Nestled in the valleys of Hanalei and Lumahaʻi on Kauaʻi sits a loʻi kalo that’s been cultivating on the island's north shore for six generations.
The Boro-Harada family has been running the farm since the 1950s and has no plans on stopping anytime soon. Sierra-Lynn Stone shared that she plans to continue the legacy of those before her through her own keiki.
“Having kids of my own now, I'm thinking beyond myself and just beyond just this business. But like, how else am I going to be of service or provide this and to teach my own,” she said.
She shared that she sees snippets of her own childhood at the farms in her 3-year-old daughter.
“She's all in it, like, gets in there and knocks the snail eggs, she picks up the snails, and to see that, it's like a flashback in time. For me, it's exactly like how I was raised,” Stone told HPR. “Just her having that happiness and that pure, priceless look and value. Little does she know how enriching it is. That's what it's about, and that's … why I'm doing what I'm doing, why I'm here to do just beyond me.”
Originally, Stone went off to Washington State University after high school to pursue a career in nursing. However, when her grandfather’s health took a turn, he asked her to come home and run the farm.
“It just felt like that was my calling. In that moment, I thought, my plans were going to be nursing or what have you … it was like, ‘No, this is what you were literally born and raised to do,’” she said.
When her grandfather died, she said she felt “lost.” The two of them worked side-by-side until the day before he passed. Stone was passing him tools as he was building a hut for one of the pumps on the farm.
“He was always testing us. … 'Can you give me the Allen wrench?' Or 'Can you pass me, you know, the flathead screwdriver?' And you're like, digging in the tool bag that has like a million tools. And you're like, 'Is it this one?' And he's like, 'No. Like, what is wrong with you? I said the flathead.' And you're just like, 'Oh, OK.' Like, just scattered and flustered. But I was here, I was here with him,” Stone said.
The farm has always been run by the family, from her husband joining in and taking care of the heavy equipment to even her mom and keiki harvesting the kalo every Saturday.
She shared that her role on the farm is being the overseer.
“I'm definitely my grandpa's granddaughter," she said. "I have my type of way. I'm particular, and I take pride in that. I think it says a lot with what we yield, how we're cutting the kalo, how clean it is going into the bags. It represents SBH taro farm. So I take pride in all that we do, and I try to mold that and shape that in everybody in my own family.”
Being a kalo farmer is beyond the paycheck for Stone. As she shared, it’s her “bread and butter.”
“I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I wouldn't want to do anything otherwise,” she said. “Not having my grandparents and all of them to be here now I feel them so strongly. So it feels good to just know this is where I'm supposed to be, and I feel good doing it. I feel very safe, and I feel secure at the farms and at my best.”
This story aired on The Conversation on Dec. 19, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Tori DeJournett adpated this story for the web.
