{"id":16839,"date":"2026-08-28T15:28:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16839"},"modified":"2026-08-28T15:28:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:28:51","slug":"farming-surfing-and-living-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=16839","title":{"rendered":"Farming, Surfing, and Living Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Published August 28, 2026 09:27AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jack Johnson\u2019s earliest memories are of his father coming up the beach, holding a surfboard. And while Johnson is best known for his multi-platinum music career<\/a>, he\u2019s talented enough on a board that he could\u2019ve gone pro. He first learned guitar when he was 14. But the first time he planted something at K\u014dkua Learning Farm, the newest arm of the K\u014dkua Hawai\u2018i Foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit he founded with his wife, Kim, he was 44.<\/p>\n

Since then, the eight-acre property on O\u2018ahu has transformed into a hub of community land stewardship. The farm produces fruit and vegetables, houses a bee apiary and goats, and protects a native wetland, but it also hosts work days every month where people from all over the North Shore come to work the land and connect with one another. \u2019\u0100ina Farm Stand, which opened on the property in November 2024, sells what\u2019s harvested at K\u014dkua and at farms across the area.<\/p>\n

Jack Johnson surfing in Micronesia.<\/span> (Photo: Todd Glaser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johnson, 51, is currently on a world tour following the release of SURFILMUSIC<\/i><\/a>, a documentary chronicling how he\u2019s made a life combining the pursuits he loves the most. He spends a lot of his free time at the farm, where we talked to him to learn more about how he works farming and community leadership into his surfing, songwriting, and performing.<\/p>\n

Outside<\/em>: When I arrived, you were leading a staff meeting. What is your relationship to the farm? How often are you here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JJ:<\/strong> Nature in general has always been really important in my life, and now the farm in the last five years has been a place where everything I loved about all my time outdoors as a kid, and all the times that my dad would take me camping, and the connection I felt to the natural world, is all brought together. It\u2019s really nice to be able to spend my free time doing something productive that\u2019s for the community.<\/p>\n

When I say \u201cfor the community,\u201d I don\u2019t mean I\u2019m doing some kind of service; I mean that I love to work on it, and my friends love coming down here. Sometimes our volunteer groups are literally just a bunch of close friends who bring chainsaws and want to help remove an invasive tree and do some heavy lifting. And then other times, when we have a community work day, like 100 people show up.<\/p>\n

What is it like to work the land alongside the neighborhood?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s neat because some people come back every Saturday. I\u2019ve seen little kids who were in their mom\u2019s BabyBj\u00f6rn that are now running around, you know, five years old. And you can tell they get a lot from it\u2014the kids are learning that you can work together with the community to do something really positive. And it\u2019s the same thing for me\u2014it\u2019ll get me out of bed, it\u2019ll get me motivated. I\u2019ve never left a work day not feeling really stoked. It\u2019s given me a sense of purpose in my life to have this place and be able to contribute to the community I grew up in, to be able to have a place that is for everybody.<\/p>\n

\"Jack
Performing live at Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara.<\/span> (Photo: Todd Glaser)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You don\u2019t think of it as \u201cyour\u201d farm, but as the foundation\u2019s farm, and something bigger.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really do feel we were able to provide a place that\u2019s for everybody. And I don\u2019t think of it as mine. We help to steward this place, and it\u2019s a very special place. There\u2019s one corner of it that has a lot of native plants, and there\u2019s a certain part of the community that loves to come and just work on that; that\u2019s their specialty. They really take care of that zone. Then other people are really into the wetland part, which has a lot of natives as well, but they\u2019ll show up for anything to do with that. And we have an orchard over there, and we have people who love learning about it because they might have fruit trees in their backyard, so when they come, it\u2019s actually like a masterclass with our agroforest expert, who comes every workday. And [people] can learn about grafting and how to take care of their trees. Everybody\u2019s got their little part on the farm, and I think they do feel like this is their place.<\/p>\n

Surfing and farming are both outdoor pursuits. In what way are they similar for you? How are they different?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surfing is a thing that you can do for yourself, it very much helps center you, it helps give you a sort of peace, but it\u2019s only for you. But working on something like the K\u014dkua Learning Farm, it\u2019s a whole different kind of thing. You still get to be outside and [feel] the wind blowing on you and get to be under the sun, but then you\u2019re working with people, pulling weeds for an hour, and you\u2019re still having all those conversations. I\u2019ve had so many good conversations on the farm.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re distracted with weeding, it\u2019s a really nice time to talk. And it makes the work easier too. At the end of the day, when you get a drink of water and [you\u2019re] washing your hands, you look at the area and think, \u201cWhoa, we just did that.\u201d There\u2019s a word in Hawaiian language, laulima<\/i>, which [means] \u201cmany hands make light work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/figure>\n

How would you describe your relationship to surfing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as strong as it\u2019s ever been. It\u2019s a weird thing growing up in a surfing family where I don\u2019t remember starting necessarily. I have these abstract images of being in front of my dad\u2019s board and watching waves. It was just something that was always in my life. It\u2019s second nature. It\u2019s weird, it\u2019s all I want to do, really. Surf is always the goal\u2014even if I\u2019m kind of far from the ocean and I hear there\u2019s a swell, then it\u2019s kind of like, \u201cOK, well, how do we get two hours to the coast to surf today?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s everything, from the playful stuff in my life to the spiritual part of my life. Most of my time was spent with my dad in the ocean, whether it was just casual surfs after school when he got home from work, or if my friends and I were out surfing our local spot, he would come paddling out. Now I do it with my own kids, and you don\u2019t have to make time for the important conversations when you have that kind of time built into your day. There are always lulls between sets, and you\u2019re just sitting there talking, and it\u2019s a nice place for friends to catch up, and it\u2019s a nice place for family.<\/p>\n

Do you find it plays a stronger role in your physical and mental well-being as you get older?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I say surfing is everything, I\u2019m not exaggerating. It\u2019s the place that I go to shoot the shit with my friends, it\u2019s the place I go to get a little exercise because I tend to get heavier if I don\u2019t surf. If I go on tour and I don\u2019t surf for a couple weeks, I definitely gain a lot of weight. It\u2019s my workout, [it\u2019s] the only way I stay in shape.<\/p>\n

It kind of covers everything in my life. You don\u2019t think about that stuff when you\u2019re a kid. But once you get to 50, you start realizing, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to do something to stay in shape.\u201d And surfing\u2019s the only thing I\u2019ve ever learned. And it\u2019s so much fun that I don\u2019t have to find the motivation.<\/p>\n\n

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

This article is from the Fall 2026 issue of Outside magazine. To receive the print magazine, become an Outside+ member here<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n