for the sea below erosion, landscape slope) and the encouraging green stands of in that silt will no longer threaten our challenges of a bustling axis deer vegetation in the middle of the fishponds and reefs. We also know super-highway bisecting the property Arizona desert. that if our community comes with anywhere between 15-60 deer together to do this good work, we coming through on a daily basis were Equally inspiring is the work of Geoff invest in feeding not only ourselves, observed and discussed. Lawton, a former student of Mollison but the many generations of keiki and and founder of the Permaculture mo`opuna to follow. The next day’s visit to Perma-farmer Research Institute (PRI), a global Joe Kennedy’s 25 acres in Ho`olehua networking center for international If you want to learn more of the provided numerous examples of permaculture projects. Through the possibilities of permaculture in effective dry land systems. Dragonflies and bees flitted around the numerous use of swales and other eco-repair action, read the following article that shady ponds in sharp contrast to the strategies, PRI is turning deserts in features a hands-on class put together neighboring expanse of conventionally the Middle East into food forest oases by PRI-USA last November in Kawela. farmed land. The students reaped many that require little to no micro- benefits from Joe’s 20 plus years of irrigation and little human input once dedication to sustainable agriculture, these systems have been established the tastiest being the bucket-loads of along natural, ecological principles. produce harvested from his farm (Sri- Lankan & cholesterol spinach, PRI-USA (currently based part-time pomegranates, tropical almond papayas on Hawaii Island and the mainland) and 2 types of bananas). has been holding permaculture In the afternoon the class focused on workshops on Molokai, knowing that water-harvesting techniques and a Baja we as an island believe strongly in case study involving heavy swale work. community; value agriculture and a They then got down to the business of traditional subsistence lifestyle; and constructing swale survey tools (A- possess the right ethic to begin frame & bunyip) for measuring the turning things around in terms of contour lines and for flagging the initial healing the land. Sust`"inable Molokai swale. is partnering with PRI-USA to conduct more permaculture training The following morning consisted of workshops on island for our local We thank Jill and Nichole Ross of design review and discussion on deer residents. We’ll keep you posted as PRI-USA for letting us adapt the exclusion strategies, water storage more workshops are organized! article published previously by and expanding the potential plant them and thank Roshani Nash for species selection. The class decided to Ideally, we want our own residents to providing us with an update to her start planting areas closer to the become permaculture trainers and promising food forest in Kawela. house, and seeding the outer zones. After lunch, they marked out the reinforced their outer walls with remaining swales and designed the rocks. They mulched the pits with kitchen garden using existing waste materials gathered from the materials (later relocating heavy site. After filling them to 3 feet planter boxes from the deer above ground level, they applied roadside rest stop to the space water to give the composting nearest to the well-used kitchen).