Molokaʻi: Living Off The Land
Narrator Molokaʻi's residents who have learned from the overdevelopment of other Hawaiian Islands. Their economic stability crumbled when the pineapple industry left the island in the 70s. Today, despite hardships, the community is giving rise to their own plans for economic growth. Their commitment is to their natural resources, their island lifestyle and their culture. Davianna McGregor These areas have continued to fish and gather and to hunt in accordance with traditional approaches and methods and using the ancestral knowledge about fish habitats, about the impact or influence of the moon and on the tides, on how a fish feed at different seasons. When do they spawn. When do they - what is their lifecycle. All of the traditional knowledge from the
ancestors has been important in making subsistence a practical day to day part of their livelihoods. Walter Naki A lot about harvesting from the ocean and from the mountains, we get a lot we trade with what, we share it with family and friends. I get a lot of requests from, from people a lot of times go "Eh boy drop off some fish if you get any" I say, "Oh no problem auntie or uncle, I bring some fish over when I get 'em. So I've done, we do that a lot here. Drop off fish or they come by and get some when they know I'm out there fishing. A lot of my growing up was with my grandfather and we did hunting and fishing. So I, that became my hobby. And I got really good at hunting and
fishing. And then I turned that into a business. I want to show you all the sacrificial pits here, where people leave hoʻokupus to the gods. It's called 'Ili'ili'ōpae Heiau. And so I like to show visitors the sheer size of it, which is amazing. And to see the construction that went into this heiau without any kind of modern day equipment. Visitors and local people come here
and they present hoʻokupus to the gods. Right here you can see the sacrificial pits. The ti leaves is a significance of that. I've seen ti leaf leis, jewelry, money, crystals, all kinds of fruits, anything anything you can offer to the gods, and they leave here with a good feeling. Walter Naki The lookout from here is you have a different perspective of Mapulehu Valley. A nice clear shot of the whole heiau. And you can look at the whole valley, looking at the different trees and the different colors. You get to see the reef
outlines and you get to see some fish ponds and you get to see some fish part of that is not now, long time ago. Narrator In one of the 70 fish ponds that line Molokaʻi's south shore, one group of Hawaiian families hopes to turn limu or seaweed cultivation into a small business. Colette Machado Part of our alternatives is to look at a sound economic base and not rely on tourism activities or tourist related projects that will take away from the subsistence and the cultural lifestyle that's so prevailing here on Molokaʻi. Much of the project we've involved with is the production of one of the most valued limus available on the market which commands the largest amount. Myron Akutugawa What happens here it grows out to maybe about a foot, and then we harvest it and then we send it to market. Last year,
we sent some to Tamashiro Market and they was paying about $3 a pound. Colette Machado So we've been involved with educating ourselves on how to develop methods that this limu can grow within cultivated means. Heidi Borgeas We want to have the Gracilaria parvispora, which is also known as the long ogo. This is very rare,
there used to be many, many natural sights along Oʻahu and many of the other islands. Right now, this is currently only growing on Molokaʻi, which makes it so special. Colette Machado Much of the education we've done is in workshop education with the limu itself. We will be responsible with providing each family with materials to develop their own prototype baskets and what would be best in their own environment, and also the seed stock. We anticipate that by the end of the third year, that we would be able to produce as much as 2000 pounds of this Gracilaria. In addition to direct
marketing of this limu, we're looking at other products that we want to produce that would be equally available in the backyards of much of our families. Walter Ritte People that are really pushing it the most are those, are small family type groups. They're not interested in becoming very rich with these ponds, but they're very interested in feeding their families with these ponds.
Narrator With more than $100,000 in permits and consultants required to rebuild fishponds, restoring them is impossible without state assistance. But men like William Kalipi, Sr, and his son are willing to put in the backbreaking work. William Kalipi Sr. Right now, if you look at all our ponds, because of mismanagement, the overgrowth, for bring back one pond, it will be real costly. Pretaining for any individual person, unless it's a conglomerate developer who can come in and do his, his trip, not for the intent of the culture, but the intent of money. We're doing this not for money.
We're doing this. so we get food that we can put on our table. William Kalipi Jr. I guess the only way me and my dad look at it for us guys move forward is we got to do what our ancestors did a long time ago, we got to go back. William Kalipi Sr. The fish pond it's a part of my
family's tradition, not only in the restoration, renovating the pond. If you look at the walls, every rock has a significance to the fish pond by tradition. So as you place the stone, each stone gets, get it's place on the wall itself. Cause the fishpond is a, it's a living culture. It provides food. It's also a temple of worship. So, for revive the ponds, if I look at the pond in itself, and I ask myself what Molokaʻi in general get to offter - we get all the ponds, and we the only island in this state, it has this identity of all the fishponds. Walter Ritte Molokaʻi was it always known as the friendly isle, it was once known as Molokaʻi, a land of the fat fish and kukui nut relish. And
that meant that throughout all islands, Molokaʻi was always known as a food producing place. I mean, great armies would come here and people would - they would get fed with no problem. And that was because of the fish ponds and our great taro patches. Edward Tanaka This is my expression, we're bringing the Hawaiians back to where they came from. This is even getting closer to the
earth this is underneath. So now that my feet is under the mud and my hands go under the mud, you get that spiritual feeling that this was going on since the Hawaiians came. So that's where the feeling comes from inside. It's that I'm doing something maybe one of my grandparents who was was here at one time was doing, yeah. But it took me, you know,
half of my life, maybe more than half of my lifetime to realize where my roots are. It gives them something to look at, that part of their culture. This is how I feel. I'm not sure if any of my children will be a taro patch grower. Hopefully one of them will be, so when I'm old I get to eat poi without going to the shelf and buying it. That's, that's a big, big thing for me is I'd like to see somebody around in the area if not one of my kids somebody else's kids to take over this, these loʻis when we're done, yeah. So that's where the start
comes the ʻohana concept. Not only my, my close family but also everybody else around the area. (water splashing) Edward Tanaka I'm going to cut some of this taro now, show you guys how it's done. Normally we cut the bottom to check if there's any rotting. This one looks like a perfect taro so it goes in a bucket. Narrator The new field that Eddie and his partner Jim Callahan are planting contains more than the next generation of taro. Edward Tanaka But what we did find out now that we're on our second year is that fingerlings are here. And what the loʻis do is it produces a safe house for them. Narrator Though based in traditional lore, the use of taro patches as fish nurseries is still experimental.
Edward Tanaka You walk in front of me and just drop some plants. (Child: Drop plants?) Edward Tanaka Yeah, drop some plants in front of me, just drop the plants keep walking. It's very important to our culture, that we keep the taro growning. By growing all this taro, the taro needs pure water, the fish in the stream needs that pure water. If we lose the purity of the water, we're gonna be losing our life.
John Kalua The stream is your first one you must get acquainted with the water. And you must make a path for the water so it doesn't flood all the land. When you have that water directed the way it should go, then you come back on the land and you start working. Narrator When Mr. And Mrs. Kalua returned
to Molokaʻi in 1978, they cleared the land in order to cultivate a variety of dry land taro. Minnie Kalua Trees were growing here and there and everywhere. And we thought it was really a hopeless task. But little by little, we changed the whole place. And it was fun doing it. I'm from Kansas, and I love the land. Just to do things and see things grow is, is fun for me.
John Kalua This is her design, design of the way of planting. This method here your taro matures early, than in the water. In water you run for 12 to 15 months. We harvest over here between six to eight months. It's more table use size. When you work with taro, you have to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy, you think it's work. You, you already finished. You cannot say "Oh, it's too much work. Forget it." It's your enjoyment. You love it. In everything that you do, you got to enjoy and don't rush. Don't be pressured. The old folks knows if you start on a key point of developing
the land. As you work, you will develop wisdom, it will come gradually and the vision gets clearer. And then the more you keep working, it gets more clear. Pretty soon you turned it into paradise. Ellen Osborne I've lived off the land for a long time, not 100% off the land. Some people here do, but I don't. We're sitting in three quarters of an acre of pink ginger. In addition to that we grow five or six other varieties of ginger,
ornamental ginger, in addition to about 51 or two varieties of Heliconia. If farming here is fabulous. You're at a very distinct disadvantage though because on Molokaʻi we don't have an international airport. So all the flowers have to go through either Kahului or Honolulu International to get to from here. But that's the only downside downside. All the rest is upside. There's a lot of land. There's great available people to work that just do wonderful,
wonderful work here. Our flowers stay on island at florists and others go to Honolulu. About 50% of the flowers on this farm go to the mainland though. Agriculture, diversified agriculture, is definitely a part of our economy. And I would very much like to see that continue with as little infrastructure leaning toward hotels and condos as possible. This is the last vestige of Hawaiiana
as it used to be that there is and I feel very strongly that it should stay that way. (Drums) Moana Dudoit Well I've been teaching the hula here on Molokaʻi for over 30 years. Then my sister came along and I taught her and now she's the alakaʻi to me but now she's going to be the kumu hula for Moana's hula hālau. We come from the Dudoit family, and we've been here on this island all our lives. We're born and raised here and we love it here. We don't plan to move from this island. What we do, we teach the hula for free. (Dancers: Hilo ē, Hilo ē, Hilo ē) Moana Dudoit What we do to instill the hula in the girls, we try to make them feel that to get the heritage back, most of them have lost where they came from. So what we instill in them is the
Hawaiian language and the Hawaiian dancing, mostly the dancing from the inner feeling of their heart. That's what we try to instill in our dancers. And the girls have proven to themselves, we have been to the Merrie Monarch twice, and we have placed really high. Moana Dudoit To make a living on Molokaʻi, it's pretty hard. Some of us have to get about three or four jobs in order to make to make ends meet. I,
for instance, has three jobs. I run the school bus business, and I work for the County of Maui during the regular time. And then I work also for Hotel Molokaʻi. And during these three jobs, it just barely makes me get through. And I don't want to leave this island because I was born and raised here. And I, the people, the love for each other is so it's thicker than blood. And I love it. Narrator Artists and craftspeople also make use of the land's abundant resources. Dawn Joao The whole weekend spent on just picking shells for camping, and we pick them on the west end of the island. And I got shells
that Niʻihau has. We have our own shells, so it's pretty neat. Of my, taking my family, we all sit down and we have good fun with picking shells and swimming and getting together just being a family. Next year Hula Piko, I plan to bring out my leis and show everybody what I did with 'em. I've got Black-eye Susies they call these. That's what they are. They're hard to come across, I only came across one place on Molokaʻi that has them. And I'm drilling 'em one by one holding the seeds,
kind of drilled my fingers at the, doing 'em but the outcome is beautiful. This is one of my pride and joys right now. My feather work is something that I adore, because of the beauty of what they look like. I just love doing 'em, that's just it, I just like doing these.
Patty McCartney A lot of the wood that we use as the mango, the okoume word, the monkeypod wood, on the east end of the island there's huge trees out there and people are clearing lots. And they bulldoze it or they go in and they'll cut it down or, or hire someone to cut it down. And then they go, "Well what do I do with it?" And that's when we come in with a chainsaw mill. Nancy Gove Once you start cutting into it, there, it's almost like an explosion of color. It's, it's not the explosion in the range of blues and greens that you get from looking out at nature, but it's the explosion of the browns and the rusts and the pinks and the yellows and sometimes oranges running through it.
Narrator Working with her partner, Patty McCartney, Nancy finds the images in the woods and Patty brings out their luster. Nancy Gove As you work it down and in the rough stages, you really don't see it at all. But you know it's there. And you just trust that this is what is meant to be, what's really going to show the piece off is what's in this the way we deal with the business and it seems to work. We've been together for seven years,
the business is progressing incredibly. When we work on a piece of furniture we sit down and we design it together, we work with the customer together, collectively. Okay, well we're getting ready to deliver this piece. We worked on it now for a couple months. I think think that I'm very fortunate to be able to take an item that most people consider worthless, and a big old tree they just want to get rid of and create something beautiful that gives people pleasure out of it. And I don't believe I can do that any place but here.
Nancy Gove Because I wouldn't have been a woodworker, probably without being here. And to me, it's helped me find what I feel is my God given talent. Patty McCartney Because we mold the wood, well it molds us too. So Molokaʻi, in its own essence is molding me. And it's good and I like it. Narrator Molokaʻi Ranch has been an economic mainstay for island residents. Covering 1/3 of Molokaʻi's 150,000 acres, it is the home of the island's paniolo. Jimmy Duvachelle, Sr I'm the four- the third generation in my family to be a paniolo. My grandfathers was original cowboys at Molokaʻi Ranch. And we
kind of grew up into the life. Molokaʻi in my days, it was pineapple or being a cowboy and of course being with my family influence I became a cowboy and I've been with Molokaʻi Ranch for 27 years now. And I like the, the open country, the outdoors, the opportunity we're working with animals such as horses and cattle and then we'll send them all off to market and whatever income they bring in it's what we feed our families and this is what make our life of. We're so used to in this country life, if we want food we'll go out, we do our own hunting. For our axis deer, we got sheep, we got goat, we got pigs, we got meat, we're taken care of. And fishing
is...tremendous amount of fish, fishing around here so you know Molokaʻi can take care our own. Narrator Mac Poepoe works part time is a fireman, but his passion is throw net fishing, a tradition he is passing on to his children Mac Poepoe I teach my kids take only what you going eat, what is necessary. The knowledge that was passed on to my dad, he brought with him from Maui. And he practiced all that stuff he learned right here at Moʻomomi. And he raised 15 children. 15 kids in
our family and a lot of the, lot of the time was going up we survive off this ocean. All my life I fish down here and seemed like in the last 15, 20 years, I seen one big change come about as far as the fishing. Right over here this little bay where the kids swim, is one perfect example. When I was growing up, that's where we used to dive and had lobsters, heʻe, kūmū, plenty fish. If you jump in that ocean right now, right as, right in that bay, I wish you luck. You're not gonna see too many fish in fact. The biggest problem we face as far as preserving our place is people coming from
off island. They come over here with their big boats and they, they not coming for recreation they come in to fill that boat up and go back with one load so that they can make plenty money. A lot of people they take it for granted. They say, "Oh we've been doing this for years. Get plenty." But actually they don't have any sense of measure as to how much fish is left. That's another
problem we face, the locals themselves. We got to learn how to take care our place. Number one is take what you going eat. No catch what you not going eat. If you not gonna eat 'em, throw 'em back. I like I teach my kids, I teach them when to fish, what the timing, the tides and all that. All the different types of fish, where you can catch them. And I real proud
of my kids they pretty akamai about all these things. A lot of the stories that come back to me, I guess a lot of the people that was here on the homestead during the war years, they can they can relate to this. They close this place off. This was a bombing target area, his whole coastline. Because we had such a big family, my dad never had choice. He used to come down here, even while the planes were flying over dropping their bombs, catching fish for feed the kids. In that respect, I have a lot of respect for my dad. He was hardcore. He was one survivor. He walked from where I live today, they walked down the beach, they duck the bullets, they catch the fish and they walk back home. I don't know if people can realize what kind of life they was
going through at the time. But I can picture all that in my mind. Today when I go down this beach, I think about all that. They hardships they had to go through in order to catch their fish. So I not
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