Posts: 2,402
Threads: 145
Joined: Apr 2005
Raised in the City and around and out of country, and spending the past 30 years in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada well I'm loving the vistas, the animals, the quiet, the neighborly hand one finds, all the country type of stuff. Fresh fruit vegetables nuts, farmers markets, vineyards, orchards, chickens, bees and honey.
mella l
NO really! I don't, want to read your blog!
mella l
Art and Science
bytheSEA
Posts: 210
Threads: 10
Joined: Jun 2008
I moved to Hawaii Island because it was rural. I moved to Makai Puna because it was affordable. I am not a gardener. While my grandmother could toss a cigarette butt into her garden and tobacco plant would grow, I could gingerly plant a tobacco plant and in days it would look like a thoroughly burnt cigarette butt! I would love to have the touch of life, toss a plant up grows beauty. I love flowers; I love growing herbs and veggies; well, in my dreams anyway. My husband, knowing my lament about unsuccessful generation of edibles, has begun collecting books and reading up on becoming Mr. Greenjeans! I cracked up when he proudly showed me his first purchase. Who knows, with his determination to always make me happy we will have a self sustaining garden. I told him my garden wish list: Tomatoes, all kids; Romaine, cucumbers, corn, brussel sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli and the fruits...too many to list.
But, I did not move to Hawaii Island to be my grandparents and grow food and raise animals for consumption. Or my parents, whose flower garden was always the talk of our neighborhood. I moved here because I loved the natural motion of this island. I am in awe of the Volcano, despite the life threatening emissions, and I love that your spirit intrinsically connects with the spirit of the island. I am okay just being in a 'burb' commuting for entertainment, goods and services, and with the sites and sounds of nature. I prefer the coqui to gun shots and hovering helicopters or sirens. I prefer the albizia to the towering concrete condos, or cookie cutter town homes. I would prefer to have really neat neighbors all around me like the ones who live next door and down 2 lots. Our home sits up off the street and faces away from the community and because we have carefully planted natural hedges as a measure of privacy, I can sit in my home and pretend the drunk who lives across the street from me does not exist; and when his wife starts screaming, I can close my window and turn up my music and drown out the f bombs and other expletives that shatters the peace that was. I don't want the 3 undeveloped lots that touch ours to be leveled and inhabited. I figure if there is a bright spot to a down turned economy it is the sale of the lots or development of them will not happen for a few more years. By then, who knows where we will be, if even here. I guess this would be option 5?
“A penny saved is a government oversight.”
"Q might have done the right thing for the wrong reason, perhaps we need a good kick in our complacency to get us ready for what's ahead" -- Captain Picard, to Guinan (Q Who?)
Posts: 1,839
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Joined: May 2007
I want a chance to shoot the Pakalolo thieves while they are still on my land.
Posts: 496
Threads: 11
Joined: Jan 2008
We have to laugh at those who think Puna is the boonies! :-) We come from rural mountain country in the far northwoods. We ended up in this particular location mostly because of #1, although the lots are larger and we bought two. Thought we might like living closer to neighbors than 1/2-mile to the nearest one, but we miss our peace & quiet. So we totally appreciate the empty lots around us and the good neighbors further up & down the street, but rue the renters right across from us... and we keep our eyes open for a larger piece of land. We do enjoy the paved streets and electricity, and high-speed internet - whoo-hoo! - but miss dirt. Actually, we're learning to grow in the cinders so I don't miss dirt quite so much these days). It's all a balancing act between the advantages & disadvantages to each place we looked at. We love the warm climate, the proximity to the ocean and volcano, and do not miss 6-month winters one little bit!
Hilo isn't really much further than our rinky-dink little town was back in Idaho but has a LOT more services. It's a whole little city in our eyes! It's all a matter of perspective. Our closest equivalent (size & service) town was 1-1/2 hours away; Hilo is only a 1/2 hour - and another maybe 10 minutes during 'rush hour'; heck, you could add that much time getting stuck behind a combine tooling along a 1-1/2 lane gravel road. (It helps that we don't have to commute to work, but if we were going to be in that position, we would have looked closer to town.) We are certainly not hurting for conveniences & services - it's amazing to me to be able to run up to Pahoa in only 5 minutes!
aloha, Liz
"The best things in life aren't things."
