{"id":114089,"date":"2019-01-11T15:17:45","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T20:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/?p=114089\/"},"modified":"2019-02-08T12:27:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T17:27:52","slug":"serving-land-kelly-stern-oahu-immersion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/ja\/journal\/serving-land-kelly-stern-oahu-immersion\/","title":{"rendered":"Serving the Land that Provides: A Conversation with Kelly Stern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Learn from Kelly and connect with your roots\u2014literally\u2014in Wanderlust O’ahu<\/a> this year! Kelly will be leading “Connecting to the Land,” an outdoor adventure Immersion<\/a>, on February 28. Experience includes a farm tour, an outdoor yoga flow, and a farm-to-table lunch.\u00a0For tickets and more information, click here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

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When I connect with Kelly<\/a> on the phone, she’s just finished up working with a group of volunteers on her O\u2019ahu farm<\/a>. \u201cWe have a volunteer day every week\u201d she tells me, \u201ctypically working with\u00a0the local community and special needs adults. Today we were working with a non-profit organization that works to empower youth groups.”<\/p>\n

Kelly and her partner Paul Izak are the founders of Yogarden<\/a>, a community-minded farm that educates people about growing their own food and living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. “I\u2019ve really always been interested in my food” says Kelly. Born in North Florida, the plant-based and raw food chef, sustainable farmer, and yoga teacher became a vegetarian at just 9 years old. \u201cAfter reading about the inhumane practices of animal food production and factory farming, I started to get really invested in learning about where my food was coming from\u2014asking the question: if this is how meat is produced, just what was happening to my vegetables?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Marissa Phillips<\/div><\/div>\n

The Journey from Yoga to Farming<\/h3>\n

Kelly\u2019s studies about food production and farming were deeply aligned with her simultaneous yogic journey. While in college, Kelly worked at a Bikram yoga studio. Once she was ready to take the next steps in her practice, the studio raised money for her to travel to Hawaii and complete her Bikram training. She then traveled to Bali, where she completed her 500-HR\u00a0Ashtanga<\/a> and Iyengar<\/a>-based training.<\/p>\n

Stern lived in Bali for three years on and off, working as a mentor, teacher, and a raw food chef. This is where her passion for ethically-sourced food and cooking really started to blossom. She visited at a number of permaculture farms around Bali, and started to learn about the practice. \u201cBut I was always planting seeds wherever I traveled, and never stuck around long enough to see the results\u201d says Kelly. \u201cIt was then that I knew I wanted to put down my roots and find a more grounding situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009 Stern met her partner, musician Paul Izak. Settling in O\u2019ahu, the two began to dream of combining music, yoga, and farming. A Hawaii native, Izak was already starting to grow his own food, so this dream was not so far off. They started to organize events, with gatherings that consisted of yoga classes, farm-to-table food offerings, and a lineup of conscious musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would decorate the space with plants and fabrics, and give people plants and the education to grow their own food at home\u201d Kelly recalls. \u201cSometimes over 200 people would show up. The farm really evolved from this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Marissa Phillips<\/div><\/div>\n

Making it Home<\/h3>\n

Two years ago, after years of hosting their events in their home and on friend\u2019s farms, Kelly and Paul were finally able to acquire their own plot of farmland. Their primary crop is turmeric root, native root crops, and organic vegetables. They have plans to expand to grow fruits that thrive in tropical places like Hawaii, such as mangosteen and jackfruit.<\/p>\n

“We live in a climate where we can grow our own food year-round, and yet Hawaii as a whole imports 85\u201390 percent of its food,\u201d Kelly tells me. \u201cBut before there were planes and commercial boats, people were living here and growing all of their own food. So what happened between then and now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly and Paul decided that the best way to approach the situation was by educating people. “The land speaks to us, and tells us what belongs where. Our mission is to open the farm up to the community, so that we can all be of service to the land together.\u201d She describes a recent cooking demo she led where she explained how to alternate potatoes, which are not native to Hawaii, with the more abundant breadfruit. \u201cPeople are afraid of what they don’t know, so it’s really just about giving people information to make small, meaningful changes in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n