The day of March 22, was quiet, melancholy and dull. No tours were being conducted, no coffee in need of brewing and no cars to greet. In comparison to the hustle and bustle of a usual business day, filled with the cacophony of chatter, steam and footsteps, the quiet seemed eerie and wrong. Folks at Heavenly Hawaiian looked to each other and seemed to realize this was to be the new normal for a while. Hosting guests at the farm would be coming to a close - people did not want to leave their homes let alone, visit a coffee farm. Things were going to change. 

March 23rd was the day the big news rang out. Lockdown on the Big Island of Hawai'i to discourage the spread of COVID-19. For seemingly everybody, this was inconceivable. An entire state, halted from all unnecessary movement. Is that even constitutional? Community events shut down: from farmer's markets to Native Hawaiian heritage courses. Beach fronts were closed to the public and any travel outside of ones' home should be limited to only necessary endeavors. The amount of worry began to grow, not only for the community but also for the state of the world. 

With this panic, also came inspiration. When the world shut down all things unnecessary, people turned to the necessary entities. Partnered with the power of perception and surrounded by what is important, sparks flew and created an ever growing cloud of ideas: two college-ruled pages full, to be precise. Our plans at Heavenly focused on many elements, yet mainly landed on the idea of improvement. Improvement to the gift shop and ways of inventory. Improvement on the beautification of the land. Improvement on farm equipment, housing, this website; our lanai, garden and so much more. 

Without further need to wait, the first of many projects began on March 24th. 

Blazing a trail across the hillside to accommodate visitors walking down to the shop from the upper parking lot. Our Work-Stay Program for the farm has already proven to be an immense help in the visualization and construction of these ideas. James and Brayden are two of our newer members to the program and started this first great project. You can see them working hard on leveling out the walkway and rearranging the rocks, freshly unearthed, to create the retaining wall. 

Day one of the project proved to be a success. Cloudy skies made for gentle working conditions and plenty of availability to work hard throughout the day. Meaning, these men blasted through half of the project in several hours of the first day. The only thing in need of completion now is the second trail head and beautification around the path. As you continue to scroll down, you will be able to see many of the photos that have captured their hard work on March 24.

In these trying times where the world is on a swivel, there are plenty of ways to spend your time. Here at Heavenly, we decided to better the farm, and by doing these projects bettering ourselves. 

We have quite a bit happening on the farm now, so stay tuned and: 

Welcome to the Heavenly Chronicles. 

-A Hui Ho-