Nestled in the hills above the Hamakua Coast behind a curtain of fragrant eucalyptus lies Akua Aina.  It is here, overlooking the ocean, that we’ve spent the past nighteen years landscaping and cultivating orchards and gardens dedicated to an educational model for an organic and sustainable lifestyle at 1800 ft elevation on the Big Island of Hawaii.

For the majority of Barrie’s life she has enjoyed an off grid lifestyle harvesting food from the land.

Queen bee production was what ultimately brought her to Hawaii in 1979. Kona Queen Company became the primary focus and she and her husband raised and shipped queen bee’s all around the globe. In 1980 they purchased into a Farming Hui in Honaunau, where they developed 13 acres of macadamia nuts, limes and coffee. In 1982 they designed and built a home. After six years of being immersed in this amazing life in Hawaii children came along. In 1996 it was time to head north to Waimea where the children and Barrie expanded their horizons even further.

“We have learned SO much from the challenges that have presented themselves one after another over the past 19 years!

Once the grass was tamed a bit and the barn completed we began planting a wide variety of fruit trees and ornamental plants for what would eventually evolve into an amazing botanical paradise!”

Around the time Barrie’s children absconded from the island on their initial journeys out into the beyond, another compelling idea was born. Johanna and I decided around 15 years ago to design and build Hawaiian style tiny farm dwellings on wheels!

“It has been an extraordinary adventure building tiny homes on wheels for people!  Everyone loves them so we continue to build more, all custom designed to meet the needs of each individual. We subsequently have learned a great deal about solar and catchment water systems as many of the tiny homes are placed on farms in off-grid locations.

If you are interested in learning more about this, go to Habitats Hawaii where you can see a few of the Habitats we have designed and built over the years. We believe this to be a reasonable solution for affordable housing during these changing times.

A beautiful botanical paradise continues to astound us!

We have immense gratitude for all of the collaboration that was offered to us throughout these many years. I have learned that it truly takes a village with patience, skill, and enthusiasm to grow this vision. Akua Aina is an example of what can happen, given trial and error, building and planting, and most of all being willing to take risks.

Now, we are embarking upon the more recent and very exciting phase of product development and education. Now that there is more food to share than we can possibly eat, we have been sharing food with many people in the greater community. while experimenting an array of healing salves, creams, tonics, and fermented foods with the intention of eventually selling them alongside of the bountiful produce from the trees and gardens.”

Akua Aina, initiated as a gesture of kindness and support (of course there is a story) has steadily evolved into something far beyond what anyone could ever have imagined! By taking one courageous step after another Akua Aina continues to provide endless opportunities to explore organic farming and permaculture techniques while learning about solar power and water catchment systems and, much much more!