This City is my Jungle Gym

"This city is my jungle gym" are lyrics by Jack Johnson.  Maybe Honolulu inspired him with this song?  Who knows- but I have felt like that lately.  I have been really able to experience the "jungly" side of Hawaii if you will.  Not hanging by the beach- but been able to be in the middle of Oahu and explore the mountains (just another beautiful aspect of the islands)

Cody and I hiked Manoa Falls.  There are some incredible trees, that are so old we can't even make a guess how old they are.  The trees in the Rocky mountains are all vertical usually, but here anything goes.  The trees grow in every which way.  Here is Cody in a tangle of limbs.

The trees naturally grew in such a way that it created a little passageway for us.

The steps up to the waterfall:  We were lucky it was a dry day, so it was only kinda muddy.  Usually it would be raining- it is a very rainy part of the island.

 Manoa Falls

 It was my first time hiking in the rainforest, and let me tell you, it's clastrophobic!  You're surrounded by such heavy vegetation, and there is so much moisture in the air.  When there was a clearing in the trail, it was such a breath of fresh air!

Another moment when I really love the mountains is when I am at the student organic farm.  When I am up there (for my organic farming class) I just love looking at the skyline and the beautiful green mountains.  I had to go outside of class time last week to take measurements of the temperature of my composting pile.  The pile was 151 degrees F.  (Which is really good and completely normal apparently)  Cody came up with me and I showed him around.  Here I am taking measurements, and showing off my eggplants.

The fun thing about my organic farming class is that we go on several field trips.  Today was our first one, and we went to "Petersen Egg Farms".  That's all I knew about it before going.  Silly me- I thought we were visiting the egg/chicken farm- but it was actually all about worms!  The Waikiki Worm Co. uses the soil under the chicken coops because the chicken poop is full of such nutrients and the moisture content at that location is so ideal for worm harvesting and vermicomposting.  It was actually a really fascinating thing to learn about.

Mindy is the head of this operation, and she really inspired me.  She is very active in the community and has been able to initiate this worm bin operation into several local elementary schools.  The school uses their own organic food waste (paper, cardboard, food) to contribute to their worm bin, or school garden if they have one for composting.  They are recycling and reusing all their waste; their mission is "zero waste."  It's great for the students to learn about this and be actively involved; it's great for the environment because they are reusing all their waste instead of throwing it away as trash; it's great for the schools because they actually earn profit off their byproducts and it helps with school fundraisers and things like that; and the produce grown from the school farms the children can take home- this is especially critical in very low income areas of Hawaii.

As you can tell, I am pretty pumped and persuaded by the things she is doing and the difference she is making here in Hawaii.  It inspired me, and I hope I inspired you, to be more active in your community and try to live and contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle!


P.S. We, yet again, went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay!  This time Cody was able to really see a sea turtle!  (Now we just want to actually swim with one)