Blank expressions were exchanged, perhaps a sigh or two released. The choice to arrive well after the sun had set over the smooth purple sea, suddenly seemed like a terrible idea. The hosts had warned us but we had insisted we would be ok since I (Linnea) had been there before and we felt confident in our capability to negotiate “rustic” accomodations.  Sunset view of Kailua Kona from our deck, on the hill side of Mauna Loa. The rental vehicle skidded to a final halt on the treacherous muddy slope. Distance to final destination: at this stage yet unknown. Degree of safety leaving...

Harvesting grape fruit and some funny looking spiky fruit with lots of big seeds. Staying at a tropical off-the-grid (volcanic) mountain residence can be a challenge. Both of us have sufficient experience living under very spartan conditions, but restarting the systems in a new location and without a local host on site to advice us of essential tricks and tips has been an interesting process. The place runs of solar panels with a 240V inverter and a backup generator for emergencies and for pumping water up to the gravity fed rain water catchment system. A gas heater is heating the shower...

The nonprofit organisation Botanical Dimensions*, formed and governed by ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison - our host - has since the early 1980's been managing a property of 8 acres in the Southwest coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. The fundamental vision of "BD" lies in safeguarding ethnobotanical diversity. Already back then Kathleen, together with former husband Terence McKenna, took measure against the ecocide of rainforests around the globe. A tragedy still on-going today. "We collected a lot of species in different parts of the world that we brought here and planted along the trails,...

Exploring the landscape and locating specimen plants along the trail. The plants that are of particular interest to the STOMATA project are planted all along the trail that meanders through the dense jungle down the slope from the house. In order to locate and memorise the placement of all of the specimens a map is an essential tool. Mapping the area also helps us understand the lay of the land and how different dimensions are woven together. The volcanic bedrock and soil, the flows of water, and plant and animal life all shape the terrain in various ways. Having an overview or birds eye perspective...

Hundreds of species of plants coexist in the land that belongs to Botanical Dimensions. Some of them have been here for a very long time and evolved with the young island as it slowly grew a layer of vegetation on the rough volcanic rock, since it was formed around half a million years ago. Others came with the first settlers that arrived from Polynesia throughout the last 1900 years. Some species came with the Europeans since their arrival in the late 1700ds. Numerous species have arrived in the island accidentally or with people who wanted to grow certain familiar things, over the last century....

Before European settlers, led by Captain Cook, arrived to the Islands of Hawaii in 1778, the land was divided following a complex system, governed by the highest chief or king. An island (mokupuni, in hawaiian) was divided into several smaller parts (moku), and each moku was divided into narrower sections of land that ran from the mountains to the sea (ahupua`a). The size of the ahupua`a depended on the resources of the area. Poorer agricultural regions were divided into larger ahupua`a to compensate for the relative lack of natural abundance. Each ahupua`a was ruled by a local chief (ali`i)....

In this chapter we explore the different designs of the Hill and Botanical Dimensions. We will take a look at the off-the-grid house and its systems, the trail, the shelter, and a landscape architectural design, proposed by Elizabeth Hutchinson in 1985. The Harrison-McKenna residence in 1982[1]. The Harrison-McKenna residence in December 2019. The Hill An off-the-grid house is - as the name entails - not connected to the infrastructural grid of public utilities, such as: electricity; water; waste; heating; communication; and so on. Hence, all of these things need to be organised using...

Stomata are tiny little pores, predominantly found in the epidermis of the leaf. The word is borrowed from Greek and means mouth, which is rather suitable, as this is where the plant is “ inhaling” carbon dioxide and “exhaling” oxygen. The stoma (singular) opens to take in the carbon dioxide. When and how much it opens is determined by environmental factors and hormone signals. how many stomata a plant has depend on a range of factors but one of them is the availability of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. When the levels of carbon dioxide are high the plant doesn’t need so many...