Life is funny sometimes...
After 6 years on Maui, and finally feeling like I was able to step away from Hana Farms with it able to sustain itself without me...I decided to set out into the world to take the sustainability model that we had developed into places that I felt needed it most.   In December I found myself in Central America seeking out new places of need...farms...charities...orphanages that I could help to bring into their fullest potential.  I began a collective that worked much like the WWOOF organization...but that focused more on finding that perfect person to connect to a specific need.  Think 'match.com' for volunteering :)

Anyways, everything was going great...I was finding literally hundreds of needs throughout the country, and having amazing meetings with humanitarians and social entrepreneurs from around the world...And what happens???

I received 4 messages from 4 separate people telling me that Maui needs me to come home!!!

While I was still living on Maui I use to say that the only thing that I felt I could do on a greater scale than Hana Farms, would be if somehow I could get gardens put into the school systems throughout Maui.  Well- apparently there is a new grant through the Michelle Obama Garden Initiative which works through the Center for Disease Control...and miraculously they have finally awakened to the reality that the best way to prevent diseases is through nutrition.  It is said that 8 out of 10 of the leading causes of death are all food-related-diseases!

 I was thrilled to hear that an amazing organization called Community Work Day (cwdhawaii.org) received the grant and they would be putting in up to 18 gardens throughout Maui, Lanai and Molokai over the next year.  After receiving the 4th e-mail I finally contacted CWD Coordinator-Matt Lane, to find out how I could help with the project.  After a lengthy conversation, and reading through the grant, I decided I should come out for a 2 week visit to see if this was a project I should be a part of.  I jumped in full-force...and realized quickly that it was more work than I had ever imagined.  Not only did they need a designer/ permaculturist...but they also needed someone to coordinate with the schools, to work with the teachers to develop a curriculum around the gardens, they needed a nutritionist and chef who knew how to get the kids excited about eating out of the garden, they needed someone to plan the work-days, and phases throughout the year, and they needed a greenhouse manager, someone who could plan all the seed purchases for an entire year of gardens in sites that haven't been selected yet, a compost guru, and someone who can work directly with the schools to hear their needs and desires and who can take those visions and put them into a pragmatic plan that can be executed for less than $1500/ garden.  This was going to take a super hero to pull this off...or a super SHEro.  And, I honestly didn't know if I had it in me.

On the second week of volunteering with the project...I had already logged in over 100 hours...and there was still so much to do.  I began my day asking the universe for a sign on whether or not I should commit to doing this project.  I was busy enough starting Voluntourism, I already had a full-time job...and I was realizing quickly that this position would take up ALOT of hours each week.  That evening, Tsunami warnings fired.  It was as if the universe was screaming..."If you are looking for a sign...this is it".