Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2010 — 'Mo bettah no can get' (WOW Farm slogan) [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'Mo bettah no can get' (WOW Farm slogan)

n the lee of the Kohala Mountains, on the now drought-stricken Waimea Plains in the Ahupua'a

of Pu'ukapu, where 'Āinahua Alanui and Uakikoni Alanui intersect is WOW FARM. It is an extraordinary farm for many reasons but space limits my ability to list them all so I will focus on three: Operations, Genealogy and Administration. In September 2010 at the coaxing of OHA Community Outreach Coordinator Ruby McDonald I had the good fortune of visiting Pesticide-Free WOW Farm. Yes, I was

WOWed by WOW's Owners, Mike and Tricia Hodson, their 'ano (spirit), ho'okipa (hospitality), understated success, business philosophy and principles and passion for farming. Operationally, WOW Farm is Hawaiian-owned, -managed, -stewarded and worked by the Hodsons and their children: Mieah, Tui, Risse, Chrystal, Baba and 'l'ini. The workday for a modem mahi'ai in a capitalist world is long, beginning well before sunrise and ending long after sunset. The Hodsons are ma'a (accustomed) to long days, Mike especially. He manages day-to-day greenhouse operations; Tricia keeps the books and handles marketing; their children have heeome "Jack of all Trades" and "Masters of Plenty." Through smart/hard work, precise planning, focused research, not being hilahila (ashamed) to ask questions, prudent investing of their life savings coupled with plain old eommon sense, Mike and Tricia have taken a century-old eow pasture and transformed it into a network of 33 greenhouses filled with the juiciest, sweetest, most 'onolicious orange, yellow, burgundy, pink and red tomatoes I have ever tasted from Romas to beefsteaks to varieties I never heard of before. Growing tomatoes started as a "seed" in Mike's "mind." On his office wall, Mike has a Full-Blown Farm Plan. He relies on his Plan as a Pilot does his Garmin. And embedded in Mike is a Deep Passion for

Farming and for the 'Āina. A Vice Cop (retired) turned Master Farmer, when Mike speaks one listens. He

electrifies the atmosphere, is a "walking encyclopedia," a no nonsense kanaka. Genealogically, five generations of Tricia's 'ohana have toiled our Homestead Lands on the Waimea Plateau. I knew her Grandpa, Peter Young. My dad and Unele Peter were pals. Unele Peter eame to Waimea in the early 1950s with the first wave of DHHL Homestead Ranchers: Beamers, Bannisters, Yates, Dowsetts, Smiths, Flores,

Ohumukinis, Kealamakias, Kauahis, Purdys, Nakoas, Spencers, Kanihos, Chongs, Bells, Mahis and Walkers. In many ways, Tricia reminds me of her grandfather, soft-spoken, astute, hardworking, thoughtful, akamai about people, kind. Her words: "If you do things with good intentions good things will be the result. Yes, making money is part of it but not all of it. Money helps. Giving back to the land and to the family is important to us. If you take care of the land the land will take care of you. This plaee has been good to us." Waimea is the Hodsons' Home Aloha. Administratively, the Hodsons hold a 99-year DHHL agricultural lease under 5 acres in Pu'ukapu and they are humbly and quietly proud of meeting the conditions of their lease, the primary condition being they are farming. Their 5 acres is intensively farmed, front to back, side to side. But they have a challenge, a good challenge. They need more space. Five acres for tomato farming is insufficient as an eeonomie unit. Hopefully their appeal for more land will be accommodated. Under the Hawaiian Homes Act a farmer is entitled to 40 acres. Clearly, WOW Farm is demonstrating "beyond a shadow of a doubt" operationally, genealogically and administratively they are fully deserving of more 'āina. WOW FARM NO KA BEST. ■

Rūbert K. Lindsey, Jr. TrustEE, Hawai'i