We aim to offer access to local farms & the farmers who tend them, ways to connect to local creatives & the spaces they’ve curated, & share knowledge deeply rooted in culturally rich & creative land-based endeavors
My name is Paige Minney and I am one small part of the creative collective that has helped to shape Iolana Farms. I am a second generation Protea farmer, born and raised on Maui, Hawai’i. Our family farm, Malolo Farm Protea has been in operation since 1986 and still produces some of the most unique Protea blooms, globally.
Since the fires our island suffered in August 2023, I’ve been reimagining my offerings to my community, like many of us have. It has become my goal to serve this community as best I know how by trying to connect farmers with resources to help them sustain their craft, by encouraging folks with a strong desire to keep tending their land in profitable, fulfilling ways, and to try to help educate and inoculate our inevitable influx of visitors with a variety of knowledge in the hopes of breeding a more reciprocal tourist industry in Hawai’i.
Through Iolana Farms, I am offering my services as a landscape professional, a lifetime farmer, and a creative problem solver. If you’re not finding what you’d hoped for in our Offerings, please reach out directly via email.
Iolana - “To Soar Like the Hawk”
‘Io is the endemic Hawaiian Native Hawk. In mo’olelo (Hawaiian stories, myths, or legends), they are regarded as teachers or judges, and highly respected as they have been on the islands long before any of us. Only in 2020 were their species removed from the Federally endangered list with a stabilized population of around 3,000 birds. These birds have survived for centuries due to their fierce adaptability, resilience, and territorial ways.
By nature, they are patient, curious and inquisitive observers of their surroundings, only making educated moves towards achieving their vital goals. Inspiration and guidance from this wise bird have helped ‘io become the foundation for our namesake and one of our most important teachers in this time of change and necessary adaptation.
Reference link for words from Puanani Fernandez-Akamine
