Ever Green
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Kozen Kaneshiro and Barbara Lowe, president and vice
president respectively of Malama o Manoa, stand amid
the community garden plots.
MANOA has it. Waialae-Kahala used to have it. Mililani might get it. It's a sense of place, of a united neighborhood with a common history but a diverse culture. Waialae-Kahala lost it when the massive houses with the iron gates and no yards replaced the original family homes. But Manoa has a lock on the sense of community it offers its residents. Manoa Day
with neighborsOn Saturday, Oct. 16, the residents will celebrate their heritage at Malama Aina Manoa Day with a variety of events featuring horticultural and environmental professionals, artisans and plant growers contributing to a day of learning and entertainment. The public is invited, and the happenings take place between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. all over the valley, with most at Manoa Elementary School and district park or at Lyon Arboretum.
A few of the classes, including a wreath-making demonstration by Amelia Bailey, lei-making demonstrations by Ken and Alice Chun and an introduction to feng shui gardening by Vicki Miyashiro Brooks, have a $2 registration fee because of limited space. The first 300 registrants for the programs will receive an endangered native hibiscus plant or a bag of compost -- your call -- to improve their gardens.
And if you haven't got a garden because you live in an apartment, there is a lively alternative to struggling with potted plants on your lanai. Visit the thriving Manoa Community Garden near the campus of Manoa School and talk with the knowledgeable and energetic gardeners who are cultivating everything from arugula to zucchini. The city lends each a small plot of his own to plant, but the main crop is friendship, as the growers of all ages and ethnic backgrounds work and talk and share knowledge and produce.Also requiring registration are a 7:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. hike up Waahila Ridge for intermediate and experienced hikers, and hikes up Manoa Stream at 8 or 9:45 a.m. or 2 p.m. and through Lyon Arboretum at 8:45 a.m. for beginners through Sherpas. There is a $5 registration fee for these, and all are led by experienced guides.
Activities for kids are free and include programs planned by Girl Scout Troops 755 and 868. They will be creating Halloween pumpkins and trick-or-treat bags, while nature projects will be under way at Lyon Arboretum. Throughout the day, there will be a sale of Hawaiian native plants as well as herbs and landscaping material particularly suited to Manoa Valley.
The event is sponsored by Malama o Manoa, a historic preservation committee founded in 1992, "to promote the community; celebrate our cultural diversity and heritage and to preserve, protect and enhance the special qualities of historic Manoa Valley." Kozen Kaneshiro is president. Projects include the restoration of the Manoa Valley Recreation Center meeting rooms, the removal of graffiti on public buildings, the clean-up of the Manoa Stream Pathway and the ongoing opposition to the proposed high voltage, high visibility electric lines on Waahila Ridge.
Now, back to the issue of feng shui in your garden, a lecture to be given at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. by Vicki Miyashiro Brooks, a certified feng shui consultant. Registration and a $2 fee are required. She is a graduate of Kalani High School and the University of Hawaii now living in Los Angeles. In a telephone interview, Brooks explained that feng shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy that uses the energy in the environment.
"This energy extends to our lives," Brooks said. "Positioning objects properly will enhance our energetic selves and enhances our personal chi, the Chinese concept of the life force, what the Hawaiians call mana." She said that there are several different schools of feng shui, and that she studied with Lin Yun who has a Tibetan Tantric Buddhist temple in Berkeley.
"We use the bagua, an octagon, where each side is an aspect of our life. These eight aspects are wealth, fame and reputation, relationships and marriage, children and creativity, benefactors and travel, career, family and health, and knowledge. We overlay the bagua over a chart of the property and determine what is going on in the different aspects, and then suggest how to make improvements.
"If the overlay shows that in the wealth corner there is a dead tree, then the energy is not activated so you have to put something healthy and more vibrant there. Stagnant water or standing water in the family segment is bad. In the marriage aspect, you don't want cacti or roses with thorns. In the money corner, you want active growth in plants, and round leaves to suggest the roundness of coins. Avoid long, thin leaves. Ponds are good, particularly with circulating water that moves the energy and six red fish swimming in it. Generally, what you want is growth and vibrancy, plants that are healthy and green to reinforce the subconscious and increase the flow of chi."
No matter where you live, there is something to learn in Manoa.
Malama Aina Manoa Day
When: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 16
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
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