How can we use old techniques of cultivating the land to make our community self-sustaining for future generations?
We are hoping to use our school garden as a starting point to learn the skills we need to provide food for ourselves, our families, and other people in our community. It is important for us as students to learn about the resources that feed us, nourish our bodies, and provide shelter. Currently, as an island community we are dependent upon the food and supplies that come from the mainland and other countries. If the barges were to stop coming tomorrow, we would not be able to sustain ourselves. Learning how to cultivate the land, build traditional hale (house), and to work together with others is so important.
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What our plan is? |
What we will be planting? |
Our plan is to reconnect with with the past and our aina (land) to learn self-sustaining methods that worked for many generations. We are creating six planter boxes which will be used to plant a variety of vegetables. We will also be constructing a hale for shade and walking paths so that students can walk through our garden.
How this courtyard can be used as a model to design open land spaces in our community?Our courtyard garden can be used as a model for other schools and communities who don't have a lot of open space or direct sunlight and want to learn how to be more self-sustaining. By sharing our measurements and methods with others, they can learn too. There are many small pieces of land in our community that are sitting vacant and we hope that our County will find a way to make unused spaces available to families who would like to grow their own food. We will also build a hale (house) to be used as a space to gather and would like to see other hale being built in our community.
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We planted bell pepper, broccoli, carrot, chard, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, squash, tomato, and uala on April 4th, 2017 to start. We are practicing how to KILO (carefully observe) to better understand the best growing conditions for these vegetables because the courtyard isn't always in the direct sunlight.
What we are learning from Kumano i ke ala o Makaweli?We are learning how to become self-sustaining by using some of the old ideas and cultivating techniques of native Hawaiians. We are also trying to show how small spaces of land can be used wisely for growing crops. Uncle Kaina is trying to teach us how to be good people by caring for the land and for our community through hard work and dedication. It is important because it feels good to be able to contribute to our community. We feel lucky that he takes the time to share and pass on what he knows so we can do the same for others.
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The land and sea provided the Hawaiian with everything he needed to sustain himself. His diet helped him maintain a healthy, disease-free body.
~Chad Baybayan