3 weeks in Paradise so far...

        Hello friends!  We are finally here to blog and we're sorry that it has taken us awhile to sit down and write - it is harder than we thought to keep up on the blog.  To start, we are in Maui on the northern side of the island, near the town of Haiku in a region called Huelo.  We heard that the winter months on the north side get really huge, really awesome surfing waves so we look forward to seeing this phenomenon. (Look for us at the Triple-Crown surf championships...I'm sure we'll have the skills by the end of our stay.)  Along with the big waves comes the rainy season but it hasn't been as bad as we thought.  It rains on and off throughout the days and nights but we have also had glorious sunny days, and you need a balance of both to make the veggies grow. Besides the rain is a good cool off as the day and the work heats up.

Hale Akua Garden Farm is where we call home for the time being.  There were 13 WWOOFers when we started and that has dwindled down to 7, with some leaving for the next chapter of their life and some coming to start a chapter here. The number will continue to ebb and flow during the 7 weeks that we're here.  All of our food is provided, there is a salt water pool, a couple of hot tubs, a sauna, in season fruits ( right now that is bananas, oranges, avocados, and tangalos), beautiful 9 acre property with views of the ocean and the rest of Maui to explore.  We have to pinch ourselves because it is a little bit of a dream world we're living in at the moment.  We have met some wonderful people here as we expected because we all are here for similar reasons so it is easy to find a kindred spirit in the bunch.  We have our own room but share common spaces like the kitchen and a gathering/yoga room.  Both of us have had to readjust to the communal living but there is growth in a challenge! It's different enough being married and then you add in the whole living in a bigger community with shared space and responsibilities... eek!

We work 6 hours a day doing various tasks.  Our goal is to grow vegetables to be sold at resturants, local grocery stores, and for the neighbors.  The soil is very clumply as there is a lot of volcanic ash in it.  I at first thought the soil was high in clay (as I have seen on the mainland) and the possibility of there being volcanic ash didn't even cross my mind...I should have taken a moment to remember how Maui was formed!  Since the soil is clumpy we have to "fluff and crumble" which is a tedious yet meditative task of breaking up the soil into finer pieces so the little sprouts have a chance to break through and survive.  It has been a learning curve to be able to walk out into the gardens and write a list of what needs to be done.  A skill that I did not feel that comfort with at first but now has become second nature.  We need to "tuck" the plants so they wont get sunburned or so the stalks won't break.  (ex. the green beans grow fast and shoot out of the soil so there isn't a lot of support around them so  when the wind blows they are more likely to break unless we tuck soil around them.)  Other tasks are to make compost piles and tend to them, plant, harvest, weed, thin and transplant sprouts.

       We have been here on the island for two weekends and we have spent that time exploring parts of the island.  The first weekend we rented a car with three other wwoofers and headed east.  Our first stop was the rainbow eucalyptus trees.  The bark peels off different colors. My theory is that when the bark is drying, it changes colors and since the bark is in different stages of drying, it makes a rainbow.  The next stop was the red sand beach where there was an alcove that was protected by rock spires which created a wavey playground.  I, jess, was particularly happy for this stop because if I had to stay in the car much longer I was going to throw up.  The road around the island is called Hana Highway and it gets really bad in certain spots.  Heading east to Hana is one of those spots.  Hana is only 30 miles from us but it took us 2 hours because the roads were so bad.  They were very narrow and gnarly hairpin turns.  I usually don't get car sick but now I have a new found empathy for those who regularly get motion sickness.  There was the Seven Sacred Pools stop that included a four mile hike to the first waterfall that dropped three stories into a little pool and then we followed the rest of the six pools down to the ocean through a bamboo forest.  We camped that night  by the ocean and played on another beach the next day.  I however was reminded that the ocean is strong.  We were body surfing and I was dumped off the wave and tossed around.  I hit the bottom of the ocean floor and got a skinned chin.  I had to take a break from the waves and then Matt helped me get over my fear of the ocean.  I figured that I couldn't be afraid seeing that we are going to be around it for the next six months!  Since bananas are in season, there are a lot of road-side stands that are selling "The Best Banana Bread" so we have to take samples along the way as well as marrinated coconut and macadamea nut nibbles. 

         We had the car for one more weekend and so we headed west with another couple.  The "Highway", one lane in some parts, was particulary bad heading west as well.  This time I was driving so my stomach contents were fine!  We got to play on some swinging bridges on a hike to a good swimming hole with a good jumping in spot and yellow ginger and guava growing the whole way to the swimming hole. We camped at a beach along the highway... (really loud!), and played alot! We went to Maui brewing company and got some local brews... great beer! After that we went to the tourist trap, I mean town of Lahaina... a really ramped up touristy Luau was getting over just as we got into town at a place that does a "Luau show" for folks. We snuck in as people were leaving, and got to eat all the leftover (non-nibbled) desserts on the table, and get some Leis. We got psyched up on pretending to be tourists to the maximum, and ended up stopping at a hotel and walking around looking for free stuff/activities we could get ourselves into... we took notes and the next day took advantage of the pool, their beach, their bathrooms, outdoor showers, and continental breakfast. Woohoo! Rose and Thomas our fellow conspirators, were up for anything, so we went to check out the Olivine pools, which are these salt water pools in the rocks on the edge of the ocean. The pools were awesome... deep enough to jump into from rocks next to them and with fish up to a foot long in them. The ocean crashing on the rocks all around... crazy stuff. Rose is an archeologist and so we went to this place that had petroglyphs... pretty awesome to see artwork that old. We rounded off the weekend with another swim at our new favorite beach: Baldwin. THe waves are perfect for boogie boarding! We body surfed a bit and got tossed around a bit more. The beach is where folks here hang out on the weekends... it's like one big block party in the parking lot and on the beach... complete with beer, horseshoes, people pumping music out of their cars... the whole deal... such a fun scene to witness. Enough for now...matt&jess