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Not all farms are 35 acres, but the methods used in this beautiful working farm located just above Ninole on the Hamakua Coast, can be scaled up or down to any size piece of land or yard. When walking around the property, everything you see works to support everything else around it. John Mood, the farm’s owner, is not convinced that trying to gain organic status for his farm is the best way for him to go, but his methods are all in compliance with keeping his world organically green and healthy.As you drive up the dirt track to the farm, you don’t have any idea of what to expect when you arrive. With sweeping views of the ocean and green fields below, the farm house sits on what I would consider paradise. It is off grid and depending completely on solar power. About 25 acres of the 35 acre farm is planted and in cultivation.Something you can’t help but notice is that the heart of palm trees are all planted in rows spaced precisely 6 feet apart. This provides plenty of space for the tractors to come through without damaging the palms. After harvesting, all the fronds and trunks are chopped and left on the ground to turn into mulch and enrich the soil. As we moved through the area, John picked up or moved some of the decomposing debris to show us how earthworms had already found homes. Hearts of palm are harvested year round. Behind the house and screened by a beautiful planting of bamboo and podacarpus is the equivalent of the ‘old barn’, a modern building -- with skylights on the roof -- where everything is neatly stored, including the farm equipment and where John has set up a “saw mill” to make his own boards from some of the trees such as balsa and eucalyptus growing in the farm. As you walk around the acreage listening to John, you realize that this man is a walking encyclopedia on farm, farming and all types of plants. He is able to identify all the trees and plants we saw by their common and botanical name. Most of the trees, vines and plants he grows are edible, but there is also room for just plain beauty. Throughout the farm you can find beautiful specimens of bamboo, heliconias, many different gingers and costus, which are related to ginger and the blooms are edible. There is an Amherstia nobilis, a tree with striking blooms that resemble the blooms of the bird of paradise; several different varieties of bananas, including Cuban reds; jaboticaba, several types of tangerines such as Fremont (deliciously sweet!), Fairchild and Page as well as other citrus trees. I was intrigued by the Theobroma bi-color, a type of cacao with striking outer shells that can be used as bowls; there are many durian trees and also starfruit, sapodillas and mangosteen. You can also find several varieties of coffee trees; liliko’i vines and papayas trees. There is a section for taro and dasheen; and plantings of blooming gingers to be sold as cut flowers. There is another section with several rows of different vines; red wing beans as well as a very interesting edible vine called ‘ugu’ or ‘ugwu’. Ugu or ugwu, (Telfairea occidentallis) is a Nigerian vine that produces large gourds which are not edible but have their uses. What is interesting about the vine is that the seeds are edible in the raw state as well as boiled, roasted or toasted and the taste is similar to the Brazil nut. The seeds have as much as 60% oil content and can be pressed for cooking uses. The leaves and stems of the ugu or ugwu taste similar to spinach and can be included in soups, stews and stir fries and can also be used to feed livestock. The flowers resemble the blooms of the passion fruit. As you stroll through, you will also notice several plantings of edible Pigeon pea vines which are spaced at the end of other rows to provide a source of nitrogen to the other plants. Among the many palms found in this farm are the spineless Pejibaye, or Bactris gasipaes palms. This palm is highly regarded for its nutritional value and the ‘fruit’ can grow in clusters of as little as 50 or as many as 300 in a cluster. The fruit is not edible in its natural state and it is usually boiled for a few hours. After boiling, the pulp can be dehydrated and ground into flour. The fruit can also be fermented to make beer and vinegar. One of the most interesting trees in the farm is the pili nut.Pili trees (Canarium ovatum) are nicely proportioned, tall, wind resistant and native to the Philippines. The pili tree produces a nut that if cultivated widely could possibly replace the macadamia nut as a commercial product in Hawaii.