Aina Maluhia

Last Updated On: March 31st, 2025 at 08:44AM MST

Contact information

Farm Address:
14-3650 RailRoad Avenue
PAHOA, Hawaii, 96778

Primary Contact: kevin fray
Secondary Contact: Omya Fray

Primary Phone:
    Type: Cell
    Number: 9168406652
    Email: kevinfray92@gmail.com

Website:

Internship information

General Farm Description: The farm has two locations that are 2 miles apart. One we lease, one we own. The lease is 5 acres; here, we rotationally graze two Jersey/Brown Swiss milking cows. There is offgrid power and rainwater catchement. See “Housing' for more details. This is the location where you would stay. It is 15 minutes from the town of Pahoa, HI. 2 miles further down a dirt road is the place we own. In 2022 we bought 8 acres of land that has been fallow for 25 years. It was full of enormous trees. Now, about 4 acres of it has been bulldozed and many trees have been planted. We have been living on the land we lease while coming up with, and implementing, a plan for the land we own. We're now ready to move down to the land we own and are in need of apprentices to delegate the 5 acre dairy operation to. Many people in the community love our milk. The farm(s) are near the extreme eastern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. About 3 miles from the coast as the crow flies. It is a beautiful spot. It is humid and lush – a great place for growing food. There is 100 inches of annual rain here, though most of it comes at night; most days have plenty of sun to be merry about. The place is on the slopes of an active volcano. It seems that there is a large eruption every 30-50 years. There was a large eruption in 2018 – you can see what places got covered in lava on google maps satellite view. I think about 300 years ago the land that is now our farm was covered in lava. This makes it so that, despite the lush growing climate, there is little soil. And lots of rocks. Within a few hundred years our farm will likely get covered in lava. Impermanence. We are still a small and young operation. My wife and I are 32 and 27 respectively. She moved here in 2018, I did in 2020. We have a 9 month old baby girl. :) We are not certified organic but could be if we jumped through those hoops.

CRAFT Member Farm? No

Internship Starts: May 1st.
Internship Ends: N/A
Number of Internship Available: 2 person or 2 couples
Application Deadline: N/A
Minimum Length of Stay: 4 months

Internship Details:

We need to find apprentices who can live at and maintain the 5 acre cow operation. We are asking for 16 hours of work per week, initially, per individual or per couple in exchange for a living situation and our time in training. Hours may decrease based on experience. Duties would include using a machine to milk the 2 cows, filtering the milk into jars and doing the dishes. We usually milk twice a day. Once trained it’d be about 1.5 hours a day to manage the cows. There’s a few more chores such as using a push mower on the small lawn, some weeding, some cleaning, and keeping an eye on the solar and water catchment systems. These chores would average 20 minutes per day. Neighbors regularly come by and pick up milk.

One person/couple could competently run the place on less than 2 hours per day in exchange for living here. There is more than enough infrastructure for one person to live here. I would like to have at least 2 people living here. The 12-16 hours a week needed to manage the place can be split between these two parties. However, if split than I would require a little help on the land we own 2 miles away to keep up with the 16 hours a week expectation. Again, it could be less than 16 hours total based on experience. I’d like people who are excited to come lend me a hand on the building and planting projects down there.

Projects on the land we own include building another house or two, a hoophouse, tending a nursery, planting, and weeding trees. I am inspired by ‘syntropic’ agroforestry systems.

A couple may need to work slightly more than 16 hours a week total. But certainly not 16 hours each. My wife may want some company and help with the baby, that can be a way to contribute too if it is a good fit for my wife.

Educational Opportunities: It'll be more than just milking cows, it'll be forming a relationship with them. They are full of lessons. You'll also learn how to manage them with fencing, including electric fencing, and the importance of rotational grazing as promoted by Allan Savory, Joel Salatin and others. You'll lean to read their body condition and fertility cycles. Exposure to offgird living. You'll learn the basics of solar and water catchement. Very useful to know. There's also all around orientation to living in Hawaii. It's a good quiet place to get familiar with the climate and fruits and people. There can be opportunities to learn how to climb coconut trees and so much more. Based on how much you help me on the land I own you'll learn about agroforestry. Forest succession, stratification, nursery care such as grafting, plant spacing. I'd like to develop better garden beds for more annual based crops such as taro, pineapples, sugar cane, and more. And construction skills too. If you're a women there's an opportunity to do things with my wife. She free-birthed our baby and is an awesome mother.

Skills Desired: A great attitude. Physical health. Ability to comfortably live close to the earth Communication Skills Honesty. Transparency Motivation. Food Values.

Meals: Milk within reason

Stipend: Not yet.

Housing: Expect clean, simple, rustic. There are two available 200 square feet 'carports'. They are Costco carports. A wooden floor has been added and there is a bed, some furniture and electricity. Starlink ethernet is negotiable. They're nice, we have lived quite comfortably in them ourselves. Again, it's nicer below 60 degrees here. The carports are your bedrooms. And, there is a 1000 sq. ft. structure with a kitchen. There is a power, water, a hot shower, and a place to store a few more things if needed. There is a composting toilet nearby too. We discourage regularly eating in your bedroom as this can invite cockroaches. Don't worry too much about the cockroaches, I see one maybe twice a week and they just run off. But yes, they do exist.

Preferred method of Contact: email