Okay life on Mauna Loa (long mountain) Volcano is definitely a nice lifestyle to live. If you like a slower life with the sounds of birds when you wake up, flowers, lots of green, green plants, geckos, around 82 degrees in the day, normally cool at night and lots of stars when the cloud cover recedes – you may like living here.
Now there are many people who think they would love to live on the islands of Hawaii, but people come and go at a very fast pace here. For me Hawaii is a Paradise, though most people do not take into consideration that there are only so many places to go and only so many things to do on an island! For those who figure this out after they’ve moved here, and now want to leave – we call this “Rock Fever!”
Don’t get me wrong, if you love the outdoors, there are plenty things to do on the mountain: hiking, checking out Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, camping, bicycling, scenic drives, picnicking, checking out the petroglyphs, bird watching, golfing, camping, spelunking (caving in lava tubes), hunting, and a lot more that I am not thinking about at the moment.
To be honest, there are also the downside of living here. In 2018 the volcano was going off and our house was being shaken by earthquakes constantly, though nothing like those closest to Kilauea Caldera at the summit or anything like those whose homes were destroyed by the new eruption in Leilani Estates. The reality is that Hawaii had the longest active volcano in the world that began in 1983 and stopped in 2018 and started back up in 2020. With the new eruption going off at the summit it is a pretty awesome and scary site at the same time. Learn more about it go to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilauea
Here is another link to a great picture at night at the summit!
Hawaii is quite something; majestic and has all the climates here in the Big Island except the extreme heat and extreme cold. It has weather normally around 82 degrees and at the same time may have snow on the mountain. One moment it may be sunny and the next moment raining with a rainbow in front of you. Yes, it is expensive with a gallon of milk is from $6 to $8.00, gas has been between $4.94-$5.49 and going up, whole wheat bread can be as much as $8. Rent and utilities are high of course; and wages suck big time.
With covid-19 hitting us in 2020 and shutting down the tourism industry and most businesses here in Hawaii, there are many local people who are leaving to find jobs on the mainland where it is less expensive and more resources available. Most schools that were all on-line are now open, though our kids still have to wear mask. How can you learn to read and talk well with a mask on?
In reverse there are many who are coming here and purchasing homes or renting because they are now doing remote online work, and they rather be in Hawaii while working, instead of the mainland.
For my family and I, we rather be here in rural Hawaii then a large metropolitan area or suburb. Here in Hawaii, there is room to roam, fruit year-round, fishing year-round, hunting year-round, and the right weather to grow your own food year around.
People here are beginning to learn new skills to support themselves and learn the old way of bartering. It is good to grow your own food and be as self-reliant in today’s economy. This is a good thing. For far too long we have been depending on our local grocery store to walk away with most, if not all our food needs. Our concept of feeding ourselves for most of us, has been pretty much exclusively the grocery store! Last year we got a big wake-up call – and personally I don’t think this is going to go away.
Across the globe things have opened up, but it seems like lawlessness is ratcheting up. With inflation so high, many of us are being hurt, especially families and seniors with limited resources. On top of all this our southern border is wide open there are so many problems; drug smuggling, human trafficking, illness, possible terrorist coming across. I believe in people coming into our country, though our congress does nothing about creating fair and reasonable laws, so our presidents start writing executive orders. Stop, people we should make this a priority and call our congress and tell them to do the right thing. There is no other country in the world that is allowing people into their country like us, it is nuts. We (our government) is actually coordinating in South America how to get people through the various countries to the United States without it being a big thing in the media.
If you listen to the news at all they keep telling us there is going to be a food shortage. In today’s world most of us do not truly understand what it is to feed ourselves and how to take care of a family, as it was in the past on a farm. If you have a freezer buy some extra food and freeze it, get some cans and save it. Life as we knew it is not going to be as it was, everything is changing.
I tell my friends, grow a garden, learn a skill, get a network of people to barter with. Figure out how to make soap for dishes, laundry and your family. Get some books on growing food and canning it, on how to butcher animals, and look into getting a generator? Figure out your family needs in case of emergencies, don’t wait and be caught off guard. If you don’t have a place to garden find a co-op to see if they have a garden that you can help at and sow the benefits from. If not, get together with your neighbors or friends and see if you can come together to find a piece of property to garden together.
Life is amazing, people are amazing – live life each day to its fullest and help others. Bless those around you and grow and learn new things along the way. Life is what we make of it….
Well, I will leave it her for now. I hope to hear from you and any questions or comments you may have.
Mahalo Nui Loa (Thank You Very Much!)