Restoration in Haiku Valley

This week at Papahana Kuaola:  cleared invasive species (California grass, hau bush, octopus trees), propagated and outplanted native Hawaiian species (pu'uka'a, kāhili, 'uala, kalo, Hwaiian carex, 'uki'uki, 'ākia, hāpu'u, ti, 'ala'ala wainui), weeded 7 lo'i patches, built one lo'i patch, picked ti leaves to make 800 lau lau's, carved rocks, swam in a stream pond, and played Makahiki games.

This is my first hole I dug for the hāpu'u plants!  Hāpu'u is a native Hawaiian tree fern that only grows one foot in ten years!  So it is important to save these ferns since they take so long to grow; wild pigs like to dig them up to eat the roots.  Kapaliku Shirman was teaching us how the Hawaiians used the fern.  They could use the stems to make hats and the fur, pulu, to make pillows.  In the kumulipo, the hapu'u tree fern is related to the hapu'u grouper in the ocean.  It was my first time digging holes like this!  We used an 'o'o, a digging stick, to soften up the ground.  We had to dig the holes a foot to three feet deep, depending on how big the tree fern was.  My team and I, about a dozen of us, planted 75 hāpu'u in just under four hours!  Isn't that amazing!?

I forgot the name of this fern, but it's edible!  It just tastes like a plant to me though...

This is a Hawaiian slipper, made from ti leaves!

I carved this rock from the river myself!  I gave it to Ryan as a welcome home gift!

This is Mahi, he works at Papahana Kuaola, showing us how to use the Hawaiian sling!

We played lots of Hawaiian games!  This is me playing 'ulu maika.

Team Oahu Fire!  I always manage to stay clean!  They had a mud fight in the lo'i and I ran away as fast as I could!  I also am very good at protecting myself from the sun, I have buggy sunglasses!  :)