Hulihia - a turning, a time of change…

Welina me ke Aloha,

Students, alumni, volunteers, board members, gardeners, Hui members, storytellers, family members, donors, artists, voyagers, scientists, chefs, chanters, teachers, friends of all kinds -

I am writing today to let you know that I am stepping away from Mālaʻai in late March to take care of some family matters.

I leave Mālaʻai in good hands. Our garden and our programs will continue to flourish under the care of the extraordinary team we have in our masterful Garden Leader, Holly Sargeant-Green and Zoe Kosmas, our dynamic teammate who is stepping up as the next generation of leadership at Mālaʻai. In addition Ilana Stout has joined us as the new Hawai’i Island School Garden Network (HISGN) Director. We also continue to have exceptional community support in our not-for-profit board and the many partners and friends we've made over the years.

Our partnership with Waimea Middle School has never been stronger. The movement cultivating connections between people, land, culture and food has grown vastly across Hawai’i Island and our state since we began Mālaʻai. Over 50 learning gardens serve Hawaiʻi Island keiki, and there are now school garden networks on every island and a vibrant Statewide Hawai'i Farm to School Hui is a unifying force and has begun to influence public policy and legislation.

Recently, Mālaʻai was invited to be one of 7 learning gardens across the United States to be showcased in a coast to coast video garden tour, an effort to bring awareness about the power and value of school gardens to the nation and specifically to the White House. More news on this mid-April event coming soon.

It was 16 years ago that Dr. Michelle Suber invited me to Hawai’i to start the garden at Waimea Middle School.

Since that time, the paʻahana (hard industrious work) and relationships in Mālaʻai have nurtured and shaped me as much as I have nurtured the garden.

It has been an act of love for me to serve our children, our community and the living land of Hawaiʻi in Mālaʻai. The people of the garden have become my ‘ohana. Learning and honoring the culture of Hawaiʻi while doing this work has been a privilege and a joy, and it has changed me.

The loamy soil in our māla has responded to our care over the years with abundance and a grace I could not have foreseen or imagined.

Over 2,000 students have been a part of the garden, chanting their way in to practice “ 2 minutes of silence” or kilo, and then work and play, eat and learn together. The seeds and huli we planted grew as the seasons passed, the saplings grew into trees, and the original idea grew from hopes in a windy field to a joyful, bountiful, diverse, still windy, garden.

Over the years many of you have shared the vision with me and helped to make it a reality.

We have worked, played, planted, stumbled, planned, hoped, chanted, built, met, saved seeds, made bouquets, shared food, composted, collected eggs, danced in the rain, cooked, made lei, harvested, laughed, dyed, learned, fundraised, dug holes, leaned in to the wind, cried, opened our hearts, and grown together along with the garden. Thank you.

Mālaʻai would not be what it is today without every one of your generous acts; it is the result of the strength of our collective effort.

I am humbled for having had the chance to work with and learn from all of you.

I am grateful to you. Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo.

Hulihia Spring is coming, bringing with it the promise of change.

This last year with Covid has been a time of change for all of us, and the garden and our work there has adapted. May we continue to plant the seeds of aloha, justice and resilience for our keiki, for our ʻāina and for our future.

Me ke Aloha. Me ke Haʻahaʻa.