Hope Revisited
In the world we live in, there seems to be an abundance of happenings that result in the loss of hope. It is all around us. I don’t think there has ever been a time in human history where people have not faced strife, however on the scale we are seeing it happen is what is new to our current situation. From the drug and homelessness issues, a widening divide in wealth inequality, environmental changes that will affecting food production and the inhabitability of locations around the world, if an individual were to spend too much time on those thoughts, one would not doubt suffer from anxiety levels that were off the charts. Contributing further is the divide we are having in this nation. Instead of building communities that work together for resiliency and strengthening the overall well being of a nation, there is copious amounts of fighting based on political ideology.
For the past 4 years, the struggle that has been on the top of my list has been finding a permanent home. It has caused many sleepless nights and an uneasiness into what the future of the farm, and no less my family would be. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would be so difficult to find a place that would match the wants and needs for family and farm. We have watched real estate increase in value at a disproportionate rate from what local incomes have increased. While that is great for those selling homes, it has profound negative implications that continue living in their homes and to those wanting to purchase homes. This trend maybe new for Stevens County and the surrounding area , this has happened in my locations before. Most notably for me is watching what has happened in Hawai’i where the median price for a home in Honolulu has reached 1.15M dollars and the median household income is just over $72,000 making it an almost impossible situation where friends and family have lost hope that they will ever be able to own the roof over their heads.
After many miles of crisscrossing the county and numerous offers submitted, our 4-year ordeal is over. Ola Aina Farms has found a permanent place. We get to move into our new home at the end of the month. While there isn’t much I can do about the skyrocketing real estate prices, I believe that there is something else that can do with our new home. I can use our place to help build a resilient community that cares about our land and the people on it. Where even though as individuals we may have differences in opinions, we can respect each other’s points of view and build upon commonalities that we hold. Regaining hope that making the world a better place isn’t just a fairy tale but can be reality.
Our family has a long road in front of us with not a lot of money left over after purchasing our new home. Which perhaps is a good thing because the reality of being cash strapped makes you think differently on how to find solutions to problems. Buying our way out of challenges is simply not an option. It is an opportunity to put longs nights of researching and pondering into reality and this is where I plan to document and write about a different approach into how agriculture can be done. I hope to share the successes as well as the failures that we experience as we start a new chapter in our farming journey and life journey. With that I will also be announcing upcoming on-farm events for readers, the general public and other farmers to visit and learn about the how and why of what I am doing also. Stay tuned on our social media accounts as well as on our website for announcements.
Originally Published in the Silverado Express - Sept 2022