Voices of the Farm Interns

This page is for the farm interns and volunteers who got to spend time at Mauna Kea Tea Farm.

I am sure that all participants had different experiences both good and bad since everybody has their own expectations and their unique circumstances.

Please post your comments to reflect on your personal benefits and experiences from your stay at MKT farm.   Also, if possible, please include your background and expectations before stay so that future participants can judge adequacy of their responsibility, skill levels and commitment to natural farming while their stay at the Farm.

Thank you for helping us improve the Internship Progarm,
Taka, Kimberly & Koji

Comments

  1. Unknown4/11/09, 6:35 AM

    Working on the tea farm was a great experience as Taka is quite knowledgeable in tea and natural farming. Taka and Kimberley are very genuine and it was nice living and working with them. It would be nice for future wwoofers, however if they had more of their own living space, so that they wouldn't have to worry about intruding on Taka and Kimberley's.

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  2. Unknown4/19/09, 9:28 AM

    Working on the MKT farm was hard work, but a lot of fun. We learned a lot about organic farming and most of all we made three new friends, Taka, Kimberly and Koji.

    Prior to coming to this farm we worked at a fairly large-scale organic fruit and vegetable farm. We expected work on the MKT farm to be more rigorous and demanding. It was true, but the work was also the most memorable and rewarding because it gave us a new perspective and attitude towards living sustainably. We have a better idea of how we are going to achieve this for ourselves regardless of where we live.

    We recommend the MKT farm for people who are eager to learn about small-scale permaculture and are not afraid to experience the real farm life where you participate in all aspects of maintaining and working a young farm.

    Carolyn and Philippe

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  3. Unknown7/1/10, 10:32 AM

    Doing a work-trade internship at Mauna Kea Tea Garden was a truly valuable experience. Not only did we learn a great deal about growing tea, we also discovered a lot about ourselves in the process. Kimberly and Taka are very warm and hospitable hosts, opening up their home and making us feel like part of the family.

    Mauna Kea Tea Garden is a beautiful, peaceful farm. We felt very in touch with nature and benefited from leaving behind many of the stresses and distractions of city life.

    It was nice to have Taka work alongside us each day, teaching us new ways of doing tasks and sometimes doing soil demonstrations and experiments. The work schedule was great because it allowed us to enough time to make substantial contributions to the farm, while still leaving us the second half of the day to hitchhike into town or work on our own garden. Also, we were provided with a lot of food and a great communal cabin and cooking area.

    We were on the farm for three months and we felt that was the perfect amount of time. We enthusiastically recommend this experience to those who are interested in learning firsthand about organic, family-run farming.

    If you are interested in checking out our blog, which recounts our experience on the farm, feel free to do so:
    wwoofinginhawaii.blogspot.com

    Susannah & Greg

    ReplyDelete

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