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Hello, from south central Kansas. Found these forums while perusing property for sale on Hilo side. WARNING. This post is really long. sorry about the text wall.
Husband and I are considering moving. Mom is retiring to Hilo side with her permanent move within the next five years. She'd like to find 2-3 acres with a little house or build her own. We'd like to have a farm and grow/raise our own food, so we'll be following her. We hope to find property adjacent to hers. Mom is originally from Oahu and most of her family still lives there, three sisters one brother on Oahu, one sister on Maui, cousins spread out all over. We lived at Fort Shafter when I was a kid and dad was in the Army. I lived near Honolulu with family when I was in my 20's for several months. That was about 15 years ago. Enjoyed my stay. I spent a lot of time outdoors. I'd gotten a P/T at a grocery store, stocking shelves, cash register and whatnot. Ate more than my fair share of poi, walked long distances and really was in awe of the public transportation system in Honolulu. Unbelievable! I found all kinds of activity that was free or really cheap, like I did my people-watching on the bus, or I spent time with various cousins.
When we moved to the mainland, the first thing I noticed was that most people didn't grow anything at their homes other than the occasional houseplant. I noticed snow, I didn't like it. It came with cold and ice. And it happened every year. I hated winter in Kentucky, and I hate winter in Kansas.
Certainly, being from a small town in SCKansas, I can understand the hesitancy I read about in these forums regarding new residents. My town is about 1,700 people big. We see this all the time: new residents move in so that their kids can go to a better school, while they're here they vote to raise taxes so they're kids can get even better schooling and so that their property values will go up, then when the kids graduate, they move away, leaving this small farming community with higher taxes. And/or, the new residents think we ought to happy to have them, and they do a lot to change things to suit themselves, rather than adapt to what they've moved in to. Not many towns our size with crumbling infrastructure in Kansas have as high taxes as we do. Fortunately, we've zero problems with gangs, or even any outright violence or serious crimes. Very few break-ins, and those usually involve cars rather than homes. Lotsa traffic tickets, tho. Meth kitchens out in the country. I run a successful very-small business. Around here, and many small towns in Kansas, zoning is a big problem and getting bigger. Restrictions getting tighter for stuff like fences, mobile homes, building permits are getting expensive, people don't want to move here and build because of the restrictions. Some subdividing occurred north of town, and people flocked up there - it was outside the city limits with a little looser restrictions. Dude outside of town can have a couple of horses, he's got a beautiful place too, he wouldn't have that if he lived in town. But restrictions out in the county are getting tighter as well.
Zoning around here is so behind the times, and discourages rather encourages moving and building. Zoning is getting nowhere near accepting or making room for Greenlings. Compost toilets are misunderstood, water catchment is for bums, self-sustainable farming is for recluses. It's all B.S. I've told city officials that Greenlings sometimes come with a lot of money, and they become active participants in the community. They do the church, the grocery store, the burger feeds, the tree planting get togethers. Nothin' doin', nobody wants to read about rain collection or companion planting, and they still want to dictate the height of tomato cages! Because of "ugly," it's all about aesthetics. ARound here, there's more respect for a person's last name than the decency of their heart. I've watched generous spirits get stomped on. I've watched small businesses be forced out of business over real petty stuff, starting with a hand-painted sign rather than a bought-en one. Often new residents will scream about junk cars, messy yards, and boo-hoo a lot about their property value going down because their neighbors won't paint their house. Sister is out-of-state; and if it weren't for mom, husband, business and best friend, there'd really be no reason to stay. Especially when the annual freeze, snow, freezing rain festival of wintertime weather hits. Pettiness is a rampant thing, lately even the length of my hair's become an issue with some folks I run into, they say I don't care about sick kids if I don't want to cut my hair for locks of love. You can't have just one or two quiet little chickens for eggs. Seems that the zoning board really think - I'm not joking here - that you need a rooster to get eggs from hens. And roosters loudly crow and the neighbors don't want that. And this is a small town in the middle of expansive farms and wheat fields.
I'd rather have too much rain than not enough. I don't care if the roads are paved. Would trade wintertime in Kansas for coqui frog, gecko, other slimy slippery things and gargantuan roaches and centipedes. Ya'll think you have mosquitoes? Heh. In Kansas we have "skeeters" and IMHO they're worse than yours. Your coqui frogs are loud. Our locusts and trains are loud. We have scorpions, brown recluse, rabid wildlife. Not that it's horrible. Kansas has the biggest skies, I don't care if they call Montana Big Sky Country. But when you see trees, they are mostly in treerows planted to deter erosion. We'll have mostly high-90's dry or humid weather, a few or even several 100-degree days. Many below-zero days in the winter. Many thunderstorms with hail. We spend a lot of money defending against this, almost year-round.
This is why I really enjoy what little springtime and autumn we get, because I can shut off the AC or heat, and open the windows and let real air come in. Sure I can deal with mold, I've been dealing with Kansas dirt road dust all this time. It gets into everything, those folds in the insulation of your fridge door? We have tornadoes. One completely and utterly destroyed a small town north of here just a few years ago, every home leveled, several people killed. When the rivers flood, many times it'll keep everyone in town for several days with no way to safely drive out. We have deer that appear on the road out of nowhere and can destroy your car.
K, so for all knowledgeable people who live in Puna and/or South Hilo. We'd like 2-3 acres, and we're looking in the wettest areas. I'll get whatever necessary building permits for anything I do, with no resentment. I'd rather not, and live in a looser-restriction area. I read that one subdivision requires an 800-something square foot home, which is many more square feet than me and husband will need. We'd rather build smaller. Love to have a yurt or cabin, with an asian-style bathhouse/laundry thing. Is there a comparison chart anywhere that compares restrictions and situations from one subdivision to another?
Groceries aren't hugely cheap in Kansas. It depends what you want. The more processed, and from far away, the more expensive. But you can get almost anything you want in one trip to one grocery store, like a Dillons, incredible variety for processed and packaged foods. If you want real variety in fruits and vegetables, you have to seek out what very few Asian groceries are near here, and fruits are expensive. $4 for a mango. Husband and I don't eat much processed anymore, with him watching his weight, we eat a lot of vegs and fruit and meats and don't really favor processed breads and dairy products. I don't foresee the grocery bill getting bigger. What's a can of spam in Hilo? In Kansas, it's almost $4. In the middle of farm country, a box of cereal can get $5, $6.
Our heating bills between gas and electric, averaging 200 or more monthly. AC can get higher in July. I live in 900 square feet on small lot, pay 600-something in annual property taxes. 8.3% sales tax. $100/mo for internet & landline phone, $40 for cellphone. Cable would be another $50, if we had it.
Good health care in Kansas, many doctors and dentists accept new patients everywhere. Reputable cardiology and oncology. Neither of which I need right now. I want to grow my own food, obviously I can do that in Hawai'i. I want to grow flowers and fruit trees. I've raised fruit bushes, but never a tree. Can I raise rabbits for food? Which subdivisions allow a goat or two? How many cats can I have? I want to have chickens, not a bunch, just a silky and maybe a guinea. How about crawfish?
Which are the wettest subdivisions with the loosest building restrictions and biggest lots, and lotsa trees? How easy or expensive is it to have dirt hauled in if your property needs it? We are inventful and resourceful and self-sustainability suits us. We love garage sales. I'm learning to cook on a wood stove. It's not a kitchen stove, just a heating stove, but I can cook on it now. I grill often, year-round. Shopping for me isn't a fun activity. I've no concern for fancy clothes or cars. I want to live simple and blend in and enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. Away from freezing rain.
Husband's not hot on a yurt, mostly the idea of clothlike coverings bother him. He doesn't know the climate, never been there. He's white, early 50's, mostly liberal, very responsible, mechanically inclined, open minded, relaxed friendly dude, owns only two pairs of shoes, one pair is workboots. Adaptable guy. We're writing a five-year plan that starts with paying off my business loan and selling the business, then selling our home and our stuff, while taking several trips. We would establish a temporary shelter and get some things started, and jobs lined out, before we move permanently.
How well do these things grow in Hawai'i: eggplant, okra, white potatoes, luffa gourd. I use eucalyptus and tea tree oils for cleaning solutions, are they very expensive?
What is the state of emergency services on the Hilo side, like ambulance and fire? Do you have Dollar General Stores?
Any answers or commentary are welcome. Thanks so much for being here.
Paragraphs would be nice to break up the amount of text.
The biggest difficulty with sustainable farming in Hawaii is finding the soil to grow things in.
You may want to look into Hawaiian Acres, Fern Acres and Orchidland "sub-divisions" since they are pretty friendly to chickens, goats, pigs and other farm animals. Those three areas are near Keaau and within reasonable distance to Hilo. Somewhere in the North Hilo or Hamakua district if you can afford it would have better soil and more of a "farm" type attitude. There is a group of folks up in Fern Forest and Eden Roc being sustainable, but that area is too cold and gloomy for my taste, although the folks there really like it.
Hawaiian Paradise Park has one acre lots, but they aren't as "farm" friendly. Leilani Estates has one acre lots, too, but they are closer to the lava flows and have lots of CCR's. Hmm, I think that stands for Codes, Covenants & Restrictions. Anyway, Leilani isn't very farm friendly and they have a lot of restrictions about what you can build.
Houses are pretty inexpensive right now, it might be less expensive to get one already built, there are a lot of smaller and "interesting" sorts of houses in the Puna area.
If you can afford it, the land along the Hamakua coast is better for farming. There are some farm lease lots up over near Pauuilo, but you can only farm on them, not live on them. However, if you had a small house in Pauuilo or somewhere nearby to live in, you'd also be able to lease ten or twenty acres to farm on. Ag lease runs somewhere around $160 per acre per year with an additional $300 for annual paperwork.
Yurts aren't the best housing choice for a tropical climate, they were designed for a cold climate, although some folks like them and there are a few here and there. A house with large roof overhangs shades the side of the house to keep it cooler. Since Hawaii houses don't need all the heating and cooling their mainland counterparts do, building houses in Hawaii uses less materials than on the mainland.
Why are you looking in the wettest areas? There is plenty of water even in the not-as-wet areas.
Many places, even places almost in town, will allow you to keep a few hens as either pets or for a few eggs. Some of them, such as Nanawale, says you can't keep farm animals yet folks have a few chickens here and there. Those lots are too small to be very good for your plans, though.
You can raise rabbits for meat or fiber, I have angora rabbits for their wool and spin it into yarn. They also make fertilizer which folks are real glad to get, too. Rabbits are very quiet and many times the neighbors don't even know they are there. I know someone who has meat rabbits when you want to start a rabbitry.
You can have as many cats as you want to feed and take care of as far as I know. If you put food out, you can get tons of feral cats to show up and eat it. That even saves the bother of buying cats. Shipping critters to Hawaii is ungawdly expensive, if possible, try not to bring any with you unless you are willing to spend about $1K per animal.
I've seen some crawfish in Wailoa pond so there's some around here somewhere. Guess you could grow them on purpose if you wanted. There are also fresh water prawns which would be tasty and similar.
The island has a whole lot of different climatic areas on it so some things grow better in one place than another. Apparently Irish potatoes are a cool weather crop and do best when planted in the fall and grown over the winter unless you are at a high altitude. However, at a high altitude,then you can't grow bananas and coconuts. Eggplants are grown here, I'm sure you could grow okra, although I don't know of anyone growing it. Sweet potatoes grow real well around here and they come in a variety of flavors and colors you don't generally find on the mainland.
There are so many variables that it is almost impossible to pick the right spot without being here and even better is to be here for a full year before picking the spot you want to live.
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