Welcome Letter

We are Pod & Rind, a home for the recipes, blogs, and (one day soon, we hope!) the cookbook of Tracy Reddekopp, founder of the Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

Fifty-three years and three businesses (Fly Away Holidays, Earth Bound Tours and Hawaiian Vanilla Co.) later, we the Reddekopp family are still here in Pa’auilo, HI, living and working and doing our best to give God all the glory. So many of you have been with us from the very beginning. Bless you. To those of you just joining us, welcome!

This year Valentine’s day marks five years (5!!) since Jim, beloved husband, father and grandpa, passed away. To quote the Muppet Christmas Carol (a favorite in our household), “The years performed their terrible dance,” and while it wasn’t all terrible, it was a dance— one where you have to learn to get lost in the music and trust the One leading you. They say it takes five years before you start to feel normal again after a loss, but what exactly is normal when you lose someone so integral to the lives of so many? 
These five years have also seen a wedding and two new, healthy, beautiful grandchildren born to our family. 

A dance. 

There is joy here, all around. 

The Hawaiian Vanilla Co., Jim and Tracy Reddekopp’s creation started in 1998, survived COVID through the grace of God and the hard work of their eldest son Ian and his wife Malia, who purchased the company in 2021. The sale of the company has afforded Tracy the ability to daily roam her eight-acre farm with its citrus orchard and greenhouses, see her four grandkids (who all currently live within a mile of her), and maintain a close relationship with her children (the majority of whom have not gone far.) No longer needing to think up new menus and products, Tracy now has time to think about everything that has transpired here over the last twenty-seven years: Births, deaths, marriages, triumphs, tragedies, dance classes, Christmas parties— the works. There is, perhaps, too much time that can be spent in contemplation, and she has begun to withdraw into hermitude. A veritable hobbit. 

Like Evelyn Couch in Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistle Stop Cafe, Tracy is both “too young to be old, and too old to be young,” and has received encouragement from both her family and friends to open a new chapter. A new book, even. One where we get to hear the stories and behind-the-scenes tales of her life, as it was, as it is now, and as it will unfold to be. 

This is Pod & Rind. 

Tracy is the main voice here, bringing you the bulk of the transmissions, the recipes, the stories, etc. 

Emma is the secondary voice, the boot to the keister trying to keep everything moving along in a timely fashion, editing and publishing.

We invite you to settle in, to get to know us, to allow us to share with you this good life we're living.

Aloha pumehana,

Pod & Rind