Connecting Through Mother Earth

Mama Food Forest practitioners restore community and health through mindful planting

By: Darlene Dela Cruz

May 1, 2026

Kealoha Kalama (left), Kula Macdonald (center) and Tai Hawkins (right) are part of a hui of Mama Food Forest practitioners who utilize regenerative agroforestry principles to educate local homeowners and the general public on creating naturally self-sustaining gardens and food sources. All photos by Olivier Koning
Kealoha Kalama (left), Kula Macdonald (center) and Tai Hawkins (right) are part of a hui of Mama Food Forest practitioners who utilize regenerative agroforestry principles to educate local homeowners and the general public on creating naturally self-sustaining gardens and food sources. All photos by Olivier Koning

Kealoha Kalama, Kula Macdonald and Tai Hawkins take us through the Mama Food Forest developments at their respective Windward O‘ahu homes with knowledge and care. The Mama Food Forest practitioners demonstrate how homeowners can transform their own properties into thriving, productive landscapes by staying in tune with the land — from edible flowers flourishing on Kalama’s property to Macdonald’s lush backyard filled with banana and kalo, to Hawkins’ curbside front lawn where dozens of plants grow abundantly.

“For our family and community, these spaces — big or small — are a place to gather, to remember how deeply we are all connected to ʻāina, to each other and to the future we are planting,” Macdonald says. “They remind us that caring for the land is caring for people, and caring for people is caring for the land.”

From top, Kealoha Kalama, Kula Macdonald and Tai Hawkins cultivate different styles of Mama Food Forest plots at their respective homes, with ornamental plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables.

Mama Food Forest is rooted in concepts of regenerative agroforestry. The term may sound complex, but regenerative agroforestry simply goes beyond sustainable living that’s focused on maintaining the environment and instead looks forward to the overall restoration of natural food sources and ecosystems.

Kalama, Macdonald and Hawkins represent a growing local hui taught by Craig Elevitch, cofounder of Mama Food Forest and a notable regenerative agroforestry expert. While Mama Food Forest originally developed through Himalayan practices under cofounder Jamyang Dolma, the movement has found common ground here with Native Hawaiian traditions.

“Neighbors exchange cuttings and seeds, each tending their own Mama Food Forest yet weaving a shared story of care,” Macdonald says. “Small acts of planting and nurturing ripple outward, restoring our water, restoring our pathways to indigenous practices and strengthening our ahupuaʻa systems of living.”

“Mama Food Forest is a pathway that shares inner and outer regenerative [and] indigenous practices that bring health, balance and connection to self, family, community and nature,” says Kealoha Kalama.

Mama Food Forest practitioners on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i island previously held workshops and home visits for anyone interested in implementing these principles. Workshops are currently on hold, but online resources are available at mamafoodforest.net to get started on your own Mama Food Forest.

“Every harvest, every seedling and every shared meal carries the story of resilience, culture and aloha that we pass forward together,” Macdonald says. “Growing connection, one backyard at a time.”

This story appears in the May/June 2026 print issue of Ku‘u Home magazine.