‘Ohana means family…
The heart of our homestead is our family. Its growth and evolution are rooted in our desire to provide our children with nutritious, wholesome food, a natural environment to challenge them and invite them to explore, and a conscious connection to natural cycles.
‘Ohana includes more than just our immediate family, though, extending the concept of familial responsibility beyond blood relations to an intentional community that is sustained through reciprocal sharing, support, and cooperation. Without our ‘ohana, our small farm would not be sustainable. It is the interdependence of a diverse variety of systems that make a farm healthy and viable . This truth applies on the community level as well. Only with the unique contributions of a diverse group of participating community members is our farm able to exist. Self-sustainable has become a buzz word, but those who strive for it need to understand that in reference to a small farm, the term self-sustainable applies only when the definition of self extends beyond the individual to include all those that contribute to the ‘self’s’ health and well being.
‘Ohana also includes our non-human family. We are dependent upon, and grateful for, all the beings that sustain us. This is reflected in our efforts to honor the natural inclinations of each member of our ‘ohana. Whether it be by letting bees swarm, or keeping calves with their mothers, free-ranging chickens, or allowing a few weeds (often very helpful in their own right!) and bugs in the garden, it is our intention to respect every being as our family, our ‘ohana.
Ferlin and Yeshuah Slabaugh-Kauhane have been homesteading in Opihikao for over twenty years. They enjoy sharing the joys and challenges of living off grid with their children and their many guests, many of whom they are blessed to include in their ‘ohana.
River, our oldest farm 'ohana, tells Ferlin a joke occassionally
