Our Family Story
My mom Ruth and dad PB work very hard dedicating their lives
to creating Heaven on Earth! They do through our organic farm and the daily
choices we make.
My family move back to my mom's home in Hawaii in 2000; this was the
beginning of an incredible roller coaster ride that neither my mom or
dad ever saw coming. It was with this move that my parents learned first
hand about chemical drift /trespass and chemicals that transform into
more dangerous toxic forms, called, "Oxons", when they are exposed to
temperatures over 76 degrees, just like here in Hawaii.
It seems like the last decade of our lives have been about learning how to
regain our health with high quality organic foods and state of the art healing
methods not commonly found in American hospitals and doctors offices.
My family has also gotten a first hand dose of pesticide law, enforcement
(or lack thereof in our case) and what really happens to the common person
in the American Judicial system. Throw all that into a salad bowl and toss,
then you'll have a taste of what my family has been going through since
moving back to Hawaii; not exactly the life my parents were envisioning
for all they gave up.
My mom tells me, from our very comfortable world where almost anything
we wanted we could have, we were thrust into a world where we had to
very quickly wake up to the environmental dangers that lurked unknowingly
around us. Very quickly my parents had to educate themselves on how to
proactively protect us and our farm from the chemicals drifting from
the farm next door. Unfortunately it wasn't quick enough, because we all
got sick; my mom got the worse of it, because she didn't know the chemicals
stayed in the soil long after what the TV commercials and chemical
manufacturers lead us to believe.
My parents moved back to Hawaii because they wanted to apply our
spiritual teachings to live in harmony with nature, and mom wanted to
rediscover her Hawaiian cultural practices and the wisdom of our Ancestors
who always lived in Harmony with Nature.
But because of our health challenges that arose from the neighbor's
chemicals drifting onto our farm and into our house, learning
how to live a simplier organic lifestyle while not giving up too many of the
modern conveniences' become a necessity, rather than a choice.
Not that I know any better but, from my point of view I think we may
have actually already achieved it because, I don't see us going without
any of the conveniences available to man- we have dad's computer, t.v. we
got from Craig's list and good healthy organic food. Nor do we lack on the
green chic front at all- mom still has the chandeliers that she brought
from L.A. and makes our house look really fancy even
on a really tight budget (good thing we are good crafters)!
Yes it's true, we don't drive fancy cars or even new cars, and we don't
wear designer clothes anymore, or rarely eat out at the fancy restaurants
like we used to (unless we have coupons or someone gives us a gift card or
invitation to a fancy dinner). We can no longer afford all the luxuries we
once used to have before we/ my mom got sick from our former
neighbor's chemical spraying. It seems like our biggest luxury some
weeks is just having gas in our cars, having organic foods as our medicine
and trying to afford getting justice in the American Court system.
It's true that we only make choices that fit in our families value
system, but these are hard choices to make when my mom has to
choose between spending money on paying for printing papers we need for
our court case, instead of buying her medicine or paying the deductibles
for the doctors when another lump shows up on her body. Well......that's
not completely true, i mean most of the things the doctors say my mom
needs we just cannot choose at all because it is too much money no matter
how much money we try to save, which makes my mom have to settle for not
having a her brain function like it used to and that's why she refuses to give
up hope that the courts will make the people who caused this damage to her
pay for her medical rehabilitation.
It makes me sad to see my mom struggle in the most basic daily functions,
everyone of my mom's friends would tell me of how sharp, put together
and quick witted she used to be. Now..... she's just not that most of the
time, but sometimes i get glimpses of the way she used to be when she is
having a good day, but most of the time i see her working extra hard to
accomplish the simpliest of things. Most people can't see it, because she
doesn't let people see her struggle, but she is frustrated and cries alot.
What makes my Mom Amazing
One of the things I am amazed at is that my mom just won't quit on our
lawsuit and how she really believes in the American Judicial System to give
victims of crimes justice. When our Judge allowed our attorneys to
withdraw less then two months from our trial date and we couldn't get
another attorney in that short amount of time, my mom began doing it
herself. Of course she was a bear to be around, because she was so
frustrated that she didn't know what to do and no one at the court house
would answer her questions. One time the Hawaii Supreme Court staff
attorney did explain the rules of the court, but even when she followed the
instructions and explanations, the courts still rule against us, not even
following their own rules.
It's been over two years since my mom took over our case, and
despite all the tricks and the lies that the other side keeps doing in court,
and all the losses she endures, my mom is still moving forward because she
cannot understand why the courts will not enforce the laws and give us
justice when the neighbor cannot disprove our evidence from our eye
witnesses and experts who pin points her brain injury, lost and damaged
organs are directly related to our former neighbor's chemical spraying. To
me it looks like we keep losing, but she said, if God wanted her to stop, doors
wouldn't keep swinging open for us to move forward.
My mom is an eternal optimist, she actually believes the American Court
system will give us justice, she cannot believe they will allow people to get
away with destroying other peoples lives when there are laws that protect
farm workers and innocent people from chemical drift and their harmful
effects. She says our U.S. Constitution and laws protects and guarantees
an individual's rights to due process.
So far from where i stand, it looks like she is wrong and it kinda looks like
the court system sides with people who don't always follow the rules to
get their way; but what do i know, i am just a kid.
This isn't what they are teaching me in School!
My mom took me to the court house with her regularly and i got to see a
lot. I actually witnessed a file clerk and his manager at the court refuse
to file our papers despite laws that disallows that; then in our hearing the
clerk lied to the judge that he didn't refuse to accept our papers. I
thought adults always told the truth, i mean that is what they tell us to do,
but in Hawaii's court of law when this person swore to tell the truth and
nothing but the truth, he still lied and the courts believed him, and won't
punish him for lying no matter how much my mom and dad tries to prove that
he lied.
Then i saw the attorney for our former neighbor make up stories and give
the judge papers about how my mom changed and falsified dates on our
fax machine; what a joke, my mom is so computer and tech illiterate now,
she can barely remember how to send a fax and has to ask someone
everytime, just like the movie, "50 first dates". My mom was smart
though, because she figured out why the other side would do something
like that, she found out that if they could convince the judge that my mom
falsified faxed document dates, our case would be thrown out of courts for
doing something dishonest. Hey wait a minute....why would they throw our
case out if we did something dishonest, but not the other side?
My mom contacted the manufacturer of our fax machine and the accusing
attorney's fax machine which happened to be one and the same; low and
behold, they told us that it was impossible for the sender of a fax (us) to
alter the receiving fax's date stamp, and only the owner of the receiving
fax machine (them) could do that on their computer and fax logs- which
was exactly what the attorney and his secretary submitted to the court.
Well, my dad submitted the manufacturers paperwork to the courts and
guess what.... it disappeared out of the judges court jacket after my dad
put it in there. Of course coincidentally the file clerk who lied under oath
was the same file clerk who accepted the filing of this document and the
documents did go missing on his shift. I wonder if ............no that would be
dishonest!
I can tell you this for sure, what they teach us in school about our
American Court system and our rights as American citizens is
not what i saw in the Hawaii court system. To me, it looks like our laws
protect the people who break the laws and hurt other people more then
they protect the victims. This scares me a lot, because if our case is a
true example of how our judicial system really works (which many people
tell my mom it is) I think our State and Country is in big trouble!
Why is this Happening to Us?
I asked my mom why is this happening to our family, she said we have to
look at all the people that are involved. What is their agenda and what do
they have to lose? Sometimes people over analyze the short term affects
over the long term affects.
That seem crazy to me- I mean if our former neighbor had just given my
mom the list of chemicals they used so our doctor could have gotten this
stuff out of my mom's body before all the organ and systems damages
occured and before she lost an organ, my mom would have healed and we
would have moved on with our lives.
Now my mom is determined that this will never happen to anyone else.
I guess adults with all their short and long term analyzing aren't as
smart as they think, even a kid could see apologizing and making things right
in the beginning makes all the bad stuff go away so we can get back to
playing a lot faster! Wow, adults are funny, they tell us kids to be kind and
honest, but when it comes to them making money in business, they do the
opposite and will do just about anything to come out ahead. This makes me
both scared and sad because i think this is why the world is so messed up
today, because money seems to be more important then what is best for the
people.
So this is why foreigners don't like Americans!
Now i am beginning to understand why other people in other countries
don't like us and say we have double standards. I sure hope we can get
back to what our country's forefathers wanted for us, if not ......... well, I
hate to say it, but isn't this how revolutions and wars were started in
history? Kinda looks like that is starting to happen now, huh?
THE DAMAGE IS DONE!
Unfortunately, because the courts are not helping us get the
information my mom's doctors needed to make the medicine to help her,
it's too late for her, her damages are more then likely now permenant and
we can just hope that the knowledge we have gained about healing with
good food, growing food as medicine, and some of the fantastic
detoxification and nutritional therapies will be enough to sustain my mom
until we can see justice for the harm brought to our family. I guess if
there was something good i could find in all of this, it would have to be
that it has forced us to live a less complicated, more simplistic life (good
thing, 'cause now that my mom's photographic memory is gone and her
brain and body doesn't work the way it used to before she was damaged
by our neighbor's chemicals, she cannot do the more complicated things
she used to do; you know like cook dinner and talk to us at the same time,
add numbers in her head or even remember what she was doing if even
there's a little distraction- like me asking her a question.
Yeah my mom is very frustrated by how hard it is for her to function in
her daily life, but its because of this that she picks and chooses what she
allows in her life, it all has to have a deep significant meaning that either
will help our family or impact mankind for her to participate in it. So even
when all seems really bad, we've learned to find the gifts in it all, like
how having to simplify our life gives us time to appreciate the many gifts
that God gives us all, like each other, our friends, family, flowers, my
chickens that gives us delicous colorful eggs, and my cats that i love soooo
much, and even a home, when so many people who make much more money
then we, do not have one at all. If it weren't for my gramps giving my mom
part of our home and my daddy's family helping us buyout my mom's
brother and sister, maybe we'd be like many of the homeless here in
Hawaii now that my mom has a hard time working and contributing to our
family income.
Green Chic on a Budget!
The one gift my mom hasn't lost is her sense of style; not only can she
make things look nice, she can also do it while keeping it green and
organic! People think we spend or have a lot of money because my mom
knows how to make our house look nice, but that of course is part of what
she used to do for a living. In our house, style and creating a healthy
environment that is in harmony with nature is not an option or exclusive,
it's one and the same! Dumpster diving, hand me downs, crystals and
flowers along with a can of Paint is all my mom needs to make something
thrown away into an heirloom!
Food is our best Medicine!
When mom is well enough we grow some of our food so we can have all the
healing benefits of top quality organic foods coming right from our
backyard, not to mention the benefit of cost savings in
doctor bills (when you eat well you don't have to go to the doctors as
much).
Our experiences with our health, and the Hawaii Court system has made
our family more committed to healing the earth and our bodies just by
making food our best medicine. My mom is convinced that if everyone
learned to detoxify their bodies and ate only organically grown foods, then
we would all be allowed to live in harmony with each other and wouldn't
think about long term risk management formulas over what is righteous,
compassionate and correct (pono).
Grow a Garden or Support your Local Organic Farmer!
When we are sick we cannot grow our own food, but then we simply
support organic farmers who can do it for us, so we can still pro-actively
participate in healing the earth and our bodies with our buying choices.
Unfortunately, there seems like so many people are getting sick
unnecessarily. The goal of our website is to share, and provide your
family with the education, tools and inspiration to empower you to take
your future and health into your own hands by creating a life that you love
and become as self sustainable as possible.
My mom says the greatest gift we can give ourselves and our families is
health, and the education to know how to protect ourselves from
unnecessary illness. It can start as simply as making educated
choices at the super market or planting your first seed in a pot, or building
a small garden for you and your family to work together in and harvest your
food from every week. However you choose to get started, we would love to
be a part of your journey to a green and sustainable lifestyle, by sharing
with you the many tools we acquired along the way.
We'll do that with some tasty recipes even your kids will like, and will
want to learn to cook.
When you're ready to get your hands in the dirt, we will share some of
our best growing secrets and even have the tools you need in our
Online Store in the near future.
In addition to learning about food and growing, we'll share environmental
news stories and events that can help you understand what is going on, on a
local and global level that may affect you directly or indirectly, now and
in the future.
Check out our TV show beginning in 2011 (My Organic
Mom on GreenTalksS) to begin learning about Living Pono Style.
For the truly committed we have helpful tools which include; green
memberships (Food Fans, Pono Partners, Sustainable Sponsorships) that
provide you with expand details on our show topics, monthly healing recipe
plans, corresponding seasonal gardening and planting plans.
In our "E Ola Pono Marketplace" aka "online store" we'll offer seed
collections that correspond with our monthly menu plans for healing, in
addition to growing tips and organic products that bring the highest
nutrients and best flavors out of your soil and foods.
For those unable to grow their own food we offer a weekly "farm fresh
home delivered organic produce bags" that corresponds
with our monthly healing recipe plan (
Last but not least, mom and my aunties offers their favorite green and
organic solutions for everyday household cleaning product and some of her
specials teas that she says all busy mom's need a "Special Mom Time with
Friends" tea.
Today on the news, tv shows, in magazines and newspaper adults are all
talking about being sustainable, living green and buying organic, but what I
have come to realize is that most people really don't know what these
topics truly are or involve. The Kanaka Maoli's (Hawaiians) never just lived
sustainably, they were artisans in the use of everything until there was
nothing left-never any waste. This is what my mom is trying to get back
to, combining the wisdom of the old, with appropriate and responsible modern
technology, while of course keeping it all looking good at the same time.
So this is what my mom and I are sharing; all the tools and products
that are helping us succeed in our quest to creating a little piece of heaven on
earth and a life we love Pono Style!
I hope my family's experiences will help you and your family make the
best choices to creating a life you love.
Join us on our journey to rediscovering living on our own terms, in
harmony with nature and for all the right reasons!
Here in