Love the Land

My new sticker is here.
ALOHA AINA - Malama Pono
Love the Land. - Nurture her in the right(eous) way.

Even before i moved to Hawaii over eight years ago I envisioned being part of a community called Loveland. Aloha Aina is a ubiquitous concept in the Hawaiian culture and one that I happily respect and promote.

In order fully to appreciate Hawaiian culture, one must first understand its basic difference from western culture and eastern culture. Western culture is based, in large part, on what a person possesses. Eastern culture is based more on the person and one's desire to learn more about oneself. Hawaiian culture, however, like most Polynesian cultures, is based on the land.

The Kanaka Maoli (indigenous natives), are one with the land. The land which is the basis of the culture, with its streams, mountains, beaches and oceans, must be held in reverence and protected as it was in ancient times... The historical sites, burials, language, arts, dances, canoe migrations, etc., will have to be promoted, nurtured and preserved.

Native Hawaiian say, "We are at home. So many people who come here seem lost and emotionally or spiritually homeless. They keep moving, but they never really live anywhere. We love being in our place in the sea. We will never leave because we are this place"

This concept of totality with the land and with nature is essential to any understanding of Hawaiian culture and beliefs. Without an appreciation for this concept one cannot begin to understand the marvels of this unique and wonderful culture. Love of the land is at the heart of all Hawaiian customs, language, the hula, chants, mele (songs), popular music, art, history, geography, archeology, traditions, religion, and even politics. In short, we are discussing the intellectual and artistic achievements of this society.

Also, however, one cannot ignore the fact that Hawaiian culture is more than just the culture of the native Hawaiians, as significant as that culture is. The Hawaiian culture of today has been and continues to be influenced greatly by others who have come to these islands and have settled over the last two centuries. These immigrants - from England, the United States, Japan, China, the Philippines, and countless other places (Germany) - have also had a profound effect on Hawaiian culture, and together with the Kanaka Maoli, make up the people of Hawaii today.

The native Hawaiians live with a sense of aloha. The word "aloha" consists of two parts. "Alo" means to share and "ha" means to breathe. Aloha means to share breath, and more precisely to share the breath of life.

bigislandlove.com/page.stickers.htm

juicy

first batch of homegrown sugarland oranges. yum.

feeling lucky

and extremely grateful for life, love and the pursuit of happiness. oh my. i devoured my first home grown avocado for breakfast. it's yummy and gratifying to eat the fruits of your labor and grow food with heart and soul. a lovely colony of bees showed up after we cut the cinnamon tree in the back. i found them clustered on a branch of the hapu'u fern. the branch was leaning to the ground from the weight of all the thousands of bees huddled around their queen. i fixed up a spare hive body with some frames and cut a floor and a roof for it. it's been raining so when i invited the colony into the hive they were happy to go in and love their new home. i'm happy for them and appreciate their presence and sweet nectar. life is good.

hello

i have not been much online and been focusing on the realationships in my immediate world, the casita and my jungle garden. i'm growing lettuce, chard, basil and beets. also lot's of herbs and peppers. it's been raining lots and the tomatoes don't like it. the chickens are laying lot's now that they're in their new pen. i'm cutting the cinnamon tree back to improve the light and avoid possible tree trouble with the new neighbors which are very nice. i discarded my television set. not that i've watched much, but even that was too much considering the quality or lack thereof of whats on the tube these days. too many way more better things to do in life. did you know that the average american watches 12 1/2 years of television in their life time?

to celebrate our lasting union i surprised birgit with a night at the waikoloa hilton and a couple of tickets to the journey show. nothing like some good old ballad rock under the tropical moon. we had a big island road trip camping adventure which took us from hawi down to ho'okena to punalu'u once around the island. happiness in paradise. along the way i opened a few more outlets for big island love stickers on the west side. conscious riddims records in kailua, the kona coffee and tea company and the new island naturals in kainaliu which is a great store. i have 21 active sticker outlets and the first off-island account (mana foods in paia maui) is doing very well. i'm on to something here. what's next? big island love sticker at the ABC stores? the sky is the limit when you're dealing in love.

life is good. love is true. laughter is golden.

and if the world ends tomorrow plant an apple tree today.

in joy.

all good

i'm happy to report the patient is alive and feeling very well.

HEMF6 was stellar. it's truly amazing how much fun and silliness you can have in four days. everything went down smooth thanks to german precision planing and the help of a fabulous crew. this gives you an idea how well things went: i have an inexpensive cell phone plan with 100 minutes and i still had minutes to spare. puna council woman emily naeole was dancing all night at pahoa village cafe which cracks me up and really touches me. the place was alive. there was no pilikia (trouble) and only smiling faces which always makes me very happy. the kona leg was a beautiful clear outdoor night with awesome talent incl. sassmouth, bluetech and Unit:E. the palace nite was epic and super fun. once again an amazing group of artists, performers and supporters pulled off a memorable party.

i'm enjoying not having a big event lurking over me for a change. in addition i announced my retirement from ecstatic dance active stewardship duty. my last day will be march 8th. i really appreciate the ecstatic experience and am honored to be part of it's evolution.

now i'm looking forward to deepen my relationship and friendships and let my heart drift down the river of love. there'll undoubtedly be some wicked rapids to navigate, though i'm truly excited about the ride and getting wet along the journey is just part of the fun.

ready for love

i've been laying low with ice cubes on my balls for the past 48 hours. i just had the vasectomy i'd been contemplating for a few years. the idea of fatherhood scares me to death. nothing romantic coming up for me. makes me wanna go aaaaahhhhhhh.

don't get me wrong, i love kids. i just don't need my own to be a fulfilled and happy person. birgit is supportive of my decision though she doesn't share the same resentments i had about parenthood and taking charge of my own destiny.

it's not without a big breath that i'm opening myself up to the ride and commit myself to this new reality. a breath that summons my strength and my experience and let's me have faith in myself and this love i cherish. i know i can do it. i am ready for this step and am raising the banner of love to charge ahead full steam.

heavy stuff

i earned some brownie points today. birgit and i were just getting up this morning when we heard a faint voice yelling "help, somebody help me, please help." we both stopped in our tracks and listened up for more of that voice wondering what was going on. a woman was yelling from the top of her lungs "help, birgit please help me". birgit looks at me in shock and says it's Q, her neighbor from next door, a lady we often notice, but hardly ever interact with, she in the process of finishing the cabin she just built next to birgits property. i immediately throw my little bikini briefs on which wasn't easy because they kept twisting around and not going in the right direction while the lady is screaming out like she's just seen the devil himself. i finally race out to look after her. first out of birgits lot then next door and back in through 6 yapping little mini dogs to the cabin which the distressed voice came from. what could possibly make her scream so much to be in such agony? like serious shit was going down and i had no idea what to expect. for a fraction of a moment i envisioned a lot of blood and didn't like that idea so i just hopped for the best. i finally race up the stairs to her cabin and see her pinned backwards against the edge of a bed by about ten 4x8 sheets of sheetrock which had fallen over on top of her and were pushing against her chest and legs. she was pinned down like in one of those earthquake movies where you just can't get out. like a roach being squooshed. so here is me, in my skimpy undies pushing up ten heavy sheets of sheetrock like i've never pushed anything in my life and the sheets came up and i pushed them back against the wall again. she had a wicked bruise on her knee and was pretty shook up, but otherwise ok. we stayed with her for a couple of minutes to make sure she was ok and then went back to the house and went on with getting-up duties and both just went, wow, did that just happen? good thing we were there because she could have yelled for a long time without anybody hearing her. watch out for handling heavy stuff.

feeling happy

what a great summer. i had a wonderful time in germany and fell in love with a german gemini shortly after my return to the big island. her name is birgit and she lives not far from kalani in the puna district. it's a different experience using german to communicate and express my emotions, desires, concerns etc. we communicate a lot. it's making my german tour guiding jobs easier.

i'm putting together the sixth Hawaii Electronic Music Festival january 8-11 2009. it's going to be an awesome party.

Info bigislandlove.com/

independence

i just bottled the kombucha that i inoculated TWO MONTHS ago. it's got some crazy sizzle to it. wow. the black is pretty acidic but drinkable whereas the green kombucha is awesome. very potent and flavorful. and stronger medicinal properties. i started the next four gallon batch and experiment with different teas and times. i'm filling these bottles higher up the neck to make a smaller scoby. the two month old black tea scobys were giant globs and didn't want to fit through the bottle neck. i ended up cutting them in half and pulled them out with a fork. certainly not a gentle treatment. i have a feeling they're pretty hardy cultures though. the green tea scobys were nice and thin and slipped right out of the bottle. beautiful slimy cultures making yummy healthy carbonated beverages right at home. does it get any better?

i just love saying that word s-c-o-b-y.

symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.

i've been learning so much new stuff lately.

the hemp revelations, baking my own bread, making honey, eggs and now my own fizzy health drinks from a piece of slimy slob.

life never seizes to amase me.

are you getting excited about friday?

fireworks and turkey frys and folks celebrating and dancin' in circles everywhere. that's my kind of country.

good thing i made it back over here before the european soccer final where my homies got crushed by spain. and now their heads are hanging low in shame. i was torn about going to ecstatic dance or watching the game. i'm glad i went dancing. it was a ton of fun. i connected with many old friends and made some new ones. blair and arno were there which was good. i loved watching the two dance and play together. not a trace of jealousy in my head, which is good. a nice group of us had piknik at the ocean afterwards. one big happy family. amazing how that works. blair is moving to idaho next thurdsay. i'm going to miss her and quiche but am very excited about the new chapter in our lives. beautiful transformations, full of love and compassion.

my two weeks in california were filled with epic moments and deep heart connections. i had a great time. i'm so grateful for my life and all the colorful people in it. you give me love, fire and inspiration and i adore you for that.

moontribe was a beautiful moment in time in the sierra nevadas, not far from mammoth on some romote campground with lot's of trees and an ice cold creek running through it. i put my tent right next to the creek and it was dope. slept like a baby when the turbo sound system (huge) was bumping all nite. the music was a bit too hard for my mood. very LA. boom boom boom. i'd get up at the crack of dawn and go dance into the morning. my favorite time of the day. oh and then there was this beautiful stilt dancer...

ah - life.

gotta go.

time warp

i am back in LA for a couple of weeks before i'm heading back home to hilo town. i look forward to lot's of skating, coffee shop conversations, connecting with friends and plotting general mayhem. i'll be heading to moontribe gathering june 17-20 and am available for acts of random silliness. let me know if you're in town and know something fun going on, music, dance, art, theater, etc. big love -