Today was by far my best day at the Kanekiki farm since I arrived here a week ago. It was almost a perfect day.
More Yoga in the Morning
I woke up pretty early, maybe 6:30 a.m. or so. Got up, got dressed, and headed to the community room for some morning yoga. This was my second day on a row, I hope the streak continues.
I didn’t do much, but it felt enough to get me going. After a few minutes of stretching and breathing I headed downstairs for our morning meeting. This time I chose to be on the Harvest Team.
My First Experience Harvesting at the Kanekiki Community Fruit Farm
This was my first time doing harvest. We worked on the front side of the property and another team worked on the back. Our team contained three people: Destiny, Elise and myself.
Our first job was to pick up papayas. The papayas are located on very tall palm-like looking trees. They grow in bunches and we pick them from the bottom up. We know they are ready when they start to turn yellow. To get the papayas off the tree we use a 20 foot long pole that has a plunger attached to the tip. We use that to pluck the papayas off the tree and then catch them as they fall before they hit the ground. It is a fun job.
After that we walked around the property to pick more fruit: We got some avocados, mamey sapotes and abius, The abiu is also known as pouteria caimito. It is a tropical fruit originated in the Amazonian region of South America. The outside of the fruit is yellow and the inside is translucent and white. It has a creamy and jelly-like texture and it tastes sweet. The mamey sapote is also known as pouteria sapota, and it is native to Mexico and Central America. The fruit is technically a berry, although it can grow very large. The fruit’s texture is creamy and soft. The flavor is a mix of sweet potato, pumpkin, honey, peach, apricot, cantaloupe, cherry, and almond.
Harvesting was a nice experience but not as exciting as I thought it would be. The job is pretty simple and does not require much effort. It feels more like a stroll in the park than actual work, which in some ways is nice. However, I think I enjoyed more cutting cane grass with the machete during Day 7.
After harvesting all that fruit we washed every piece and placed them in the bodega. This is where fruit sits until it is 100% ripe and ready to eat. The next thing I did was make myself a nice smoothie.
Champagne Ponds, a Magical Spot
After a short hour I got hungry again and headed downstairs for snack. I noticed that there where many avocados perfectly ripe and I wanted to take advantage of that. So I ate two of them, not the brightest idea. Why? Well, avocados here are bigger than normal. Most avocados in the state are fist size, the ones here are twice or even three times as big. Delicious, yes, but quite heavy.
Luckily they avocados did not settle bad. An hour later I was feeling great. In fact, I decided to accept and invitation and walk with a small group to the “Champagne Ponds”.
The Champagne Ponds is an area located three miles from the Kanekiki farm. The walk there was pretty nice, arriving was magical. The pond connects the open ocean water with fresh hot water springs. The mix creates an interesting ecosystem, something like a mini reef where we snorkeled and watched some lovely fish. It was probably the first time since I arrived to Hawaii where I felt like I was in vacation. It was also the first time I realized how ridiculously special this place is.
Grateful for the Human Heart
We left the ponds around 4 p.m. and were lucky to get a quick ride back. The lady that picked us up on the road took us all the way back home. It was impressive to receive the kindness of her heart, it only took her an extra 5 minute drive but saved us a whole hour of walking. It really puts things in perspective to see how we can do so much for each other with so little effort.
Once back at HOME 😉 I headed straight to the kitchen and grinded a bunch of vegetables to make a salad that I ended up placing on some nori wraps. They were delicious and I am sure I could make them even better.
After cooking I took my bowl and nori wraps upstairs and sat down to prepare for our “Speak Easy” meeting.
Authentic Relating with the Kanekiki Community
Speak Easy is one of the weekly community activities we have at the Kanekiki Farm. It was the first activity I participated when I arrived. However, I felt like the activity had much room for improvement and after talking to Barb, I decided to take matters into my own hands and volunteered to lead the group.
I went over some notes I had taken from previews events I had attended and wrote a list of games we could play. These games came from multiple people who lead groups into authentic relating activities where we open up in ways we would not do in our regular lives. The games inspire and encourage authentic relating and lead to deeper relationships.
I was really excited to lead the meeting. I knew it would be a blast.
Around 6 p.m. eight of us met in the community room and sat down to play. The event lasted a little less than two hours and it was clear that everyone had a great time. By the end of the meeting everyone was smiling and you could see their heart through their eyes. The group thanked me for my initiative and I felt glad to bring value to the community. I must say thank you and honor all the teachers who taught me everything I learned which lead me to this place. It was an absolute joy to share this gift with others.
Feeling More at Home
Today marked the beginning of my second week in Hawaii. After having such a nice day I am starting to feel more and more at home. My experience is much different than what it was during Day 3 and Day 4.
I don’t know if it is the raw vegan diet or the fact that I am getting more used to the weather and the community but the anxiety to go back to Colorado is gone. I am feeling more comfortable here.
I am also feeling more settled with my role within the community. My purpose is not 100% clear and the fruitarian bodybuilder project isn’t a priority anymore, aside from continuing this blog.
It is possible that I may change my intention and instead of working on putting on fruitarian muscle, I may instead focus on writing a book. Why? Because writing is something I enjoy doing which comes easy to me and working out, at least for now, is something that feels like a chore.
Hopefully I can see both dreams come to fruition. Only time will tell. For now, I am happy that I have a new place where I feel at home and I am happy I have a community I can start to consider part of my family.
Mahalo (Thank you),
READ ABOUT DAY 9
