Hawaii: A rustic -- but not too -- retreat on Kauai’s North Shore

Beats there a modern-urban romantic’s heart so cold that on finding a little slice of paradise, he hasn’t thought, “I’m going to open a B&B” (and maybe an organic farm)?

More than 25 years ago, Lee Roversi came to the North Shore of Kauai and did just that.

And lucky you if you can wangle one of the two secluded cabins she has built at her North Country Farms, just outside of Kilauea. This is Hawaiian rustic at a high level: The windows are screened in, and there are showers outdoors. There are also kitchenettes, and everything is arranged so it looks as though it’s waiting for a photo shoot.

Maybe best of all, guests get full foraging rights. Besides the two cabins (which rent for $160 a night and are highly sought-after), Roversi and the three children she’s raised on the farm grow fruits and vegetables that they sell at local farmers markets and through a Community Supported Agriculture program.

Wander the grounds and you’ll find three market gardens with greens and different vegetables, pineapples and cassava, as well as tropical fruit trees bearing avocados and different kinds of citrus as well as exotics such as calamansi, lychee and mountain apple (whose fruit is so delicate it must be shipped in a single layer to avoid crushing).

“This is a tribute to how things grow here,” Roversi said. “I tell people I spent the first 10 years planting, and I’ve spent the last 15 years with a chainsaw taking things out.”

Info: North Country Farms, P.O. Box 723, Kilauea, Hawaii 96754; (808) 828-1513.