Malalani Estate
A 73 Acre Farm consultation
August - September 2023
A chance encounter connected us with Malalani Estate, a beautiful 73 acre permaculture property located in Makawao. We instantly clicked with the farm manager who had recently started hosting wwoofers (work-trade participants), and we were asked to help manage the work-trade program for 10 of the 25 weekly work-trade hours. We conducted a number of workshops, teaching participants basic plant propagation techniques, pineapple plant harvest and care, dragonfruit plant harvest and care, rose bush and raspberry bush pruning, and garden bed preparation. The farm manager had also asked for help marketing potted nursery plants and farm-fresh produce: we harvested dozens of pineapples along with lilikoi, dragonfruit, papayas, limes, sapote, tamarillo, grapefruits, and herbs and sold these at a local farmers market on behalf of the farm along with nursery plants. We provided guidance on harvest schedules and sales prices so that the farm could continue selling otherwise unharvested produce once we had finished our consultation. The devastating Maui wildfires occurred while we were working with Malalani, and we used the opportunity to bring large quantities of fruits to displaced individuals and families temporarily living in local parks.
