Maui Mana - Green thinkers and farmers

Haiku was the starting point of our adventure today. We met with Rob Parsons, former Environmental Coordinator for Maui County and current mastermind behind Maui Time Weekly's The Rob Report, a weekly column on environmental issues on Maui. Rob is truly a fountain of information on sustainability topics. Even more important, he's active both in his journalism AND in his turning out for county council and other important meetings to bring attention to the issues.



Next stop was about a half hour drive to Kula to check out the O'o Organic Farm which provides organic greens and produce for the very well known and respected Lahaina restaurants Pacific'O, I'O, and Feast at Lele. Wow, what an experience! A beautiful hillside organic farm, stunning view, great people, DELICIOUS FRESH ORGANIC FOOD, and lots of great information on organic farming...both at O'o in particular and generally too.

Chef Sean Christensen (above left) and Richard, the Farm Manager (above right) did a great job telling the story of O'o Farm which was started up about four years ago by restaurant employees, the proprietors and head Chef James McDonald. Richard actually used to be one of the restaurant employees before he headed up the hill to run the farm. Nowadays, Chef Sean heads up the Thursday lunches at the farm and restaurant employees continue to come up to the farm to help out and get their hands into the may greens and other produce grown for the restaurants in Lahaina. They do a great educational tour and then there is of course, the meal. Ah yes, the meal. Incredible fish, lots of fresh salads, some organic Bonterra white wine, and even some dragonfruit and chocolate desserts to finish it all off.

The last stop today was at the Ali'i Kula Lavendar Farm which happened to be about 5 minutes up the hill from O'o Farm. I'd happened to meet their business development director, Lani, on the ferry to Molokai earlier in the week so I was really excited to check out the farm. The lavender happens to flourish on the dry hillside so since they don't need a lot of water and don't need to use pesticides and fertilizers, they've been able to be another great model or sustainable agriculture and sustainable business. And then there's the view...fields of lavender looking out over a territorial view of Maui from 3,000 feet. Nice, very nice!

Maui Mana - From Wailuku to Whales

Today was a busy day indeed. We started at Maui Community College (MCC) where we had a great conservation with Zoe Norcross who will be teaching a Sustainability 101 class this fall at MCC. Zoe comes from the geology world and is now working a lot on beach erosion which, with global warming and all, is not looking so good these days. She said that thing that really plunged her deep into sustainability is peak oil though, which I totally understand. She's rounding up some great speakers and adventures or the class so I must say I'm a little jealous. I should also say that Chris Taylor, President of the MCC Sustainability Club has been really AWESOME about sending me folks I should meet up with over here. MCC has some great things going and lots more ahead I'm sure.

Next it was off to Wauluku to have lunch with Jennifer Stites at The Dowling Company which is Maui real estate development company that is leading the way in green development, green building, and LEED certified projects on Maui. I ran across an article by Jennifer in a Maui real estate magazine on sustainability so couldn't wait to here more. Having worked for a company myself (Seattle-based fashion retailer Nordstrom for 14 years), I always love meeting up with other sustainability types in companies. As you might imagine, Jennifer has one of the best and - at the same time - most challenging jobs on Maui. She gets to do cool green building projects, but in an industry that is very controversial on Maui, and actually...pretty much everywhere these days: real estate development. No one on Maui wants to see things go the direction of crazy developed Honolulu, but at the same time, development is going to happen. I'm just glad that companies like Dowling have people like Jennifer on staff to help make sure they do things in a way that is as socially and environmentally responsible as possible.

After lunch we walked a few blocks to meet up with Chris Craner, a friend of MCC's Chris Taylor's, at the very green Cafe Marc Aurel, a certified green restaurant with the Green Restaurant Association. Chris was another great resource. He's working on stormwater runoff and drainage issues but has a lot of other great ideas on many of the environmental issues facing Maui too.

Our final stop of the day was at the Maui Ocean Center. They had a great traditional Hawaiian quilt at the entry made up of all sea creatures (see pic at left). I was really impressed with the MOC, both with the collection and education efforts. The many aquarium exhibits were out of this world, particularly the big tank where rays and many other fish swam directly overhead. But impressively, they identified plants along paths, had lots of interactive learning areas for youngsters, and some really great exhibits about traditional Hawaiian relationships with the sea.

Maui Mana - A 'Blue Hawaiian' of a different kind

Lahaina shopping was the theme today. My big catch was a t-shirt from Crazy Shirts. Not only is it there very special Global Warming T-shirt, I discovered that they have a lot of cool environmental efforts in place. Their Global Warming Sucks campaign for example. The fact that they use eco-friendly water based inks from things like ash, coffee, beer, hemp, hibiscus, lavender, and Blue Curacao (what my shirt is died with) is pretty cool too.

Maui mana - A day of flowers and fish

I spent the most of the day updateding my blog and getting my fancy new Seanslist pages up and running. The Seattle and Maui pages are getting there but still need a lot of work. But it's fun and I love, Love, LOVE putting things like Seanslist together. Hope you enjoy and please DO send me any items that you think should be on the lists. I'll get started on other cities soon. After lots of updating, I started out to tour some of the gardens at the hotels and resorts along Ka'anapali beach in preparation for the book and website I'm going to start called Corporate Gardens. Basically, the project entails visiting the gardens of companies and organizations, as well as learning about some of the corporate social responsibility efforts. Today we visited checked out the Whaler (the condos where we're staying), the Westin, the Marriott, and the Hyatt. Although the Whaler and the Mariott gardens were beautiful, I have to say the gardens at the the Westin and especially the Hyatt were really outstanding. Along with the actual gardens, I'll be keeping a close eye on design of pots and other unique elements of their efforts so the pic to the left is a sneak preview. We had lunch at the Westin's 'Tropica' restaurant where I was pleased to find a lavender vinegrette made from lavender from the Kula farm we'll be visiting on Thursday.

All the garden touring lasted most of the day so by the time we got back in it was time to Dinner. I was excited to visit Pacific'O, one of James McDonald's three restaurants in Lahaina that include I'O and Feast at Lele. Chef James' restaurants all feature local fish of course, but also greens from their own organic farm called O'o Farm that we'll be touring on Thursday. I had the KONA WINDS fish preparation: fresh fish (I chose Mahi Mahi) seared with house spices, served over wilted O'o Farm grown arugula and bean sprouts. Topped with warm avocado, Maui onion salsa, goat cheese, macadamia nuts, and soy bacon vinaigrette. Needless to say, the food and service was INCREDIBLE at Pacific'O, I only wish I could try each and everything on the menu.

We were so stuffed after our dinner we had no choice but to go for a walk. Luckily, it was another awesome evening in Lahaina. Even luckier, the Pacific Whale Foundation store was still open. Being a conservation biologist and all, I was psyched to get a little shopping time to support one of my favorite conservation organizations. I got a very cool t-shirt with a PWF whale design and an cap that I may never take off I love it so much.

Maui Mana - Aloha Molokai

I just returned from three days on Molokai. I must say, I LOVE MOLOKAI! The ride over on the Molokai passenger ferry on Thursday was absolutely beautiful. It was amazing seeing more and more detail of the island as we got closer. We docked at the wharf in Kaunakakai and met family friends of Paul and Amy's Dad...Bill, his grandson Ben, and Ben's girlfriend Kelly. We were to meet Bill's wife, Lynn, later that day. First stop on the way back to Bill and Lynn's was an outlook over Kalaupapa National Historical Park. Kaluapapa was a forced isolation area in the early to mid 1900s for people in Hawaii suffering from Hansen's Disease (leprosy). The peninsula is beautiful and the lookout was breathtaking.

Next it was off to Molokai Coffee Company. We could smell the organic beans roasting as we toured the small store and had one of the best shakes I've ever had.

And finally we were off to Bill and Lynn's. They live very near Papohaku Beach Park, just a burm away from the 3 mile long beach. Wow, now I know what relaxing in Hawaii REALLY is. They have a beautiful home that is completely off the grid thanks to solar power. The house consists of a main living area with two bedrooms and then two pods about 20 feet from the main house accessible via the 2nd story boardwalks that completely wrap around all three buildings. The rest of the day was spent working on crosswords and sudoku puzzles with everyone. The evening ritual of taking wine over the burm to watch the sunset was, of course, observed fully. I chased a few sand crabs at sunset and then saw more stars than I've ever seen before clearing the geckos from our pods and going to bed.

Friday we took a walk up the coast to Kawakiunui Bay. Another incredible experience, especially with Lynn's knowledge of indigenous and endemic plants such as 'akia (Thymelaeaceae), pohuehue (Ipomoea pes-caprae), and hinahina kolo (Vitex rotundifolia). A little snorkeling, a little sun bathing and then it was time to head back already for a late lunch. After lunch we headed in to Maunaloa so Lynn could mail some letters and we could check out a couple small shops and the Molokai Ranch Lodge. We perused the Big Wind Kite Factory and Plantation Gallery (where I snapped the picture to the left), checked out the small museum near the lodge, and then took a tour of the lodge and grounds...REALLY beautiful. The lodge has a mix of Hawaiian and Western (as in cowboy) look and feel. Very cool indeed. The Molokai Ranch has also started an eco-retreat called The Beach Village at Kaopoa Beach. Solar powered, composting toilets, canvas tentalos, etc. It's an impressive project and I hope more developers take note. Then it was back to Bill and Lynns for nap, sudoku, sunset, stars, sudoku again, dinner, and sleep. Nice, very nice.

I spent a bit of Saturday morning trying to keep up with Bill on his tennis court. The heat and my poor condition didn't give us much more than an hour. We then had another great lunch, lazied around for a bit and then it was off for the ferry back to Maui.

Maui Mana - "I ka wa mamua ka wa mahope"

It's my second day in Maui and I'm LOVIN it. I came to Maui for the first time last year and crammed as much sustainability stuff as I could in one week. This time around I have two weeks and am doing my best to get even deeper into all the sustainability efforts underway on Maui and other islands. The translation of the phrase above is "the future is in the past" and I think it fits the philosophy behind sustainability efforts here very well.

One of my favorite things to do when first arriving is to visit the Savers store. It is essentially the same store as Value Village back home in Seattle, but the great thing is they have a huge selection of aloha shirts, shorts, flip flops, etc. I have lots of plans starting on Wednesday, so do check back. For now, I'm going to do my best to put together lists of the plant, bird, and fish species I see in my runs, swims, explorations, etc. Keep an eye out on the left column.

Speaking of birds, I've been very entertained by the cattle egrets on the island during my morning runs. I've actually love them since I was a kid running around at the zoo where my Mother worked in Albuquerque. They are of course beautiful, but they also have this very cute "who am I, why am I here...oh, there's a bug [gulp]...wait a second, who am I, why am I here" look about them. It's also funny to watch a sedge of egrets chasing after lawn mowers to nab the new bugs and then have that same "wait a minute...who am I, why am I here" look about them.