Aloha, garden bloggers. Pehea 'oukou? (How are all of you?) Since dad and I recently returned from fieldwork in Hawai'i, I thought that I would post some pictures of gardening in Maui. Maui is known as the Valley Isle, and the traditional land units or ahupua'a extended from the seashore up to the mountains. This gave Hawaiian farmers access of the resources of the mountains, the seashore, and everything in between. While we were excavating at Moku'ula, we had an opportunity to spend a day working with our Hawaiian colleague, Kawewehe Pundyke, who is working to restore the taro lo'i or fields in the Iao Valley, one of the most beautiful parts of Maui. Here is a picture of the Iao Valley and you can see why it is known as the male side of the island:
Taro (or kalo in Hawaiian) was one of about two dozen canoe plants that were spread throughout the Pacific by Polynesian voyagers. Here you can see one of the fields with bananas growing in the background. Other plants, such as bananas and sweet potatoes, were often grown around the edges of the taro fields.
Taro is highly nutritious, and the whole plant, both the leaves and the root (corm), can be eaten, although the leaves must be thoroughly cooked to remove the oxalic acid. For the past several years, Kawewehe has been working to restore the taro fields in the Iao Valley. Taro needs sunlight and running water to grow successfully. The project began with archaeological survey and mapping two years ago, and since that time Kawehehe has used volunteer labor to support his efforts. Here you can see members of our crew weeding one of the taro patches:
Here you can see the taro being harvested:
Poi, which is a staple of both traditional and modern Hawaiian diets, is made from the root of the taro plant:
The corm is cooked, peeled, and then pounded on a wooden board (papa ku'i 'ai) with a poi pounder (pohaku ku'i 'ai):
The leaves can be used to make laulaus, the Hawaiian version of lettuce wraps. Pieces of pork are placed inside the taro leaves. You can also make a wonderful vegan version using pieces of sweet potato instead:
The taro leaces are then wrapped in ti (ki in Hawaiian) leaves to make a packet that can be steamed. The ti plant was another of the Polynesian canoe plants.
Taro is an important part of traditional and contemporary Hawaiian culture. Unfortunately, many of the mountain streams were diverted to water the sugar cane plantations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, most of the cane fields are gone, but the water is still being diverted and used by the water companies, making it difficult to continue traditional agricultural practices and endangering the wildlife that depends on the flowing streams.
So what is happening in your gardens this week? Here are a couple of pictures from casa blue jersey:
Here are some purple daylilies:
And here are some red knockout roses: