Join us for a volunteer farm day this Friday at 3pm at The Seeking Root farm in Waikapū until sun down to get our Kou trees in the ground! They have outgrown their pots, and really needing to spread their roots. More than a dozen of these beautiful trees were gifted to us by dear friend and mentor James Simpliciano, and we want to make sure they continue to thrive. Please let me know if you are able to join us with a comment confirmation below. Should you need to get a hold of me, my cell phone is (808) 866-0629. Matthew, and I look forward to spending an Aloha Friday with you doing good things for our planet, and community. "Crodia subcordata, known as Kou in Hawaiian, has distinctive orange flowers and large tan fruit. This tree originated in Africa and Madagascar. They are wide spread through the tropics. There is a close relative from tropical Americas on also the islands. It has darker orange flowers, fuzzy leaves, and white fleshy fruit. The Hawaiians used the flowers for lei and medicine, and the leaves for dye. Early Hawaiians certainly brought kou with them as one of the canoe plants since it is such a highly esteemed wood. They used the aged leaves for a warm brown to red dye for kapa. Wooden food bowls, cups, dishes and calabashes were made from the preferred kou wood which did notimpart a resinous flavor to the food such as koa and most other native woods. The flowers were used for lei and young girls especially were fond of lei kou.The tasteless seeds were eaten in times of famine or occasionally by hungry children. The leaves were used to stain fishing lines a light tan color. Hawaiians considered kou as one of the best woods for carvings along with the natives koa and milo, and the Polynesian introduced kamani." Source: https://mauiculturallands.org/kou

We are excited to partner with the Common Ground Collective, an amazing organization that is innovative and supporting farmers on Maui! They have set up a workday on our farm that will be Sunday, January 26th from 1-5pm. Supervised children ages 8 and above are welcome. Space is limited so sign-up now to reserve your spot now. Leave us a comment below, and we'll forward your RSVP for this month’s CGC Volunteer Workday on The Seeking Root Farm! We are working to reverse climate change through reducing food waste and building soil health, to maximize carbon sequestration. We work to take food scrapes from local restaurants as well as the Maui Huliau Zero Waste events and turn it into healthy and thriving soil! Volunteers are requested to bring a water bottle, sun protection, gloves and work/farm appropriate clothing. We will be helping with the compost piles planting and mulching trees. If you have tools such as shovels and pitch forks please bring them!We will send out the address and any other needed information to volunteers who have signed up, before the event. Please contact us for any additional information or questions. We look forward to seeing you there! Aloha, Nova & Matthew