Maui Dragon Fruit Farm grows red ruby dragon fruit. Photo by Thomas Ching.

WEST MAUI — Congratulations to all the successful bidders of the Makila Ridge Auction! We held our auction on Dec. 4, 2009 at 11 a.m. There were five lots up for auction, and all had an opening bid of $500,000. We had 17 registered buyers that had pre-qualified to purchase these 25- to 50-acre agricultural lots. All the lots were put under escrow that day and should be closing within the next month.   

Lahaina Family Farms is one of the newest farms located on one of the Makila Ridge lots. Owner Tim Moyer and his family of seven children are hard at work creating an environmentally conscious and 100 percent sustainable farm. Each and every day, Tim, Harline, Brittany, Maria Lynn, Bon and Cameron are out there on their 69-acre lot moving rocks out and planting numerous types of trees.

Their main focus will be on restoring and propagating wili wili trees in their orchard. So far they have a 90 percent success rate in restoring and collecting seeds of the wili wili for resale to the public. The Gall Wasp invaded the islands and attacked the native, endemic wili wili trees a few years back and decimated the trees in Hawaii. The long row of beautiful blooming orange flowers we used to see along the highway heading into Lahaina were destroyed. Congratulations on helping to bring back the wili wili trees!

You can also find coffee trees, banana trees, coconuts, plumeria and various fruit trees that the farm is growing. After just a few months, they have started the transformation of their land into a working farm. In the future, they hope to offer agricultural eco-tours of their property to showcase their orchards and the unique history behind the area.   

Crystal and Larry Schmitt are another entrepreneurial couple that have started Maui Dragon Fruit Farm. This 25-acre farm currently has brought in 16 varieties of beautiful dragon fruit from all over the world to grow here in Makila Plantation III. They hope to have many acres planted with this colorful and nutritious fruit. One of the common dragon fruits has a bright fuschia-colored waxy skin with bright green tips and a white flesh filled with tiny black seeds. Some varieties are yellow skinned, others have a deep purple flesh, but all are very refreshing fruits when chilled and served. With less than one month of planting, they have already put in over 200 cuttings from places as far away as Israel, Taiwan and Thailand. As their farm progresses , these owners would like to offer agricultural tours of their property, so people can see and enjoy the dragon fruit.

The price just dropped for beautiful 204 Wailau St.

There is much activity going on in our Launiupoko area! We are also seeing our real estate activity start to pick up, with more people looking for areas where there are larger spaces to do farming activities and enjoy the wonderful outdoors that these neighborhoods offer. I have other lots and residences available for sale in the area at the best prices in a long time. For example, we just had a $100,000 price drop on a three-quarter-acre lot in Olowalu to $365,000! An even larger price drop of $134,000 for 204 Wailau St. in Launiupoko came on this week. This beautiful plantation-style, three-bedroom/three-bath home sits on over one acre with a detached two-car garage and workroom above it for only $1,465,000! Completely turnkey, it is being sold fully furnished, so you can move right in!

Motivated sellers combined with the low interest rates available now make it a great time to buy! Please call me at (808) 283-7214 for more information, e-mail Debbie@westmauiland.com or visit www.debbiearakaki.com.