a bit more about hitch-hiking

so i think i mentioned that our main mode of transportation is hitch hiking, which is a fairly new experience for both of us but happens to be extremely common here in hawaii. for the most part we've had good fortune in the world of hitching, with the average wait being about 5 minutes or so. there have been the discouraging instances where we're a good 10-15 miles away from home and the sun is setting and we're still waiting for a ride after about 20 minutes or so. morale not so high at those times...but then something always works out miraculously.

hitching is certainly a good chance to meet some of the local folks and most people are happy to chat and find out what on earth we're doing in hawaii. we've met some real characters and get a good laugh out of some of the wacky conversations that ensue. turns out there a good number of chilled out older folks who have gotten out of the rat race and moved to hawaii to start farms and surf and whatnot. we've gotten some good suggestions from these people about places to see around the island. so some rides are from locals, but a surprising percentage of people who pick us up are visitors in oh-so-obvious rental cars (we can spot 'em a mile away) and apparently these tourists just love to pick up strangers, which we can't quite figure out but from whom we are more than happy to accept a ride. sometimes we even end up giving them advice on places to visit even though we've only been here, what, three weeks :)

this one young woman picked us up one day and we were doing the typical chit-chat "so where are you from? what brings you to hawaii?" yada, yada... but this time she said that she too was from indiana...bloomington, in fact...knows where paoli is and happens to know my friends darren and esprit who have a farm in paoli...and has actually been to the farm. weird to say the least. she wasn't going in exactly the same direction as we were but once she knew we were fellow hoosiers she demonstrated that winning hospitality and took us right home. we hope to meet up with her again before we leave.

we've noted how different our concept of time and space is without a car to rely on. our pace has certainly slowed down significantly and we comment much more on our surroundings than we might if we just hopped in a car and found our destination in five minutes rather than a half hour of meandering down the road--we find ourselves checking out coffee trees along the way(now that we've picked coffee a couple of times), or mac nuts on the ground, or noticing the sun setting or the clouds rolling in...we've been surprised by the homes we pass by, as a good number of them are pretty run-down with cars rusting in the front yard. at times we really do feel that we're in another country, such as the ones we visited during SST. but life really is fairly simple here, people don't seem to exhibit a lifestyle of excess or extravagance.

we have about two more weeks to explore this area and there are certainly more things to see and do than we have time to accomplish. our stay here will be over before we know it. i'll try to post more pictures soon. i hope all is well at home and that you all are staying warm!...much love, jill

link to photos

hey there--this is the updated link for the most recent photos--the last link was incorrect.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53760&l=1265c&id=520444603

some more photos...

hi folks! i'm trying something new for this post because people seem to really want to see pictures mostly. check out the link below--it's a facebook album...i'll write more later. take care!


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1205388&l=93171&id=520444603

big island week 1

so it's now been about one week since arriving at the farm on the big island we now call home. and an interesting week it has been. after a five hour delay at the portland airport, we had great flights all the way to the kona region of the big island. we got to the farm in the dark so waking up in the morning to the beautiful farm was a fascinating experience. bonnie, the main farmer, gave us a walking tour of the 8 acre farm the first morning to get us oriented. i was mostly just in awe at that point...i'm not sure much information was really absorbed and bonnie had, and always has, a lot to say about her farm :) she is extremely knowledgeable and loves to share information about the way the farm operates. the main crops are kona coffee and macadamia nuts, but the farm is full of other wonderful produce including avocados, papaya, pineapple, breadfruit, persimmons, five kinds of bananas, and lots of oranges. we've really enjoyed having fresh squeezed orange juice every morning.

so a typical day on the farm involves getting up around 6:15am for some breakfast, juice, and sometimes coffee (which we still need to perfect). we work for two hours 7-9am doing various things--sometimes raking mulch and scattering it under trees, weeding the gardens, picking up fallen fruit, etc. then almost every morning so far (after a half hour break) we pick up macadamia nuts. this involves strapping on some fairly awkward knee pad things, covering up almost every inch of ones body to avoid mosquitoes, and crawling on our hands and knees on the ground gathering mac nuts. my back has had to adjust to this hunched over position--it's still not very fond of the activity. so that's three hours of picking nuts, which can get long but is much improved by the use of an iPod, which the hosts strongly encourage us to use. then we have the afternoons free--12:30 on. we've checked out some beaches, some stores, bummed around on the farm figuring out what to make for dinner (this is a constant topic of conversation and we've come up with some very creative, though not always tasty, concoctions!)

so internet access is not what one might call convenient (or cheap in these parts it turns out). we have to hitch rides most of the time to get anywhere so we're never sure how long it will take to make a trip anywhere. so i may not be posting all that often, but i'll try to at least update the blog once a week.

hope all is well!! much love--jill

greetings friends!

i've never been much of a blogger...or to be honest, very good about regularly keeping in touch with folks in general :I (even though i do care about you all deeply!!) but this blog was created partly because of the many inquiries from people about how i'll stay connected while i'm traveling. so a blog seems to have great potential--now all i have to do is stay disciplined :D so if i slack off, by all means, get on my case.

i'm very excited about this adventure, to say the least. i've enjoyed traveling since i was very young--flying here and there to see family, visiting new cities--but probably around the time i was in high school, i developed a strong interest in traveling outside the U.S. over the years i have taken opportunities to travel at times that felt right--those times that things seem to line up and i've thought, "i can't NOT do this." (it's poor grammar, but you know, there it is) there have also been those times that i've tried to force things into place and it felt like a lot of effort and i felt restless and things typically just don't pan out in those cases. and maybe they're not supposed to for whatever reason. i leave on this trip with a sense of peace and gratitude. i'm thankful that i have the means to travel, i'm thankful for all of the support, encouragement, and understanding from you all, i'm thankful for my travel companion tom, i'm thankful for my mom who is such a rock star and helped me move a honda-ful of my stuff from vermont to indiana, i'm thankful that there are farmers out there who open their land and their homes to people who want to learn about (or re-discover) what it means to live off the land and use natural resources wisely to confront the growing challenges of our world today.

for those of you who are unfamiliar with the WWOOF program, i'll just say a bit about it (but you can also check out http://www.wwoofhawaii.org; http://www.wwoof.co.nz; http://www.wwoof.com.au) it stands for...well, there are a couple versions: Willing Workers on Organic Farms and World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. so we'll be working on small, family-run organic farms in hawaii (the big island--kona side), new zealand (both north and south islands), and australia for part of the time. the hosts require a certain number of hours of work per week in exchange for room and board. the work requirements vary among farms (i.e. hours, tasks, level of instruction, etc). most of these farms are in fairly remote locations, however the hosts may be able to provide rides to and from town on occasion--and perhaps to the beach...we hope anyway, ah well i'm sure we'll find a way there regardless :)

in addition to farming in australia, i'm also planning to spend time with my cousins who live in melbourne. this i have dreamt of for a looong time now. sarah and linda have been very gracious, helpful, and enthusiastic about this reunion.

our time in indonesia is quite a bit less structured at this point, but we have some connections through friends who have traveled there previously, a current participant in the SALT program through MCC (Mennonite Central Committee), and a Ten Thousand Villages representative who is willing to help us arrange visits with various contributing artisans within the country.

so that's the deal! well, i've left out a lot of details, but i'll fill in the blanks later :) i look forward to sharing my travels with you all and hope that you too will keep me up-to-date on happenings back at home. please also feel free to contact me via e-mail: jillmarielehman@gmail.com

much love,
jill