Went to the Big Island to plant Koa on the slopes of Mauna Loa. This was part of the Kamehameha Schools Koa Reforestation project. This was my office view for the past three days.

Keawewai is actually the name of the cabin. There were four staff members and eleven participants who took part.

Dinner on the first night was Hawaiian food, courtesy of KTA. We ate well the entire time.

We spent the evening sharing our hearts and bonding. It was truly special….

After the wood burning stoves went out, it got pretty cold. Keawewai is at an elevation of over 6000′.

One of the highlights was riding in the back of Uncle Eli’s pickup truck. We four-wheeled over the hills to our planting site.

Here are some of our Koa seedlings. Our group planted 1,500 seedlings in all. Unfortunately, I stepped into a hole and tweaked my LCL. Hopefully I’ll heal up, and the Koa will grow.

After lunch, we went into the forest to pick maile. We returned to the cabin to make our maile leis.

We also had to chop firewood for our Korean barbecue dinner. So ono….

So blessed to have had this experience. Getting back to nature was a nice respite to daily life. But what I’ll cherish most are the new friendships. Mahalo.

More pics here.