January 2026 Newsletter

We, here at the WE community that is Bennett Farm and Nursery, extend our best to you for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026. We have had our challenges here, but look to the future with hope, optimism and a sense of community. Our mission is to make Hawaii, Hawaii Island first, self-sustaining in its food supply and even export to the rest of the world. Now that is real security.

We need to plant more, grow more and share more inspiration so that others will do likewise. To that end, we are expanding the nursery, so that in 2027 we will offer citrus trees on both a dwarf rootstock and regular rootstock. We plan to be planting more trees here on the farm, so that we will supply to the island even more natural, delicious, sweet fruits. In February, we will begin a series at the Naalehu Public Library where we will present monthly: Beginning a Garden; Growing the Garden; The Perennial Garden; and Growing an Orchard or Field; and we invite you to participate.

 We had a wonderful time in 2025 beginning in March where we have been painting a mural in the basement that follows the Sacred Tree and the indigenous Medicine Wheel of the Four Directions, depicting the Big Island from our perspective near South Point, such that individuals can work as a community and reach an individual potential on their spiritual journey. It reminds me off Masanobu Fukuoka who said in The One-Straw Revolution, “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” We have been painting monthly, usually the last Friday or Saturday of the month from 3pm to 6pm.

  Our last paint session had the highlight of a long-time friend, Robbie Maxx, who came for the first time and began a taro patch, central to Hawaiian culture, somewhere in Waipio Valley on Kohala Mountain. This is where inspiration comes from, and usually it is not devoid of perspiration. So we are grateful for our group that paints regularly, but we invite the whole community to unite and share and grow. Do not think that you need some special artistic skill to be included; to the contrary, this is where our best learning and growing happens. Our next mural painting will be Friday, January 23rd from 3pm to 6pm.

We will be having our Winter Sale, February 13th & 14th from 9am to 3pm immediately followed by our BBQ Potluck with Hawaiian blessing. Please share the word.

https://www.bennettfarmandnursery.com/