Help us save our farm from developers

You can help save an organic farm and cultural education center in Kahaluu by donating today to Hui Aloha Aina Momona 501(c)3 (all donations are tax deductible).  We want to be clear that you are saving this farm for the community, not a single family.  The farm ownership will be under local nonprofit, Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona 501(c)3 that has been doing community agriculture, cultural and environmental work since 2011. 

Our organization was born after the legalization of traditional poi making in 2011. Our family was at the heart of the controversy, instead of backing down to the department of health, we changed the law.  The commitment we hold to seeing a board, stone and a full calabash of poi in every home has been at the heart of our passion to serve.  We have organized Opening Day at the State Capitol and hosted the community for the last 12 consecutive years, during that time we have shared over 10,000 pounds of cooked kalo, given 10,000 huli, made the very first imu at Iolani Palace and have the honor to make 8,000 laulau and feed the community.

Here is my TedxMaui presentation in 2014, it also happens to be the same day that we moved on to this farm in Kahaluu, Oahu.

https://youtu.be/HYy2FQbT1AU 

The work we have done has taken us across the Hawaiian Island chain, over 2,000 large papa kuiai (poi boards) have been made with through small hands on workshops.  Our mission has grown beyond just a board and stone, but a subsistence garden - feeding homes and communities.  To make this a reality seven years ago we started to build the foundation of a farm school, where students live on the farm and learned to eat from the land.  Through community workshop and youth mentoring we have been steadily working towards our goal.  Over $300,000 has been invested in created elements to achieve our farm school, including outdoor kitchen, papa and pohaku workshop area, education space, natural farming solution making and storing site, no smell pig and chicken coops and lots of planting areas. 

See where we are at today.  Mahalo Royce Kaleo for making this video for us. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAUNg0t73MU 

Over the last seven years we have transformed a 2.947 acre lot into a cultural education center and organic farmstead after 70 years of chemical agriculture. Our goal has been to see a new type of farm school being created on Oahu, one that focuses on subsistence lifestyle and cultural practices as the foundation for the future of agriculture in Hawaii.

In the end of June 2021, our landowners sent us written notice giving us 90 days to move. We have been in total shock.  Unfortunately the landlords have been financially impacted by the Covid pandemic and see the currently real estate market as solution.  On top of that a developer has been reaching out to landowners in our area because Kahaluu is a hot zone for development.  We must all save this land and keep it in agriculture!  Zillow lists the farm between 1.2 - 1.8 million. We qualify for a loan of but are short of the total, this leaves us to raise $400,000.00 of which we are asking for your help.

Through hands on workshops and education centered around kalo, indigenous farming practices, imu, and other activities, we work to connect people to the land and each other. In Kahaluu we provide weekly taro pounding and monthly farming workshops. We also teach people to make their own taro pounding boards and stones and hold monthly community imu. During the 2020/2021 Covid pandemic we shared over 30,000 huli (taro seedlings) across the islands as our way to help families take control of where their food comes from. These huli became mental, physical and spiritual connections to hope and inspired many to give and share food that they grow.

If you prefer to mail a tax deductible donation:
Hui Aloha ʻĀina Momona 501(c)3
47-540 Ahuimanu Road
Kaneohe, Hi 96744

or donate directly to our website ainamomona.org/donate