Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden

Fall 2007 Newsletter

Volume 9, Number 1

I feel so fortunate to live in this miraculous place!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

And peace to you and all of us in this crazy world we live in. As I embark on the beginning of my tenth (!) year in Hawai'i, I'm grateful for the life that Hawai'i has given me, for my friends and family, and for all of the people who have supported my mission here.

Sales of my book, Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens, continue to do well, as do my workshops and classes, which I hold at the Garden many weekends. Students and volunteers continue to populate the place and their presence provides not only much-needed help in the Garden but also fun and great companionship.

Goals for the New Year include expanding our visitor program to bring in more civic groups and clubs and more writing about the subjects that I love the most: herbs and gardening!

Highlights of 2007

I have been blessed with a year full of good people and great successes.

Feb.-With the reviewers of my book, in Kona.

Haley Saunders was a student in July.

In April, my tenants added a family member,
'Awa, who is now 60 pounds!

My "Lava Flow Gardening" workshops
continue to be a popular attraction.

In May, cottage tenants Camille and
Shane made the lava hike.

In June, I participated in the Cultural
Wellness Festival in Kona.

Classes and Workshops in 2007

Participants gather for our first "Lava
Flow Gardening" workshop June 23.

Much of my energy went into my classes, workshops, and special events this past year. I hadn't put them all together in one list before, so I am amazed!

Feb. 24: Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, South Kona- Horti-Cultural Festival.
Mar. 3: Essentials of herbalism.
Mar. 10: Herbal teas.
Mar. 17: Herbal skin care.
Mar. 24: Tinctures.
Mar. 31: Cooking with galangal ginger playshop at Josanna's Garden, Kapoho.
April 7: Sustainable gardening event at La'akea Permaculture Community.
April 14: Herbal cosmetics.
April 20: Earth Day at UH Hilo.
April 21: Herb-drug equivalencies.
April 28: Noni needn't taste nasty.
May 5: Intro to herbalism.
May 12: Mother's day herbal feast, with Sonia Martinez.
May 18: Drop-in with the herbalist, Evie's Natural Foods, Kona.
May 26: Herbal skin care.
June 2: Tinctures.
June 9: Noni needn't taste nasty.
June 16: Amy Greenwell seed exchange.
June 23: Lava flow gardening, with Laramie Treviño.
June 29-30: Pacific Cultural Wellness Festival, Kona.
July 14: Herbal skin care.
July 21: Noni needn't taste nasty at Amy Greenwell Garden, Kona.
Aug. 4: Hawaiian Paradise Park 35th anniversary festival.
Aug. 11: Essentials of Hawaiian herbalism at Amy Greenwell Garden.
Aug. 29: Had a little surgery on my toe! Took a break.
Sept. 22: Open garden party.
Oct. 6: Lava flow gardening, part I.
Oct. 13: Seed Exchange at La'akea.
Oct. 20: Lava flow gardening, part II.
Nov. 3: Amy Greenwell Garden Arbor Day.
Nov. 17: Lava flow gardening, part III.
Dec. 1: Lava flow gardening, part IV.
Dec. 15: Lava flow gardening, part V.
Dec. 29: Lava flow gardening, part VI.

Rainbow Friends

In October, I began volunteering with Rainbow Friends Animal Sanctuary in nearby Kurtistown. I've been interested in learning grant writing for some time and this worthy organization needed help. Learn more about them at rainbowfriends.org. They need donations desperately to care for the almost 300 dogs and cats they house at the first "no-kill" shelter on the Big Island.

Wonderful WWOOFers

I've had quite a few volunteers through the "Willing Workers on Organic Farms" program over the years. My most recent ones were Brett Solon and Adrienne LiCausi, of the Phoenix area. In addition to all of their hard work in the Garden, Adrienne is an outstanding Italian cook, and delighted a group of us with homemade pizza one night during their 10-day stay.

Adrienne and Brett volunteered from
November 24 through December 4.

Hawai'i Island Journal Keeps Me Busy Writing and Proofreading

In addition to my monthly column, "Healthful Herbalist," I began proofreading for our independent newspaper in 2007. Here's a list of all my column titles. If you'd be interested in reading any of them (or any of the over 60 columns I have produced since 2002), check out the Hawai'i Island Journal page on my web site: www.hiiakas.com/column-index.

Jan. 13: New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep.
Feb. 10: Taking Your Medicine.
March 10: Help Yourself to Sweet Sleep.
April 7: Your Liver: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How to Keep it Healthy.
May 5: Brown Tree Snake a Threat to Hawai'i's 'Aina, People and Economy.
June 2: Hawaiian Green Tea Industry Continues to Grow.
June 30: Noni Need NOT Taste Nasty!
July 28: Rub It In: Massage Oils for Health and Pleasure.
August 25: Croakin' Coquis: the Unapproved Control.
September 29: Painful Caterpillar Lurks in Palms and Grasses.
October 20: Chew on This: Tooth and Mouth Health.
November 10: OUCH! Little Fire Ants, Latest Invasive Insect.
December 1: Echinacea Fights Winter Colds.

www.hawaiiislandjournal.com

Visit My Amazon Blog

Who would have guessed that words like "blog" would be added to the English language as a result of the Internet!

The URL is too long and confusing to include here, but if you'd like to read past newsletters and my Hawai'i Island Journal columns, just go to amazon.com and search for either my name or Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens. Click on the title, and then scroll down the page to begin reading my entries.

To order Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens, visit Amazon.com or www.authorhouse.com.