Two years ago, Rowena de Belligny pulled up stakes from her office job in Singapore to begin a family adventure. She and her husband, Leo, sold everything, bought a campervan, and toured Europe for six months while homeschooling their children. The ultimate goal? To find a life with greater flexibility, time outside, purposeful work, and a sense of community connection.
Part way through the trip, a former colleague, John Seward P’25, called with an opportunity to manage his cucumber farm on Hawai‘i Island, where he has made a home (on and off) for over 20 years. “I have a background in biological sciences,” de Belligny explains. “The farm made perfect sense, bringing together my academic and business skills, plus the chance to find the ideal work-life balance on this beautiful island.”
Today, de Belligny runs Kamuela Cucumbers, and the family is enjoying the shift from corporate life to growing healthy food for Hawai‘i. “I find it amazing that Hawai‘i imports 80 percent of its produce,” says de Belligny. “These fruits and vegetables end up ripening in cargo containers
instead of under the sun as they should. We produce nearly two million pounds of cucumbers annually, which are available in most grocery stores and many restaurants across the state. Our goal is to expand the farm and make a small contribution to reducing the amount of cargo container produce that is sold in Hawai‘i. Another goal is to shift to an almost fully biodegradable operation.”
Meanwhile, de Belligny’s family has joined the HPA community: Tristan ’29 and Rafael ’30 are both at the Lower School. “John also has a daughter, Taina, who’s in sixth grade at HPA,” she explains. “We were drawn to the warmth of the people, the breadth of the curriculum, and the wider network of sports teams, performing arts, and community connections. My boys are loving gardening, the Makahiki games, and their ‘nature kingdom’ at the Village Campus.”
Running a farm offers many possibilities for community service and school partnerships, which de Belligny has already started to pursue. “We’ve collaborated with Willie Quayle’s sustainability class at HPA this year and with Dr. Bill, Aaron Schorn, and students in the Energy Lab as well,” she says. “We’re hoping to get more involved with the next Nalukai Academy cohort. We also donate cucumbers to the weekly community meal, and we felt fortunate to be able to give a large amount of cocopeat to help rejuvenate gardens swallowed in the recent lava flow.”
Clearly, the road to Waimea agrees with this adventurous family, and HPA is glad to say “aloha.”
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the fall 2018 issue of Ma Ke Kula.