Aina Lani Farm

Aina Lani Farm

There is an amazing farm here in Kula 200 on two acres of fertile land. Michael McCoy started Aina Lani farm in 1996. He now sells to many chefs, restaurants and stores on Maui. He produces gorgeous long rows of Greens, including arugula, Chinese greens, lettuces, carrrots, basils, edible flowers and micro greens. He is also called Fresh Island  Herbs.

Beautiful Long Rows of Greens

We were amazed by the intense flavor of the micro-greens. Tiny sprouts, just two first leaves are sold at that stage to Chefs who use these in their food creations. I can see how successful this can be. We tasted wasabi sprouts 1/2 inch long, celery sprouts, radish sprouts, mustard sprouts, and pea shoots (Young pea plants). Food alive and full of fresh flavor. The kids loved this tour. It was an adventure!

Tasty Micro Greens ready to harvest

Pea Shoots Ready to eat.

Michael teased the boys asking “Who’s the smartest one of you?” They hesitated and answered “Depends on what subject.” He said “”Anything” then crushed a leaf from a beautiful tree between his fingers and asked “What kind of tree is this?” It had seeds so one of the boys said “Cloves!”  Michael said “You’re close” and we moved along down the long beautiful property over to greenhouses bordered with patches of Chocolate mint, Foot long runner beans, exotic blooming Jasmine, orange trumpet flowers, passion-flowers that don’t make lilikoi but have a gorgeous blue color and a scent. We smelled exotic flowers everywhere and of course we saw a multi-colored Jackson Chameleon in the vines. There were orchards of citrus and honey beees too. The orange blossom smell was in the air reminding me of summers in California.

The Big Allspice Tree

Jackson-Chameleon

At one point he showed us the Man-eating flower and again teased the boys “Don’t put your hand in there” 🙂

"Don't put your hand in there!"

There are orchid houses, nasturtium patches, apple bananas, fennel and yalangalang (which can be invasive, he said.) It is in the ginger family and a beauty. I thought of the line in a song “Yalangalang Blues”  (“Don’t be shy, give it a try, Chalangalang blues is gonna get you high”) I can hear Na Leo Pilimehana now…

Yalangalang

Nasturtiums

Wonderful Edibles

Awesome Chinese greens

Cymbidiums, oncidiums and more

This was a private tour. We’d love to take people on private tours that we can personalize for you. As we visit more farms on Maui we’ll show you what’s available to see. We will visit Coffee farms, flower farms, taro farms, herbs and flower farms, and we’ll be offering a farm-to-table tour that follows the Chef in the morning to the farm to gather the food for the evening dinner.

This is very exciting and fun to share with everyone.

Aloha, Marilyn

Maui Country Farm Tours 808 283-9131 Please call early to book your tour!