Seaview Garden Update: Lots of Rain and Lots of New Growth - Seaview, Lower Puna, Far East Big Island of Hawai'i - May 13, 2022

Warm greetings all! 🙏 💚

I felt it was time for another Seaview Garden Update, as we've been getting lots and lots of rain, there are new garden beds, I have the beginning of a new nursery space, and many of the plants have grown quite notably since I did my last update.

For almost three and a half years, I lived at GaiaYoga Gardens, an 18-acre, off-grid, clothing-optional, food-forest intentional community deep in the jungles of Lower Puna, on the Eastern tip of the Big Island of Hawai'i. In that time, I propagated and planted a huge array of plants, spread throughout the property. I also have a small nursery there, filled with all manner of edible, medicinal, useful, and beautiful plants. Even though I loved living at GaiaYoga, it was always quite challenging, for a whole host of reasons. I'm presently transitioning out of that beautiful and challenging jungle community.

For the most part, I now live full time at The Sanctuary of The Blue Dragon, with my partner, @kai-sunrise, in Seaview, which is also in Lower Puna, on the coast. I still have many roots, both literal and figurative (I still have lots of plants there!), at GaiaYoga, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I'll still be going there to bring more of my plants to Seaview, to harvest plants for my medicinal teas, and to collect propagules of various plants there. I just created the start of a small nursery space at The Sanctuary of The Blue Dragon, which is a requirement for me to really get deep into my plants here. The diversity and quantity of plants at GaiaYoga is far greater than here in Seaview, so it's going to take a while for me to build up enough of the plants that I use regularly in my medicinal teas. A little at a time.

This is my new nursery space! I've needed a nursery space for a while now, and I finally created the beginning of one. I'll expand it over time, as I propagate more and more of my beloved plants.

This is the area that I was using as a nursery before creating the new one. I still have some plants here, that will either be planted in the ground or moved to the new nursery. This spot is quite protected, so it's good for new cuttings, up-potted plants, and any other plants in a more sensitive state, so I'll likely still use it to some degree.

The round mound bed has had a lot of activity. Lots of weeding and planting. I planted more curly-leaf kale, green onions of various sorts, arugula, and a few different peppers. I also moved a larger Hawaiian Hot Pepper (a locally adapted hot pepper variety) from my off-grid jungle community, where it was getting far too much shade, to here, where it should fill out again and thrive. It is the taller, rather straggly plant on the side of the mound. The amaranth, Amaranthus viridis, is growing fantastically well, and is producing lots of wonderful, nutrient-dense greens.

The Krishna Tulsi, Oncimum tenuiflorum and comfrey, Symphytum × uplandicum, in this bed around an Ohia, Metrosideros polymorpha, are growing very well now. I planted a few more smaller Krishna tulsi since the last update. These are two important plants that I use in my medicinal teas, so I want a lot of them. There's also a local fellow who wants to buy cut Krishna tulsi from me to make his own healing elixirs to sell, so I need a lot of it.

These are two more beautiful Krishna tulsi plants that were planted several months ago, and are doing wonderfully well.

The patchouli, Pogostemon cablin, in the bed under a strawberry guava, Psidium cattleyanum, is beginning to fill in and grow quite well. This is another important plant for my tea blends, so I want a lot of it. I had to move my tea plants, Camellia sinensis, from another bed, as the conditions were too harsh for them. One of them can be seen here, surrounded by sticks. It's doing much better now. I transplanted another to a nearby bed. Unfortunately, the smallest of the three died. I also moved a lemon balm, Melissa officinalis, to this bed from the same bed that I moved my tea plants, and for the same reason. It's also doing much better (There is a seedling Job's tears, Coix lacryma-jobi, growing in the middle of it, which I'll transplant soon). One of the Persian Shields, Strobilanthes dyerianus, the smaller one, died, but the other one is doing quite well.

The ramgoat dashalong, Ternera ulmifolia, and the tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, that I planted in the bed under the hala tree, Pandanus tectorius, have begun to grow and fill in quite nicely. The ramgoat dashalong is another important plant for my medicinal teas.

The border wall bed still looks pretty bare, but a few of the plants are beginning to grow nicely. I also planted various pepper plants, and they're just starting to put on some good growth.

The vana tulsi, Ocimum gratissimum, that I planted in this bed is beginning to take off. This is another important plant for my medicinal tea blends. The older stems are dying, while vigorous new stems are shooting skyward. When happy, these get quite large, hence its alternate name, tree basil.

The thimbleberry, Rubus rosifolius, is also growing very well. It's beginning to produce fruit, though the birds have beat us to eating them. This will produce a nice patch here. It's already growing new stems from ground level.

The two white mulberry trees, Morus alba, are also growing really well, and are already producing fruit. I put these and the thimbleberry next to the kitchen for easy harvesting for smoothies and such.

The more exposed bed where I planted various herbs, pink-flowered tobacco, Nicotiana tobacum, and tea plants, Camellia sinensis, was too harsh for the tea and lemon balm (which were moved), but some of the plants have exploded with growth. Some of the tobacco have gotten huge. Some of the herbs have expanded notably as well.

The orange mint, Mentha x piperita f. citrata, is spreading quite quickly now, and it's getting some height on it, which is great for harvesting!

The mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, is also filling in nicely.

In place of one of my small tea plants, I planted some purslane, Portulaca oleracea. These are looking pretty good now.

The gotu kola, Centella asiatica, is also looking really good, and is spreading fast. This is another important medicinal plant for my teas, so I plant it everywhere I can.

This is a patch of gotu kola that I discovered growing on the corner of one of the buildings here. It's funny, since I brought several gotu kola plants to plant, and it was already here.

Some more gotu kola that I've been spreading around the property.

Some more gotu kola transplants in new spots.

Plantain, Plantago major, is another medicinal plant that I use in my teas, that I'm trying to spread around the property.

This is new shade bed that I created under another strawberry guava. I planted three young patchouli plants here, along with a white-flowered Anthurium, and a start of wandering Tradescantia zebrina, which is both beautiul and medicinal.

This is a new bed that I created under another Ohia tree. I planted some tomatoes and two big Cuban cilantro/Culantro plants, Eryngium foetidum. The culantro is another very important plant for my tea blends, so I'm spreading it around.

This is the beginning of another new shade bed. We don't presently have enough soil and cinder to cover this entire area, so I've at least begun the process of laying down lots of coconut husks, coconut fronds, and banana leaves, to act as a base. I'll add soil and cinder when it becomes available.

These are two large patchouli plants that I transplanted here, from non-ideal locations back in my off-grid jungle community. Wild pugs have been coming in at night and rooting out and eating the cassava, and they're getting a bit close to these new Patchouli, so I might have to move them.

This is a pineapple sage, Salvia elegans, that I planted a few months ago. It's starting to spread nicely. It's also beginning to get flowers.

This is a vana tulsi that I had to move from another bed, as it was not growing well, which is incredibly unusual, as this plant usually grows very well everywhere I plant it. Hopefully it will like this spot better. The new growth is already looking better.

This is the other of my two surviving tea plants, in its new location. It's looking a bit better, thankfully.

*The coffee that I planted a few months ago is growing fast. I'm really happy it's doing so well, as the leaves are another important component of my medicinal teas (they have a 17% higher antioxidant content than tea, Camellia sinensis).

This is a Brazilian cherry, Eugenia brasiliensis, that I planted about two weeks ago. They are beautiful small trees that produce delicious cherry-like fruit.

That's all for now! Until next update!

Thank you all so much for allowing me to share more of the beauty and magic from my life and my world with you, and for your continuous appreciation and support! I am deeply grateful! 🙏 💚

Image created by @doze.