At first thought, I was thrilled to have the chance to grow my own tomato plant from seed to fruit and to grow towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, there won't be enough time by the end of the semester for my plant to fruit Healani tomatoes. Today, November 19, 2019, is the big day we finally get to take our babies home. I'm not going to lie, even though I was excited at first, the more our class talks about it, the more nervous and scared I am to take it home and have the responsibility of taking care of it all by myself. I had the task of transplanting the tomato seedlings from a controlled environment to an environment which I knew was going to shock it. I began by mixing soil and worm castings into a plastic pot which I lined with paper towel on the bottom. Then I removed a little of the green spongelike material surrounding the roots. Next, I made a hole in the soil deep enough to put the roots and rest of the spongelike material in it, which was my next step. Lastly, I watered it with a few drops of water, not too much but enough to keep it hydrated. My plans for my plant at home is to keep it in a protected area, I may put one on my porch and one under my big beach umbrella in my yard. I plan to water it everyday as well as talk to it to encourage it to grow and to let it know that I am here for it to succeed. Hopefully with my positive demeanor and effort, this plant will grow and flourish like I know it can.
0 Comments
Over the weekend, we were tasked to eat a completely locally sourced meal. In my opinion, this would have been hard if it weren't for the farmer's market where I got my locally sources meal. For my locally meal, I had a smoothie with all locally sourced fruits, and a vegetarian panini sandwich. I had confirmed with the workers that everything was locally sourced which they assured me with confidence. This assignment wasn't challenging although it would have been if I had to make the meal myself. The farmer's market makes locally sourced foods so people have healthy options while supporting our local farmers here in Hawaii. Although this meal was a little overpriced, I felt that it was definitely worth it. The fact that the meal I ate wasn't only healthy but delicious makes me want to eat more locally sourced food. Not only because it's yummy but also because it supports our local farmers to continue to grow things here in our islands which I think is very important due to the fact that everything is imported and if something were to happen to the ships importing our foods, not very many people would be prepared. Increasing locally sources products would help the economy and the environment as well as would perpetuate our culture.
Field trips may be called field trips by people due to the fact it’s happening outside of class but instead in the field. Others call them learning trips due to the learning achieved while experiencing it. Going on an adventure to the Waimanalo College of Tropical Agriculture and Resources Station, our first learning trip, was definitely one for the books, as people might say. This field trip felt more like a field trip for the soul. I specifically remember the uncle saying, “flowers are food for the soul,” and I felt that really hit home. During the field trip, we walked around the farm learning a lot about food agriculture and business. We also learned a lot about organic food. I like the way on the farm there is a specific part for organic plants. The uncle also talked about ‘olena and how it’s very similar to kalo. It’s similar in the way that it grows until it reaches it’s peak then shrinks back down when the nutrients go into the root, which is the same as kalo. When we saw the ‘olena, it was said to be at it’s peak. After the ‘olena, we walked through their kalo patches. In the kalo, we talked about the different kalo and how their named. Most of the names are relating to the characteristics and looks of the kalo. For example, one is called Manini because of the stripes down the stem. We also walked by the aquaponics and their system. He talked about how some of the birds would eat some of their catfish which I thought was very funny. We also got to adventure Auntie Ilima’s Garden which was beautiful and filled with different plants. Lastly, I love learning about the invasive plant and how they use it as natural fertilizer for the other plants. We also weeded in order to help the working staff and improve the growing of the ulu trees. I absolutely loved walking around and enjoying the different parts of the farm. Overall, this field trip really allowed me to connect with my culture. It made me want to go back often and help knowing it was going to help and better our future. In quarter one of mālama honua, much knowledge was learned. The biggest thing in my opinion being the kuʻu ʻāina aloha project, which was a project where we had to choose a special place to our heart. This had taught us the many ways we are connected to the land and our ancestors. In mālama honua, we both learned in the class and in the mala. We learned the importance of water, food, and sunlight to plants; connecting it with the same way humans are nurtured. Although our field trip to Mokauea was cancelled, we still learned an amazing chant. Hopefully we will be the first ones to recite it when we get to attend our learning trip to Mokauea. One major things learned in this class was the significance of the land to us and our ancestors. In the future, we hope to follow and grow the food straight from the ʻāina to our tables. Lastly, liko translated as observations was an important part in this quarters learning process. We did this by going out when Tropical Storm Lane hit, as well as other times just to observe our Earth. Knowledge and wisdom, being an important aspect to our ancestors was always sought, and fortunately we were able to absorb some of the knowledge that connects back to our roots and our culture. This article talked about how people aren't Hawaiian unless we "kick off the shoes and and walk the ʻāina. Live each step and feel with all that surrounds you. Hear what you've always seen. Touch what you've always heard." In other words, someone can't qualify themselves as being Hawaiian if they don't work in the land everyday as our ancestors did. In my opinion, this article can both be true and false. Doing work in the land isn't the only thing that qualifies someone as being Hawaiian. Having Hawaiian blood, practicing Hawaiian traditions and protocol, etc. makes someone Hawaiian. My feelings toward this is that they are saying people who work in the land and take their shoes off are Hawaiian, although it makes me think, if people with Haole blood take off their shoes and work in the land: are they still considered to be Hawaiian? Personally, I don't think just working in the land without shoes can qualify someone as being Hawaiian. I feel as though in order to be considered as Hawaiian, you have to connect on a deeper level such as having Hawaiian ancestors/blood and or practicing the Hawaiian culture. In all honesty, I'm very ecstatic and pleased to be able to have an experience like this. I've never been to Mokauea before. In fact, I didn't know that the island was named Mokauea. I would paddle passed it every so often and I would wonder what the purpose of the island was. I would wonder if people used the land or if the island was inhabitant. After listening to kumu, I'm excited to experience working in one of the few fishponds left on the island. I couldn't every imagine living on an island like that and having to paddle across the ocean in order to gain bare necessities from the land. It must be such a challenge to maintain their land with the few people they have. I want to be apart of something bigger. I want to help those in need of help and I want to make life easier for them. If helping for one day lessens their load for the week, I would want to do it as often as I could. They work so hard to preserve the Hawaiian culture and I would absolutely love to be apart of it.
A Hawaiian scientist can be defined in many ways. Depending on person to person, the thought process of what a Hawaiian scientist is changes. For example, I myself have more than one opinion on what exactly a Hawaiian scientist could be. I think a Hawaiian scientist could be a regular scientist who has Hawaiian blood. That would be my first view if I just answered the question without any thought. But as I think of the question more: what is a Hawaiian scientist, the amount of possibilities of what could qualify as being a Hawaiian scientist increases. My other thoughts of what a Hawaiian scientist could be is a scientist who's main priority is to examine and scientifically back up the Hawaiian culture. Science could be used to see if things such as Hawaiian traditions (the way we do things) are reliable, to take care of Hawaiian plants and animals, and to research Hawaiian people (health wise). Another way of how I see a Hawaiian scientist is a scientist who uses Hawaiian technology and traditions. Using Hawaiian traditions such as a water gorge at night on a canoe in order to navigate or observing fish behavior using the moon phases and nets. The possibilities of using Hawaiian ways for science are endless. Our ancestors used these things and in fact had more knowledge. The Hawaiian ways for life was efficient enough back then and if you use them today they would probably continue to satisfy the things our modern technology does. Hawaiʻi was predicted to receive Hurricane Lane, originally a category 5 hurricane that thankfully reduced to a tropical storm. Residents residing in Hilo, Hawaiʻi (Big Island) got impacted the most by Tropical Storm Lane, receiving over 50 inches of rain. Schools were closed for half of the week, some from Wednesday and others from Thursday. Jobs were canceled for a period of time and many shops closed in order to prepare for the storm. Stores were flooded with people while many essential products including water, gas, and certain food items were sold out.
From the duration of August 25, 2018 through August 27, 2018, I had the task of observing every aspect of nature. Through this experience, a part of me I didn't know I had was able to connect to the earth on a different level. The first couple of days were the days the hurricane was suppose to hit. Despite the fact it didn't actually hit, I had observed drastic changes in not only nature, but in people as well. As the hurricane appeared closer and closer, I noticed that no sky was visible whatsoever; the sky was covered with different types of clouds, both shades of gray and white. This didn't only tell me that rain was soon to come but this also reduced the visibility of being able to see a certain distance away or seeing the stars and moon. In addition to the clouds and rain, there was an increase in wind speed and pressure. At certain times the wind could go as fast as 14 miles per hour or as slow as 3 miles per hour. Wind, rain, and clouds are expected when a hurricane is approaching but those are not the only things I observed. I also observed the change in animal behavior, human behavior, and ocean behavior. I realized that just as humans prepared for the storm, so did animals. Not many animals were to be seen out, especially birds. I could barely hear any birds chirping or saw any birds flying around. People were stocking up on food, water, supplies, as well as were physically preparing their homes with wooden boards or tape on the windows. The ocean also had drastic changes. From what I noticed, the tides rose, the waves grew in size, and there were a lot of men-of-war on the sand. In addition, the currents were much stronger than usual. On August 25 and August 26, there were very similar changes to the weather, ocean, animals, and people. Both days didn't rain a lot yet the skies were completely covered with clouds, what I noticed to be stratus or altostratus clouds. The clouds were also very low and seemed to be flat with no volume. The visibility was bad, I could see the mountains near my house (like the Kalaheo mountain) although I couldn't see the Ko'olau mountain range which I can usually see from day to day. Due to the tremendous amount of clouds, I couldn't see any stars or the moon. On those days there were many flowers that bloomed and majority of the plants were still intact since the storm hadn't hit hard. Animals were no where to be seen. Birds weren't making noises or flying around, or any other stray wildlife. The surf was also affected on those two days. The tides rose extremely, the water was very choppy, the current strong, as well as the waves were huge. Plus there were many Portuguese man-of-war covering the beach. On August 27, the conditions went back to more normal conditions as expected. Even though many clouds were in the sky, you could still see patches of blue yet the moon and stars were still no where to be found. Visibility got a little better where I could see more of the Ko'olau mountains. Flowers and plants were completely intact as they had been from the first day. Animals such as birds returned to normal activity. They were flying, making noises (chirping), and landing on rooftops and telephone wires like they always have. People also returned to normal activity. They began to return their unused food and water as well as took the wooden boards and tape off their windows. Lastly, the surf lessened a bit in intensity yet still was more vigorous than usual. Mālama honua, the literal meaning being mālama: to take care, honua: land/Earth. In other words, mālama honua means to take of the land/Earth, although my perspective of mālama honua changes as time goes on. Mālama honua to me means sustainability, not to just care for the land now but to preserve it for future generations. Living in Hawaii, there are many things we can do to take care of the land that our Hawaiian ancestors had done in order to preserve the land for future generations, being ourselves. Acts such as cleaning the loʻi’sand fish ponds, picking up trash, rebuiliding walls, catching/harvesting only the amount of food they would eat, planting/replanting Hawaiian plants, preserving Hawaiian land and artifacts, sharing Hawaiian stories, etc. If we don't preserve the land like our ancestors did for us, there will be nothing left for future generations.
|
AuthorBorn and raised in Kailua, O'ahu. My aspiration in life is to do the best I can in everything I do. Archives
November 2018
Categories |