Hi5 for Sustainability: DIY Gardening

Aloha everyone, about two weeks ago my friends and I took a trip down to Waipio Valley. It was my first time walking down the hill and when I revealed this information to my friends, they laughed and told me to bring a lot of water and get ready to feel the burn! I laughed along with them, not knowing I had a long walk ahead of me. I did my best but no matter what technique I used to walk down the hill (side to side, leaning back, walking faster or slower) the hill got the better of me and I felt my legs getting weaker and weaker with each step. Thankfully, we made it down in one piece and proceeded to hike towards the waterfall.

We got lost within 10 minutes into our hike and ended up trespassing on private property. We were greeted by a man by the name of Le'a, who had a spear one hand and a bucket in the other. I have to be honest, I thought we were done for and he was going to attack us, but then I noticed he had a knee brace on and the bucket was for farming and I could relax a little bit (I was still nervous because of the fact that we were tresspassing.) Le'a asked us where we were from and invited us to his irrigation system he restored to farm kalo near his house. He survives solely off the land and donations from visitors so be sure to bring some goods for him and his family if you ever decide to hike down there.

One more thing, he says camping is not allowed at the beach anymore because the diseases that once were there due to campers relieving themselves wherever they felt like it. He extended an invite for us to camp down there and I'm sure once you meet him he'll welcome you to his house with open arms!

Here are some pictures that my friend Janice Duldulao took while we were down there. Follow her on Tumblr! http://fallenfromgrace7.tumblr.com/