Extra Credit: Hilo Boys and Girls Club Garden

I decided to check out the Boys and Girls Club garden in Hilo this past Saturday morning. I was able to convince a close friend of mine to come with me. Athena and I woke up at early and drove into Hilo together. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Julie and Bodie, two wonderful volunteers who gave us a tour of the garden. The garden was beautiful! Julie showed us the taro they were growing, the turmeric, their green house, and acquainted us with the large fruiting trees that had been there for years.

So we asked, "What can we do for the garden today?" Julie smiled and said, "Well, it's not a planting day so we could either do some weeding or cover areas with mulch. But, you have to do what your heart tells you to in the garden, because you want to be joyful doing it." We chose the hard manual labor because we were feeling energetic, and personally, I was afraid I would be pulling out actual plants rather than weeds (I'm not to familiar with plants). The three of us got to work, introducing ourselves, telling stories of where we were from, laughing, and all the while loading large piles of mulch and delivering them to areas that needed them. Julie told us that the mulch helped to lock in the moisture in the soil so that it wouldn't evaporate too quickly during the peak hours of sun. I had no idea that simply lying mulch over soil could do such a thing. She also told us that the piles of mulch were actually donated by state and county workers, but there was a strategy of obtaining it. Julie said, "If you ever see people on the side of the road preparing mulch, stop and ask where they will be delivering it, because most often they just get rid of it. If that is the case, ask them to drop the load off at the B&G Club, and they are more than happy too. That is how we get our mulch." Apparently, after the mulch is collected and brought elsewhere, it is out of their jurisdiction to bring it where it could possibly be useful (must be a liability issue). I thought to myself, "What a wonderful way for state and county workers to be this garden, I'm going to do the same if I see them on the side of the road mulching!"

My favorite experience was harvesting the first Olena (turmeric) root. We crouched down next to the shoot and Julie showed us how to gently dig along the side of it to expose the root. She told us that the Olena is a medicinal root, packed with super vitamins and is also used for dying fabrics. As we uncovered the root, earthworms and tiny insects danced from their holes, it was phenomenal! I had never seen so many worms in the soil before, I became excited. Julie picked up an earthworm and explained that they have 10 hearts. Also, that there are several hundred earthworms within just a square foot of soil. She said, "Imagine the energy of thousands of hearts beating together in just this one square foot, its a powerful energy." At that moment, I had a new appreciation for these beautiful organisms because they helped that little Olena prosper by giving it energy. After we uncovered the root, we washed it and she gave it to me. She explained how to make tea from it and how to transplant a small root to start in my garden at home.

Later, she brought us to an area where we would be "turning the IMO's" (Indigenous microorganisms). I had never heard of them. She uncovered a small mound and had us feel it. There was heat coming from this small mound! Apparently, this small pile is packed in microorganisms that is cultivated to spread over compost to help speed up the process of a compost pile. In just 3 weeks, with the aide of the IMO's the compost pile would be ready to spread into the soil! Unbelievable, I still have to memorize the steps of creating IMO's so I can use that in our garden at home.

After 4 hours of having a fabulous time, we sat together and ate food that people had brought. The food was organic and delicious! We talked about our experience and what our highlights were. Athena's was meeting and having a healing experience, because she had been feeling down lately. Julie's was meeting and getting to know us. Mine was feeling and having a powerful connection with the earthworms we had uncovered from the soil. Before we left, we held hands and sang "Oli Mahalo" together, which was a song about being thankful for meeting with one another, thanking the gods and our ancestors, and being thankful for our loving experience we shared with one another. We are totally going back to the B&G club because it was a positive, healing experience and we are going to recruit more friends to join us!