Page 4 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - Nov 30, 2022

4 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK NOVEMBER 30, 2022
Whether herding animals on her Waialua property or drawing crowds to another sold-out performance, veteran entertainer Ginai always finds ways to shine.
S T O R Y B Y B I L L It started with a single
M O S S M A N // P H O T O lowed honeybee colonies to
B Y LAWRENCE TABUDLO H A W A I ‘ I I S L A N D M I D W E E K
C O V E R S T O R Y
horse — a birthday gift
be formed there, and wild peacocks (the only uninvit- ed guests) to roost on a ficus tree that bordered her leased property.
He tries to eat the ducks and he’ll chase the donkey!”)
in need of a new abode. When a neighbor passed away unexpectedly and his daughter asked if the song- stress could take the family’s 12 chickens with her, she
Additionally, when she dis- covered several abandoned ducks at a nearby trailhead, she quickly scooped them up and honked her way back to the property she whimsically refers to as “Peacock in a Fi- cus Tree Farm.”
return, they promised to pay her in, well, syrupy sweetness. “The deal is we get a 5-gal- lon bucket of honey every now and then,” explains Gi- nai. “So, every Christmas, we simply give away jars of hon-
from her husband a de- cade ago — and the search for a home where the steed could roam.
“One of our former neigh- bors had abandoned a ram and a ewe, so we picked them up and brought them to our farm and the next thing I know, they’re making babies!”
But even though monon- ymous singer Ginai would eventually find the right spot, a 5-acre parcel in Waialua, O‘ahu, she knew she could never limit the number of an- imals on her land to just one.
Even an old jack covered in sores ultimately cantered his way onto the site. She’s since given him the name Don Juan de DonKee because “he’s very loving and sweet with the kids.”
Ginai admits to adoring the little ones, but acknowledges the entire lot hasn’t been shy about running roughshod over her sod.
chirped in agreement.
“We had to build a chick-
ey to people.”
But managing livestock has
So, the pet lover gave in to her nature and the single horse soon welcomed three more horses. Next came sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and pigs, too. Then, she al-
“Animals just seem to find me,” says the veteran enter- tainer, whose herd includes a kitten and three dogs. (“Two are good with the animals — the other one is not so good.
“I’ve now got a herd, and I can’t stop them. I don’t have enough grass!” she says with a chuckle.
“The chicken coop is the size of a garage — I mean you can park your car in it ... it’s that big.”
Life on the farm certain- ly has its pluses, according to Ginai. For example, her honeybee population actually belongs to a couple of bee- keepers who requested room to cultivate their colonies. In
Nor does she have the heart to turn away feathered friends
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en coop and reinforce it with a crazy amount of chicken wire because the mongoose around here are hungry. They want the eggs and if the eggs aren’t there, they’ll take the chicken,” explains Ginai.
“We’re now constructing a duck pond for them and soon we’ll have an enclosure around it,” she says proudly.
its disappointments and ad- versities as well. The biggest tragedy occurred when a pack of wild dogs descended from the nearby Wai‘anae Range and slaughtered some of the farm’s occupants. The cul- prits were never caught, and the fact that they’re still roam-