Friday, April 1, 2011

Hanalei Valley


Kaua'i is known as the Garden Isle, but I was unprepared for just how green it is there. After several months of the wintery East Coast, I had gotten used to bare trees and gray skies. Upon landing in Kaua'i, I went into sensory overload due to the island's lush foliage and green mountainsides. It seems as if the island just bypasses winter and fall and lingers in the spring and summer seasons all year-round. Along the central highway around island, there are several pullouts for visitors to stop and admire Kaua'i's beauty.

Today's post was taken at the Hanalei Valley Overlook, featuring the patchwork of taro farms that sprinkle the island. Taro is a food staple for Hawaiians and is grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, which looks like a potato, and as a leaf vegetable too. In Hawai'i, it is typically grown in pondfields, or lo'i, which provides consistent irrigation for the taro to yield the best crop.

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