In preparation for the two new community gardens (and greenhouse) at the Bachelot and Wahiawa locations we’ve been visiting hydroponic (and aquaponic) systems all over the island.  The other day we visited the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Waimanalo.  We were given a wonderful tour by the effervescent Chaplain Bonnie Holcombe.  The garden that they’ve established there is truly an oasis.  Not only were there four flourishing varieties of lettuce, there was a lush wall of tomato vines, an herb garden, and a really impressive composting set-up.  The women in charge of each section briefed us on the set-up and maintenance of each area.  What was really interesting was that some of the women had progressed to the point of experimenting with mini systems.  One woman was trying to grow taro with a bucket!

Everyone was so lovely to us.  The beauty and functionality of their program was inspiring.  Chaplain Bonnie told us that they had documented their process in manuals and were very happy to share their lessons learned.  Each of these visits takes us a step closer to Lanakila realizing some of its own dreams.

Here’s something short we put together to share the fire spark of spirit in this year’s  March for Meals.

On March 24, 2010, hundreds of citizens, of all ages, gathered at Honolulu Hale.  Most were holding signs.  Signs that read End Senior Hunger.  And together they walked, carefully over the cracking sidewalks, to the state capitol building to get the attention of elected official and voice their alarm over cuts to funding that had been allocated for senior services.

This is the March for Meals.  It’s been happening every March for the past eight years, in solidarity with other meals on wheels organization in the country.  What made it different this year for all of us, was the stark reality of how our economic situation is impacting  the most vulnerable in our community, our children and our elders.

So this year we marched to a faster, more urgen drummer.  And this year we all feel the gravity of a movement underway and its a powerful one .  To end senior hunger by 2020.

We plan to share a whole lot more stories here, as well as feature voices from our community.  It will run the gamut on topics, but organic growers of community, we know that everything, as well as each and everyone one of us, are interconnected.

The purpose of this website is create a space for just this kind of interconnectivity.  Everyday we meet or communicate with so many incredible people who are ready to start building a better place to live.  We have so many talented, visionary, people with mad skills right here on O’ahu.

We felt that all of our energies need a place to come together and to start planning and building.

For now this exists as a blog that you can subscribe to and share ideas via comments. We will also feature guest bloggers and video posts on community building and other topics that might be of interest to you. It is a place for everyone to start gathering as we begin this journey.

If you want to read more about the big plan, we have it posted on our Bird’s Eye View page.

In our hearts we feel that if we take these steps, one at a time, all of us together, we will eventually find ourselves in a place that is not only less scary and unstable, but even more beautiful and resilient.

We ask for your collaboration.

We visited Olomana Garden in Waimanalo last week.  We’re hoping to establish an aquaponic garden at our Wahiawa location as part of the new greenhouse and two community gardens.  Tom from Olomana took us on a breathtaking tour of Glen Martinez’s amazing permaculture farm.  The simplicity of their natural farming techniques was so inspiring.  We got so caught  up in the beauty of the place and the possibilities that we decided we’d have to go back and take the tour again.  There were a few examples of aquaponic and composting set-ups that, in theory, could be easy for us to set-up.  See slideshow.