Aloha,,
Thank you for your interest in Coastview Aquaponics! We are a family of three, Chris & Alexis Smith - a married couple & our 3 year old daughter Kililani. Originally from California, we moved to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2006 hoping to create a more relaxed and "greener" life for ourselves by getting away from the hustle and bustle of life in California. Living in Hawaii has its challenges, but we love it here & know we are "Lucky to live Hawaii"!
We got our start in aquaponics in 2009 because of the desire to grow more of our own food. We have always had gardens and grown small amounts of food for ourselves. However, here on our property in Kona, Hawaii we do not have much soil at all. We do have nutrient rich lava rock, but that is very tough to work with and is not easily gardened.
As a family we are trying to be more conscious of our footprint on the environment, we recycle, compost and eat locally grown products as often as we can. Besides growing our own produce & fish, we also raise chickens. Teaching our daughter to "malama aina" - respect the land and giving her the tools to live a green life are very important to us.
Chris is a surfer, loves to fish, ride bikes, hike, ... do most anything outdoors. He has a background in construction & commercial diving. Chris has personally built all of our aquaponics systems by hand. He comes up with all our system designs, additions, the experiments we try. our planting & spacing techniques & farm management techniques. Our aquaponics farm is truly his idea.
Alexis loves to be outdoors as well, walking, playing in the ocean, practicing yoga & running around after Kili! She participates in the aquaponics business in many ways: harvesting plants, sales, weekly emails, website, business management. As a Licensed Esthetician, Alexis performs facial treatments & body waxing on her clients. In her free time she enjoys sewing, reading & keeping up with her family and friends on the mainland.
Kililani is a very active three year old who loves living on a farm! Lots of opportunities to get dirty and run around. She is a little helper with our aquaponics systems: feeding the fish morning & night, collecting net pots, putting them into planting trays, and soon she'll be ready to help plant seeds. You may even luck out & get a head of lettuce she'll decide to harvest for you as you tour our farm!
