Haikus from Hawaii - Day 2

Alan:

Matt Lane does so much

Gardens and coalitions

How to capture it?

Alan:

Serenity wind

Never wanting to go home

But my kin beckons

Kyle:

Papaya fingers

Dig for a human remain

Live truck bed choices

Suzanne:

Back of a pick-up

Papaya shared, blowing hair

This is public health

Suzanne:

Instead of Haiku

We sit by the pool crafting

a haiku instead

Today we were at King Kam III Elementary School in Lahaina with WPT and Matt, our local contact. This native born Oklahoman has been in Hawaii for ten years and is dedicated to sustainability after CPPW. One of his focal points is water sustainability; most water utilities in low aquifer areas talk entirely of conservation. Matt is thinking about using water in a different way – by thinking strategically. Alan observed that, practically speaking, this program is using water for increased utility. People can see their conservation at work, which positively reinforces locals to think about ecological sustainability, in addition to gardens and food systems. We want to understand further why the water utility wants to sponsor programs like this. What are the benefits of water used in creative and beneficial applications?

The school was built upon a gravesite so there is huge cultural relevance. The state of Hawaii passed an ordinance in the 1990s that requires an archeologist to be present during construction on any site. So, this elementary school garden project has an on-site archeologist. If a gravesite is discovered, no building can be erected over that site. Artifacts are removed, though this school wants to display all the artifacts found on site, so they will be brought back to Kam III in the near future. The next time we come to Hawaii, we will bring Natalie so she can hone in on her archeology/anthropology skills!

After our adventure at Kam III, WPT and SAK (our team) headed to a local high school/boarding school in Lahaina that happens to be the oldest high school west of the Rocky Mountains. We traveled in the back of Matt’s pick-up truck, making many comments about the safety of our situation, but who could turn it down? Not one of us! This garden project is a huge undertaking on Matt's part and he is a pro at partnership building; we witnessed this first hand. The high school is an old agriculturally focused boarding school that used to be self sufficient. Now, the school is supportive of Matt's CPPW garden initiative, which includes a native tree orchard, flowers and plants (to be sold and shared with other schools), chickens, vegetables and aquaculture. The youth at this school do all of the work! As we were leaving, he harvested a papaya that we ate with our fingers and fed us macadamia nuts grown on his friends land. On our way back to Kam III he took us to a favorite smoothie café and we detoured so he could show us a breadfruit tree. Matt is one in a million!

Heading back to Kahului, we talked about the day, Matt, his vision and the training tomorrow. WPT went to Haiku to film a garden project. We worked on the training and took a short break to write Haikus instead.