Kaleomanu‘iwa Wong was at Kawainui yesterday with 70 Kalāheo HS students from Hayden Atkins' natural resource management class. According to our Paku‘i Hou, "This class came to Ulupō, Kukanono, and Kawainui to huli ka lima i lalo, turn the hands to the ground to grow and learn, and let our ‘āina and mo‘olelo do the teaching. No better way than a classroom without walls."

Photos of our recent Kukanono harvest courtesy of Kaleo Wong and the Saffery-Peralto crew.

"We do our best to safeguard our kūpuna, to leave them sleeping peacefully through all seasons. When they are disturbed, we cry over them, pray over them, apologize to them, negotiate for their preservation in place whenever possible. When preservation in place is not possible or appropriate, we do our best to reinter them nearby with as much care and dignity as we can manage.These decisions are never easy, never without the kaumaha of having to deal with the breaking of moe kau a hooilo; and our decision-making always seems to come back to the single question posed regularly by one of our senior members, Louie Mahoe: ‘What if this were your grandmother?'” – Kīhei de Silva

Members of Hālau Mōhala ‘ilima's Papa Hi‘ikua ‘Ehā were met at Ulupō by Kaleo Wong who assigned them to work crews for the task of "hull ka lima i lalo" – of turning the hands down to engage with the ‘āina in time-honored, dirty-nailed fashion. Some, like Ke‘alohi Reppun, were not at all unfamiliar with the rewards of caring for Hāloa; others, like Nobumi Urakami, were at first hesitant then grateful for the new experience. After all, how can one truly chant and dance about this land without having sunk oneʻs hands and feet deep in its soil. -- Kihei de Silva