Farming Project From Ground Up: The Clean-Up and Prep Phase

Last year, I set my morning waking alarm on my phone to a commencement speech given by Denzel Washington at Dillard University. In starting this blog post, I wanted to share a motivational quote and in my search for the right one, was reminded of that speech that motivated me for several months in 2025. 

"Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success." and "Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference. "–Denzel Washington

Here is the video of the speech, in case you would like to watch it.

I came to Hawai'i to escape the cold Indiana weather and to rest from the landscaping and food security and gardening work I was doing in the warm weather back home. What I didn't realize was that the same work I was doing there to help the people in need in Indiana was even more critical here. 

Here in Hawai'i, there are only reserves of 4-5 days worth of food on the islands. If shipments by sea or by air cease to arrive due to something like the pandemic we experienced in 2019-2020 with COVID, there would be a lot of people without food. 

I chose to do what I could do to begin growing food to be part of a solution rather just taking my rest period. 

That meant that I would seek land to grow produce. 

The land I started with did not come without a LOT of effort to put plants in the ground. 

The screenhouse that I was introduced to had what looked like years of overgrowth. It had solid infrastructure with weed barrier that had been laid outside the rows intended to be home to crops, but those had been overtaken with weeds taller than me. Not to mention the California grasses that had to be hacked out with a pick axe. 

I am thankfully a strong woman who has experience and passion for before and after landscape transformation. Even still, my will to complete projects was tested as my body was so tired after countless swings with the pick axe to get to the root of the tall grasses. 

Not to mention, due to the traffic situation on the island, the commute to be able to work my preferred early morning, cooler hours, is not exactly the most approachable, so I work in the heat of the day. 

This truly is a labor of love and offering of the grace that I have been shown by God to put me in a place that I love and feel compelled to serve within. When I sit and reflect on where I came from and what I am doing here, sometimes, it still feels surreal that I get to do this work. 

All that aside, here is what has been done so far: 

1. Space to grow discovered and secured

2. Clean-up phase: Weeds and sapling trees inside and out pulled, cut, and hacked out

3. Compost from Island Topsoil spread

4. Starbucks Grounds for Gardens coffee grounds spread in active planting areas - avoiding the beets beds because they don't love the acidic soil.

5. Additional drip tape installed

6. First rounds of tomatoes, beets, lettuce, kale, basil, oregano, lemongrass, sunflowers, nasturtium, and for cultural significance, a yellow hibiscus and a Ti Leaf plant are in the ground. I haven't filled all the rows, and I haven't planted all of the various types of produce that I will plant because I am testing to see how things grow in this new environment I am learning from. 

There is still a lot more to come, and I am hoping to secure another growing space soon so I can expand what I have to offer. Everything takes time, and when the right time and opportunity arise, I will know.

This is such an exciting time. To see something go from can't see the ground to watching and waiting for seeds to turn to harvestable plants feels like the UPS tracking available after ordering a package from Amazon. Thankfully, there are more things to do than just watch the seeds pop up out of the ground!