The Farm

It has been 7 months since we stopped living on the farm

and we are blown away with how the farm has grown!

Every couple of months we go back to visit the farm and see what's new

and every time the progress is greater and greater.

The other weekend Zach and I went to the Ala Moana Farmers Market to buy some greens from the farm and we were pleasantly surprised to see John sitting at the booth. 

He said every Saturday and Sunday they harvest their greens at 5am and they sell out of their produce at both markets. 

Now they are working on making more grow beds in order to have more greens to sell. They have also been selling some fish, which is great and they are starting a CSA soon that we are super excited for. 

On Friday we went to the farm to look at the increased of production and see all the new happenings.

We couldn't believe all the change. 

It's so good to see the farm, the first stepping stone to our Hawaiian adventure, growing. 

We are so happy for John and Elko and Nalolicious! 

John at the Nalolicious booth

The tastiest sprouts ever

This is the increase in production for sprouts...when we were there we were making about 7 trays a week, now they are doing about 12 trays a day

The WWOOFer's garden

There's a ton of kale

The view from John's porch; I'm sure he loves it

We helped build, weed, nourish and plant these berms. 

They were pretty bare when we left, now look at them

This pup, Rusty, is a new addition to the farmily

he loves to watch the fish

We love their greens

It's good to know all of our hard cinder washing went to good use!

Amazing view

This is actually where our tent was.

They cleared out this entire area and are turning into WWOOFer City.

John said the plan is to build more 8x8 "rooms" for WWOOFers in the future

All of this use to be a thick forest of trees and brush

 We could hardly even walk through it

We will be back soon because Twitch is pregnant and we can't wait to see her puppies!

Zach and I were talking about how cool it would be to be a WWOOFer on the farm now because there's much more responsibility with harvesting, planting, and maintaining everything.

But John always reminds us we were a big part of the farm. 

End Of May Photos

Happy June!

We are excited for the start of summer.
We've been taking a lot of pictures lately,
here's the latest happenings with us...

Our living room is starting to come together!

We want to get an area rug and small coffee table and a few more things on the wall.

Last Sunday night we went to China Walls to watch the 3 planets align. 

We had fun taking pictures and enjoyed the sunset. 

Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter

On Memorial day we tried to go to Hanauma Bay in the morning but the parking lot was full so we continued driving a little ways and stopped to explore some cliffs off the side of the road before Sandy Beach.

We had fun exploring!

Zach and his buddy from work went spear fishing the other day and caught all these fish!

Zach was excited and I think he really enjoyed going with a friend who has some local experience. 

We have 3 of these fish in our freezer, we just need to figure out how to prepare and eat them. 

We love our honu friend! 

More Pictures!

Berna sent us her pictures from their trip. 

There's some good ones.

We loved having them here!

At the Shack for dinner

Our front stairs

Waiting for the submarine

Much aloha 

At Dole

It was fun driving around in a convertible!

Waimea Bay 

Welcome 27!

There's nothing quite like your birthday
and this year, as I turned 27 I felt so loved, blessed, and grateful!
Mom and Dan sent me home with a duffle bag full of goodies.
Dad and Berna gave me money for our couch.
The girls at work got me a lei and a cake.
Zach treated me to an adventure of paddle boarding.
I got numerous, cards, gift cards, phone calls, texts, and emails.
I seriously have the best friends and family.
Much mahalos for making my 27th year wonderful!

May 19th, like every year, was also a day of reflection for me...
I was 17 when Zach entered my life.
 It's crazy and amazing it has nearly been a decade since we started dating and he became my best friend.

I thought about when I turned 21, and how much fun it was celebrating in Vegas with 20 of my closest friends and family.
I thought about when I turned 22 and had just graduated from college.
And I thought about when I turned 25 in Guyana with my best Peace Corps friends.

The best realization I've had this year
is I am so happy with my journey through life.
My life has been full of ups and downs,
adventures,
uncertainties,
leaps of faith,
travel,
laughter,
beauty,
&
love.

And I'm so grateful for where life has lead me!

Zach and I had so much fun paddle boarding on my birthday.
We paddled out to Twin Islands off the shore of Lanikai Beach {one of our favorite beaches}.
The water was beautiful and we saw 5 sea turtles!
Our paddle out to Twin Islands was a little ambitious...
our arms and shoulders got pretty tired but we're glad we did it and can now say we've been to those islands.

I welcome my 27th year full-heartedly!

*******

This is one of my favorite quotes

because after all age is just a number!

Waves

We live on this beautiful island.

Surrounded by water, it's wonder is captivating.

The ocean is a life of it's own 

and we have learned to respect the calmness, the tides, the currents, and the waves. 

There's nothing like seeing the different hues of blue and green decorate the shore line. 

And there's nothing like the sense of this is where we belong.

We made the decision to buy a new, more professional camera to capture the raw beauty that we see everyday.

Over the weekend there was a big south swell that rolled in 

so we tested out our new camera on the shore of Sandy Beach. 

The waves were the biggest we have ever seen and we were amazed by the power of the ocean yet again. And even more amazed by the brave dudes who were out in the ocean riding the mighty waves.

We really can't wait to see the big surf up at the North Shore this winter.  

Mother's Day Weekend

Thanks to Dan I had the opportunity to fly to Utah to surprise my mom for Mother's Day.

It was a short weekend trip but very enjoyable.

It was nice to hug my mom and spend time together.

The weather was great, we shopped, practiced yoga, went out to dinner, and Dan treated us to Mother's Day brunch at La Caille, which was wonderful.

I loved our weekend together!

.......

While I was away Zach speared his 2nd fish...

He was stoked for this one because it's so cool looking

and pretty impressive that he speared such a long, thin fish.

I kind of expected to come home to find this one also in the freezer

but I had no such luck.

He says he really enjoys the hunt and I think it's pretty neat that he is actually catching things.