Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #30

August 26, 2023

Welcome to Blog 30!! seems like a milestone……….

Almost hard to believe this is documentation for so many weeks here. Each week has been a wonderful rewarding and on going challenge. It reminds me of our early camping days at Makaha where we communed with nature. After mother built the house it was never the same feeling. So, I am savoring each day/night and might do a semi camp life style forever-or at least as long as possible. I learned that once you start living under a roof with walls and windows life changes. We continued the night beach fires, but they were only occasional. I am hoping to have a nice fire pit here in the back yard to burn wood and enjoy the night skies that are full of glory.

We are all still reeling and full of sadness from the fire devastation in Lahaina . Every day more disturbing news comes out about the horrific event. Hana town is now a different place with very few tourists around and mostly waving locals in their trucks on the road. The many food trucks are all mostly shut down and it will be devastating for the small and larger business owners. Luckily the Friday Hana Farmers market continues with a bounty of local produce, hand made items, and baked goods. It is a lovely community event with a weekly meeting place for locals. The Humane Society showed up yesterday with free food. The first Friday has been a concert series put on by Hana Arts. This next Friday Paula Fuga will be in concert which should be great as she has so much energy and spunk.

There was some wonderful news this week! I am a recipient of the Kauhunani Community Reforestation Grant given by The Division of Forestry and Wildlife for our Koali Niu Project. I am thrilled as this is the first (of hopefully more) recognition and support for our work with niu-reforesting and planting varieties of coconuts along with a gene bank for disapearing varieties. This grant will kick start my pu’uhonua project to rescue some of the coconuts being decimated by the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) on Oahu.

The beetle was first detected in Hawaii in December 2013 on the Joint Military Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Oahu. It is now spreading all over the Island of Oahu with wild fire speed. This contamination is mainly due to the amateur authorities’s using a method that did not work on Guam. And, they are now taking their hands off the problem. They have wasted millions of dollars and are now not having the courage to take responsibility for delivering false hopes. They did not take the appropriate action when they had the opportunity to eradicate CRB when it was only on the military base. This is what the trees look like before their death.

Now this problem has been comfortably passed on to others, and it has become their problem. In my longtime home at Makaha Beach there is a descendant tree from the well-known ancient Uluniu of Pokai Bay. Today, some of the coconut trees from this original ancient grove are scattered around the area of Waianae. In the mid 1950’s my mother was gifted a baby tree from Pokai Bay. Today, I was notified that the CRB are rapidly moving into the Waianae and Makaha areas. Now my precious Pokai niu has become the prey of CRB. Our sirens have gone off and we see this is an emergency that needs immediate attention. Hopefully a solution can soon be found as this is another regulatory nightmare.

On a happy note my newly planted native hibiscus produced the first flower. My papayas are producing the best ever Sunrise fruit and the bananas went off with more than could be eaten.

The floor is almost completed in the new shed and it looks beautiful. Everything will finally come together mid to late September.

The cats all seem happy. Lehua showed up last week after being missing since arrival. I rescued her, her brother and mother as beautiful blue eyed beautiful kittens from the Boy Scout Camp on Roundtop Drive. She is starved for affection now. She was also in the hot attic for three weeks of the St. Louis Drive house before getting her here. The cats love the piled up hau chips.

Thanks for tuning in. Wishing everyone a glorious coming week.