Home is Here
409 Little Plumeria Farms, Queen’s Healing Through Art, Westside Striking
Season 4 Episode 9 | 28m 26sVideo has Closed Captions
Little Plumeria Farms, Queen’s Healing Through Art, Westside Striking
Little Plumeria Farms, started more than 50 years ago on O‘ahu’s North Shore by Jim Little. Westside Striking, a boxing and kickboxing club that offers free classes and training to the community from keiki to kūpuna. Also, learn about the Healing Through Art program at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. It’s a free program open to the public.
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Home is Here is a local public television program presented by PBS Hawai'i
Home is Here
409 Little Plumeria Farms, Queen’s Healing Through Art, Westside Striking
Season 4 Episode 9 | 28m 26sVideo has Closed Captions
Little Plumeria Farms, started more than 50 years ago on O‘ahu’s North Shore by Jim Little. Westside Striking, a boxing and kickboxing club that offers free classes and training to the community from keiki to kūpuna. Also, learn about the Healing Through Art program at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. It’s a free program open to the public.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(Instrumental music) Kalaʻi Miller/Host Aloha, I'm Kalaʻi Miller, and welcome to Home is Here.
Today, we’re in Haleiwa on the island of Oʻahu visiting Little Plumeria Farms, but this farm is far from little.
It’s home to more than a hundred unique hybrid plumeria varieties.
It’s a labor of love that all started from a single, pesky tree.
Clark Little/ Little Plumeria Farms Our plumeria farm is definitely one of the largest hybrid plumeria farms.
We have thousands of trees on this farm, hundreds of varieties, over 100 of JL varieties, which is Jim Little varieties that were actually born and raised here in Haleiwa, which is really cool.
And then he's collected over 100 different varieties from around the world.
So Little Plumeria Farms started a long time ago.
Over 50 years, my dad has been collecting plumeria.
My dad got a job teaching at Punahou.
We had housing over there, and there was a tree rubbing on our house, and it was keeping us up at night, so my dad cut it down, and there was a bunch of cuttings on the ground.
And the groundskeeper came by saying, “Hey, you can plant those.” And so my dad did.
He went and grabbed some tin cans, because that was before plastic pots, and he put a dozen in, and they all grew.
And my dad's all great, but what am I going to do with this now?
So my dad went down to GEMs, a department store, and he said, “Hey, can you take these?” And the guy said, “No, people in Hawaiʻi, we just break them off and plant them and they'll grow.
No way we're going to sell these.” My dad's, “Oh.
Can you take it on consignment?” And the guy said, “Okay, they're not going to sell, but I'll do that.” My dad came back a week later, and he was - they all sold.
And he was like, what?
Even in Hawaiʻi.
So there's value in plumeria.
And that was the beginning of how we actually got started.
Now I'm going to go over how we take our plumeria cuttings.
Okay, so when we take a cutting, it's, it's a clone getting a cutting is a clone of the tree that you cut it from.
So if I take this off Orange Crush, you're gonna get an Orange Crush flower.
Whereas seeds, it's a whole ʻnother deal that Dane is gonna go through after.
But anyway, we try to get a clean cut right here.
It's gonna, it's gonna sap out, and then right here we're gonna take off, if there's leaves, we take off the leaf nodes, and we actually let it sit for five to seven days in a dry area, out of the sun.
And what will happen is the leaf nodes will drop off, and this will, it's called callusing off.
This will harden and it'll be ready to root.
Dane Little / Little Plumeria Farms Seeds are a lot different than cuttings.
Like my dad said earlier, a cutting is the clone of the tree you take it off of.
So if I was to take a cutting off the tree and back of you with the orange, with an orange flower, it grow up to be that same orange flower.
If I took seeds off of that tree, they can come out completely different.
Every seed in this pod can be a different color.
Here's a seed.
So kind of looks like a nerf football, I like to think of it as.
So what naturally happens is the wind will blow it off the tree.
It'll spiral down, stick in the ground.
Hopefully grow.
And it takes about two to five years to see that new bloom, and you have no idea how that bloom's gonna come out.
Clark Little It’s a long, long process, but darn, is it worth the wait.
Carrie Yoshimura This first flower we're going to share with you is called celadine, or traditional Hawaiian yellow lei flower.
Clark Little So this is actually the flower when you go to the airport in Hawaii and smell so it is the true Hawaiian lei flower used in Hawaiʻi, as well as around the world, for making leis, I would say number one.
Carrie Yoshimura This next one is Pupukea Crepe.
The petals are JL Pupukea Crepe.
The petals look like crepe paper, and they're just kind of delicate and different looking.
Clark Little And this next one actually is called JL Starlight, and it can get up to six inches.
We have some flowers that are a little bit smaller, but still, you can see and it does have a nice fragrance too.
Carrie Yoshimura This one is JL ruffles, because the petals have a ruffled edge, and it looks nice in a lay too.
When it stacks up, it almost looks like a carnation lei.
Clark Little We have this next one is actually was released last year, and it's called JL Juicy Fruit because it has a sweet gum fragrance, which is kind of unusual.
Carrie Yoshimura This last one we're gonna share with you is called JL Metallica, and it's probably one of the only plumerias that has this lavender, purple color to it.
So when the blossom matures, it holds this sterling silver color.
And then the younger blossoms are darker lavender, darker purple.
And depending on time of year, this one can smell like grape Kool Aid or like just sweet candy scent.
Clark Little Everybody in the plumeria world knows JL Metallica just because of that silver purple color.
Yeah, it's very unusual.
Dane Little I wasn't sure I was gonna be into plumeria when I came back from college, I was like, I don't know if I like flowers that much.
It doesn't like, you know, that doesn't sound that fun to me.
And then I started coming up here.
My dad took me up here more, and he started getting to know the flowers.
And I was like, so interested in seeing new ones too, especially seeing, like, how the new ones come out.
And it's really exciting, because you never know how they are going to come out from seeds, new colors, how the smells.
And there's so many of them, it's like, “Oh, wow.
This is really cool”, you know.
So I, I really got attached to the flowers.
Clark Little Weʻve just like, touched the beginning.
I think, you know, for us, even propagating.
We have thousands of new seedlings that are going to be able to release and name one day.
And maybe we'll have CLs, JLs, DLs, you know what I mean?
I mean, it's, it's kind of fun that we can do that now.
We can add on new things, you know, because three generations, family business is pretty awesome, you know.
And we all love plumeria, and now we get to share that passion with all the guests on our tours.
It's pretty special to see their reactions and stuff.
I mean, I love it.
It.
I don't have to get my son out of bed to come to work.
Let me put it that way, like this morning, he's texting me, Dad, I'm gonna be down there already, you know, picking flowers because it's fun.
Dane & Clark Little: It's 90% of the time fun until... Clark Little: 95 Dane Little: Until I'm working, and my dad will say it tell me something.
And then my grandpa, he'll drive around on his quad, and he'll say the same exact thing to me twice, and I'm like, I already heard it.
I got it, and then nah.
But most of the time it's, it's we awesome.
We get along.
Clark Little: We get along.
Thank goodness, otherwise it would be rough one.
So, yeah, it's nice.
My dad always, yeah, he comes around and gives a couple orders, but, and then I order this guy around, but I want him to do it right?
It's just, you know, yeah, you're you definitely make sure I do.
And my wife works in the gift shop, so and my daughter's here for she came back from school, so she's actually helping out.
I mean, we have literally, our whole family here, and it is nice, though.
It is nice at the end of the day, we all enjoy working with each other.
Clark Little The hopes for the future is just to carry on my dad's legacy.
You know, he's been doing this for 50 years, so I'm back involved.
Dane’s able to, you know, help carry on the tradition of plant collecting and hybridizing, making a bunch of new varieties that that people will be very excited and hopefully blow their minds.
Dane Little: We want you to be happier after you come to the Little Plumeria Farms.
We want you to enjoy it so much you go home with a smile on your face and a fresh bunch of flowers to smell.
It’s awesome.
Kalaʻi Miller/Host In West Oʻahu, a small, yet mighty gym is working to train what could be the next generation of Hawaiʻi’s top boxers.
But this is about more than landing punches and dodging jabs, for the coaches behind this operation, it’s about teaching life skills.
Michael Talalotu / Westside Striking Owner & Head Coach: My coaching method is, is just hardcore.
We just train, train, train, hard.
That's the only way I know how to coach.
Right here.
Longer right hand.
Snap ʻum.
Student: Boom, boom, boom.
Michael Talalotu: My name is Michael Talalotu, and I'm the owner and head coach of Westside Striking.
We are a boxing and kickboxing gym that we provide for the community here in the west side, and it's free.
I started this because I used to fight when I was young.
I started when I was, like 10 years old.
I had a short career in amateur boxing, and had a short career in kickboxing.
I guess I did alright.
Won a couple titles in kickboxing.
My coach was Fred Pereira - Pops, and he taught me everything I know about boxing, so trying to pass that on to the kids that come here.
Paul Brewer /Westside Striking Assistant Coach: I'm coach Paul, the assistant coach here at Westside Striking.
Coach Mike and I.
We're, yeah, we're on the same page, but he's a Ying.
I'm the Yang.
He's the tough guy.
I'm like, the teddy bear, yeah.
And we work together as a team.
It's just different styles, but we work together.
Michael Talalotu: This guy was in Breakin’ Hawaii when it first came out.
Popcorn!
Paul Brewer: Here at Westside striking, we like to keep that environment like a positive environment that they can come no matter what they're going through in their life.
We have a lot of kids, the parents are not necessarily here.
They kind of, you know, working, because the cost of living here in Hawaiʻi is super hard, and so they're kind of left alone.
And so being here in this environment, we can teach them structure, teach them foundation.
Being able to stand firm and stay focused and being an asset to the home, versus just, you know, sitting around, not doing anything.
They'll know what is hard work, they'll know how to stay focused on the job, and they know what it takes, because we help build that foundation here.
Michael Talalotu: There's a lot of people that feel like, from the West, you got to learn how to fight because our our reputation and stuff like that.
We all teach them life skills here.
It's not only about fighting what they learn here.
You gotta work hard everything you want.
You gotta work hard for it.
You know, nothing's gonna be given to you.
You gotta work for it, and you gotta earn it.
Nissi Teulilo/Student My name is Nissi.
I've been boxing for four years.
Currently, I’m ranked number one at 106 in USA boxing, and I'm a three time national champion.
As a girl boxer, it doesn't make me feel different, because I know that I have the skills as any other boy, possibly better.
(Laughs) For me, practice is like, I don't know how to explain it.
It's like, where I'm in my own zone.
It's just me versus me in my head and my training and me thinking of where I want to be in life.
When I'm training, there's like, sometimes I feel like tired and I don't want to do it at all, but my coaches always remind me that I have to push myself in order to be where I want to be in life, and it helps me in my everyday life, because if I don't push myself, then I'm not gonna be able to win and achieve things and become successful.
Outside, I want to go to college because I want to be able to be an ultrasound technician.
But to keep my mind off things I box and to stay off the street and out of the drama.
Michael Talalotu With the stereotyping from the west side, I think, yeah, there's a lot of that going around.
I grew up here in Waianae from, stayed all my life here.
So it was like a, I guess to me, it was like normal, like every, to me, every, every neighborhood is like this neighborhood, I don't know this come to find out where the we had a bad reputation.
We're trying to change that.
So we do the community service.
I tell the kids, you guys, you got to be good people in the community.
You represent the gym, you represent your family and stuff like that.
So, yeah, we trying to change all of that.
We're just fortunate that the community supports us in what we're doing, so that the kids, so the kids can travel.
Weʻve been all over this, all over the United States.
We've been to New Mexico, we've been to Louisiana, we've been to Florida, we've been to California a couple of times.
We've been to Texas couple of times.
We've been to Kansas City.
We've been to even went to overseas.
We went to Bosnia for the WAKO world championships, and went to Cancun for Pan Am Games took these kids all over the world, pretty much all over.
A lot of kids, they really don't get to leave Hawaiʻi until they come here.
You know, fortunately, fortunately, we're we can do that for them.
But, yeah, I like to get these kids out there and give back too.
My first goal is, they gotta be, I want them to be a good person in the community, yeah.
Second goal is, if they're, if they come to be a champion, that's, that's just a cherry on top, you know, I just like to see them grow.
See what kind of how they change.
You know, a lot of kids, they come in there, they're very, very timid, they're very shy, they don't talk too much.
And then after a while, you see how they grow and they change, you know, and I see what kind of person they are.
That's, that's what I enjoy the most.
And then if I can get some world champions or some Olympic champions out here, would be good too, you know.
We working to it.
And I think we can get it.
We can accomplish that.
Kalaʻi Miller/Host Most of us have been affected by cancer in some way, even if you’ve never been diagnosed with the disease.
While cancer impacts patients’ physical health, it can also take a toll on their emotional well-being.
That’s where the Healing Through Art program at the Queen’s Medical Center aims to help.
(Instrumental music) Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor: A lot of patients that come in in the beginning are newly diagnosed cancer patients, and they have a lot of anxiety.
They don't know what to expect.
They don't know if they're going to be alive a year from now, five years from now.
So they're going through a very tough time emotionally.
And this program really helps them to focus, you know, be in the moment and just do something.
And it really gives your mind a rest.
My name is Jocelyn Cheng and I am a professional artist, but I'm also a retired oncology nurse from Queen's, and I'm also a cancer survivor of thyroid cancer.
In 2012 I was asked to be the artist in residence for the Queen's Medical Center.
They had received a grant using art as like alternative therapy with their patients.
But it also includes not only the patients, but caregivers, family members and hospital staff can join in.
Fely Ebner / Retired School Psychologist: My name is Fely Ebner.
I'm a recently retired school psychologist.
I received a phone call from my doctor saying that I had stage three breast cancer, and it was pretty aggressive.
So the treatments that I received, they were chemotherapy, lumpectomy and radiation.
When I finally went back to work, it was about seven months later as a school psychologist.
And funny thing, people would say, “Oh, you have chemo brain, you know, you're forgetful” and things like that.
So I just wrote things off as just it being chemo brain, being forgetful.
But what was different was I was tripping, I had seizures, and little did I know that those seizures contributed to me having three lumps in my brain, so I was now stage four with brain cancer.
Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: I'm Felicia Marquez Wong.
I'm a cancer survivor, also a retired social worker.
It was 2016 I went for my mammogram, and they discovered a lump on my breast.
And the first big lesson for me that day was never skip your appointments because I had missed a mammogram appointment a year before, and I just said I was busy.
But you realize later is, you know, in order for you to take better care of yourself, you have to, you know, attend to your medical appointments and things like that.
I picked the mastectomy and had a few rounds of chemotherapy, and those were very rough times.
And so that's when I was introduced to healing through art.
And from the get go, I felt like I was already receiving lots of emotional support from all of the other participants.
Dr. Willa Shimomura / The Queen’s Cancer Center Director of Oncology: I am Willa Shimomura, Director of Oncology here at the Queen's Medical Center Cancer Center.
The program addresses the emotional and psychological aspects of cancer care, complementing the medical treatments and promoting a more holistic approach to patient care.
We welcome anyone who is interested in any kind of creative outlet, and doing it through art is very powerful and meaningful.
It can be expressed in the way that you draw or paint, or any kind of mixed media that we are able to use.
There's a sense of camaraderie and building that relationship, that is what our intention was with this program.
Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor: The socialization aspect when we when we're in person, as well as when we were virtual.
You know, people have created friendships.
They just are curious, supportive.
You know, when people are going through a tough time.
Sometimes they'll sit on the side and talk, you know.
We don't formally, you know, like in a support group, you know, go through everyone talking.
It's like just doing art, supporting each other, having fun, and everybody's encouraging and actually positive with seeing other people.
It's like, “Wow, how did you do that?” You know, it's kind of that kind of kind of support through art.
And it is, it is very healing.
Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: I remember this one time where we were making jewelry.
And of course, I wanted to make these really big, big earrings because I didn't have any hair.
And then I realized that I had neuropathy in my hands as well as my feet, and so I couldn't hold things.
And so, my goodness, you know, these ladies came up and they helped me crimp up things, and Mary especially, and so I was able to wear these really big, gaudy earrings to my chemotherapy.
And that was I felt like I had the support of, you know, all the ladies from the group while I was having the treatment, and it made me more courageous.
Fely Ebner / Retired School Psychologist: I really am glad that I found this class.
I love painting.
If I had a choice of major when I was in high school, I would have chosen to be an artist, but, you know, with Asian parents, you know that didn't fly, so they wanted me to get a career.
And so anyway, when I saw that this was free, it was related to cancer patients.
I thought this is perfect for me right now.
It didn't feel like it was a class.
It was just you having fun.
Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor: A lot of people think that they should be good at art before they join the program, art type of program, but you really don't need to have talent, because it's about discovering your own creativity, and people don't know what's actually in them, and that's my job, is to kind of pull it out of them, teach them simple, simple techniques in watercolor, acrylic or collage and and then they're like, oh my god, I made that.
They're like, really surprised.
Dr. Willa Shimomura / The Queen’s Cancer Center Director of Oncology: It is amazing what they can come up with.
They they may sit there, it's like, “Ah, you know, I really know, don't know what to do.
I'm not really talented.” And then next thing we know, it's, like, the most beautiful piece, you know, it's unique.
You know.
In a sense, because it's something that they created with their heart and their minds.
Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor: Eh good idea Mary.
You got texture with that paint on there.
Isn’t it kinda fun?
Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: Jocelyn is an amazing art teacher, and she just very kind and very compassionate.
And I think it has to do with the diagnosis that she had with and her experience with cancer, and she has a way of allowing you to just really be creative as well.
She, she never tells you, “Oh, do it this way.” You know, do it the way you want to do.
So, it felt like we were all in some creative mode.
And I think when you do that, you forget about your own experience, your own cancer struggles there.
Fely Ebner / Retired School Psychologist: I kind of joke around to my family about this, that I'm a school psychologist, and my whole life, I've been putting recommendations in my reports that they should practice self care, and sure enough, exactly what I've been writing, that's what I'm prescribing myself too.
Doing something that you enjoy.
So this, for me, would be painting and really seeing the results, putting it on the board, sending people cards, things like that.
Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor: The art show is a highlight, and it really is, because they create the art.
I teach them how to matte the artwork.
We use standard frames and try and keep it economical.
But also, you know, how to put it in the frame, how to, you know, put the wires on and, you know, put it on the wall.
And when they see it framed, they're like, “Oh my god”, you know, they're like, pretty blown away with what they've done.
Usually when you have an art show, people want to know about you know, who's the artist, what motivates them to do what they're doing.
So I asked them.
I said, you know, you can say whatever you want to say in the bio, share whatever you want to share, and a lot of it was a lot of gratitude and how the art helped them, or the program helped them, and the friendships helped them.
That’s the part that makes it worth doing.
It's made a difference.
Let's just say that, made a difference in a lot of people's lives.
A good, good kind of difference you know.
Dr. Willa Shimomura / The Queen’s Cancer Center Director of Oncology: The community support of the program demonstrated through the public exhibitions of the patient's work has raised awareness about the challenges they face as a cancer patient.
It helped reduce the stigma associated with cancer.
Fely Ebner / Retired School Psychologist: 2022 when we first had our assignment, we had, we were told you can paint whatever you want.
And so I just did this.
My hair fell out right because of chemotherapy.
So I drew my face, no eyes and everything, because I wanted to highlight my hair.
They were all falling off until my daughter-in-law helped me shave it off.
And so it was really hard.
It was really hard, but when I did this, I wanted to represent, how you know, how they say, God knows, every single numbered hair in your in your head, well, when I lost my hair, each hair that grew back was a person, people that helped me.
So I have family, friends, healthcare team, and I listed all these people's names.
Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: I do have a favorite, and it's this one.
I titled it Bloom.
And it's a collage.
And actually, underneath all this, I had written a lot of words that was just for me, and then I was able to just cover it.
But I wanted to showcase this part, that cancer doesn't wait, neither should you.
So, you know, get that testing done, and because you're, you know, when you when you're doing self care activities, this is one of them that you should be doing, is trying to determine what's going on with your body, and if it's something that you need to discuss with your doctor, you should do that, but a lot of fun creating this.
And I think any anytime we're doing art classes, you just discover more about ourselves.
Fely Ebner / Retired School Psychologist: I feel very supported by the people here.
They actually know me.
It's nice to be known, to be recognized.
And you could actually say this is like my second family.
Because where in the world would you find friends with chemo, with radiation?
Thank goodness that I found this avenue.
I have not been approached by anyone else to attend any kind of services such as this one, so I'm really grateful.
Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: What do I get out of the class?
I think it's the for me.
It's also the ability to grow from the art experience.
It's also just being just establishing friendships with the people who come to the program, and I think just being part of an art community allows you to just grow to a better person.
I appreciate all that has been presented to me, and I try to incorporate that in my daily life.
Jocelyn Cheng / Queen’s Healing Through Art Instructor & Cancer Survivor What I hope that the patients get out of this program is they find something within them that they didn't know they had and making art and feeling joyful.
You know, it's about it's like living life, you know, finding something you can be happy about or proud of.
It's very meaningful.
So to me, that's the success.
For me, being a teacher is helping them find that joy, and they found it.
I've seen it so many times.
Kalaʻi Miller/Host Mahalo for joining us.
It’s because of you we are able to share stories of accomplishment, resilience and compassion.
If you would like to support our mission to advance learning and discovery through storytelling, go to PBS Hawaii dot org and click on the donate now button.
For Home is Here, I’m Kalaʻi Miller.
A hui hou.
Clark Little: It would be nice if Instagram or Facebook had a smelly thingamajiggy like a technology because everyone's, like, looks at it and goes, oh my goodness, I can't imagine what that smells like.
You know, scratch the screen and sniff.
That would be awesome.
Michael Talalotu: “You get to know them personally.
You get to know their parents, their family.
They come like family to you.
So that's how I feel that they're just like my kids.” Felicia Marquez-Wong / Cancer Survivor: What if you can't draw what if this well, you know, I think when you come into that kind of situation, you really need to ask your inner critic to just step away, go back to the room or closet or whatever, and just enjoy the process.
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