Maui, Hawaii - #064

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We had a great opportunity to visit an organic farm and distillery situated on 80-acres - we enjoyed all the breathtaking views from the slopes of Haleakala, the home of Ocean Organic Vodka which is centrally located between the north and south shores of Maui. 

Our group had the pleasure of touring this 80-acre organic farm on the slopes of Haleakala. They offered us a tours of the grounds & vodka distillery and a fabulous tasting of their products!  What a delightful tour and a great lady that gave us all the details!

For Shay Smith and his family - the owners, it is where their life-adventure and OCEAN Organic Vodka began. Being born and raised on Maui provided the luxury to explore this tropical paradise, which included passionately riding it's magnificent ocean waves. 

The Hawaiian Islands are his home and a magical place worth sharing.  After returning from college and some International travel, Shay was encouraged by his entrepreneurial parents to create a premium product from Hawaii with the desire of making it available around the world.

The idea of OCEAN Organic Vodka was sparked by an article in the newspaper about one of Hawaii’s natural resources – desalinated deep ocean mineral water off the Kona coast of the Big Island. 

The distillery is entirely solar-powered and the ingredients, such as sugar cane, are organically grown in volcanic soil without herbicides or pesticides - making it different from any other vodka!

We were given several of their wonderful products to taste and it was hard to figure out which one was the best!  And naturally, they sold us many bottles of this wonderful-tasting vodka.  It was so beautiful there located on the water!     You can experience this beautiful place on our 30-minute download!                                                                                                                                                   

We visited the beautiful Kula Botanical Garden which is a 8-acre botanical garden located on Kekaulike Highway near the Kula Highway junction in Maui, Hawaii. It's beauty blankets the slopes of the massive shield of volcano Haleakala.

It's a beautiful and lovingly cared-for little botanical garden at about 3500' up the mountain. It's not huge but we spent a peaceful few hours wandering the paths and admiring all the beautiful flowers and plants along with the many birds and animals. 

We enjoyed all the beautiful and exotic plants from around the world, a koi pond, a duck/goose habitat (which has a rare pair of Hawaiian nene birds living it it), an orchid house, a few gazebos, walked through a covered bridge to enjoy the sounds of the waterfalls. 

Many places to sit along the way and we took time to enjoy the little gift shop and the friendly staff took good care of us! 

It's a family business, the kind you don't find much anymore. If you are going up to the summit or to Makawao or Kula, it's worth planning a stop here. 

We all enjoyed our time there in the beautiful garden and you can take advantage of all the beautiful photos of the many many flowers, plants and animals included in our wonderful download!  Here's a few photos below!

Continuing on, we stopped and visited the AKL Farm that grows lavender for a variety of products.

Lavandula is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India.

In the hills of Kula, we took in and explored the sweeping views of Maui's central valley and see how the lavender was grown and used in products such as; soaps, essential oils, jelly and candles.

It's a spectacular lavender farm with warm toasted lavender scones smothered in butter and lilikoi jelly.  It's a pleasure stop in at their little café and enjoy the beautiful view of Kihei and Kahului.

We took in the crisp fresh air and sunshine as we walked throughout their vast collection of native plants.  We enjoyed the two free lavender short bread cookies that made the trek worthwhile.

ALK is a must see for local and travelers alike. We enjoyed our delicious treat and relaxed in the field of lavender as we were able to check out all their great products in the store!  

Here's many photos of this beautiful AKL Farm including many many more photos in the 30-minute download.