I have multiple micro fruit farms, helping to feed residence, family,
Hawaii
Welcome to Our Rugged Farm on Molokai!
Aloha! I’m Pono, and I’m extending a solid invitation to join me on a rewarding journey into sustainable farming on a remote island in Hawaii. As a woofer, you’ll roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with essential tasks like trail maintenance, property upkeep, and expanding our land. While weeding will be minimal—because I’m not a fan of it myself—you’ll engage in painting, building projects, and hands-on work that requires power tools and a bit of math. This is where hard work meets the beauty of farm life.
A little about me: I’m 28 years old, and people consider me exotic! I’m a fisherman in Alaska and have been doing that every summer since I was 12. I enjoy traveling outside of the country and, besides farming, I run a small property maintenance and construction crew for my personal rental houses. Additionally, I work as a deer hunting guide, offering premium services for my guided hunts, which include housing, lodging, accommodations, and food—essentially the same experience you’ll get here, except my clients pay, and you’ll earn!
Here at the farm, every action reflects the values I stand for, and I expect you to uphold those same standards. I encourage you to discover the meaning of “pono,” a philosophy that guides our way of living.
We prioritize the richness of food and camaraderie. Expect hearty breakfasts, filling lunches, and satisfying dinners enjoyed together. Most of my meals consist of food, fruit, and game harvested from the farm. I have lots of starches, tons of vegetables, and a good supply of wild game. I’m an excellent cook, and I’d love to show you my style of cooking—it’s all about delivering a lot of bang for a little buck. We’ll prepare meals that are not just nourishing but also packed with flavor and made with the kind of hearty ingredients that fuel a hard day’s work. Meals are typically made on the barbecue or the gas stove, with options for preserving deer meat and drying out macadamia nuts using a smoker.
As a reward for your hard work, you’ll have the chance to learn to hunt Axis deer. You may even learn how to free dive and use a spear to harvest fish. There are so many rewarding activities that I love to do to relax my body and mind, and I’m excited to share them with you!
Your accommodations will be adequate, featuring an indoor kitchen with fresh running water, a full indoor shower, and an outdoor shower. I don’t have hot water yet, but a cold shower is good for the soul—that’s what I keep telling myself! You can also cool off in the cowboy swimming pool—a.k.a. a water trough. Cell service is spotty across the island and close to nonexistent on the farm, but you can send out a text from the rooftop, which is quite pleasant.
On weekends, I love to play, which means hitting the beaches, but even more so, I enjoy free diving, fishing, and taking out my boat. So if I ever push you to do your work faster or get in the car quicker, it’s because I have better things to do. Trust me, there’s nothing quite like swimming with turtles!
Packing List for Woofers:
• Personal hygiene essentials (remember, just because we live on a farm doesn’t mean we have to smell like one!)
• Long-sleeve work clothes
• Swimsuit
• Bring your own ball cap
• Large straw hat for sun protection (provided)
• Sunscreen (a must!)
• Medium-duty work gloves (available for $10-$20 at a hardware store or Amazon, but I also have an assortment of gloves)
• Hiking boots (I provide rubber work boots)
• If you have a pocket knife, please bring it. I’ve found that carrying around a simple tool is valuable and useful. There’s always some kind of fruit to chop up, like mangoes to peel or papayas to cut in half, or even to whittle yourself a pair of chopsticks.
Read more
Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Raising of other farm animals
Forestry
Wild foraging
Flower farming
Meat processing
Traditional crafts
Green Building
Renewable energy production
Methods or systems
Biological pest control
Biodynamic agriculture
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Certified organic
16.2
Hectares
|
40
Acres
Accommodation
Pono
Member since 2024
Languages spoken:
English
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 54%
Response time: typically within 6 days
Hawaii
Ho'olehua Airport
Reviews
Hleb
United States
•
February 2026
A great experience! I highly recommend it to anyone who isn’t afraid of hard work, delicious food, and unforgettable memories. Pono is a wonderful person who can teach even a monkey, so if you have little to no experience (as I did), don’t worry, with the right approach and sturdy boots, you’ll learn a ton and will definitely enjoy it!
Shai
United States
•
November 2025
Definitely recommend this place! Everyday was filled with work or activities while also leaving time to relax and spend time solo exploring. Molokai is a beautiful place and Pono does a great job of giving you a tour around and teaching you about it. I’ve learned tons and had a great time! Pono is also a really fun and amicable guy! I will hopefully be coming back soon!
Reese
United States
•
June 2025
This was such a unique and unforgettable experience. I stayed with Pono on his rustic, tucked-away farm for just shy of a week. During this time, I gained a great deal of knowledge and experience in various areas, including hunting, picking local fruits, and learning about the island lifestyle. Pono was a great host and provided me with many amenities during my stay. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a different and challenging experience of their own.
Read more
Claire
United States
•
March 2025
Definitely an unconventional, unforgettable experience. This is largely a subsistence farm, and still under development - the very limited cell service and unreliable running water are aspects of that. Rustic accommodations aside, Pono provides a wealth of opportunities to learn a wide variety of skills. I stayed for a month and barely scratched the surface. If multiple WWOOFers are staying at the same time, you’ll often take on a list of farm and maintenance tasks as a group while Pono works off site during the week, allowing for more time to explore independently. If you’re staying solo, you’ll likely ride along with him for more varied work in addition to farm upkeep. Everything is farm-applicable and just useful. The days are long but satisfying, and usually broken up with unexpected adventures. Be ready for anything at any time! It’s a challenge, but a fun one; you’ll see and experience so much you’d never find on your own.
Pono is a welcoming, generous, and knowledgeable host. He’s good company, and tries to facilitate a strong, upbeat sense of community on the farm. He prefers a “learn by doing” approach but is good at explaining tasks, tools, and the reasoning or mechanics behind them. Prior professional farm or other manual labor experience is a plus as far as keeping up. He’ll ask a lot of you - his schedule is demanding and often unpredictable. It’s well worth the work. Release expectations and be prepared to hit the ground running, you’ll have a great time. <3
Read more
Juliette
United States
•
February 2025
This WWOOF isn't for everybody, but if you're open to new experiences, ready to work hard, and are self-reliant and confident in your abilities, you'll get a lot out of a stay with Pono. If you're looking for a regular schedule with days off and guided instruction on each project, you'd probably be better off at another farm. We stayed with Pono for ten days, and there were a lot of great moments and unique opportunities we never would've had access to otherwise. There were also some challenges, particularly with the communication leading up to the stay and conditions at the farm. Leading up to the visit, we didn't have all of our questions answered and weren't sure of what to expect. When we did make contact after arrival, Pono picked us up in town. Once we got to the farm, it was a little more rustic than we expected. Internet access is extremely limited, and for part of our stay there was no running water. If you're open to this type of farm, though, the rest of our stay was for the most part a great experience. Pono was friendly, down to hang out and play games with WWOOFers, and made us feel welcome. We had some incredible experiences, like going deer hunting and going out on his boat for diving and spearfishing. He expects WWOOFers to work as hard as him, and to take initiative on some projects. If you're willing and able (for the most part) to keep up with Pono, you'll have an unforgettable Moloka'i experience.
Read more
