Photo courtesy O‘o Farm

We’re are excited to announce a unique, family-friendly and FREE Earth Day experience we’ve put together with the excellent people at O‘o Farm in Kula. It’s also our 2-year anniversary of the first day we announced the 50-state native tree planting tour back in 2010. Wow, how time flies!

HERE”s the PRESS RELEASE for your information:

O‘o Farm Partners with Plant a Wish for Earth Day Native Tree Planting Event, Community Participation Encouraged

On Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 from 10:00am until 3pm, Maui-based sustainable farm and agri-tourism innovator O‘o Farm hosts the Plant a Wish project in a community event and tree planting ceremony for Earth Day. The event includes complimentary farm tours, access to the farm’s gorgeous sprawling grounds, and the planting of a few very special native trees on the farm property in the afternoon. The tree planting ceremony – marking Earth Day and the 2-year anniversary of the launch of the Plant a Wish project – will be held at 2pm.  O‘o Farm is located at 651 Waipoli Road, in Kula.

In addition to participating in this historic tree planting, community members and visitors are encouraged to join in the free farm tours (held from 10am until 1pm), bring chairs or blankets to lounge on, and enjoy lounging on the farm property for a bring-your-own, picnic style lunch. Representatives from O‘o Farm and Plant a Wish founders Joseph Imhoff and Sara Tekula will be there to “talk story” about the land, the farm and the native trees, plants, and animal species of Maui.

Imhoff said, “there are many things to do on earth day, but this is a great opportunity to spend the day with your friends and family, truly connecting with the earth – the lands that sustain us and support our life on Maui.”

Plant a Wish founders launched their project – a 50-state native tree planting tour – on Earth Day 2010, and proceeded to travel around the country holding localized native tree planting events with communities in each state. They completed their mission in three road trips, and filmed the entire journey themselves. They are now hard at work on the documentary.

Tekula said, “it is really great that O‘o Farm embraces the importance of keeping native habitat alive on their farm. As we traveled the country on tour, we noticed a trend among certain – shall I say – wise farmers. They wanted their land to stay healthy, and the watersheds around them to stay clean and operational, so they planted native trees, plants, and grasses on a portion of their farm.”

O‘o Farm was purchased 11 years ago, and became the first “farm-to-table” operation on Maui. Today, O’o farm matures with Hawaiian coffee and fruit trees, rows of lettuce and garden vegetables, greenhouses with tomatoes, herbs and flowers which supply Lahaina eateries Pacific’O, I’O, The Feast at Lele, and Aina Gourmet Market.

About O‘o Farm:

In the upcountry farming community of Kula, lies eight acres of pristine land sustainably maintained and biodynamically cultivated.  O’o Farm is the result of the owner’s extraordinary commitment to providing quality local produce for their local Maui restaurants to deliver a true “Farm to Table” experience.  In 2000, surfing buddies turned successful restaurateurs, Louis Coulombe and Stephan Bel-Robert purchased near virginal upcountry land with a citrus and stone fruit orchard and a few coffee trees.  For more details, visit http://www.oofarm.com

Our tent under the Tree That Owns Itself. We took it down that night in a lightning and tornado storm and found refuge in a friend's guest house nearby.

9. Witnessing the Largest Dam Removal in U.S. History (Olympic National Park, WA)

Click the image to watch the Dam come down. We planted the first tree of the Elwha River Restoration project, where the lake is being drained back into the Elwha River.

8. Standing on Kayford Mountain, West Virginia

Joe filming mountain top removal site on Kayford Mountain, home of Larry Gibson and the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation.

7. Airboats and Alligators in the Everglades (Florida)

We saw alligators galore and covered a lot of ground, thanks to Mack's Fish Camp.

6. Visit to Grove of Oldest Living Trees on Earth (Bishop, CA)

Trees in Methuselah Grove, Inyo National Forest, CA

5. Full Moon Canoe Trip down Mississippi River (Clarksdale, MS)

A canoe with a view. Thanks to John Ruskey and the Mighty Quawpaws!

4. Wolverine Sighting! (Lake Yellowstone, Wyoming)

Not our photo. Our night-time wolverine encounter was over in a flash, but the memory stays with us forever.

3. Meeting and Interviewing our Heroes

Dr. Cleve Backster, father of bio-communication research, just one of the many heroes we got to interview for the Plant a Wish film.

2. Earth Day at Four Corners Monument

We planted in all four states in one day and re-vegetated the Four Corners Monument: Earth Day 2011! (Thanks to Navajo Parks, Al Schneider & Four Corners Native Plant Society!)

1. The Tour Finale! (Hawaii)

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa and his wife Ann joined us to plant the final tree, meanwhile over a thousand trees were planted through out the state on November 5th, the day of our finale!

Decorate a Live, Native Ohia for the Holidays!

MAKAWAO, HI, November 29 – Plant a Wish, a Maui-based native tree planting project that recently completed a mission to plant native trees in all 50 states, is back for a fifth consecutive year with its ‘Planting Christmas’ native Christmas tree sale and fundraising campaign. Starting today, Maui residents can begin placing orders on live, potted native ohi‘a lehua trees that have been pre-selected for decorating and displaying during the holidays. Each order includes free delivery, with all proceeds supporting the Plant a Wish project. Interested buyers can also request planting assistance, or may plant their holiday tree with Plant a Wish at an active native restoration site on Maui.

In 2007, ‘Plant a Wish’ co-founder and Makawao resident Joseph Imhoff initiated ‘Planting Christmas’, an annual project that initiates community support of the local native tree farming economy and encourages native habitat restoration in everyone’s backyard. As an expansion of his tree efforts on Maui, in 2010 Imhoff and his wife Sara Tekula began Plant a Wish, a 50-state native tree planting campaign and documentary film project. The couple completed their 50-state mission this year, on November 5^th, with a grand finale in Hawaii in celebration of Arbor Day.

‘Planting Christmas’ trees may also be purchased as gifts and can be delivered to other Maui residents. For off-island residents, native tree dedications are also available, where customers can send gift cards and planting certificates to friends and family members. All proceeds from these sales support ‘Plant a Wish’, now in the post-production phase of its’ nonprofit documentary film project.

While searching for the perfect items for this year’s inventory, Imhoff decided on red ohi’a lehua, in the following sizes:

• Ohi‘a Lehua – Medium – $70 (About 3 ft tall in 5 gallon pots)
• Ohi‘a Lehua – Large – $110 (About 5 ft tall in 7 gallon pots)
• Ohi‘a Lehua – Extra-Large – Available upon request

“In our travels across the country, we have learned a great deal about the importance of native biodiversity in each local landscape,” says Imhoff. “While visiting most neighborhoods on Maui it’s rare to see any native plants growing. For the last 5 years, we have been changing this, one Christmas tree at a time.”

For more information, or to order your tree for the 2011 holiday season, please call Joseph Imhoff at 808-250-1469, or email your order to joe@plantawish.org. To purchase the trees online, customers can make secure payments at http://www.plantawish.org/planting-christmas