One Village Farm

In 2016, Vanessa Stone founded the Mana Project – a farm and outdoor classroom that provides a sanctuary for personal development. When Vanessa’s organization was ready to scale up, they established One Village Farm (OVF) to enable them to do more. The 20-acre year round regenerative farm is run by volunteers and is an institute for land stewards and transformational learning. 

Travis Dodson, Farm Manager of OVF, is inspired by diverse farming cultures from across the world. Collecting herbs, spices, seeds, stories and recipes from Mexico, Columbia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo, and Vietnam, Travis seeks to deepen his understanding of how the plants that grow in common across these regions are used in traditional cultures and share his inspirations with others.

Vanessa, cofounder of The Institute for Emerging Visionaries, is a teacher, humanitarian leader, speaker and mentor, who serves youth and adults through the Amala Foundation, a non profit she founded in 2001. Vanessa has initiated and served as lead facilitator in projects such as The Global Youth Peace Summits, Camp Indigo, Bhatti Mines School Project in India, Camp Mana, One Village Prison Project, and African Youth Summits. 

One Village Farm borders the Niuli'i stream, which has been recognized as one of the most productive lo'i patches in Kohala. The farm seeks to build community through practicing regenerative diversified agroforestry such as alley cropping, riparian buffers (forestry along rivers), and wind blocks. 

The farm chooses to grow ʻuala because it is a wonderfully nutritious food source that also acts as an effective and beautiful ground cover. Their crop goes primarily to feeding the farm's community and surplus is provided to accessible markets like the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Co-op.

Travis says his favorite thing about ‘uala is it’s “colorful and tasty diversity here in the island,” and his favorite way to eat ʻuala is a mouthwatering rosemary sweet potato "toast" with goat cheese and a runny, over-easy egg. 

In the future, Travis says he hopes to see an abundance of native variety ‘uala on local supermarket shelves: “Diversity is true wealth and the varieties must be grown to perpetuate our heirloom strains."

OVF offers farm immersions/retreats for young adults ages 18-28, that focus on regenerative agriculture, leadership training and personal growth. More about the farm can be found on the project website.