Page 42 of Big Island Neighbors
“Mom! The roosters are fighting!”
“Never a dull moment,” she said on her way out the door.
Lani walked out onto thelanaiand watched as Kai and Emma sprinted across the yard to split up the roosters. The sound of Rory’s laughter drifted over the fence, mingling with the everpresent sound of birds.
A sense of safety wrapped around her, warm as the afternoon air.
They had family. They were home. There was nothing to fear.
She breathed. Just breathed. And slowly, her nervous system settled.
14
Tara
The kitchen filled with the warm, sweet smell of‘uluas Tara lifted the lid from the pot.
“Could we start with twenty pounds?” She held the phone between her head and shoulder as she drained the breadfruit that had been boiling on the stove for forty minutes.
“Yeah, we could do twenty pounds a week, easy.” Maria’s voice snapped and crackled over the phone; reception was spotty at her farm.
“That would be perfect, thank you.”
“Great, I’ll drop them off Wednesday and pick up–” Maria paused and then said, “Oh no. I’ve got a goat in the orchard. I’ve gotta go.”
The call disconnected, and Tara set her phone aside with a feeling of elation.
“Amazing!” She turned to look at Cody, who was doing homework at the kitchen table. “Guess what!”
He looked up from his laptop, eyebrows raised.
“Maria is going to give me a bunch of‘uluin exchange for whatever meals I pull together this week.”
“There are your carbs.”
“I have plenty of kabocha squash too. I can use that for another batch of soup.”
“Want to see what I’ve been working on?”
“Sure.” She walked around the counter, and Cody turned his computer to face her.
“I made you a logo!”
She bent to see the screen. Bold green print read ISLAND GROWN MEALS. Above it was a green bowl with a variety of brightly colored cartoon food floating above it. He’d drawn a bright orange carrot, a white wedge of‘ulu, a red tomato, and a chicken leg all surrounded by leaves.
“What do you think?” There was a hint of nervousness to his voice, and she beamed at him.
“Cody, this is brilliant.”
He grinned and used his best announcer voice: “And that’s not all. Gretchen, what’s behind door number two?”
Their aged German Shepherd lifted her head, gave him a quizzical look, and then flopped back down with a grunt. Cody laughed and clicked over to another window.
Local Food Cooked with Love and Delivered to Your Doordeclared bold green words in the center of the screen. Smaller text towards the bottom read,Support local farms and eat island grown! Delicious, fully prepared, local food. Paleo and vegan options available.
The whole thing was well designed and easy to read, accented by images of local foods like‘ulu, bananas, and avocados.
“This is just a start,” Cody said. “I’m going to make a whole website. In the meantime, I thought we could post to local groups online. Maybe print some out to post up around town.”
