Fragrant Hawai'i-grown maile — worn as lei at weddings, graduations and hula hälau — is in steady demand. But there's a dwindling supply.

With no large-scale commercial growers producing maile's leafy green strands, lei seekers are known to slip into the Big Island's forested hills to guard and harvest wild patches before an important occasion.

Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea, a newly formed farming operation about 12 miles north of Hilo, intends to work its land to ensure a sustainable future for maile — among the most sacred plants to Hawaiians.

"Our effort now is to restore and preserve native sacred plants and endangered plants. And to restore forests to land that was used for sugar plantation cultivation for more than a century," said Kehaulani Lum, whose family donated 20 acres of their Wailea-area property for the maile farm.

AGRIFOREST FUTURE

In the early 1900s, the property was covered with hardwoods, including 'ohi'a and koa trees, with maile and other foliage growing in their shade.

"We'll try to create that relationship again," Lum said.

That's the agriforest dream. For now, maile will be grown in pots inside shade houses outfitted with trellises and a drip-irrigation system.

The planting is expected to begin next month.

A blessing ceremony held Friday for Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea brought together scores of volunteers, representing more than 20 community partners and supporters, ranging from grassroots Native Hawaiian civic clubs to various university and state officials.

"It has been a long time coming, but we're ready finally to move forward," said Lum, for whom the purchase of the land and subsequent drafting of plans for it was an unexpected spiritual experience.

Her brother, Kealii Lum, who is serving as Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea's executive director, feels the same way.

"Everything's falling into place and it's all been very positive," he said.

In the last six months the business has secured about $2 million in grants and other funding tied to the first three years of maile production.

The Lums were raised on O'ahu, but the family has Big Island roots that reach back to this 114-acre property.

"We have been called back to the land," Kehaulani Lum said.

$5M LOCAL MARKET

It takes roughly 10 months to a year to grow maile for lei harvest.

Traditionally, a single strand — with no ornamentation — serves as the lei. These days, the lei is often dressed up with two to four intertwining strands.

Right now, a few truck farmers grow and sell relatively small batches of Hawai'i-grown maile. If you don't buy from them — or don't duck into the forest to snip your own strands — chances are you will end up purchasing an imitation (ti leaves woven to resemble maile) or maile imported from the Cook Islands and Tonga.

Richard Kido, an accounting professor at Chaminade University, estimates that Hawai'i's annual market for maile lei is at least $5 million (200,000 to 275,000 lei), and "virtually all of it is imported."

The imported supply is expected to thin because — mirroring Hawai'i — in the Cook Islands and Tonga, maile is gathered in the wild rather than grown commercially.

"There's a limited supply of maile in the forests, and it's becoming harder and harder to find," said Kido, who serves as a volunteer and financial consultant for Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea.

CULTURAL AIMS

In the past, commercial farmers in Hawai'i have balked at growing maile because they would be competing with cheap imports.

Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea maintains there is ample demand for authentic Hilo maile to keep the business healthy and — pointing to environmental and cultural objectives — the nonprofit sees more at stake than a financial bottom line.

The first goal is to capture up to 20 percent of the state's market, Kido said, then to look for more customers on the Mainland and in Japan.

Profits will fund educational and cultural programs and scholarships for Native Hawaiians.

The business is also putting together collaboration plans for tropical agriculture research in tandem with the University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

Last spring, Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea's strategy — drafted by the Ali'i Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club — beat out more than 60 other aspiring enterprises in the 2009 UH Business Plan Competition to take the overall first-place award.

FOR HAWAIIANS

For the Lum 'ohana, as well as many community partners and kupuna, Ka Mahi'ai Ihi o Wailea perhaps most importantly serves as a step in returning Hawaiians to soil they lost control over when the kingdom fell in the late 19th century.

"We see it as being on the cusp of cultural change," Kehaulani Lum said. "Once you start to lose your cultural materials, whether it's your language or your access to land or your native plants ... it's hard to regain."

She continued, "There's something here, at the heart, that will help us heal."

Then, with a laugh, she quickly added that while some people may describe such sentiment as New Age jargon, "I think it sounds Hawaiian."

In years to come, Kealii Lum said, some of the land, purchased in 2002, may be set aside for community-style gardens, with crops ranging from kalo to sweet potatoes.

"I want to see more Native Hawaiians coming back to the land," he said.

Of his "food sovereignty" dream, Kealii Lum said, "It's going to be more time-consuming, but it will lead to a better lifestyle."

His sister noted that about 3 percent of farmers in Hawai'i County are Native Hawaiian.

"The reality is that very few of us have access to the land," Kehaulani Lum said.