The past three years I was making a documentary about food sovereignty in Hawaii called Island Earth. The project took me away from beach culture and introduced me to the thriving backyard farming community across the islands. A group called “Permablitz” on Oahu really impressed me. It was a reciprocal gardening network that combined hands-on organic farming education with a party. If you participated in three events flush with local food, music and garden building, you become eligible for the party to come to your house. At the end of the day you’ll walk away with a new garden in your backyard and a working knowledge of how to maintain it and cultivate food. It’s basically a Ponzi-scheme conspiring to share knowledge and good food. I pitched the idea of making a film about it to Mark Healey and the US-based Yerba Mate drink company Guayaki and made this film to spread awareness about this group in hopes the idea will spread to other communities.
