February 2008

As a farmer and a small business person, I have learned to be flexible, creative and resilient. As someone committed to sustainable agriculture, I have learned that I can not push nature beyond its limits, but rather need to work in harmony with what is given. This year there was a fire in the Puako Forest that burned 50% of the forest in which we operate. This created a major opportunity to practice creativity and resiliency!

As the business has grown in size and complexity I found myself spending more of my time on the phone and computer and hardly any time in the field. I felt out of touch with nature and with the bees. We are not sure what, if any, impact the forest fire will have on our production. It is entirely possible that the kiawe flower will bloom strong and we will have more honey than ever. However, we wanted to set ourselves up to win if it turned out that the reduction of bee habitat resulted in significantly lower honey production. I made the very difficult business decision to lay off almost all of our long term staff as a result of the probable reduced production. This had the effect of getting me back in the field and becoming more of a “hands on” beekeeper/owner again. I feel much more in touch with the core of our business (bees and honey!) and hopeful about the future.

We are looking forward with excitement to growing the business in new ways in 2008.  We are expanding farm visits and education here at our farm and looking into new products. And of course, we look forward to continuing to supply you with our delicious honey.

Aloha,

A Taste of the Magic of Hawaii®