Aloha!

I haven't posted for a very long time. But in the last couple days enough excitement has happened that I feel I want to share. Misty gave birth to three beautiful white babies Thursday evening. It was the easiest birth I've experienced yet with all three in the correct possition and little stress on all of their parts. Forest's sister, Selena, luckly had her camara so we're able to share their birth with you! Their were two girls born first and then a boy. ( Bunni, Blanka and Baer. )

Mele Nahiku is doing well. We are in the middle of an incredible growth spurt. We have two new people living with us, Jack and DeAnna. I feel that things feel really good with them and am very happy to have their energy meshing with that of Mele Nahiku and becoming a part of this ohana. We have many visitors planned for the next couple months and in July I'm expecting a baby. We're all very excited and busy readying the property for the event. Lots of birth energy at Mele Nahiku! Just lots of energy period. It is beautiful how Mele Nahiku is calling all this energy to her right now.

Jen, Zeoc & Micah are attending big family events on the east coast (mainland) at the moment. They are much missed here (and I know we're all missed there). They might have gone on the trip later, but because my baby is due during that time it was better to go now. I happy they are getting this special family time. I feel that when someone of us travels away from Mele Nahiku it just makes our connection to each other and the land all that much stronger.

We are blessed with rain and sun and much good energy right now.

Aloha.
Heidi

Well, things here are going good.
It's been about 11 days since Zeoc, Jen & Micah left and Forest's folks arrived. The guys are getting finish work done on the cottage and us girls have been working on getting out in the gardens to weed and harvest. Yesterday was a simply spectacular day weather wise. Sunshine all day long. I've been missing it. We planted garlic that Audrey brought and harvested coconuts. The guys painted the roof of the deck at the cottage and we got to weed a good deal. Felt fantastic!
I can't remember if I wrote this before of not, but we dried up Emma, our milking goat. She went into heat again and her milk production was SOO minimal we just decided to let her be. She's looking healthy though. All the goats got deworming this morning and are all looking quite well. Forest is creatively finding new jungle plants ll the time to harvest and feed to them.
We took a trip over to the other side of the island a few days ago to visit my Great Aunt who has a time share thing over there. It was great to see her! Got to show Lowell & Audrey that side of the island and we had a good, though long, day.

We're missing the rest of the family a lot. But we've heard from them several times and they sound great. I'm happy for them.:) Aurora, half asleep and being carried over to the cottage, told me the other day that she missed Micah. It was really sweet.

So all is well here. Doing our best to keep on top of everything and it's really been great to have Forest's parents to help.

Alooooha!

The AC elecrical system isn't quite what it could be in the barn. Everytime the printer is on the computer becomes...well, shocking. I just held the control jey down for to long and felt like a month in one of those bug lights! Ziiizzz!

Anyways, I have wanted to post for a while but have been feeling a bit low on energy lately so haven't. For quite a while too the barn was being used as a painting place. I'm sensitive to the smells of the paint so did my best to avoid the barn during that time. But now it's cleaned out and smelling fine. I am glad to be back on the net.

Zeoc's post said much of what has been happening here lately. Bill and Kate's visit was very plesant! They helped us out so much and it was fun to get to know them over the 2+ days they were here. They came with us to the party down the road. The weather let up for about an hour while the local minister blessed our friends yert and lives. It was really sweet. Then off for massive ammounts of food at the church. I would say that most of Nahiku showed up and there was still enough foor left over to feed over 100 people easy! We brought how some leftovers, some for the animals, some for us.

Lately it seems Mele Nahiku has been getting a lot of outside attention. It's very exciting as everyone we have come in contact with has been of a very high calober. We have come in contact with some great people. And I'm sure we'll be talking to more in the months to come as we recently advertised in two different publications for members. I am excited about having new energy coming in. More hands to share in the joys of garden and animal care. And the nurturing of ourselves. February will soon be here and with it the arrival of two really wonderful people who we all wish to become a part of this ohana.

Much aloha...

A couple of days ago,on the full moon,we all got out and harvested and replanted our yacon crop. We had great success with this sweet,unusual vegetable that is something like a cross between apples and celery.We also replanted a lot of ginger,planted yams and lettuces. More gardens are being readied for another full moon planting next month too.
Our local crops continue to do well. Okinawan spinach, purple sweet potatoes and bele (edible hibiscus)grace our table constantly. Just a short garden update.....Aloha,Zeoc and Mele Nahiku

We have two helpful and friendly ( I'm refraining from using "wonderful guests" but these guys DO deserve it) guests from Habitat for humanity working with us for the last two days.It is a pleasure having them here and we feel that a real friendship is in the works. Their names are Bill and Kate and they have experience with communities and our kind of rustic homesteading. They came at a very opportune time because a deck roof was readying for completion and an injured neck (mine) was in the way of the job being completed. In walk Bill and Kate and help Forest finish off the job so I could get to an accupuncture appointment and some needed down time.
Everyone else is happy and healthy on the farm. Jen,Micah and myself are off to Thailand for our belated honeymoon on Wed. and Forest's parents arrive for a visit the same day. Equal energy exchange! I love it! It always works out well when these great parents and friends show up for a visit and to plug in on the farm.There experience is vast and their energy is particularly high around their energetic granddaughter Aurora.
Finally some wet weather has come our way which is characteristic of this time of year (any time of year,really). But this past year was pretty dry for us.We'll get the years tally from our neighbor soon. Animals are doing well and getting addicted to all of the bananas we've been feeding them lately.Bananas are technically a grass....maybe that is the attraction.
Tomorrow there is a catered party at the lower Nahiku church and our friends Steve and Teresa that are sponsoring the event have ordered food for two hundred people! It should be fun to watch the people come out of the jungle for this one. That's it for now. Aloha, Zeoc and Mele Nahiku

Thank you all for reading "Misunderstandings" and giving your kind words and support. Support is not something we get a lot of at times.
Things continue to go well for the most part and we are all adapting to spending more time in the cottage. The animals are healthy and happy as are we. Gotta go time for yoga. Zeoc and Mele Nahiku

Recently we advertised through friends that we were looking for some carpenters to help out with some of our various building projects over the winter.We got a few responses from some experienced carpenters and Forest negotiated a fair deal that they both agreed upon.Fair in the sense that they trade in a hard winter for a non-existent one,get free air tickets,get room and board and go home with some money.
It started out well enough but problems arose quickly.Our diet was not what they wanted.So, we bought bread,meat,cheese,chicken and cooked three meals a day for them.Then the money exchange wasn't enough.We compromised.We made the work day shorter and we even bought them beer.We really did appreciate them and wanted to show it.(They had use of the car to go to the beach in the afternoons and for day trips).
Less than a week after arrival one of them was ready to leave....girlfriend at home,our place wasn't his style,too remote,etc..............
The other carpenter was a great help in keeping him motivated and friendly until his departure.He seemed to agree with much of what our ethics are about but he wasn't being honest with us or himself.
He soon took the place of the first with his feeling undervalued.He wanted more money.He wanted us to pay for a ticket home to a job he was offered. He complained about dirt,mold,insects potty training and much more.He said we misrepresented ourselves on the website.Our home was worse than camping in the jungle.(He invited his sister to spend 3 weeks in our inhospitable home----he left before she came). To make a long story short he came to the point of aggressiveness that we all felt his time with us was over.To his credit he moved himself out,but not before venting his anger to everyone.
The point of this note in the journal is that we want everyone to experience community that has an interest,but no matter how many times we say "remote and rustic" some people still don't understand it.It is not easy for most to be intimate with a select few and not have a lot of outside stimulus.If someone doesn't have a type of lifestyle and mind set that includes other options and possibilities for living then we as a community are totally off their screen
We have learned something and paid much for our lesson.We stood together but for a short while felt uncomfortable in our own home.Our paradigm is one of peace and an absense of fear.We are not money driven,but freedom oriented.We bring our own insecurities to our safe circle of communication and usually leave the circle feeling stronger and more of our higher selves than before.
When we are a larger and more cohesive group of core members we will invite people to experience our farm and our lifestyle.Until then we will primarily invite only people who express interest in joining our community,volunteers,and family,of course,who agree to treat it as a growing,living entity that requires energy,love and respect.
Zeoc and Mele Nahiku (by the way...having a great day painting the cottage!)

We continue to keep ourselves busy with various projects...the biggest of which is the completion of the cottage! (mostly) the guys are working at getting it done by dec. 15th. the bathroom is tiled and looks beautiful. the kitchen countertops are tiled also, and the electrical is complete...we just need to move over the solar panels to hook everything up. we have been painting like crazy...green, yellow, blue...we're covered in the stuff!
heidi and the kids and i have been keeping busy taking care of the animals, weeding, harvesting and feeding everyone. it's so great to see how the kids interact...they are growing up so fast! aurora is the leader; micah follows wherever she goes. 98% of the time they are great together. they roam all over the property, never looking back to see if an adult is following! they are gaining their independence at ages one and three!
life is good here, even when it's not perfect...we are learning and growing every day. i am learning to be more selfless and kind...and to take time out when i need moments alone. i'm thankful to have a good support system here. we've got a great group!

*live simply, so others may simply live*

Yesterday Forest, Aurora & I drove to "the other side" (meaning the other side of the island to the big town of Kahului). Forest had more electrical things to get. He's been working on the electrical system in the cottage. Our two carpenters have also been putting in some good work. I feel pretty pleased. We have all the railing done on the deck and the bathtub/shower is tiled now. Maybe that's not a lot for three or four days of work. But them being self motivated helps Forest out so much. I just keep looking at these projects and thinking "That would have taken Forest & Zeoc so much longer to finish. So that's good. Sadly though one of the carpenters will be leaving the end of this month. He's been very honest about it and we all feel like he's a great guy. It's sad to see him going so soon. He has said that he wants to get us up to code, as much as he can anyways. I'm sure everything is in divine order.

Our town trip yesterday was long, but it went well. Good for us to connect and Forest got what he needed for now. Aurora did great but was really needing to get her energy out by the end of the day. She ended up staying up late because she fell asleep on the way home. Oh well! The best part of going out for me is always coming home. I sometimes feel like I want to experience the world outside of our home. But then when I get there I remember just how special our home is and always want to get back. One of these trips out lasts me quite a few months before I have any feelings of wanting to venture out again.

Today Jen and I hung out with the kids and the animals a bit. Goats and chickens. We planted more sunflowers in the hill gardens and she planted some okinawan spinach in a bed we started up by the water tank. We'll be doing some work on the chicken tractor that we have the chicks in right now. We let them out yesterday and today. Out of the five theres only four there. One of then disapered this morning. So we'll fix the tractor and leave them in there. Safe from the mongoose and still able to function in a healthy way. We're also trying to figure out a way to feed the chickens (the big ones) and not let the doves eat all their food. We've been talking about putting the feeder in a dark box. Someone Jen & Zeoc met did that and it kept the doves out. So we'll see what that does.
Goats are interacting ok. Misty is totally the dominant female. Emma's milk production is going down a bit. But she's still eatting. Just a bit more jumpy with the new goats around. Jen said they had super bugs on them yesterday so she's initiated spraying them with a mix we make up. A good idea.

The other night we had a fantastic conversation in a circle. It was late for us, and we had it in the cottage in ZJ&M's room. Aurora was asleep and the lighting was nice and low. It was fun for me and I really felt a great connection with my family.

Last night Forest arrived home with the two guys who will be living with us for 3 months, helping us along on our many building projects...So today we all piled in the truck to enjoy a day at the beach! We always enjoy these outings. The kids enjoyed the waves and playing in the rocky sand, and the adults enjoyed lying in the sun and conversing with one another. But the greatest surprise was when we first came to the beach and saw a monk seal lying on the sand! Zeoc and i have seen her here before, and it was so great to see her again! Kahana kept her distance, and only once did she bark at it...Both kids enjoyed talking about the seal, but had no desire (thankfully!) to get very close.
Ah, relaxing at the beach is one of the great luxuries of living on maui. I feel so blessed to be able to take a day to go have fun with family and friends. And i was also appreciative to be able to take some time to be alone and enjoy sitting and staring at the ocean and the seal, and taking pictures of shadows on the sand. Also, while micah was being entertained, zeoc and i were able to sneak away to go for a swim and sit together in the sand, under the shade of a tree. Oh how i must not take for granted such refreshing times as these!
So, to sum it up, life is good here! I hope to get in the habit of posting more often. It's a great way to let others know how life is going here for us at mele nahiku!
Until next time....

Last night we desided to cook over an open fire. Get a taste of what we'll be doing a lot more in the future. It was so much fun!







We made black beans with purple sweet potatos, rice and bele (a green that we grow). It was Yuuuummy!!

It was dark by the time we ate and we got to sit out and watch the moon rise. Well, half of us did anyways. Zeoc, Aurora and I ran back to the barn because Aurora got bit by a centipeed. The bug hung on to me all the way to the barn. *shivers* Freaked everyone out. But Aurora did AWESOME and Zeoc was a great help in getting come cornsilk/plantain tincture into Aurora and on the bite. This morning you couldn't even tell she got bit and she's been happy as a clam all day. It was a really nice day, and evening.

The goats also are doing well. We introduced the new goats (Rosey, Misty & Amy) in with the old goats (Emma & Caspian), and they are all doing well together. Took them a little while and there was some headbutting and a little blood, but not much.

And today Jen & I gave Amy a hormone shot. The friend we got them from said that the billy she had got in with Amy. Amy is far to young to get pregnant, so giving her this hormone causes her to go into heat. I don't think it was natural at all. Which is a bummer. But we also don't want her to die because she's too little to carry babies.

Random Note: The okinawan spinach is flowering.

Mele Nahiku has aquired three new family members!

Amy (8-10months)


Misty (4 years)


& Rosey (3 years)


Our friends in Kipahulu were ready to get rid of these girls. They've had them for a long time and were quite attached, but it was time to pass them on. So they came here. Beautiful goats and the two older ones are really good milkers. The two will give 2 Gallons A Day at their peak! And they just got pregnant so come march we'll be in the milk!

The last two days our phone lines have been down, (or I would have posted pics sooner). So it's been quiet here. We had 20 inches of rain in three days. It didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary for Nahiku, but this was island wide and there was some flooding that happened on the otherside. Our neighbors had their eletricity out for a day and then the next day the phone went out for two days. So I guess there's been some work going on around the island.

I feel like Mele Nahiku is going through some growth. With new people and animals in the picture. And we have carpenters coming to stay and work this Wednesday. It's amazing to see how much has changed around here in the last few years. Last few months and weeks even! Amazing growth. Both kids are growing and learning together and from each other. We've been doing more Circles* and I feel like it's opened us all up. Communication gets easier everyday and we learn new things about each other. It's always so cool to me to learn new things about my family.

Life is good.

Aloha!




* Circles are one of the ways we communicate and make desitions. Because we are only two families (4 adults) and we are interacting with each other for most of the day, everyday, we don't do Circles all the time. But I find (and I think the others do too) that Circles really help me communicate more fully. We've been experimenting with a Talking Stick so everyones voice gets heard. It really feels like a beautiful way to communicate. Even if someone is uncomfortable with something, we all know we're safe in Circle. It's a sacred space and a very beautiful tool in our communication.

We've finally been blessed with some real Nahiku rain. It's been overcast and rainy for the last three days. Yesterday it rained all day. It's Autumn weather and it feels like it would be so easy to curl up into a blanket and read and snuggle. We are resting, just not all day. We've been doing some planting. Local stuff that we know will take off. The hill where the goats are right now just had 70-80 glaricidia trees planted. There are nitrigon fixing plants and very good for the goats. We're going to thurn their top pasture into the goat garden. Then they will have the bottom two pastures and a new barn soon. We also will be getting three more female goats on Sunday. Two good milkers and one of their daughters. The older two are pregnant too. I'm excited but a little nervous. Goats are a lot of work but at this point they are worth it and they will be a part of our cottage industry.
Our trees and gardens have really been getting a lot of love. Pulling back perenial peanut to give them room to grow, feeding them with decomposed woodchips and glaricidia.

We've also been busy with new people energy around. The last two weeks our energy has been shared with two really wonderful couples, one of whome we connected with on a very deep level. It's been wonderful sharing with them, but a bit draning too. I'm not really use to being around people (besides community members) often. I'm happy we had them here, it was a great oppertunity for me (and everyone else I think too) to grow in many ways.

We've really been envisioning sustanability a lot in the last few weeks. For me it's always in my mind, but for some reason I really feel an excelerated desire to make that dream a reality soon. As all of our focuses are on that it will happen quickly enough. We have been awesome at manifesting things!

Time to go milk the goat. And it's Poring out! :)

Finally.
It's been raining all morning. What sweet relief from the sun! I never thought I could be so tired of seeing the sun shine. And it's wonderful to have Nahiku rain back!

Yesterday was quite an incredible day. It started out with heavy vog (volcanic ash kinda like smog) coming from the big island. At about 7ish we has an earthquake and ten minutes later an aftershock. I was amazed to be feel the earth move here! I grew up in southern California so earthquakes aren't completely forien to me. But I did freak out, grabing my sleeping daughter Aurora, and hide under the desk the way I was taught in school. I feel a little embaressed at how stressed out I got. It felt like a 4.8 or something the first time around and was a little less the second. It was the first time everyone here (cept for myself) had felt a quake. I hope they post some of their experiences too. Great way to start out the day.
It was a suprisingly still day and we were all a bit shook up. But becideds that everything was fine. We heard electricity was out over all the islands and that the *Hana hwy was a bit of a mess.

We are all grateful for the rain and enjoying the dry barn. Forest and Zeoc spent a good amount of time on those dry days fixing the leaks. A very nice treat. Tomorrow we have visitors coming. People who may become members. We're all quite excited.

~~~*~~~

* The Hana hwy is the 40 mile stretch between Hana and the big town, Kahului. I've read it has 5000 curves and generally takes about two hours to get from one end to the other. There cliffs, rivers, waterfalls and all kinds of beauties to be seen. But I'm sure there are some big rocks that were shook loose down on the road.

Tonight we got our first sprinkle of rain in (over?) a week...We have been watering all of our new gardens every evening. Thankfully, we just recently finished putting up the water tanks, so we've got more water to give the plants. Last week we planted a big patch of sudan grass, and 2 garden beds...one filled with garlic, and the other with pole beans, peas, and some lettuce. A few days ago we planted 2 big beds with sunflowers, bush beans, and mung beans. We also planted about 50 small papayas, of which about half are still alive.
We have been longing for the rain to come back! It has been predicted to be a dry winter from the effects of El Nino...we are hoping since we live in the jungle that we will still get enough rain!
Other than the dry spell, all is well here. We have been taking full advantage of the sunny days, by getting outside and doing lots of weeding, planting, mowing, and harvesting. It's hard to believe that in other parts of the world there is snow on the ground!!! (northeast and midwest got hit with snowstorms a couple of days ago.)
Life is good for us here on Maui. Zeoc and I will be celebrating our 2nd year anniversary in a couple of days...How blessed we feel to be sharing our lives together with another wonderful family! We truly are living our dream...

Oy! Heidi again. I can hardly believe how sunny it's been! Today is the first day in the last week we've had clouds in the sky. And they are just kinda spotty, light, nothing kind of clouds. This is maybe not totally unusual for where ever you may live. But for Nahiku it is strange. We live in the jungle, meaning lots of rain. On average we get 120-150 inches of rain a year. We do have these dry spells occationally, but we usually have clouds, and it's usually in the summer. I guess this is El Ninio, huh?

Anyways, in other news; because of this beautiful sunshine we have been doing a lot of work outdoors, which always feels wonderful. We planted/transplanted a bunch of things last week, and now are needing to water everything. It's exciting to have so much in the ground. Bamboo, sunflowers, garlic, beans, peas, papayas, sweet potatos. And once it starts raining again we have plans to plant a whole lot more!:) Because of the lack of rain we set up and irrigation system going down into our valley gardens. Z & F worked on that once day and it's been a back saver. None of us would have backs anymore if we had to hall water down there in buckets. It's a real blessing. The big water tanks we had to put in have been a blessing too. Since our water is rain-catch, we only get water when it rains. But with two 10,000 gallon tanks we're doing ok.

The animals are doing good. Emma (our nanny goat) was quite sick for a while, but is doing great now. She's giving about a quart of milk a day, which is about 2qts less then she was giving before she got sick. But we're just happy she's doing better and we're still getting a little bit of milk. Chickens are giving around 4 eggs a day, which is a bit dissapointing since nearly all of us enjoy eggs. I'm convinced they have a hidden clutch somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. And the mongoose are probably getting a few eggs here and there too. Maybe the'll lay more once it rains. =P

Thanks all for me right now. Keep checking back as I think this will be updated more in the days to come. We got userpics up of everyone (cept the kids) now, so maybe there will be more posting.

Aloha!

I have high hopes that this LJ will be used as a log for ourselves and a window for those who are interested in what we are doing.

We are a small intentional community, still in our forming stages. Most of what we are about is in our bio, so I wont go over it again. I will tell you my name is Heidi and I'm one of the six members who live here. Today I'm being the computer nerd and working on our website. Trying to reorganize a little so that it has just a bit more information about us on there. I don't know everything about computers or html, so it's a bit slow going.

I can hear a chainsaw going, out in the central valley somewhere. That's where our big gardens are. I guess the guys are doing some clearing of the jungle today. That is always good, as were surrounded by the constantly encroching jungles of Maui.

A few side notes:

~ The figs down the road are going off. We've had bags of them and F has been making fig/banana/lilicoi (passion fruit) jam. Yummy!
~ Much clearing, weeding and harvesting in the gardens. Ginger is looking good. Lilicoi season is coming to an end.
~ Baby chickens are about a month old and doing well.
~ Goat Emma is giving a quart of milk both AM & PM.