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Coffee Plants and Other Farm Updates

Earth Provides the Mocha

In a moment of silliness, we joked about having a “mocha garden” on the land: coffee, cacao, vanilla, miracle berry or stevia, cane sugar. So fast forward..there are a few 3-foot tall coffee plants, and last year we saw the first beans. AND now, there are 55 new seedlings which will eventually be translated to the sunny slope under lotus. This is part of the 5-year plan!

The crew started coffee in the nursery, and this week we began putting the plants into the sunny terraces below lotus house. Beck is getting masterful with the little tractor, sculpting dirt and stacking rocks. The walking path was also cut in (a full half mile loop, lined with @arati’s Keiki coco palms). We’ve started making our own mulch.

Give always this week: ghost peppers. Ping if you want some. They are soooo hot!

The earth provides. Thank you earth.

“Each coffee plant has an annual yield of 1-2 pounds of roasted coffee. Putting that into perspective, it takes 2,000 cherries (5 lbs) to produce one pound of roasted coffee.

Germination: It takes 2 months from seed to germination. After one year of growth, a seedling will stand about one and a half to two feet tall. In these early stages of growth, the juvenile plants require protection from high humidity and direct sunlight. It takes about three years for Hawaii seedlings to reach maturity.

When they begin reproducing, small groupings of fragrant white blossoms will appear. These sweet-smelling flowers are known locally as “Kona snow.” Once the flowers are pollinated, cherries will appear within 15 weeks. It will take another seven to 11 months for the cherries to fully ripen. A mature Hawaii coffee tree will stand at approximately 15 feet tall. They are capable of producing berries for 40-60 years!”

The Inner Equinox

Happy Fall Equinox!

The seasonal shift is a great time to check in with yourself- what’s working, what’s not, what’s your desire, where do your skills and desire meet what the world needs now?

In our community, we are working on the inner equinox: staying even-keeled in storms and change. For example, we practice tracing our response to external triggers. We notice what happens in our bodies when someone says something unpleasant or we witness a climate disaster or read a barbed headline. We see how that hits our nervous system, we examine what beliefs underlie the trigger, what past experiences are being touched- and we learn to relax into our bodies and into the feeling until it passes. Not only does it mean we are living from a centered and more enjoyable place, it means we don’t make decisions from an unintegrated or fearful mindsets. We decide what to do together from our wisdom, not our trauma. By not clinging to what was real decades ago, or even last week, we are present with what is, right here, right now. An added bonus is that this cultivates resilience and cheerful adaptability, in each of us as individuals, and in the community itself.

Maybe try it yourself: just for a day, don’t go any faster than you can feel. Slow down enough to notice your body’s response to everything it experiences. That includes things we can be numbed out to, things that have faded into ambient stress. Practice being fully present. The world needs resilient nodes on the network.

New Earth: Upcoming Call Framework

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Being in the Gardens as Mind Medicine

During this pause to guests and events, here’s some beautiful observations from the beloved Craig Stone on being in the gardens.

“Gardening, for me, allows space—and that that space has allowed me to find some presence, and to practice mindfulness on a daily basis. I’ve always meditated. But when I used to meditate, it didn’t matter how long the sit was; but as soon as that chime went, my mind clicked back on again. I could find peace and some presence on the mat, but as soon as that time went it would be, “Okay, let’s go.” Mental noise and mental traffic.

Here, in the gardening space, I’ve managed to bridge that gap, and capture that mindfulness and that presence in the work that I do. There have been days when I’ve walked through this garden and wept, because I’ve had such a sense of presence.

Anytime something that I have planted sprouts, I notice the first time something blossoms, the first time something produces fruit. I get so incredibly excited, and so incredibly proud. And also, humbled. When I hold a seed and I’m preparing the ground, the little hole, I’m blown away by the fact that all I’m really doing is preparing space. I’m not “growing” anything. I’m just moving the seed from where it was to where it needs to be. But the immense complexity of the DNA in that little seed allows it, with a little bit of light, a little bit of water, and a little bit of human intervention, to grow into something. Again, it’s something that shows me the connectedness in everything. One cannot garden and not be amazed.

It is an individual pursuit that costs nothing and that can be done alone. It is, for me, an appreciation of silence, an opportunity for personal growth, and being able to quiet my personal mental chatter. “

Third Anniversary Update

On our three year anniversary, we want to appreciate the tremendous amount of creativity life energy and inspiration that have gone into making this place.

The prior owners of this land made a good go of making a sustainable homestead. When they left, the cane grass and decay took over. We saw it years after they had left, with the rocky exposed lava, junked cars and debris, with some soil, gorgeous plants tucked in here and there (thanks to the caretakers Amie and Jeff). There were some beautiful mature fruiting trees, and the unbelievable sunrise ocean horizon, and it was a yes, hell yes.

We knew it would be work. But how much was a mystery. The container building is the only structure that has stayed up, and it was leaking and unstable until Kenny Reid and Duane Nakano and the crew did their magic on it. It’s a good metaphor for the whole project over here: take what you have, and vision it maintained and alive and vibrant.

We’ll share some additional before and afters on the gardens and the lodge next door. And it’s always changing! Just this month, coffee terraces and papaya grove, new veg gardens are in.

Sometimes it feels good to take a pause and look back- after a 6.9 quake, the 2018 flow, COVID… it’s been a blessing to everyone who comes here to remember how abundantly we are provided for.

We are expecting some changes in the coming months, stay tuned.

Meet Anthurium, One of Our Specialties

Meet Anthurium: An architectural beauty, a NASA clean air plant, hermaphroditic – but toxic to mammals if eaten.

Anthurium is a genus of flowering herb, with more than 1000 varietals and cultivars. At Sundari, we’re cultivating a wide variety of Anthurium, mostly derived from anthurium andraeanum, and they are little easter egg surprises of color in wide swaths of tropical greens. Anthurium is loved as a houseplant because it likes warm, humid, shade- and it cleans the air- and for cut flower arrangements.

The Spathe
This is the vibrant lance or heart-shaped, waxy, brightly colored part of the plant…. sometimes a second spathe covers the spadix like a hood (see the last red one for an example).

The Spadix
That protruding penis like structure is the Spadix, an erect inflorescence with dense small spiraling flowers covering it from top to bottom.

As a hermaphrodite, this plant is self contained- with both male and Female Parts. It flowers year round, is a perennial, and has a fleshy berry as a fruit.

AA is listed as NASA clean air plant, because it is effective in removing formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, and ammonia from the air.

It’s poisonous for mammals to eat, because it contains fine crystals of calcium oxalate, which can penetrate the lining of the mouth and throat causing painful irritations.

Here are just a few of the varieties growing at Sundari Farms. Craig and Beck are cultivating hybrids and starts for additional gardens here, and in the nursery for other people.

Two Year Anniversary!

Today is the second anniversary of us acquiring the land. It was love at first sight for us, standing there on the Kaimu hillside, in April of 2017- the hypersaturated color and open horizon, the mature fruit trees and the feeling of magic. The owners had long vacated and left shacks and debris and a leaking container home. Jeff and Amie and their little boys were inhabiting one of the structures. We set about manifesting the vision. The first 6 months went pretty well- making the moon cabin into a temporary home (a love shack in the winter rains and a haven of tranquility), clearing the land, upgrading systems, finding a rhythm, listening to the what wanted to be born here. And then not so well for a while. Disagreements and budgets and artistic debates and differing values. Conflicts between the guys.

Then Pele made the decision for us: she shook the land so strongly that only a few people remained. David Art Lawell filmed the sunrises and skyscapes through the smoke and painted a mural of her using the glassy brown “hair” coming off the volcano. Ken Reid heroically rescued and salvaged all summer long, taking the community in his arms. When she stopped flowing, we had a decision to make, changed the plans somewhat and ended up choosing to repair the damage and see the commitment and vision through. Craig and Lauren and Megan showed up, and the rest is miraculous.

John Shiva Gray and I are overjoyed by Suzanne Sterling’s message below, as she leaves the land after an Artist in Residence period. This is what we hoped for.

2 years in, there are a few more things to complete, a well, a gathering space, Craig has a vision for a propagation and extraction/pressing space. My daughter dreams of a nanofarm. Our much dreamed-of pradakshina pathway. We will get to them eventually. In the meantime, the family of writers and artists and yogis and friends that have come is our pure joy. We are hoping this will be a semi public garden and a benefit to the community as it unfolds. Thank you to everyone who worked on it or contributed in some way. Happy 2nd anniversary, New Earth Mandala.

All love and gratitude.

Christine and Shiva

I Am the Sweet Smile on your Face

“I am the sweet smile on your face when you discover home in yourself.
I am the intuitive whisper within you.
I am your truth.”

It’s a joy to bring the timeless, life-affirming teachings of Tantra into community- this time with the gifted and devoted Sanskrit scholar Chris Tompkins, like we did at #OmRising this year.

We have both found teachings and mantras to be a direct means to self-healing and deep transformation, especially “finding home in the self.” Finding home in yourself is an embodied, accessible tool for thriving in the challenges of everyday life, and for knowing, right now, the wonder and power that you are.

In this class, we examined this Shaivist text:

ahaṃ devo na cānyo’smi, brahmaivā’haṃ na śokabhāk | sac-cid-ānanda-rūpo’haṃ, nitya-mukta-svabhāvavān

which translates to:

“I am the divine. I am nothing else. I am not a receptacle for ignorance, for I am the highest alone. I am made of Being-Awareness-Bliss. My truest home is my highest Self, who is forever free.”

Thank you Chris Tompkins for the invitation, to Tim Dale for the context and to Rob Sidon for capturing the sound. 

Sign up for our newsletter to be notified of Chris’ teaching at New Earth and in our global programs.

Welcome Back, and Thanksgiving

Last night Kaliloa sounded the conch and blessed the land, with more than a hundred people standing in the circle. We called in the oversoul, and the ancestors and gave thanks.

As many of you know, the 6.9 quake was epicentered on the land, and many of our neighbors and friends lost ther homes this summer. We celebrate the resilience of this community and these people!  Philip (who planned for 50!), fed everyone, with Lau-Laus and Ulus and Kale and Turmeric Rice and Sweet Potato Pie and Mamaki Tea. David and Noah and Isaac and Sunni and Kalama and Craig and David shared their art and stories. Kids of all ages were playing in the dirt piles, the sunset made it the perfect peach o’clock, enchanted.

Our hearts are bursting.