Questions about Hawaii - Want to start an organic farm

[hotzcatz]

Well, technically, he was in Puna but at the other side of it up the mountain towards Volcano. There are more of the yogi sort of folks over in the other corner, but there is a scattering of them all over, too. You may be thinking of Pahoa, which is a small town in the district of Puna. Over the past half decade or so, Pahoa has been built up quite a bit. There is a small shopping area just outside of town now which will probably pull all the business out of Pahoa. Once they put the bypass around Pahoa (this was years ago) many of the small funky businesses in Pahoa died off, the good ones survived, but the new shopping area is taking it's toll on them now, too. There is supposed to be a Long's drugstore built out there, soon, I think. There is already a big grocery store, a hardware store, a Subways and a few other small shops in the shopping area outside of town. It is more built up than Keaau at the moment and it looks like they will still be building for awhile. It does make it easier for all the folks living out there to get supplies and things, if they don't have to drive all the way into Hilo or Keaau to get what they need. Traffic has been a problem on the Pahoa-Keaau highway for awhile now.

Before leaving, Yogi had considered relocating to the Kapoho area which would be near Pahoa, however by this time, his partner was pretty tired of wet, cold, mildew and jungle conditions and wanted to go back to the mainland. She didn't quite give him an ultimatum, but he figured his life would be much happier if she was happy and it seemed she'd be happier on the mainland. So they sold the fifty acres up in Glenwood and they are now over on the mainland looking for a new place. If/when they have kids, it will be a lot easier if they have family around, too, so her decision is a good one for them. Had he been looking at a house over near Pahoa, she may have been more amiable to the idea of staying in Hawaii but she was pretty burnt out on the whole living under a tarp while building something idea. They had enough money to buy the amount of land they wanted but not to buy land with a house on it if they were looking in Hawaii.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Other than folks telling you that you've bought a chunk of volcano, they will ask a bazillion bizarre questions about Hawaii, too. "Do people wear clothes in Hawaii?", "Do you live in grass shacks?", "Are there cars in Hawaii?". Sheesh! Things are getting better but they still ask really bizarre questions sometimes.

Do people really ask that? I've never even met someone that ignorant.

Most people should know plenty about Hawaii from TV.

[hotzcatz]

Over the years, all of these questions have been asked by folks actually wanting a valid answer. One would think they'd at least have seen "Hawaii 5-0" but they still ask absurd questions. Less of them now that there have been so many Magnum P.I. reruns along with the Hawaii 5-0 reruns, though. But we still get tons of ignorant folks asking really bizarre questions although now they usually involve the "free healthcare" or "cheap beach shacks to rent".

[honu1950]

Aloha:

I applaud you on your thoughts, but I would strongly recommend that you contact the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and seek their assistance before you make this move. Each county has their own farm bureau and the federation can direct you towards the one that would be most likely be able to assist you. HFBF - Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation

Each island is so very different from each other and even one side of the island differs tremendously from the other side. What you plant is going be very dependent upon where your farm is. Remember that while the Big Island (Hawaii) has the most ag land, the majority of the market is on the island of Oahu (85% of the population).


Good Luck

[hotzcatz]

Aloha Honu1950,

That is a good link for the next person who wants to try farming in Hawaii. The original poster of this topic already came out to Hawaii, tried farming, got overwhelmed by too much land and too thick of underbrush with rampant growth and went back to the mainland already. Living under a tarp in a rainforest while trying to build soured his girlfriend on the whole adventure, too, so they've gone off to find somewhere more feasible for what they want to do.

Basically, when deciding to farm, getting land which is cleared, flat and has water and good soil makes it a LOT easier. He did get soil and water, but it was more like mud and more mud during rainy season. Having access to and around the property is also another thing to look for. He wasn't able to get to the back of his property when it rained since even a 4WD couldn't make it.

[greenacresmama]

Hi! This was listed at the bottom of the screen.. I felt like giving back. My house is also on the market.. but things are moving fast. I just wanted to say that I have over 25 fruit trees on my property, but I live in the low income valley of Palolo, just outside is Kaimuki, our little town. It is a very quaint and beautiful, little valley and has the best travel time to anywhere on the island and to many hikes. I love it dearly. It is 3.8 acres and is like a chunk of mountain. You can grow anything you want (I believe because the weather is so perfect here - especially another other time besides hottest summer days, but it really just stays perfect, always rain every few days and rarely for long periods.. waters the place . We have a house that is being rebuilt though and is sort of on the small side. We are asking 670k for it. I know that seems like a lot of money, but it is a lot of land and hill to keep up with for our young family... It would make a challenging, but views would be specatcular type of co-housing with room for plots and fruit off mature trees to share (15 years+) Parking would need to be expanded. It has been a great land to supplement our groceries with... I could totally see a veggie share program happening with maybe an electric car road.

I have almost the same story as the poster. I need to move on because the organic parts of the mainland offer my children family and also something else other than Hawaii 24/7, which is all we want to afford with our work/life balance.

I will never ever regret living my ten years here, I am totally blessed and have made the most beautiful enlightened friends. This is paradise (I wish our family would have worked out a timeshare program with me but the airfare and long flight was too much for them). Family on the West Coast is a common factor in most peeps here that seem really comfortable, long term and happy. The others make the trip back once or twice a year without delay.. if we could afford that maybe.. just can't.

[OpenD]

This is an old thread, but for the benefit of anyone tuning in late, I have a few clarifying notes...

Puna is a very large district, 1 of 9 on the Big Island (Hawai'i is a state, Island of Hawai'i is a county, Puna is a district of that county), and the variation in topography and microclimate is quite large. It was once largely covered in sugar plantations. Before that it was the largest coffee producing region in the country. Yes, the wet side! In the early part of the 1900's the area around Volcano was mostly comprised of Japanese owned vegetable farms, and the plums from the area were world famous. But World War II, the failure of the sugar industry, and the onset of VOG emissions in recent years have all rearranged the local agricultural picture drastically. South Hilo marks the northern end of the district, Volcano marks the southern end, east is the ocean, and the west border is above Volcano.

One of the interesting topographic features is the drastic climate ridge a mile south of Volcano that marks the beginning of Ka'u district (pronounces kah OO), which is predominantly dry desert (and which is now beginning to whip the pants off Kona in coffee tasting competitions.) In Volcano annual rainfall averages 100" per year, but only a couple of miles south on Highway 11 the average is half that.

So a key thing to understand is that there is a huge variation in what you will find in Puna District. Each piece of land is different, and sometimes two neighboring lots will be very different from each other.

In my experience there are lots of people in Puna District engaged in organic farming, lots of people using permaculture methods (a neighbor I can walk to has been running a three acre permaculture farm for years), and lots of people teaching yoga.

On the higher slopes you will find truck farms and small cattle ranches. Ten minutes from here is a large greenhouse installation that grows large numbers of very big daikons, mostly for export to Japan. The orchards... plum and citrus... have almost disappeared because VOG interferes with the fruit set, and the acid rain spots the fruit and foliage to the point that it is commercially not saleable. There are also many orchid farms in the area, and most of them have been forced to move under cover to survive. No matter how beautiful the blooms, customers won't buy them if the leaves are spotted.

Another thing to consider is lava flow hazard. You can find maps of it online in many places, including Wikipedia. But basically land makai (towards the sea) from Highway 11 are at higher risk than land mauka (toward the peak) from the highway, because lava flows downward. The places where you see active lava flows into the ocean (one breakout at Thanksgiving destroyed a house and 5 acre noni farm) are a dozen miles and about 4,000 feet of altitude below the active Kilauea crater that is considered the heart of the volcano.

Another note, on chickens... there is very little local government evident outside the town of Hilo (and yes it is a town, not an incorporated city) so you will find chickens being grown all over the place. When I stay at my friend's house near Kurtistown, a very large number of roosters start crowing before sunrise, because one of the area's largest breeders of fighting ***** lives near them. And here in my own neck of the woods there are also feral chickens, long ago escaped from captivity and now roaming free in the woods. So you are unlikely to have any difficulty over having chickens, unless you buy in a subdivision that prohibits them in their CC&Rs.