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HI

Kauai

This will be the last post that is a status update post. My blog will be shifting directions. You can still follow me on Facebook for more personal updates. 

As I mentioned, we ended up staying at another farm for a few days. It is primarily a dragonfruit farm, but they also host bees as well. We were fortunate enough to be working during one of the days when they were processing the honey from the hives. 

I was so glad to be there during this day. Bees are a truly amazing species, and it was wonderful to get to work so closely with them and to learn so much about the process of harvesting honey. I will have to have bees of my own some day. 

We were excited about the possibility of arriving in Kauai and working at yet another location. The view from the plane confirmed our suspicion of its beauty. 

That being said, it is also one of the wettest places on Earth. The fog and mist is a near constant here, and after we arrived on the farm and unpacked, we realized how wet it would be. We have been here for five days, and I am still waiting for a pair of shoes to dry out. Our fellow farmers are nice, but we suspect they are somehow crazy to be able to tolerate this weather year-round. 

“Welcome to Kauai. This is the dry season,” they said. Hmm.  It’s rained every day here, and one day it rained ten times – cleared up to a sunny day in between every time. We have heard that it is not normal. As with the rest of the world, the weather has been unusual this year. 

I do get it though. It’s a beautiful place, a beautiful farm, and the owner is extremely kind. The plan is to simply be grateful and enjoy the things we can while we are here in this magical (though strange) land. Next step: go camping on the coast. 

HI

Last Week on the Big Island

On our last week here, we were able to do a little bit of last minute exploring, spend some time with our friends Dani and Ricky, and work on another farm for a few days. 

Volcanoes 2.0

As our new friends had not been to see the lava, we had to take them. The word was that the lava flow we had witnessed last time had reached all the way to the coast. We hiked the 8+ mile trek with our friends and reached the spot. The road had been covered by the lava, and when we walked over toward the water, there were areas where we could feel the heat, and others where we could look through a crack in the ground and see orange. The lava was flowing underneath our feet! Again, this park is not how most parks are, with signs and rules everywhere, so a part of the adventure was you could misstep and lose a limb. 

Farm #2

We ended up spending the last few days at a dragonfruit farm! While Andrea and I are both keen on animals, plants are pretty great too, and if you have not tried dragonfruit, I highly recommend it. Sweet, just like our hosts. 

Here is the dragonfruit flower. Behold its beauty!

For more photos, check out @earth_ambassadors on Instagram!

HI

Hawaiian Adventures

One of the big questions I get is “Why Hawaii?” People usually understand the thirst for adventure, but not necessarily the destination. The last few days serve as a testament to the reasons why. 

All of the islands of Hawaii have their own reasons. We are presently on “the Big Island,” which is also called Hawaii. 

While most of our days are spent working on the farm, we are able to go exploring on our days off. Fortunately, we met a wonderful friend, Alyssa, who lives in Kona. She had the secret ingredient to exploring: a car! With our contagious sense of adventure, we made a solid team. This time, we headed south.
THE POOL

Our first stop was a temperate swimming pool just inland of the ocean. Only a small barricade bridged the gap. It was the perfect place to swim, as the water was warmer and calmer than the usual rip roar of the sea. We swam around a while, and Alyssa had brought her new mask, so we were able to snorkel some too. Although it was not as impressive as the reef we snorkeled in last week, it was fun to look for shells and swim with the fish. One of the locals had brought some pretzels for the fish to snack on, so we were able to see a school of tangs, flitting about. “You should see them when I bring an avocado!” he told us. Maybe one day.

THE BEACH

After the pool, we stopped at Uncle Robert’s. While it used to be quite a bit smaller, it still has a fairly quaint community feel to it. There was plenty of laughter, good food, and a few friendly pups there too. We got a smoothie bowl, picked up a hitchhiker, and headed to our next destination – Kehena Beach. This was a fairly secluded black sand beach. It was a fairly steep hike down to a shoreline of about 75 yards, with lava rock cliffs along the back of the beach. People were scattered about, playing instruments, swimming, and sunbathing. It was a beautiful place to enjoy the Kai (ocean water). Oh, and another unique aspect of Kehena Beach, it was clothing optional.


It was a pretty primal and wonderful experience. The environment felt mostly safe and non-judgemental. As I have said, my bucket list is shrinking every day.

THE LAVA

Our final destination for the day was one of the main reasons for coming to Hawaii – the lava! A popular spot to enter Volcanoes National Park is from the front entrance toward the crater, which costs $20 per vehicle. That sounds cool, and we plan to come visit there soon. Instead, we went in the back entrance. It’s free, but you have to work for it. The hike from the parking lot was around four miles each way. It is a pretty unusual sight on the way in. The land is barren and unlike anything I have seen, recent mounds and patterns of dried lava. 


Sure, I see lava here all the time, old lava. Lava rocks cover the earth here almost everywhere. This lava rock was fresher, blacker, and looked like an enormous pan of brownies, fresh from the oven. Walking down the road, we saw several homes built on the terrain. One even had a cooler set up by the road to sell cool drinks. Even with a bike rental at the parking lot, most people were having a tough time getting down the road in the heat. Most days are only in the 80s (Farenheit), but the sun beating down and radiating off of the black lava field did not make it any cooler. We entered the park along the way and after the four miles, turned to head toward the lava flow. I felt the heat before I saw it. Although it was not the explosively erupting giant pits of lava you might see on National Geographic (thankfully, I might add), it was pretty amazing to see. The sense of power you get from experiencing the raw heat of nature is pretty humbling. 


Here, I am basking in the heat and glory of When I have access Wifi, I will try to post a video of the lava flow.

It was so great to experience Hawaii in its raw form. The walk back, though tiring, was exhilarating. Still full of wonder, we watched the clouds turn as the sun set and the moon rose, and that moment alone was worth all the trouble of getting here. 

HI

First Week

Our first week on the Fire Island Kids goat farm and things are going well, all things considered. 

Goats are some of the more mischievous pets one can own, and they are always trying to escape or cause trouble in one way or another. One of my projects this first week was working on new shelters for the male goats. It rains here most afternoons, so they need some protection, but they destroy things quickly – I thought I was tough on gear. Because the shelters are heavy once they are built, I was assembling them inside the goat pen. While I was building, they were trying to tear it apart. Every time I turned around, they were climbing on top and knocking it over, or knocking the tools and screws all over the place – and then acting innocent, of course. 


We also discovered that goats (non-fixed goats, I should say) and chickens make a lot of noise. Chickens especially tend to make noise with little motivation. If one lays an egg, it screams about it. If one is about to lay an egg, it announces as much loudly. Sometimes, they will cluck and holler for no reason, and other times they will join in with others making a racket. Fortunately, we have some earplugs, as we are staying in the loft of the barn. 

After working for a week, Andrea and I took our weekend up north to Spencer Beach to go camping. Unlike our camping adventures in Michigan, the weather was in the eighties and sunny during the days, and in the high sixties (Farenheit). We were able to simply hang our hammocks, no sleeping pads or anything, and sleep right on the ocean breeze. It was a perfect night. 

After hiking around and exploring the area, we saw a couple of historic heiaus – historic temples. These specific ones were pretty important and sacrificial temples, one of which (Luakini) was the temple that King Kamehameha built to fulfill the prophecy of ruling all the islands, where human sacrifices also took place. 

Although we would love a car to explore the island more efficiently, we gained some experience taking the bus around and hitch-hiking. Before living here, Andrea had never hitched. She said she would still just hitch with me but is feeling much more comfortable about it. I would like to do an informational post about hitch-hiking because I think it is often misunderstood, but in Hawaii, the hitch-hiking community is pretty great. A lot of people hitch around until they get a car of their own, so they are more likely to give rides once they do. Where I would try to hitch for hours in some places on the mainland, I can get a ride within a few minutes here. With any hitching though, traveling takes longer than usual, so we spent a good portion of our weekend exploring parts of the island on the go. 


A lot of the island is barren and not what most people would call “beautiful,” but it is an incredibly unique part of the world, and the big island alone contains 8 of the 13 climate zones. Even when it seems like lava rock is everywhere, there are some of the wettest spots here too (Kauai hosts the world’s wettest), so there is plenty of life. 

There is plenty of life here on the farm too. Every day brings excitement and new skills to be learned. Life is simpler here in many ways, but it feels great to be adventuring again. 

HI

Oregon and Hawaii

My next adventure has been brewing for some time. I had many ideas in mind: other long-distance trails, careers to try, countries to visit. My girl, Andrea, and I decided on Hawaii. 

After settling on this idea, sometime in April, we decided the most logical way to start an adventure there was through WWOOFing. It is a worldwide organization where farms and potential farmers have profiles, and the profiles can be reviewed to decide on a good match. Most of the farms offer a work-for-stay program, and some even offer some of the harvest from the farm to supplement meals. This way, we decided, when we arrive, we will already have secured a place to stay, and rent will be covered. After applying to a few, we found one that stood out as our first WWOOF farm experience – a goat and chicken farm on the big island of Hawai’i. After talking with the owners on the farm a few times, we were ready to go. We sold and donated a bunch of our possessions and bought our tickets. 

We had arranged to stop in Oregon for a few days to visit my brother and to explore the state. Zack and Eleanor were both gracious hosts and took us to see some of their favorite spots in the state. 

It was both of our first time on the Pacific Ocean. This lookout was said to be the best on the whole coast, with a view of 70 miles on a clear day. 

Mary’s Peak, formerly Spirit Mountain, was an inspiring viewpoint. 



We hiked down to Salt Creek Falls, the second largest in Oregon, but I’m willing to say it was the first mistiest. 

After saying our goodbyes, we took the plane from Portland to Kona, Hawai’i. We got in super late and ended up stealth camping in Kona. In retrospect, this was more stressful than my ideal first day in paradise, especially considering the lack of grass here. In its place, lava rocks, tropical trees, and spiky shrubs. 

Welcome to a new way of living.