We, the members of La'akea community, dedicate ourselves to each others’ long term health and well-being. We honor and work in harmony with the land we own and steward. We commit to nurturing our connection with each other and with the people of the bioregion in which we live. We encourage cooperative endeavors and the building of friendships.

We value sustainable practices, and consider future generations in all our choices. We commit to creating a child friendly environment and holistic childrearing.

We embrace processes which work to bring us into unity, while respecting each person’s autonomy. We aim for egalitarian relationships by practicing consensus decision making. We aim to bring awareness to the various roles we play in regard to gender, economic class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. We aspire to shift out of oppressor and oppressed roles.

Who We Are 

Members: We are currently 4 adults who hold an intention of expanding to 12 to 20 full-time members.

Where we are: We live on 23+ acres, 4 miles south of Pahoa, Hawaii, on the eastern edge of the Big Island. La’akea is a short distance to the ocean, Kehena beach, warm ponds, and tide pools.

The Land: The land, zoned agricultural, is blessed with lots of sun and rain. We have Ohia forest, orchards, gardens and ponds. A majority of the land has not been developed. Some will be available for community expansion, and some will be left wild. The topography gently undulates at 1300 feet elevation and includes a steep and magical cinder cone.

Decision-making process: We make important, long term decisions (capital improvements, new members, changes to existing agreements) by consensus of community members. We delegate more detail oriented decisions to individuals or small committees. We value personal empowerment, trust, and accountability in our decision making process. A key concept of consensus is that members know and communicate their individual truth and desires, while holding the well being of the community above their personal preferences.

Daily life: We are a group of people working together closely as a means to vibrant health, relationship vitality, economic stability, personal and spiritual growth. We are living together out of choice and from joy, not out of scarcity, fear, or ideology. We choose to eat our evening meal together and currently have two scheduled meetings a week that require attendance. One of these meetings is a Forum process where authenticity and self-revelation are encouraged for transparency and community support.

Families and Children: We, as a community, value children and commit to providing them with love and support. We want our children to have a community of involved, caring adults and other children.

Diet: We encourage individuals to listen to their bodies and follow a diet that feels good and promotes health. We eat a diet of organic, fresh wholesome food, much of which we produce on our land. We can accommodate many different diets and allow for personal diet choices to change over time.

Sexuality and Relationship: We value sexuality as an important part of an individual’s life and a powerful energy that nourishes ourselves and our community. We support individual choices in sexual relationships, understanding that sexual relations between persons do not imply ownership. We see relationships as providing profound joy in life, as well as providing an opportunity for self-reflection and personal growth. We do not elevate one sexual relationship model (monogamy, polyamory, serial monogamy, celibacy, etc.) over another, but place emphasis on healthy, positive, mutually empowered relating.

Spirituality: Our daily life reflects our spiritual values. We revere the sacredness of how the life force unfolds in each moment. We honor spiritual diversity, and discourage proselytizing. We treat the land and each other respectfully, with compassion and kindness. We value truth, authenticity and self-reflection.

We support the inherent connection among all beings.

Ownership structure, Finances and Economics: The title to the property will be held in common as a Limited Liability Company. We are currently seeking members who can contribute $50,000 towards full membership equity. We will also consider potential members who don’t have access to the full buy in amount, but do have viable skills and/ or a steady income flow. In alignment with our community vision for the land and ourselves (right livelihood), a diversity of small businesses are encouraged and supported at La’akea. These businesses have cooperative ownership structures while valuing individual skills, knowledge and accountability. We are moving towards self-sufficiency.

Political: We do not hold a particular political ideology as a key facet of our community. However, as individuals, many of us hold strong political beliefs and interests that in general could be described as: liberal, green, libertarian, or combinations of these labels. We intend to empower individuals to act on their political beliefs and speak their truth without demanding consensus on political topics.

Click here to read an article about La'akea written in the Hawai'i publication, Ka'u Landing, in 1999.

Click here to read an article comparing a 'permaculture island' life with 'mainstream' life, written in a mainland publication, The Octopus in 1998.

Click here to read an article about La'akea written in the publication, Permaculture Activist, in Autumn of 2005.

Click here to read an article written by Janice Crowl, author of "Container Gardening in Hawaii", about a tour the Master Gardeners had at La'akea in January of 2008.