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With the assignment of eating a meal 100%, in the back of mind I was thinking that it would be super easy. But then it hit me that everything, EVERYTHING had to be local. Meaning from this land. The spices, seasonings, oil, and the actual food you are trying to cook. The first meal that came to my mind was just fish and poi, but little did I know that finding locally sourced fish would be hard to find in the supermarkets. So that plan was outta the window. Then I went to the farmers market over the weekend and ended up with butter from a company called ʻNaked cow Hawaiiʻ, and some poi from another guy. This experience was definitely harder than I thought, one thing I can take back is making a plan and being able to carry through it. Support your local farmers!!!
After the field-trip to Waimanalo station one thing that remained with me was the idea of sustainability. The very first activity we did their was walk around the land, we got to see 'olena, kalo, lizard garden and other patches of plants. Looking back at everything the farm looked really good, like the greens were flourishing their system of running the farm was sufficient. But I guess if youʻre working at a farm you kind of have to have a working system if you want your plants to thrive. Overall, I can say this field trip was a good learning experience on the food chain and sustainability.
After reading this article I realized two things, one how untouched I am with my culture, and two that I actually really agree with what was being said. I mean I never really grew up in a full on native Hawaiian household, it was more like a religious and family oriented type of house. Looking back at my life I never really did just sit under the trees just for the experience of it, taking notice of the little details of the leaves and sky, just the little of the things about my environment I never took into perspective to. In the article it mentioned that we have to get out of our heads and to stop thinking about just ourselves, and to start seeing and experiencing the world like how our kupuna did. And Iʻd have to agree with that actually, now a days weʻre all so caught up in our social media, we take picture of the outdoors and nature but thatʻs just a front to show it off to other people. We never do it for the history, enjoyment, or for the pure experience of it. I mean I can say thatʻs true for me sadly, this article just really made me think like just how disconnected I am to my roots.
Just based off of everything that weʻve been told my feelings toward this field trip is excited and stressed. I mean for every field trip that I take thereʻs a little excitement, but for this specific trip I think itʻs because Iʻve never been to this place before. So having the opportunity to come and lend a helping hands is something that I'm grateful for. As for the stressed part, I just donʻt want to do a bad job in whatever needs to be done. Whenever you visit someplace you always want to make it better than before, and being in that mindset I just want to do good in everything that I do there. One thing that I kind of expect to happen is to be more informed about the environment and how to care for it efficiently. Overall, my feelings for this trip can be summarized as just excited.
Thinking through a Hawaiian perspective about the world, to me a Hawaiian scientist is thinking and acting like how our Hawaiian ancestors did. Our kupuna were so intelligent and informed about their environment, I mean they navigated themselves using just the stars, wind, and waves, who else in that time period could do what they did? A Hawaiian scientist is aware about the world and their environment, and using all that information to understand why the world and systems function the way they do. In this generation we are all so dependent on the use of technology and tools, and we forget how to do things independently like the people before us did. Being a Hawaiian scientist means that you are in the same perspective of our ancestors, understanding the winds, rains, moons, and everything else in the world.
During the storm some of the main observations was the weather, wind, clouds/skies. Since it was a hurricane I was expecting the weather and wind to be much harsher than they actually were, but to my surprise everything seemed pretty calm. Throughout the break, one thing I noticed was the way the clouds and the sky looked like. Considering we were in the middle of a storm it was pretty normal for the sky to be covered with clouds, and for the sky to have a dark and gloomy appearance. Even with the clouds and dark skies there was very little to no rain from where I observed, there was hardly any rainfall during the day but it poured a lot during the night. But as I expected, the wind was very harsh throughout the day and the whole break. While driving through Nanakuli valley one thing I noticed was the roofs of the peoples houses, many of their tiles started tearing off due to the harsh winds. That usually only happened to the houses where the tiles went against the wind, the tiles were placed in a way where the wind would affect it in a huge way. Meanwhile, other houses roofs were left intact because their tiles went with the wind instead of against it. Overall, the storm was thankfully much calmer than expected from where I observed.
Mālama Honua is the love and the respect of the land. It sounds so simple when you say it, but there can be so much meaning behind the little things. Being in a Hawaiian mindset, you already understand your role in your community, family, and in the world. Our ancestors knew that we are all connected to the land, that we have to nurture and tend to it. Without our love and compassion to the land there will be no us, no identity, a part of our culture would die. We should all be in the Hawaiian mindset, to understand our role on the earth and learning how to make it a better place for the future generations.
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