Liuliu 72: Preparing for the Voyage

At Liuliu Farms, we often reflect on the deep connection between voyaging and farming. Though one happens on the ocean and the other on land, both are rooted in the same values: preparation, observation, stewardship, and relationship.

The word liuliu means “to prepare,” “to make ready." Before our kūpuna set sail across vast oceans, there was careful preparation. Canoes were repaired and strengthened. Food was grown and preserved. Knowledge was shared. Communities worked together to ensure the voyage could be sustained. Voyaging was never only about reaching a destination, it was about the relationships and responsibilities that made the journey possible.

In many ways, an island functions like a canoe. Resources are finite. Balance matters. Everyone has a kuleana to care for the systems that sustain life. This understanding is reflected in the traditional ahupuaʻa system, where mauka to makai connections ensured that forests, water systems, loʻi, fisheries, and communities worked together in reciprocity. Healthy uplands created healthy streams. Healthy streams fed the kalo and nourished the ocean. When the land thrived, the people thrived.

Aloha ʻāina is what binds these relationships together. It is more than love for the land,  it is an active relationship of care, gratitude, and responsibility. It is the kaula, the cordage connecting people to place, ancestors to future generations, and knowledge to practice.

Voyaging teaches us to read the stars, winds, tides, and currents. Farming teaches us to read the rain, soil, seasons, and ecosystems. Both require patience. Both require trust in collective knowledge passed down through generations. Both remind us that survival and abundance come through connection, not separation.

Liuliu 72 represents this spirit of preparation. A reminder that the work we do today,  planting trees, restoring soil, growing food, strengthening community, is part of preparing for the voyages ahead. By reconnecting to ʻāina and to one another, we continue an ancestral practice of resilience, reciprocity, and regeneration.

The voyage continues, and we prepare together.