We have 18 pets with names in our Akamai Backyard plus countless fish and volunteers from nature. There is a real art to keeping all the animals happy and living in harmony. Most animals do not like to be contained. We have nine turtles who share the pond area. We do our best to make a happy resort for them. Oddly, turtles are great climbers and fast runners. There is no reasoning with a reptile. They just don’t grasp the concept of cars and lawn mowers. A fully vertical fence is important around a turtle pond to keep them from escaping. They are considered an invasive species. Our were donated by friends who found them in the wild. The turtles and the fish are our only fully confined animals. The chickens sleep in the coop at night. We did have bunnies, but the puppies finished them off as they grew into dogs. heavy sigh. We are thinking about getting a couple baby goats but are giving serious consideration to their need to be confined. …any thoughts?

Akamai Learning was honored with the Kapaa Rotary‘s top honor of Four Star Green Innovations Award on April 28th, 2010.

Melissa Mojo and Rodney Pascua of Kapaa Rotary Club

Thalia Espinoza, Victor Sanchez, Felicia Cowden, Anuhea Lizarraga, Ian Cowden & Amber Williams of Akamai Learning

Gather with Garden Island growers to share seeds,

plants, and knowledge!

We are thrilled to discover our neighbors from the next road up are an amazing group called Superforest.  We reconnected with Jackson, whom I’ve known since he was a child, (as wonderful then as he is now.)  We are excited to be collaborating with Zero One on educating and inspiring others to reconnect with our beloved earth through permaculture and edible landscaping.  They have a great website full of all kinds creative thought guiding us to a better direction.  Yeah, Jackson and Jesse and Justin and Mea!  see their log about us…

Jesse & Jackson of Superforest at Zero One

Akamai Backyard is garden of ‘eating’

Home school project teaches sustainability

It’s like the garden of Eden on steroids.

Taro, bananas, sugar cane. Mango, papaya, sweet potatoes. Eggplant, bitter melon, squash. Beets, asparagus, pigeon peas, and tomatoes. Dozens of herbs, native Hawaiian medicinal plants, even a cotton plant that, well, is more like a tree. Even some plants obtained in a seed exchange that nobody’s quite sure what they are.

It’s all in a one-third acre backyard in Kilauea that still has plenty of lawn, a … [read more]