In the Kumulipo,<\/a> the Hawaiian creation story, the goddess Ho\u2018oh\u014dk\u016bkalani gives birth to a stillborn son, who is buried in the fertile soil. In her grief, she waters the soil with her tears, and a sprout emerges, becoming the first kalo plant. This plant nourishes her second-born son, H\u0101loa, the first Native Hawaiian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Native Hawaiians, kalo, also known as taro\u2014a tropical plant prized for its starchy, nutritious,\u00a0 rootlike corm<\/a> as well as its leaves\u2014is not just a traditional food source<\/a> but an ancestor, symbolizing a lasting and reciprocal connection to land. As a staple crop, kalo has sustained Pacific Islander cultures for generations.<\/p>\n Especially for those who had left the island many decades earlier, it was monumental to see kalo being planted in Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Now kalo has sprouted thousands of miles from its ancestral home in the Portland metropolitan area, where a growing Native Hawaiian population resides. The land for the garden\u2014or m\u0101la, in Hawaiian\u2014started with just six square feet but has expanded exponentially, with multiple locations. What these gardens produce is more than just food and a bond with Indigenous culture; it is a thriving community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe give a safe space for our Hawaiian families,\u201d said Leialoha Ka\u2018ula, one of the garden project\u2019s founders, describing its greater purpose. \u201cIt [is] also food sovereignty, that relationship to \u02bb\u0101ina, or land. It\u2019s a place of healing.\u201d<\/p>\n Ka\u2018ula, like many Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI), left the islands due to the high cost of living there, combined with low wages and lack of jobs and housing<\/span>. It\u2019s part of a pattern<\/a> that followed the illegal overthrow<\/a> of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893 and declaration of statehood by the U.S. in 1959. Then as now, emigration is fueled by unaffordable living costs, low-wage jobs<\/a>, and a housing crisis driven by tourism<\/a>, luxury development, and an influx of mainlanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2020, the U.S. Census reported that, for the first time, more Native Hawaiians<\/a> live in the continental U.S. than they do in Hawai\u02bbi, with Oregon having nearly 40,000 NHPI residents<\/a>. Many in the diaspora long for stronger ties to their home and cultural identity.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Ka\u02bbula and others<\/a>, the relationship with kalo is binding, and without it, Native Hawaiians lose vital connections to their culture and mana, a Hawaiian term for spiritual and healing power. But growing kalo is not as easy as just planting it in the ground. Cultivation took years of effort and help from multiple hands.<\/p>\n Ka \u02bbAha L\u0101hui O \u02bbOlekona Hawaiian Civic Club (KALO HCC) Executive Director Leialoha Ka\u02bbula demonstrates the art of making laulau with fresh kalo leaves from the club\u2019s m\u0101la, or garden. (Photo courtesy of KALO HCC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Born on O\u02bbahu and raised on Hawai\u02bbi Island, Ka\u02bbula was steeped in Hawaiian culture through her family. Her grandmother introduced her to the Hawaiian language when she was little. Wanting to continue those studies, she attended a Hawaiian immersion charter school, where she also learned cultural practices like hula, chanting, and the traditional farming methods of her ancestors, including how to grow kalo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ka\u02bbula came to the Pacific Northwest in the early 2000s to study psychology at Washington State University and eventually settled in Beaverton, Oregon. From her first days in Washington, Ka\u02bbula dreamed of growing kalo there, but accessing land was a challenge.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, she started a hula academy<\/a> in Beaverton to help carry on the traditions of her elders. She also helped found Ka \u02bbAha L\u0101hui O \u02bbOlekona Hawaiian Civic Club (KALO HCC)<\/a>, one of several such clubs across Hawai\u02bbi and the continental U.S. promoting Native Hawaiian culture, advocacy, and community welfare after the dissolution of the Hawaiian Kingdom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nLand Access and Indigenous Blessings<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/August-Mala-24-vertical.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n