Follow the one and only road that winds towards Moloka'i's far-east end. Ambling along, you pass lowlands with restored ancient fishponds, some simple and some fancier homes dotted along the shoreline, beautiful bays with barely a person in sight and expansive ocean vistas, Maui far in the distance. Slowly, you ascend to high open plains with cattle roaming behind rustic wood fences, endangered nene geese can be seen in the fields, prospering here because of an innovative breeding program. You may begin to feel like you are in Montana or Wyoming, but the wild blue ocean is always visible on the right, retreating far below at the base of steep, rocky cliff faces. Eventually the route dips down, winding sharp and swift towards a valley floor. As you round another turn, this one otherwise indistinct from the many before it, the road twists sharply left and before you beckons a pristine panoramic vista reminiscent of ages past. Deep cut mountain walls descend sharply to a lush, verdant valley; two distinct white waterfalls are nestled in the back. Follow the imagined flow of water from the back of the valley seaward to the ocean where a blue bay at the river mouth mimics the curve of the road, a black-ish sand beach and river boulders gracing its shore. This is Halawa, a seemingly mythic place where the east road ends and time stands still.

Don't stop yet. Keep following the road towards its inevitable end near the beach. Look for the quaint Jerusalema Hou church, green and white, plantation style, big enough for just a few congregants to gather, perched on the left, nestled in tropical jungle with spider webs threatening to take over. On your right, find a relic of an old stone building, likely a church, crumbled with age and overgrown with plant-life. At an unmarked dirt road you'll turn left, following the bumpy trackless path to a grass parking lot marked only by an old rusty car filled with more cobwebs and cane spiders. Don't worry. You're not lost. In fact, you have just arrived. This magical setting is the home of Kalani Pruet and Art Montoya's Kuleana Gardens, an amazingly beautiful flower farm and pristine example of modern day sustainable living, Hawaiian style.

It's not hard to imagine the ancient Hawaiians, voyagers from the Marquesas, arriving here in the seventh century, certain that they had found paradise on earth. This valley is believed to be the first area settled by Polynesian voyagers, and for centuries it supported its residents in a completely sustainable manner. Hawaiians thrived here for over a 1,000 years with the settled population believed to be close to 2,000 inhabitants, living harmoniously off the fresh mountain water, valley fruits and ocean bounty, supplemented with what is believed to have been the most complex and extensive taro cultivation in ancient Hawai'i. Kalani Pruet, owner and operator of the Kuleana Flower Farm in Halawa, explains, "History acclaims Halawa as some of the most fertile kalo (taro) farming land on Moloka'i, producing at one time enough kalo to feed all the people on the island." Halawa is also home to many ancient heiau, which were the most important heiau on the island. Kahuna would come here to study and according to Pruet, "Halawa as a whole was a very large village with various schools to teach students to become specialists in sustaining a healthy existence within their environment." How perfect that Kalani's Kuleana Gardens continue that noble tradition.

Kalani Pruet did not grow up in Halawa. In fact, in 1905 his great grandmother Edith Peahole Wilmington left the land when she was only 9 years old. Her mother and younger brother had just died of tuberculosis and her father placed her in an orphanage on Maui. She eventually boarded at Kamehameha Schools and was part of the graduating class of 1912. She never returned to Halawa. For many years, no one in the family lived on or cultivated this piece of paradise.

Kalani's ancestor Kawainui became owner of their family land at the time of the Great Mahele and the Kuleana Act of 1850. A decree whereby the Hawaiian monarchy, driven to accept the western concept of commoner land ownership, parceled out lands to families who had lived and worked on them for lifetimes. This new ruling enabled the Pruets and many other Hawaiian families to own free and clear the land they had tended for generations under the rule of the ali'i. Until that point, the ancient ahupua'a system had been in place throughout the islands of Hawai'i. This little slice of fertile farmland in Halawa Valley has long been the Pruet family's kuleana.

Nearly 90 years passed after Edith Wilmington's move to the city. As Hawai'i modernized and the family's land in Halawa was left untended, it succumbed to the invasive non-native plants that have taken over much of the native Hawaiian forests. The once famously productive kalo lo'i went fallow with the old way of life forgotten for a time.

It wasn't until 1995, three generations later, that Kalani Pruet, an O'ahu-born artist and surfer, decided to move back to his family's kuleana land and begin anew. A UH Manoa graduate with a degree in art, Kalani had grown tired of the rat race on O'ahu. Living from paycheck to paycheck trying to keep up and build a meaningful life, Kalani moved to Maui in hopes of finding a mellower lifestyle. When that proved to be unfulfilling, he set his sights on the family's abandoned kuleana lands on Moloka'i.

Armed with only a tent, a surfboard and a dream, he spent the first year clearing invasive grasses and finding fruit to eat. Tall grasses like cane, California and Guinea grasses had taken over the native species near the river on his land and clearing these out with only basic tools was no small job. Living on very little money, Kalani found innovative ways to get by in the pristine natural setting of the valley. He occasionally sold fruit to the health food store in Kaunakakai and eventually started a small garden for subsistence. There was no grand plan, just an honest desire to return to a more natural way of living, mediated only by the seasons, the surf and the generous bounty of Halawa Valley. Slowly he began to experiment with different kinds of plants on the freshly cleared flatlands employing some of the techniques he had observed from friends on Maui who practiced organic agriculture. Over time, different fruit trees and native flowers began to blossom. With the encouragement and support of his neighbor, Art Montoya, Kalani shaped the land over several years into a full-fledged burgeoning flower farm supporting hundreds of varieties of tropical flowers and fruit trees. Rare varieties of tropical flowers grow with ease in the valley's rich soil, a botanist's dream.

It's a hot Moloka'i morning when I arrive at the flower farm. I've been to this valley before, but I have never visited Kalani and his land. I amble back in my truck to the parking area, not sure if I'm in the right place until Kalani comes out to greet me. I had left him a message the day before about our visit only to find out that email works much better on the far-east end of Moloka'i where cell phone service is spotty. Email, on an iPhone, all the way out here, it seems surreal. Entering the gardens, I immediately know that I am in an extremely special place, a present day Eden. The land is saturated with mana that's palpable and cultivated with the loving care of people who understand its value and history. Today the farm boasts several dwellingsÜtwo homes and a few raised yurtsÜcreatively crafted from available materials.

I take a tour around the property with Kalani, whom explains the common and scientific names of each plant and flower. His knowledge of the gardens is astounding and captivating. Wandering off on my own, Kalani's calm voice in the distance, I become entranced by a jade plant. Rarely seen in Hawai'i, this plant offers flowers of otherworldly blue-greens. The explosion of unique color is mesmerizing and I spend nearly half an hour exploring all its angles and blossoms.

There is a pond, part of the river itself, which wraps through the center of the property. Various trees line its shore with their trunks casually stretching into its depths, creating symmetrical reflections in the calm water. Elephant ear plants cluster near the pond, their massive leaves towering above and making a ceiling of verdant green light as you walk through. Kalo plants fringe the edge of the river, their bulbs just beneath the water in the muddy riverbed, thriving, as they have for over a thousand years.

There are numerous varieties of rare and beautiful gingers, heliconias and a gorgeous pink bombax tree with blooms that look like they are straight out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. Fruits and vegetables round out the garden's offerings: pineapple, papaya, bananas, pumpkin and squash. It seems that everywhere you look a new discovery awaits as you meander through the enchanting array of plants. I spend a while by the pond, alone, listening to the multitudes of birds and insects, so happy in this natural setting.

As the afternoon passes on, I end up on Kalani's porch, a sunlight-filled open area that doubles as his kitchen. He has made us fresh smoothies, a gorgeous blend of pineapple, mango, banana, noni and passion fruit. The icy natural sweetness is a perfect remedy to the afternoon heat. We sit for a while, relaxed, talking story, entranced by the experience of this place. Inwardly, I marvel on the power of beginning. The power of following your inner calling even when it only offers you a vague blur of a potential future. Here is a man who left behind all of what most call progress to return to a way of life that affords time, closeness to nature, healthy food and happy afternoons. When I ask Kalani what about creating and running Kuleana Gardens brings him the most joy, he replies, "Flowers make people happy and it gives reverence to nature," a simple and noble pursuit.

When I asked Kalani to describe a typical day in his life on the land he answered, "Wake up, have some tea or coffee, check my email, turn on some sprinklers, weed a section of the garden, cut some bananas, make a smoothie for lunch, start harvesting some flowers while thinning old flower stalks, and as it gets closer to evening, harvest flowers faster, rinse them and stack them in buckets of water to be sold the next day." Nestled in the cradle of this unique valley setting, it seems Kalani Pruet has found his own version of a modern day paradise. Returning to the land of his ancestors and honoring the gifts of this natural setting, he has created a life close to nature, filled with the joy of flowers and the nourishment of fruit. The flower farm offers each of us a chance to glimpse another way of living, a relevant vision of earthly success tied to intrinsic wealth and pure joy.