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Jason Schwartz sits with VINCENT MINA, co-owner with wife Irene, of Kahanu Aina Greens, grower of 200+ lbs. of sprouts + more on a 2500 sq. ft. patch of earth. High production from enriching of the soil. Mina was the founder of the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association and spearheaded Body/Soil conferences for years. A great and enriching conversation.
Summary & Transcript
This video features an in-depth interview with Vincent “Vince” Mina, a dedicated organic farmer and community leader based in Maui, Hawaii. Vince shares his journey from a decorative painter to a passionate farmer, driven by his love for gardening inspired by his grandfather and supported by his wife during a pivotal time in his life. Over nearly three decades, Vince has cultivated a highly efficient 2,500 square foot farm called Kahanua Greens, producing microgreens such as sunflower greens, radish, pea greens, and wheatgrass that supply local markets, restaurants, and hotels across Maui.
Vince highlights the challenges of farming on a small scale, including reliance on imported hybrid seeds and the labor-intensive nature of organic farming. He emphasizes the importance of soil health, composting, and sustainable farming practices, such as vermicomposting and using weed mats made from perforated cardboard combined with gypsum to improve soil quality and manage weeds naturally. Vince also discusses innovative ideas like harvesting water from the air and biochar production, reflecting his commitment to regenerative agriculture.
Beyond farming, Vince has played an active role in the broader agricultural community as a past president of the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association and the Hawaii chapter of the National Farmers Union. He initiated pioneering soil and body health conferences that bridged the connection between human wellness and soil vitality, fostering local organic agriculture awareness and advocacy.
Vince candidly shares personal stories, including the tragic loss of his son, which brought his family closer and deepened their connection to their roots in Italy and Hawaii. He practices daily rituals such as walking in the river to honor his son’s memory and maintain physical and spiritual health, emphasizing the significance of iodine and metabolic wellness.
Throughout the conversation, Vince expresses a profound respect for nature, advocating for harmony with the earth rather than fighting against it, and promoting collaboration over conflict in the agricultural and political spheres. His vision extends to empowering small-scale farmers and community members to cultivate their own food sustainably. Vince remains optimistic about the future, focusing on living each day fully, nurturing family and community, and leaving a positive legacy through farming, education, and cultural connection.
### Highlights
– Vince Mina’s farm, Kahanu Greens, thrives on just 2,500 sq ft, proving small-scale farming can be highly productive and sustainable.
– Emphasis on soil health and organic practices like vermicomposting and using weed mats to naturally suppress weeds and enrich soil.
– Innovative ideas discussed include harvesting water from the air and biochar production for regenerative agriculture.
– Vince’s leadership roles in local organic farming organizations helped build community awareness and advocate for sustainable agriculture.
– ♂️ Personal rituals like river walking and iodine supplementation highlight the connection between health, nature, and farming.
– Strong cultural ties to Hawaii and Italy inform Vince’s farming philosophy and family-centered approach.
– Vince embodies optimism, focusing on collaboration, community support, and living fully despite life’s hardships.
### Key Insights
– **Small-Scale Farming Efficiency:** Vince’s success on a 2,500 square foot farm challenges the assumption that large acreage is necessary for viable agriculture. His ability to produce 200 pounds of microgreens weekly on a small footprint demonstrates how intensive, well-managed farming can meet local demand, reduce food miles, and support community health. This model encourages urban and peri-urban farming initiatives and supports local food sovereignty.
– **Soil Health as the Foundation:** The interview reveals how soil structure and biology are critical to water absorption, plant vigor, and overall farm productivity. Vince’s static compost piles and emphasis on humic substances prevent soil hydrophobicity, highlighting how integrated composting and mineral balancing (like gypsum application) can restore degraded soils and reduce dependency on synthetic inputs. This approach is essential for long-term sustainability and climate resilience.
– **Closed-Loop and Regenerative Practices:** Vermicomposting, fish fermentation, and upcycling cardboard into weed mats present innovative ways to recycle organic waste and enhance nutrient cycling on the farm. These practices reduce waste sent to landfills, enrich soil microbiomes, and support plant health without chemical fertilizers, embodying the principles of regenerative agriculture that prioritize ecosystem health and carbon sequestration.
– **Community and Advocacy Impact:** Vince’s involvement with the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association and National Farmers Union illustrates the importance of farmer-led organizations in influencing policy, educating growers, and creating networks for resource sharing. His efforts in organizing conferences that connect body and soil health underscore the holistic perspective needed to promote food systems that support both human and environmental wellness.
– **Bridging Science and Tradition:** Vince’s narrative blends traditional Hawaiian and Italian agricultural values with modern soil science and sustainable farming techniques. This synthesis respects indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage while embracing innovation, encouraging farmers to honor their roots while adapting to contemporary challenges.
– ♂️ **Health and Farming Interconnection:** The emphasis on iodine deficiency, metabolic health, and physical rituals like river walking demonstrates the deep link between a farmer’s well-being and their environment. This insight advocates for a more integrated approach to agriculture that considers the farmer’s health and spiritual connection to the land as integral to successful farming.
– **Collaboration Over Conflict:** Vince’s reflections on political and social divisions, particularly around GMO debates and environmental issues, emphasize the value of dialogue, openness, and mutual respect. By avoiding the trap of making others “wrong” to be “right,” he models a cooperative approach essential for advancing sustainable agriculture and addressing complex environmental challenges collectively.
– **Legacy and Succession:** Vince’s desire to pass on the farm and his values to the next generation, particularly his daughter who is involved in entrepreneurial upcycling, highlights the importance of intergenerational knowledge transfer. This ensures that sustainable practices continue and adapt, fostering community resilience and cultural continuity.
– **Personal Resilience and Optimism:** Despite personal loss and current financial hardships, Vince’s daily commitment to farming, community, and family reflects a grounded optimism. This resilience is vital for sustaining long-term environmental and social initiatives, inspiring others to persist through challenges while maintaining hope and joy.
– **Place-Based Identity:** The interview underscores how place—Maui, Italy, the Eel Valley—shapes Vince’s identity, values, and farming philosophy. His connection to the land is not just economic but deeply spiritual, reinforcing the idea that sustainable agriculture is as much about cultural and ecological stewardship as it is about production.
– **Adapting to Modern Tools:** Vince’s engagement with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok shows how even traditional farmers can harness technology to share knowledge, market products, and build community, bridging the gap between old and new generations.
### Conclusion
Vincent Mina’s story is a powerful testament to the potential of small-scale, regenerative farming rooted in community, culture, and science. His holistic approach integrates soil health, human wellness, sustainable practices, and advocacy, serving as a model for farmers and communities worldwide. Amidst personal and global challenges, Vince’s optimism, resilience, and dedication inspire a vision of agriculture that nourishes both people and the planet, emphasizing connection, collaboration, and care as the path forward.
Transcript
00:00:09 – 00:01:40
Aloha everyone. We are live here in the studio. It’s August 4th. Aloha at the neutral zone. Good morning everyone in Hawaii. 11:00 a.m. for those of you on the East Coast. It’s about 5:00 a.m. So, it’s 5:00 a.m. 6 hours. At 500 a.m. today, my guest was up in the EO Valley of Maui, Hawaii, doing what I see as a morning ritual. And Vincent Mina, Vince Mina, blessings to you. Welcome to the show, brother. Thank you. Nice to see you. Thanks for having me in. We’re here on radio K A KU88.5 FM the voice of Maui
00:00:55 – 00:02:11
which is simalcast on Akaku Maui community TV channel 55 and rebroadcast 7 a.m. Saturdays. Plus, they put it in the schedule, but we have it at maui neutralzone.com. You go to YouTube, you put in Jason Schwarz, Vince, Mina, Maui up, it’ll come. And we even did another show early in my um neutral zone time here. And over these years, every time I see you, every time I think about you, I just smile. Oh, bless your heart. Yeah. Thank you. And I think, “Oh, yeah. Where do I get those greens?
00:01:34 – 00:02:48
Still doing it, man. And I got a gift today of some greens and a papaya from the farm. Tell us a little bit just to reacquaint everyone about your farm. Yeah, our farm. Um, we’ve been blessed uh back in the day uh when I was a decorative painter by trade and I wanted to farm and never farm for a living. Had a garden. you know, my grandfather was an avid Italian gardener and um and so uh I said, “You know what? Uh I need to let go of this trade and go after what I truly want.” And then because I hit the
00:02:10 – 00:03:04
40 wall was when I was 40, you know, and u and at the time uh my wife was pregnant with our little girl. And so instead of kicking me in the ass and saying, “Get back out there and get some work done,” she said, “Go for it.” Because she knew how how passionate you were. Yeah. how passionate I was about working the land. And so as our little girl, you know, our baby in the womb saying, “Dad, here I know the way for you. You I’ll show I’ll show mom in the womb, you
00:02:38 – 00:03:31
know, uh and because I didn’t have lander equipment.” And so mom goes in the store and she buys up sunflower greens that were being planted at the time by somebody else. And she buys all the bags off. She’s never had them before, right? and she just something told her, my little girl told her, “Mom, Irene, buy all this.” And uh and so she came home with all the bags of sunflower greens. And at that time, I wasn’t working. I was, you know, finding my way to see where I could go
00:03:05 – 00:04:04
farm. And I said, “What what do you keep buying them for?” Because, you know, as a man, I’m thinking, you know, I got to provide here and and you’re spending all the money, but we want you to have what you want. A lot of seeds, huh? Yeah. And so basically um that’s what got it going and here we are uh 31 they’re going on 32 years later and on 2500 square feet making a living at farming things are sprouting at your house things are spiling yeah so micro how long does it take when
00:03:34 – 00:04:41
7 days so I’m thinking from soaking to harvest soaking so but you bought originally as much as you could find and let’s just now say that which seemed like a lot. How much does it take? You have to create your own seeds besides Oh, no. We’re That’s the Achilles heel with this business is we bring it in from California. we bring the seeds in, you know, so we’re reliant on seeds coming from the mainland mainly because of their hybrid seed that uh it would to have it here I would have to put up a
00:04:08 – 00:05:18
bunch of money get land and all that stuff to make you know it’s just just not it’s not not in the cards you know and and so you know basically we’re we’re still going at it though we supply uh the island everything we grow stays here on island and we have purveyors and we also deliver ourselves uh to like Mono Foods and Down to Earth and VIP and then there’s hotels and restaurants that get it also and Fork and Salad. And you say that so quickly about 2500 square foot farm. Yeah, it’s it’s
00:04:42 – 00:05:58
let me share with you to make a living 2500 square ft. So let’s just do a little quick math. That’s pretty small, right? That’s 75 by 100 is 7500 square f feet. Yeah, there you go. So 75 by 100. So 25 by 100. Well, it’s not one one space, right? There’s 1,700 square ft in growing area and there’s 400 square ft in composting area because every flat that we cut cuz we grow it in compost, we recompost it and then reuse it. We mineral balance it, you know, and then there’s 400
00:05:20 – 00:06:35
square feet in processing and chill space. So, it’s 2500 total. Yeah. On a 9,500 square foot lot. I see. So now that just means to you home farmers first of all um sunflowers were covered and you do more than just sunflower. Yeah. Radish, uh pea greens and wheat grass in one little space. Yeah. Yeah. And you supply mostly I would think you’d mostly have high-end hotel kind of clients. Yeah. I’m not sure where where it goes into the hotels, but Koola Produce and Sunfresh and VIP there are purveyors
00:05:58 – 00:06:49
that take it to the hotels. You know, we had 51 accounts at one point that we delivered all to and some were like for a pound, a pound and a half, but we delivered all that, but then it got so busy that we couldn’t do it anymore. So, we turned it over to purveyors, but we lost a lot of those mom and pop because the purveyors, you have to have like a $200 minimum, you know, to for the purveyors to go there. But, it’s good in the spirit that, you know, we can have a mixture. We’re still handd delivering
00:06:24 – 00:07:46
though. Yeah. And we’re doing things like this where we’re going to create people that uh somehow will supply themselves or the little guy. Yeah. Say yeah. I’m I mean you’ve been a leader. You a long strange trip. I don’t remember exactly when we met, but were you at the 1989 [Music] what um Suzanne Hills and Colin Cameron put on the business and environment annual conference. Oh, I remember those. Yeah. Right. And it started and it only ran like a couple of years, but at that I I met a lot of
00:07:05 – 00:08:18
people that if they’re still alive, may they all otherwise rest in peace. Um at this visionary original conference, Maui, Inc. Magazine. Yeah. Right. Which was our magazine around here. I like their format. I styled a insert. We have a lot of stories to talk back and you know you realize the road could have gone left or right many times in our life. Yep. But way back when I spotted this guy. I don’t know what you were doing but I remember I just liked you. I don’t know what you were doing. Do you remember
00:07:41 – 00:08:39
when we met? Yeah. I I’m not sure you know I didn’t start actual farming until 90 1994. Oh okay. So I knew you before that for sure. Yeah. And uh and but yeah, it’s uh you know, I was a decorative painter by trade when I came here and uh thankfully I got out. I mean, I I ran into other painters and they went, “How did you get out?” You know, after I left the painting trade. But um yeah, I’m really, you know, it’s it’s interesting too because the the twist and the turns of it all
00:08:09 – 00:09:14
was my wife and I harvesting in the early days with a baby and our son at the time too who grew up on the farm. and uh and we were talking about, you know, here we are harvesting and eating this great organic food, but why don’t we feel like on top of our game physically and uh and so we we put out uh a I went to a conference on the mainland, an Acres USA conference. It was a conference that after I hung up the phone that I signed up for, I said to my wife, I’m there’s going to be all
00:08:42 – 00:09:38
these farmers there. And at the time I was farming, we were farming on 400 square feet. And so I got there and and and befriended the the owners of Acres USA and they invited me to the speakers event uh that was happening in the evening because I came from so far, you know, from Hawaii. And um I was talking to this one guy who had a thousand who’s growing a thousand acres of organic beets. And as we’re talking back and forth, he says to me, “How many acres are you on?” And I said, “Well, 400
00:09:10 – 00:10:05
square feet.” He said, “You know, you’re doing better per square foot than I am.” And that’s when I realized doesn’t matter how big you are, you know, it’s the how efficient and and the quality and the production level that you can do with that quality. Yeah. And so that was that was really a nice awakening. But the neat thing about it was I met these wonderful presenters there. And at the time I I became president of Hawaii Organic Farmers Association because nobody else wanted it. I was on the
00:09:37 – 00:10:46
board and they just wanted to sit around and smoke joints, you know. But uh it was a thing where um I uh I took it you know I took it to heart in the spirit that there was so much needed to be done in local agriculture. And so in in that position I was able to build a conference the first conference on soil and and uh body and soil health in 1998. We had it up on Peio and um wonderful event. It was on all the chairs were on mulch outside under a tent, you know, and that gave way to developing Maui
00:10:12 – 00:11:16
Aloha Association, which I got one of our older shirts on. Uh, and we put on body and soil health conferences exploring the relationship between our bodies and the soil up on a farm in uh uh Oinda and of Steve Wilson’s farm, Kubalani Farm, and uh had an amazing it was just amazing. But what I loved about it was we had all these state-of-the-art, you know, world-class presenters talking about this relationship between our body and the soil. And then they would go to eat lunch and there wouldn’t be like, you
00:10:44 – 00:11:51
know, donuts and coffee there. My wife would put on a spread like you wouldn’t believe, you know, all this wonderful organic food. And so it it actually walked the talk of what the conference was about. Yeah. And uh we held uh a number of them uh went from uh 2001 to 2014. And Wow. Yeah. And then and then from that your group was mostly farmers. People just farmers and gardeners and Yeah. And people just interested in better health and and you know and supporting local agriculture and it was on a beautiful
00:11:17 – 00:12:27
farm. Right now the farm is Steve Wilson is no longer u running that farm. That farm is a a Lapa Alowl farm. Yeah. Michael Marchen and his wife Lauren and they do an amazing job. I just I’m so stoked that farmers like them are are on that land that we you know opened up for body and soil conferences and Steve Wilson was a he’s an amazing guy and beautiful friend and he sells his starts up at the farmers market now in Kula and so you know it’s just it’s wonderful to see how all the offshoots of of things
00:11:52 – 00:13:05
that occurred over the years. Well, you know what? It’s really funny because at your conference, one of them there was a guy presenting tsunami products and this tsunami products took water out of the air. Oh, right. And also gross starts. You guys Yeah. He he was um he was up at Ryan Earheart’s farm, right? Yeah. and and he was and there was all kinds of visions of that happening and and a big one that was stored here and that they’re still around although he’s no longer with them but that idea
00:12:29 – 00:13:52
I know is just abs when I drive around here and I look up in the hills and I say water we have fight about water what about from the air right why don’t we do something to do it on mass here find some way to do something with that truly You know the other thing the two things that I s water from the air uh electrolysis of water for HHO and taking green waste and turning it into biochar and phytouticals Michael Smith Regenitech. Yeah. And I remember walking on your farm with Michael and you know the quality of what you do
00:13:10 – 00:14:09
is world class you know. Thank you. Yeah. If you don’t know you probably do. Well, we’ve been at it for a while. So, you know, practice makes perfect practice. And you talk about a farm. Yeah. A 400 suite can 400 square feet can be a farm. And compared to a guy with zillions of acres. Yeah. It should encourage all of you out there who say I can grow things if I learn how to grow things. And my wife always tells people, grow something you love. Yeah. Grow something you love and it’ll grow
00:13:39 – 00:14:46
from there. and and so, you know, there’s a um we’re so fortunate as a family to be able to not only have that experience of a farm, but it it kind of morphed into us developing a chapter of the National Farmers Union here in Hawaii. I was 12 years president of that organization and uh and it’s still going today, thankfully. Um, and uh, you know, having a voice at the at the state legislature because this I noticed the state legislature listens to national farming organizations when I was on the
00:14:12 – 00:15:16
board of the Farm Bureau. Um, but National Farmers Farmers Union relate um, valued regenerative agriculture. And so that’s what I appreciated about being involved in that aspect and getting a chapter going here in Hawaii. And then I because of that position I was able to sit on the board of agriculture volunteer position for eight years state board of a and that was quite an experience. That’s it. Yeah. Yeah. So you know here’s this boy from Philly. I mean, I just love the garden and what opened up, you know, and
00:14:44 – 00:16:00
and so, you know, I feel very fortunate to have been able to have my passion uh an outlet for my passion to be expressed and uh and then raising a family at the same time. And so, you speak so eloquently, I must say I I remember if you guys haven’t seen the TED talk from Vincent, right? Yeah. 2012 that was the first TED TED conference on Maui and I was you know that was a that was an interesting dance. Met some great presenters there. I just saw uh Gary Greenberg uh over in K with his talking about
00:15:22 – 00:16:21
gra sand grains and you know microscopic photography and he’s amazing you know and so yeah it was it was quite a but you’re amazing because that the message from your conference I’m going to let him give you a 30 second synopsis of what you said on on the TED talk. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s it’s it was uh showing that what happens in a in a soil structure when there’s not humic structures in the soil and how it becomes hydrophobic. It it actually repels water instead of allowing the
00:15:51 – 00:17:01
water to absorb into the soil. So, we really need to pay attention to our soil structure. You you start to get really excited. You start to really root for the soil. Really root for the soil. That’s right. Root for the soil. Wonder and and uh your the land that I I just remember that when I was standing there at your place, the the thing that was the focus was the the soil. Yeah. Yeah. That’s really where the the action’s at. It’s it’s so cool, too, because it’s like a sponge cake. I I you know, we
00:16:27 – 00:17:22
were constantly in the composting process on our farm and and I get up on top of it. is a sponge cake. You know, the humic structures of the compost pile. And the way we have it situated is it we don’t have to turn it. It’s a static pile. So, one pile is being built while the other pile is being harvested. And when the when the one that’s being harvested goes away, then we build there and then we harvest from the other pile. So, it’s back and forth, you know. Uh and then that led into vermma
00:16:55 – 00:18:04
composting. I’m doing a lot of vermma composting now with worms and creating uh um you know wormchow basically you know worm castings for folks to be able to dress their plants with and you know then there’s this weed mat here. I was just going to say weed mat. Has anyone ever seen this? If not it’s perforated cardboard. How do you uh sell this? By the by the mat? No, by well by the pound. Actually, we we we do pounds 20 pound bags and it’s about 100 linear feet. Oh, there we go.
00:17:29 – 00:18:37
Perfect. One more. Excellent. It’s about 20 100 linear feet. And the beautiful thing about this is um uh I’m I’m consulting with folks to be able to utilize like gypsum underneath because we’re calcium deficient on the island. So I tell folks, look, dress cal gypsum underneath, lay the weed mat down. Once this starts to deteriorate, what’s going to happen is that carbon from the weed mat’s going to go into the soil, but thanks thankfully from the calcium presence, you know, and those cuckoo
00:18:03 – 00:19:04
weeds, those really deep rooted weeds you, you know, want don’t want to have there will start to go away over time by continuing to make a layer cake in that respect with the gypsum and then the weed mat. And so this way you’re you’re getting a number of things that occur. You’re mitigating weed growth by having the mat. You’re changing the weed profile to more innocuous shallow rooted biomass, you know, that covers the ground and and you’re building your soil structure to where you can plant in. So
00:18:34 – 00:19:43
it’s really a beautiful medium that we’re uh gaining traction on and and would love to see more people use it. And farming is I remember the old days of go out, put a little thing in the ground, put water on it, walk away, come back, smile. It’s a lot different now. There’s so many things growing I want to say is has been perfected and farming is a science. Yeah. And you know what’s sad to me though is because of all the use of Roundup, you know, going after going to war with the
00:19:09 – 00:20:11
weeds, uh, and not understanding why they’re there in the first place. And everything has a general vitality. Yeah, even weeds. And if you take that general vitality of that particular makes that weed thrive, it won’t grow there. So it’s really important to understand in the soil science that uh deficiencies or excess will bring a particular weed there and so you just got to find out through soil test and through analysis to be able to you know do you see this uh when I look at it I
00:19:39 – 00:20:38
constantly seeing fields being created and planted are they using things like this? Yeah, you know on a small scale people are using it. Um like I said I I we’re just kind of getting going on this. We had a county grant last year and we had distribution of it for people uh and people love it. I mean um just face I just posted on Facebook this one client who uh four months ago laid it down and then planted a succulent garden. It looks beautiful and there’s not a weed in sight, you know, just following the
00:20:09 – 00:21:08
protocols that I was talking about. And so, you know, it’s really important that that we find ways to be in relationship with nature. And this is uh this is a good this is a good start. You know what interesting too is a friend of mine was just telling me and I saw on the internet where they have it now computers on the farm that will uh I don’t know how they’re how they’re coming to this. I would think it’s probably around ultraviolet rays or something that the plant gives off but
00:20:38 – 00:21:35
there’s a um the the the it zaps the laser zaps the weed and doesn’t touch the other plants. So it’s a way to get rid of Roundup, you know, kind of thing. There’s science going on in that respect. But what I want to see happen is Yeah, that’s great, you know, but find out why that weed was there in the first p place, you know, like you said, what is it why it drinking? Yeah. Exactly. What what you know what is why is it here? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It really it tells us and that’s the
00:21:07 – 00:22:06
same thing like with the fireweed you know a friend of mine uh did an experiment with fireweed and on a pasture fence and on one side of the fence he applied indigenous microorganisms uh in a in a medium on one side of the fence and on the other side of the fence he didn’t do anything and the fireweed died on the one side of the fence that he that he applied the indigenous microorganisms and the other side of the fence thrived. So, you know, there’s these kind of uh trials that you can do
00:21:36 – 00:22:37
and and be part of. I just feel, you know, and the recycling office of Maui County has been very much involved in wanting us to upcycle materials like the cardboard, like fish. We’re we’re fermenting fish. I My wife My wife is from a fish family, fisherman’s family. She’s Hawaiian. Yeah. And uh when I told her that I was going to be fermenting fish in our greenhouse, she said, “No, you’re not.” But uh we have over 1500 pounds of fish fermenting in the greenhouse and there’s
00:22:07 – 00:23:16
no smell, no flies. Yeah. So, you know, fermenting with sugar and biochar and six months time you have a a wonderful fertilizer to be able to use, you know, and so we’re in the process. We have 1500 pounds fermenting. We’re in the process of getting another grant to where we can ferment another 4,500 lb. Is it the flesh or is it all everything? Everything I run. So you can run it through would be throw away. Well, that’s what we’re trying to do is keep it out of the landfill. And uh we grind it up. I have a grinder
00:22:41 – 00:23:51
and grinds up the fish and then we mix it equal amounts of sugar and 10% biochar. And it’s amazing. And in one capful per five gallons of water. So, you know, 1500 pounds is going to make a lot of capfuls, you know, and so, you know, just upycling, upycling is the key, you know, to to have this uh be able to uh add back to the environment because there’s been such a take, right? It’s been such a take and we’re just wanted to, you know, give back, you know, aa malama. Yeah. And that’s been
00:23:16 – 00:24:06
And is it all under your farm name or how’s it going on? Yeah. Yeah. My friend Ricky Aana, he’s a uncle of Kimo and former mayor. Uh he’s a brother of a different mother. You know, we’ve been together since we met on Kohave back in the early 80s when I was composting there. As a matter of fact, I’m going back. Oh, yeah. In a few weeks going back and it’s going to be my wife’s first time on Kohave. Three of us farmers and their wives. We’re going to go over there and
00:23:42 – 00:24:41
assess what’s happening there and be able to help them support whatever way we can to to get those plantings even more of a of a chance to survive on island, you know. Uh but um yeah, it’s exciting. You know, it’s been 45 years since I’ve been back on island, so I’m just like going, “Yeah, exactly. I’m going 45. You’ve been back on island?” Well, I haven’t been back. Yeah. You know, so I’ll finally get a chance to go back. 45 years on on uh Olive. Yeah. But I was back in
00:24:11 – 00:25:10
the day of Uncle Harry Mitchell and I I I was able to mentor under him. Um he we were all around a campfire in Hakiava, Uncle Olave and our access and he was talking about how he’s tarot farmer and K&I and you know tell people come and and you can come K&I and work in the tarot patch if you’d like you know. Well I was the only one that took him up on it and I was best thing I ever did. Uh, I would go out there and I would paint as, you know, do my painting thing to pay the rent and everything, but then I
00:24:41 – 00:25:49
would head inside country and and go to K&I and work with Uncle Harry and and then go get a Hulu and work on a farm there. And so in the early days in the early 80s, it was wonderful experience as a a single Holly from I just remember I don’t know where we were, but I remember I met Irene and that I met her husband. That’s how I met you somehow. Way back when. Yeah. Just always been a bright spot. Yeah. Thank you. And uh you surround yourself with bright spots and always seem to bring light to
00:25:16 – 00:26:27
everything. Thank you. Your daily thing up on the Facebook is always a pleasure. Your thought. Well, that’s been Thank you. that was that was spurned on by you know back in 2019 our son passed away and uh you know we after you know after that occurred um I wanted to take my wife and daughter out of dodge get them out of dodge because you know people well-intentioned but we just didn’t want to run into anybody we didn’t want to talk about it you know we just wanted to circle our family wagon you know it was
00:25:51 – 00:27:06
a traumatic experience for us still is today in a sense Um and uh we went to Sicily and Italy to meet my roots. My grandfather’s brother never left. And so his his family is still in Sicily. And then their their family members live in Rome and Traviso. And so we were able to go there and meet them and spend time with them. And it was a beautiful thing to be in another country where you don’t speak the language and and and yet embraced and loved with the warmest of aloha, you know, and so uh uh with that uh I
00:26:29 – 00:27:37
trained because I know Italy is a lot of hills, right? So I trained and walked up the eal every day and uh and I always was going into eal anyhow. As a matter of fact, I kissed a rock each day that my son would jump off of when when we were uh going up there to to jump in the pool. And he was an avid EL participant. And uh and so uh that led to my continuing to just go there each day and get in get in the river. I go first thing in the morning. I walk up a half mile and jump in the river and then walk
00:27:02 – 00:28:10
back a half mile and drive by the time I get to the car. And uh but you know it gives me a chance to be the quiet of EA, you know, to experience the quiet of Yao and just to hear the stream and the birds and the wind and and to just visit with my son each day, you know, and so and then that led to doing a thought for the day, you know, I did one and my daughter encouraged me to continue on with it and uh and uh so yeah, so I I look forward to to doing that. You know, it’s it’s been a it’s been a really
00:27:36 – 00:28:39
cathartic experience. And so, do you remember much rain up there? It seems like you avoid rain a lot. Well, you know, I I we need the rain. We need the rain. And so, when it does when the when the river swells, I don’t go in, but I do still go up there and I just dress accordingly. You know, I I every day I’ll have my I was curious if you ran into much rain up cuz you have a good spot there. You Oh, yeah. Like this morning it was so clear. It’s nice to be able to be under the falls and not be concerned about a
00:28:08 – 00:29:08
flash flood. That’s what I’m thinking. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But no, I I’m practical when I go there. Oh, I’m sure you are. Yeah. And uh but you know, it’s it’s just a very um wonderful way to start the day. And people like kind of tripping out going, “Aren’t you freezing?” you know, and it’s it’s it’s a uh it’s a thing where I’ve been able to learn along the way through those conferences, you know, how if I get cold easy, what to do, you know, and how to be able to what’s going
00:28:37 – 00:29:47
on in my body that I’m getting cold easy. And so, uh, and for those out there wondering what that is is iodine, you know, we’re all iodine. A lot of us are iodine deficient. And that’s why the big uh uh uh breast cancer issues going on and thyroid cancer going on because we concentrate iodine in our thyroid and in our mammary glands. And so uh when I’ve learned that it was like because when I first came here and I would get into e I couldn’t go in the water unless the sun was out. And then and through
00:29:12 – 00:30:14
our conferences and these brilliant people that came and presented, they were sharing about iodine, the importance of iodine. And so what iodine does, it raises the metabolism. It dumps heavy metals. It thins the mucus. Yeah. And so and so that’s why in raising the metabolism, you know, I could go in now. I mean, I’m in there before sunrise on the on the water after sunset and I’m feeling refreshed. So it’s really if you people get cold easy look into their iodine levels you know it’s really
00:29:44 – 00:31:06
important. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. See that all of you that can’t see that you’re on KU 88.5 FM the voice of Maui. I’m here with Vincent Mina. What’s the name of your farm? Kahanua Greens. And Kahanuina means uh the breath of the land greens. Kahanuina Greens. Yes. Uh don’t have a don’t have a website but yeah. Yeah. Kahanuina Greens. Um um what’s the phone number we can reach? Uh 80 8083573877. That’s my That’s my uh Is that the way to get them? That’s the way to get them.
00:30:27 – 00:31:29
That’s the way to get you. That’s right. If you want them and you don’t see them around, that’s how you have to get them. That’s right. And then Tuesdays I deliver, excuse me, amount of foods. Wednesday’s down to earth. uh Tuesday’s um VIP um and uh yeah and then we just you know fork and salad just delivered before I came here today and local harvest we deliver to them uh pair but yeah you know we’re we sell all we grow you know we used to when Kai was living we were
00:30:57 – 00:31:51
producing like 600 pounds a week and now it’s about 200 pounds you know we’ve scaled it back and I’m 72 now you know so I’m just wanting to 72 years young young that’s right Man, I And you know, every morning, Jason, when I’m in that river, I feel like my my my 20s again, you know. I bet. So, yeah, it’s really a wonderful way to start to do because I still love doing the physical work, you know. How far up you running? A mile or so. Oh, I don’t run. I just walk half mile
00:31:24 – 00:32:19
up. Okay. And then get in the river and then half mile back. Yeah. But um uh and you know it’s funny too because there was a part there where I’m finding that it was difficult on my knee you know on my one knee that I had operation on and I started walking backwards uphill as I’m going in there and that really has strengthened my legs a lot you know so these little things really help out keep me in the game you know because I just love going to that place and that’s where my wife was born as a matter of
00:31:52 – 00:33:01
fact. Is that right? Yeah. She was born on her birth certificate place of birth is Eel Valley Road. Wow. Like she’s dropped on the road, you know, but one of the houses up there. Yeah. And uh she was the only one of eight children born at home. Her grandmother learned how to drive to make sure she was there for the birth. And uh and so Irene is a special grandmother today from that because she valued so much her grandmother, you know. And so our uh so we had Kahanul Lani, our daughter at home and Kahanul Lani has
00:32:25 – 00:33:33
had her baby Kylani at home. Three years now she’s home birth. And so yeah, it’s a beautiful thing, you know, just keeping the family uh connected in the best way possible, you know, through the land. Yeah. And uh and watching Kylani grow up on the farm is is is a sweet thing, you know. She loves the farm. She loves eating sunflower greens, you know, and I think we all love sunflower. Yeah. Right. That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you look at the sunflower and amazing flower that is. And to think
00:33:00 – 00:33:54
that you could eat that baby green and you’re getting all that energetic. So, what the flower represents is is quite a Is it the same kind of seed that you’d see at the Kelly can? Um I don’t know if if Kelly folks are growing black oil seed. It’s black oil seed. I see. Yeah. You know, you usually see the stripe sunflower. Are there lots of different sunflowers? It probably is. Yeah, there are. It probably is black oil because um they’re they’re they’re harvesting for the oil
00:33:27 – 00:34:26
for the diesel, you know. So, I would think they’re going with black oil seed. Yeah. Bob Bob King’s really a wonderful farmer. Yeah. Well, and you you are um also I’m just like you said, it’s output per square foot. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Wow. We’re We’re So, are we getting to the point we can have people buy farms by the edge? You’re not ready to sell yet? That’s right. Not yet. Not yet. Once you get that down, I think that one’s going to be your winner.
00:33:56 – 00:34:57
Yeah. Yeah. I I hope that our farm can have a succession plan. That was our son, you know. So, you know, I don’t know how many more how much more time we’re going to be able to farm. Um Irene, she bless her heart, you know, she’s got this bionic hand. She does all the she cuts all by hand and uh and all the trays and then you know we we make it happen. We make it work and uh and our daughter is a is a bright light. She Kahanuani she’s a entrepreneur you know grew up in an entrepreneurial household
00:34:27 – 00:35:27
right and so she does popups right now with upycling clothing. Uh she does all these quality clothing. She’s like 31 women who who sell her clothes. Like in other words, she gives them a percentage back. But she has a really fine taste. Kahan has got this great eye for cute clothing, you know, that girls just go crazy for. We just had First Friday, you know, she was just doing so wonderful there. And she comes up to me afterwards and she said, “Dad, I just feel so bad watching, you know, some of the other
00:34:58 – 00:35:59
vendors aren’t doing so well. you know, she’s got this really big heart and uh you know, having Hawaiian mama, you know, just that beautiful aloha spirit of her and um but yeah, she’s she’s making a go of it and just got a county grant, too, to upcycle keep clothing out of the landfill, you know, so she’s moving forward with that. How terrific. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, it’s a it’s a thing where um we we’re community people. You know, we’ve done a lot of work in the
00:35:29 – 00:36:42
community over the years. That’s why it’s kind of a cruel joke that our son passed and we’re still dealing with that. Uh you know, you never get over it. You know, yeah, I live a happy life. I want to live the rest of my life and, you know, as happily as I possibly can. and uh you know uh just uh we just get up and and do the best we can each day. Well, you know, I that’s why when I see your thought of the day, I think of all of it of what a positive light you are and how you and like you say, you don’t ever really
00:36:05 – 00:37:16
get over it. You don’t recuperate. You’re sort of like you’re moving forward in the spirit of the love that is still tangible. Yeah. Thank you, Jason. Yeah. Bless your heart. Appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you know, I keep looking now, I look around, I see we talking so positive and we think, well, these guys are so positive. How much of this is uh happening here at a pace where we’re going to be able to save this corner of the earth? You know my vision for how long you know
00:36:41 – 00:37:47
me? A long time. I’ve been talking I’m an old rattled thing about putting it all together, mixing all the soup together, integrating it all together. Again, this isn’t a long story, but I reactivated my real estate license. And the vision is that 60% of my real estate income to go to the nonprofit. Nice. To promote art, music, culture, and promote these environments. Is that beautiful? Good for you. Right. Good for Good for us. So, it’s like got How do you link up nonprofits? You got to tell them I got
00:37:13 – 00:38:10
to tell and talk offline with someone like you because I found that I’m sort of been marginalized over these. I don’t know why it is, but I remember when it started. Yeah. I was the Green Party when it wasn’t fashionable. You know what my license number is? My license plate is greens. But it’s for the people who think it’s political in those for our farm. But yeah, no, you’ve been running a long time, man. Been putting it in there. And 37 years I’m here. So I’m 74.
00:37:42 – 00:38:41
37. You’re wearing it well, brother. Thank you. Well, and I think it’s, you know, there’s new times to tie things together that did you know that I booked the cultural cent’s opening New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day. Wow. You never heard the story about how that didn’t happen. Wow. Roger Dubin came ahead of the visitors where he was supposed to run my place. How they pulled the rug out from under me and all the rest of us. You know, a lot of things happened, but never heard that and I know that. Well,
00:38:11 – 00:39:34
it’s I say it’s but the best part about the story like that bad things is right good ideas don’t go bad right they get to be the right time where they make sense I think we’re there because we you know we’re a few days from the 2year anniversary of the burn yeah right and um I didn’t plan it but I think I’m involved in a thing called Westside side story. Uhhuh. There’s uh people that were there, the heroes before there was a FEMA and anybody on and how they did it and what happened.
00:38:53 – 00:39:56
It’s beautiful watching this guy that put it together pointing out heroes. So I’m in the middle of interviewing heroes and working up the food chain. There are lots that we don’t know about out there that, you know, I don’t want to lead to controversy. I want to be able to build in truths. That’s right. Let’s see where it goes because things are uh interesting. I mean, when tell about people talking about seeing bodies and bodies and bodies in the cars that couldn’t get out and then you hear about
00:39:23 – 00:40:41
a hundred dead and you go things like that. see where I don’t want to go talking ahead of others that right talk right but things are it’s really interesting and in this world we live in to see how it all links together you’ve been you’re amazingly pure having walked through the state and and walked through the government pure in the sense that you really haven’t been stopped because your ideas make sense no matter who’s in power no matter what it is. Even the people that don’t believe in the earth
00:40:02 – 00:41:08
is, you know what, the earth is not because we’re not doing it right. It’s happening for another reason so we can continue to pollute and not use things responsibly because we didn’t do it. You’ve heard that excuse. Yeah. Right. That’s the big excuse. We didn’t do it. It’s not from us doing it. So, let’s continue to keep doing these things that we know aren’t good because we’re really not the responsible one. Well, well, one of the one of the things for me, you know, you you you touched on um
00:40:35 – 00:41:36
is what I find what I’m finding along the way is I don’t make others wrong so I could be right about them being wrong. And that’s what’s really helped me get through the government scene uh to be on the board of a to in my politics. I just it’s so easy, you know, it’s so easy for folks to make others wrong. A lot of people I find, you know, they get to 40 and they look around, they go, what am I doing with my life? You know, I mean, my oh my god, I’m 40 already. You know,
00:41:06 – 00:42:14
they hit the 40 wall and then they find something to latch on to to be right. I remember back in the day, you know, a lot of it was the GMO issue. I used to think GMO meant getting Maui organic, you know, but seriously, there was a a big movement on people uh having to be right about something in their life. And so when was what they do? They’d go out and and and latch on to something an issue like that. And then they would be just like I mean you couldn’t even talk to them, you know, uh because they just
00:41:40 – 00:42:51
they they wanting to be right so bad that they’ll make someone else wrong so they could be right about something, you know. Is that’s you understand where I’m going with this? It was I do. I remember when I was interviewing still way back then. I remember sitting at a thing with Dr. Levelvel Buttons Lovevel from the Big Island and the these people were pro the GMO group from the college and then Hector’s whale and Dr. Lauren Pang when he was younger. Right. Sure. And Walter Ritty did. So
00:42:15 – 00:43:06
and they wouldn’t meet they wouldn’t be in the same room. They didn’t really choose to resolve it. Right. They choose to separate it. Yeah. Yeah, there’s there’s a lot of How do we do that? How do we It’s you know, I would tell people, look, because people were saying to me when I was president of the farmers union, they’re saying, “Whoa, we got to do something about this.” You know, they’re going to take over the whole island. I said, “That technology is
00:42:41 – 00:43:45
collapsing under its own weight.” You know, nature’s like trying to put two magnets together. You know, you can get so close, but then nature Yeah. It just repels. Nature has its way. And if we’re if we’re trying to reinvent nature or try to make it to where we don’t even consider nature, then it’s kind of fool’s play. And so, you know, when I walk up into the valley and I see how old those hills are. And every day, no matter how I’m feeling, no matter what I’m thinking, those hills are those
00:43:13 – 00:44:21
hills. And uh it just, you know, it’s the teacher. It’s the teacher. It’s it’s telling me to slow down. It’s telling me to be quiet. and it’s telling me to just be, you know, and uh and so I, you know, I have really strong feelings around organic. Uh I my daughter says to her partner, you know, I can’t remember my dad ever taking me to McDonald’s, you know, and so um the my the food that you know we raised our children with, our son was so healthy. He was amaz never to
00:43:47 – 00:44:50
never had a cavity in his body, you know. And uh he was teaching his friends about drinking water first thing in the morning and all this kind of thing, you know. So, but you know, we do all this stuff not not as a as a way to be right, but to be able to live healthfully. God, you’re 74. You know what that’s about. You know, we get up each morning, man. We just want to be okay. And I I recently, you know, as I’m walking up into the valley, I think to myself, you know, I’m kind of preparing to leave
00:44:18 – 00:45:31
this plane, you know, it’s in my now in my 70s. And I say that not in the spirit that I’m planning to go anytime soon, you know, but I’m not I’m not uh I know we’re all not getting out of here alive, but at the same time, you know, why push it, right? But preparing myself in a way that says um connecting with nature, just truly connecting with nature, feeling nature, being nature, understanding nature as opposed to anything else. And then that’s my path. So this way when I leave
00:44:56 – 00:46:04
this plane, I’m with nature, you know, and it’s just a continuation of nature. And so, uh, the political agendas, the all the noise. I mean, that’s what I love about the valley. I get away from the noise. There’s so much noise happening, you know, and uh it’s something where I just want to continue to live in that spirit and and be okay, you know, just be okay, take care of my family and uh and take care of community, too. Still farm. I love to farm. I love composting. I love vermma
00:45:30 – 00:46:44
composting. I love I love shre, you know, perforating cardboard into weed mats to see where actual people can, you know, grow their soils and and a way of having alternatives to be able to do that. This is the kind of stuff that moves my spirit, you know, fermenting fish. Wow. You know, it’s uh you know, what did we say? Uh I forgot the name. What was the meaning for what your farm is? Oh, Kahanuina. Yeah. the breath of the land. But yeah, truly it’s about malama. It’s about, you know, uh being connected
00:46:07 – 00:47:20
to the source, you know, in a way. Just keep doing it and all that you’re doing. That’s really beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I you know, I’m in the worst place I could be personally right now in my life. uh in the spirit of finances, in the spirit of you know just it’s it’s a real difficult time right now and yet at the same time every morning when I get up and I get into the valley I was going to say you wear it well you come out with such a smile you bring a smile on everybody’s face
00:46:44 – 00:47:38
well thank you yeah it’s and like I said I don’t know how to think of you except I feel a smile well thank always do. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s so important that, you know, that’s why I I I didn’t I didn’t hesitate to when you reached out to, you know, because I know who you are and and what you what you stand for and you’ve always been in the neutral zone. You don’t you hear people out and I appreciate about that. You know, I think that’s really important. Yeah.
00:47:11 – 00:48:14
Because then you realize there aren’t two sides. Yeah. There was never sides. That’s right. Isn’t that what we learn? We’re all together in this. Yeah. That’s right. That’s right. Yeah. And I’ve always felt that about you. I just just amazingly beautiful spirit. Thank you, brother. What’s just a mirror, you know. Well, thank you. Where are you going from here? You just continue just to live each day and appreciate each day. Yeah. And um I mean, here we are on Maui, right?
00:47:42 – 00:48:43
We’re on the furthest land mass of any land mass on the planet. That was one of my lines in TED talk in the TED talk. But truly, I mean, we’re in the middle of the Pacific and we have so many power places to get to, you know, uh I want to walk in Halakala again. We used to hike Halakala all the time, you know. I want to that’s why the training in EA I feel like I’m training to go back in. And uh and so, you know, I I want to travel uh back to Italy. I want to see my family in Sicily and Italy again. I I
00:48:12 – 00:49:19
applied for Italian citizenship and so uh yeah, so hopefully uh that’ll occur. I don’t know what I’ll do with that, but at the same time, I wanted my daughter to benefit from that. And uh you know uh we’ll see. It’s a thing where what kind of benefit should she have? Well, she would be also a citizen. She would get dual citizenship. And so and so you know it’s a thing where um at her age, you know, she’s a ripe old age of 30. So uh you know, 31, I think. No. Yeah, 31. And um and so uh
00:48:47 – 00:49:53
you know, how can she be 30 when we feel like we’re 30? I tell you, I used to think 40 was old when I was in my 20s, right? Yeah. I mean, 40 is half my life ago. I think about that. That’s incredible. It is. That’s why it’s going to be a trip to get back to cooho lav and and feel you know I used to do all the composting for the access all the people that would come and and all the food that was left over and he you know we would we would compost and and it was a really cool thing there and and that
00:49:19 – 00:50:31
that island was amazing just being there. I don’t know you ever been on the island? Oh my god it’s uh it’s powerful powerful place of of of Hawaiian spirit there. And so, uh, I’m really excited for my wife to touch the island. The island touch her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Being Hawaiian. And, uh, so, yeah, there’s, uh, um, you know, I just look to just continue doing what I’m doing and let the universe do the math and support me along the way. I tell people you know we kind of find people like
00:49:55 – 00:51:01
live their life have do be you know if I have this then I can do this and then I’ll be you know and just I tell encourage myself to and others just be do have you know it’s important to be who we are so we can do what we feel our spirits wants us to do and we’ll have what we need you know and so that’s how it’s worked this point and I don’t feel the universe is a cruel joke So, you know, we’ll uh take it in that spirit. And because of the way I watch as you’re living, you’re living and appreciating
00:50:29 – 00:51:37
each day. And yeah, the before you recognize it, but you don’t live it. You live now. Yeah. Very, very alive. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like I said, I’m your mirror, man. You’re you’re living that yourself. You It’s great. You got a gig here. you’re doing this gig, you know, I’m just having fun and I want to keep bringing good people to light. You know, that’s what this is about for me. Yeah, it’s wonderful. And hopefully space, you know, and I um I only get political
00:51:02 – 00:52:19
if it suddenly overwhelms me like GoDaddy’s webcare people or someone wanted to mention don’t go to the tire place that Christ they gave you changed. I could I could turn this into one of those shows. I don’t know what we’d call it. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Jace R. Someone said to me, “You’re not really a talk show host.” Well, what? Well, I have to, I guess, to tell more jokes and cut you off more and and turn the subject around. And I don’t know. I’ve
00:51:41 – 00:52:38
been doing this for so long, but having fun at it because that’s the main thing. My goal has been literally to to bring people into the light so they feel comfortable to be themselves. Yes. Absolutely. And share who they are. That was how I did my political interviews. I wasn’t there with an agenda to hurt anyone. Yeah. Right. No matter what their opinion was. If I could talk to someone That’s right. To me, that’s a win. It’s the people that aren’t willing to change their
00:52:10 – 00:53:22
positions, that aren’t open to negotiating. That’s right. And embracing a solution. Yeah. That’s right. No, it’s true enough. It’s called collaborating and cooperating, you know, and and that’s that’s basically the mantra I lived with in building a farmers union, building, you know, Maui Loha association. Uh it was uh you know my wife and I we were you know amazing partners in that spirit the synergy 1 plus 1 equals three kind you know and and doing all that work. I mean, we used to we used to get done the
00:52:45 – 00:53:56
farm. We would Irene would go in the house, cook dishes. I would I would get all this load up all the van of all the stuff, you know. We’d have the week before we go out and get prizes for for the um the what do you call it? The raffle. Unraff. We had to call it an un raffle because you’re not allowed to have raffles, right? Um and then we would uh bring get gather produce. So we have a produce swap and then we drive up to the other mountain on Halakala at the pool room in Pukalani and we would put
00:53:20 – 00:54:25
on a gathering for folks potluck you know and and we’d have this amazing spread of food and we would have farmers speaking and it was just that was the birth that was the nexus of now 16 chapters statewide you know doing the same thing and it’s a beautiful thing you know to highlight local agriculture in your region, you know, to be able to uh have create value in your particular re region for local agriculture. That’s why I’m back in the trench doing this work, you know, that’s
00:53:54 – 00:54:56
that’s what it is. It’s trench work, you know, fermenting fish and perforating cardboard and all this stuff. But what I learned how to do in that trench is be able to kiss the walls of the trench, you know, know that that’s the trench I want to be in. That’s I love the being doing this work and when it gets difficult just kiss the walls of the trench you know and you’re uh you’re like you say you were doing it with Kai now you’re doing it more uh in the community in a broader
00:54:26 – 00:55:30
brush. Yeah. Yeah. Not as much in the community. I mean I’m consulting with people and stuff but my my that those days are over. for all the all the I mean what my wife and I have done over the years is just uh we we we say to each other well we know what we did you know and that it was a beautiful thing and that was then and now it’s just uh taking care of ourselves and our family and you know just to be able to you know consult with people doing this work and yeah well you’ve left an impact and you’re
00:54:57 – 00:56:08
leaving an impact now that uh thank you like I want to say you said kiss the trench You know, it’s like you’re in this trench. You’re doing the work and you’re what do we say? Um I always like to say vision plus action. That’s how you get result. That’s right. So that’s the same thing. You’re doing it and you’re setting that groove for the next groove setters. You are the shoulders that are next generation, you know. Interesting. Yeah. I’ I’ve had I’ve had
00:55:33 – 00:56:45
some Uncle Harry Mitchell being one of them. Uncle Leslie Killio, you know, have had uh great mentors along the way and uh Jerry Brunetti and a lot of people that just uh you know helped shape my world. So yeah, I can appreciate that uh others will come behind and continue this work and develop it in a way that’ll benefit others. Yeah. Well, Vince Mina, you’ve been terrific. Vincent Mina. How do we find you on Facebook? Vincent, right? Yeah. Vincent Mina. Yeah. M I NA. And uh on EG Instagram is Maui Mina.
00:56:09 – 00:57:22
Yeah. And uh even Tik Tok. I think I’m Maui Mina 69 on Tik Tok. Wow. But uh yeah, I’m I’m I’m I’m like into social media. So that’s good. At this age, you know, a lot of people I know that don’t even have an email. Well, we are out of here. Thank you very much for been a blessing. Appreciate it. I am going to hit the button and we are out of here. Thank you all for joining us. We’ll see you next week. Aloha everyone. Aloha. Yeeha. That went by fast. Real fast. Thank you. You’re welcome.
00:56:47 – 00:56:50
Appreciate it, man.
