Newsletter 2 - May 2009
Garden visits are a wonderful way to learn how to grow food. Several upcoming events take place in gardens. Pictured: Mayumi Oda at Ginger Hill Farm.
Contents
Events
Reports
New Publications
Web resources
Submissions
Aloha mai e!
This is the second edition of a new periodic publication for Hawai'i Island: the Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network e-mail newsletter.
The newsletter features upcoming events, web resources, and other news for the Grow Local/Eat Local Food movement. Enjoy!
Your submissions for future newsletters are welcome using the form below.
Mahalo nui loa,
Craig Elevitch
Pedro Tama
http://agroforestry.net
Saturday, April 25, 8:45 am - Noon
Event: Work & Learn Day: Seed Saving and Planting—at the garden
Sponsor/Organizer: Mala'ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Description: A learning event followed by potluck & talk-story Noon—1:30 pm
Place: Garden at Waimea Middle School
Cost: Free, limited enrollment and first come.
Contact: email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Matilda Thompson at 885-9206.
Saturday, April 25, 9 am - 1 pm
Event: Kawanui Farm with Nancy Redfeather: A Unique Experience in Self-Sufficiency
Sponsor/Organizer: The Kohala Center
Description: Building community food self-reliance for the future starts at home-on Kawanui Farm. Visit Kawanui Farm and lunch with owners Nancy Redfeather and her husband Gerry Herbert.
Place: contact Kohala Center
Cost: $25 (members) - $75
Contact: http://www.kohalacenter.org/TKCMemberEvents09/about.html and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel: 887-6411
Saturday April 25, 10 am - 12 Noon (Volcano); 2 pm - 4 pm (Pahoa)
Event: Composting Workshops
Sponsor/Organizer: County of Hawai'i Dept of Environmental Management
Description: Learn how to backyard compost
Place: Cooper Center, Volcano Village (10am - Noon); Pahoa Feed & Garden (2pm - 4pm).
Cost: Free
Contact: 937-2233; website http://www.hawaiizerowaste.org
Saturday, April 25, 1 pm - 5 pm
Event: Shade-grown coffee workshop
Sponsor/Organizer: UH Cooperative Extension and Permanent Agriculture Resources
Description: This workshop explores the ecological and economic benefits and drawbacks of shade-grown coffee agroforestry systems in Kona. Two farm visits are included in the workshop.
Place: UH Cooperative Extension Service, Kainaliu
Cost: This workshop is free. Due to space limitations, pre-registration is required.
Contact: Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Sarah at 322-4892 to register.
Saturday, April 25, 10 am - 2 pm
Event: Lanihau Center Ho'olaule'a, Kailua-Kona
Sponsor/Organizer: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Description: The Center will celebrate our island's food resources, the 'aina and the farmers who nurture it with a Farmer's Market and a cooking competition between local chefs. There will be island music throughout the day.
Place: Lanihau Center, on Palani just makai of Queen Ka'ahumanu Hwy.
Contact: 960-1392; or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sunday, April 26, 9 am - 5 pm
Event: 1st Annual South Kona Earth Day Festival
Sponsor/Organizer: South Kona Green Market and Sanctuary of Mana Ke'a Gardens
Description: Earth Day Celebration
Place: Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens, Captain Cook, Mile Marker 110
Cost: Free
Contact: Tim Bruno, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.skgm.org, Tel: 328-8797 or Randyl Rupar This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel: 334-3340
Sunday, April 26, 12:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Event: Transitioning to Organic Workshop
Sponsor/Organizer: Hawaii Organic Farmers Association
Description: The workshop will feature University of Hawai'i Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences specialist, Theodore Radovich, PhD and a panel of qualified certification experts as well as local growers. The program will consist of: lecture, discussion, and information to help with a successful transition to organic methods.
Place: North Hawaii Education and Research Center in Honoka’a
Cost: $35/ HOFA member, $50/ Non-HOFA member
Contact: Kelly Lange, Hawaii Organic Farmers Association, Tel: 969-7789; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, May 2, 9 am - Noon
Event: Dyes Workshop
Sponsor/Organizer: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Description: Join garden educator, Bernice Akamine in a native plant dye making workshop. Native dye plants used at the workshop will be determined by what is in season at the Garden.
Place: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, located in Captain Cook, 12 miles south of Kailua-Kona, between the 110 and 11 mile markers on the mauka side of Mamalahoa Highway. Cost: Free to Bishop Museum members; non-members $15
Contact: Call early to reserve your space Tel: 323-3318; e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, May 9, 10 am - 11:30 am
Event: Free Garden Tour
Sponsor/Organizer: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Description: See the garden’s collection of native Hawaiian plants while hearing about their traditional cultural uses. This is a free event. Call if you have any question
Place: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, located in Captain Cook, 12 miles south of Kailua-Kona, between the 110 and 11 mile markers on the mauka side of Mamalahoa Highway.
Cost: Free
Contact: Tel: 323-3318, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, May 23, 10 am - 12 Noon (Hilo); 2 pm - 4 pm (Kea'au)
Event: Composting Workshops
Sponsor/Organizer: County of Hawai'i Dept of Environmental Management
Description: Learn how to backyard compost
Place: Hilo Transfer Station Recycling Area (10am - Noon); Kea'au Transfer Station Recycling Area (2pm - 4pm).
Cost: Free
Contact: 937-2233; website http://www.hawaiizerowaste.org
Saturday, May 30, 9 am - 4 pm
Event: Sustainable Saturday: Best Use of Your Backyard
Sponsor/Organizer: Kona Outdoor Circle (KOC)
Description: Morning: "Gardening Sustainably", with Hector Valenzuela, UH CTAHR; and "Container Gardening in a Small Space," with Janice Crowl, author of Container Gardening in Hawai'i. Lunch: includes catered lunch from local sources. Afternoon: "Sustainable Garden Tour" at Kawanui Farm in Honalo.
Place: KOC, Kuakini Highway at junction with Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway
Cost: members $55, non-members $66 (includes lunch).
Contact: Kona Outdoor Circle, 329-7286; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; http://www.konaoutdoorcircle.org .
Saturday, May 30, 8 - 10 am
Event: Book signing - Pathways to Abundant Gardens
Sponsor/Organizer: Keauhou Farmers Market
Description: Craig Elevitch will be signing his book, Pathways to Abundant Gardens, a book for those who are looking for inspiration and guidance in growing their own food using natural methods.
Place: Keauhou Farmers Market at Keauhou Shopping Center
Cost: Free
Contact: Nancy Miller, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, June 6, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Event: Hawai'i Island Homegrown Food Self-Reliance Workshop
Sponsor/Organizer: Permanent Agriculture Resources with support from the Hawai'i County Resource Center
Description: This all-day workshop will give participants a wide range of techniques for growing abundant quantities of food at home, with minimal reliance on imported inputs.
Place: Ocean View Community Center
Cost: $50 ($40 early registration)
Contact: www.agroforestry.net/events or email Ngaire Gilmour at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, June 13, 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Event: 7th Annual Hawai'i Island Seed Exchange
Sponsor/Organizer: Know Your Farmer Alliance, the Hawai'i Peoples Fund, the Hawai'i Community Foundation, and support from the Amy B.H. Greenwell Garden
Description: This annual agricultural festival develops community food self-reliance by bringing together our agricultural community to freely share cuttings, roots, hulis, and seed of food crops that grow well on Hawai'i Island.
Place: Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens, Captain Cook, Mile Marker 110
Cost: Free
Contact: call Nancy Redfeather 322-2801 or Lynn Bell at 325-0615
Saturday, June 13, 10 am - 11:30 am
Event: Free Garden Tour, during the 7th Annual Seed Exchange
Sponsor/Organizer: Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Description: See the garden’s collection of native Hawaiian plants while hearing about their traditional cultural uses.
Place: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, located in Captain Cook, 12 miles south of Kailua-Kona, between the 110 and 11 mile markers on the mauka side of Mamalahoa Highway.
Cost: Free
Contact: Call if you have any questions. Tel: 323-3318; e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, July 25, 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Event: Honopua Farm: A Waimea Family Farm
Sponsor/Organizer: The Kohala Center
Description: Visit Honopua Farm and lunch with owners Ken and Roen Hufford.
Place: contact The Kohala Center
Cost: $25 (members) - $75 (non-members)
Contact: http://www.kohalacenter.org/TKCMemberEvents09/about.html and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel: 887-6411
Saturday, August 8, 9 - 11:30 am
Event: Backyard Kalo Farming
Sponsor/Organizer: Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Description: With garden foreman Manuel Rego. Manuel has cared for the extensive collection of kalo at Amy Greenwell Garden for 24 years. Manuel will be assisted by Sunao Kadooka. Come and learn how to propagate, grow, and prepare kalo in your own backyard. Participants will also be supplied with kalo huli, or propagates, that can be planted for harvest. And, for the lucky attendees, this particular workshop will include Maui Lehua and other miscellaneous varieties.
Place: Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, located in Captain Cook, 12 miles south of Kailua-Kona, between the 110 and 11 mile markers on the mauka side of Mamalahoa Highway. Cost: Free to Bishop Museum members; non-members $15
Contact: Call to register, Tel: 323-3318; e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saturday, September 19
Event: 19th Annual Hawaii International Tropical Fruit Growers Conference
Sponsor/Organizer: Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers (HTFG)
Description: Educational conference on growing and marketing tropical fruit
Place: Hilton Waikoloa
Cost: to be determined
Contact: Ken Love 323-2417
It Takes a Garden to Grow a Community program
Mala 'ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School presented the 3rd class in the "It Takes a Garden to Grow a Community" program on Saturday April 18. Forty people joined Garden Teacher Amanda Rieux on the Hamakua Small Farms Tour. Five Waimea Middle School students participated. The group visited Maluhia Farm in Kalopa - home of Hawaiian Home Grown Wool Company. Jan Dean talked about all aspects of raising sheep, shearing, cleaning, spinning, dyeing and marketing her wool. The Dean's also raise chickens for eggs and occasionally have processed lamb when the herd needs to be thinned for pasture management.
Ben Discoe hosted the group at the Ahualoa Egg Farm with a tour of the homestead. There is a large organic garden, and a small flock of chickens, as well as the beginning of a tea plantation. Ben offered door prizes of robust Yacon plants for any who wanted to try growing the South American tuber at home. The farm provides about 30% of the food for four people.
The series of classes is fully subscribed, with two more hands-on garden classes scheduled for this spring. These community classes are funded through a grant from the Richard Smart Foundation and the West Hawaii Fund.
“From Bean to Bar” Chocolate Workshop
On April 16th and 17th Kuaiwi Farm in Captain Cook hosted two chocolate-making classes which brought together 11 participants to learn the basics of the farm-to-table chocolate-making process. Farmer-hosts Una Greenway and Leon Rosner demonstrated the harvesting of the cacao beans, the drying and fermenting processes, and the complex methods involved in transforming the fermented beans into the finished candy product that so many chocolate lovers swoon over.
In the second workshop class, emphasis was on creating an ultra-smooth finished chocolate product, a skill that requires patience, practice and persistence. One unadvertised benefit of the class was the privilege and delight of sampling chocolate, more chocolate and even more chocolate. Remember, “There’s more to life than chocolate – but not right now” Anonymous
Ken Love and www.Hawaiifruit.net have released two new posters featuring Big Island grown citrus and avocados. Each poster took over 2 years to complete. The avocado poster shows show's 118 varieties and promising seedlings. The citrus poster shows many of the varieties grown on the island including 23 types of tangerines, 23 types of oranges and 14 types of pummelo as well as various hybrids. The avocado poster, funded by the County of Hawaii office of Research and Development, and other Big Island Tropical fruit posters produced by Love can be seen on http://www.hawaiifruit.net/indexposter.html Sales from the avocado and other posters help to fund the Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers-West Hawaii programs. For more information on HTFG please see http://www.hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org/. The new posters can be purchased at a number of Big Island stores and Keauhou Farmers Market or purchased from www.Localharvest.org. http://www.localharvest.org/avocado-poster-C12623 http://www.localharvest.org/big-island-citrus-poster-C12622 . For more information contact: Ken Love, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The second edition of Hawaii Backyard Conservation, a booklet with ideas on conservation for homeowners, is now available. Topics covered include composting, beneficial insects, integrated pest management, native plants, invasive plants, managing plant nutrients, xeriscaping, water conservation, sustainable storm water practices, general planting tips, wildlife habitat, and feral animals. You can download the publication from
ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/HI/pub/news/09_news/BYC2final.pdf
Hawai'i organizations
Agroforestry Net http://www.agroforestry.net
Hawai'i Agriculture Notes http://www.ahualoa.net/ag/notes_farming.html
Hawai'i Farmers Union http://www.hawaiifarmersunion.org
Hawai'i Fruit http://www.Hawaiifruit.net
Hawai'i Island School Garden Network http://www.kohalacenter.org/HISGN/about.html
Hawai'i Organic Farmers Association http://www.hawaiiorganicfarmers.org
Hawai'i SEED http://www.hawaiiseed.org
Hawai'i Tropical Fruit Growers http://www.hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org
Know Your Farmer Alliance http://www.knowyourfarmeralliance.com
Kona Coffee Council http://www.kona-coffee-council.com
Kona Coffee Farmers Association http://www.konacoffeefarmers.org
Kona Outdoor Circle http://www.konaoutdoorcircle.org
Slow Food Hawai'i http://www.slowfoodhawaii.org
Waimea Outdoor Circle http://www.waimeaoutdoorcircle.org
Other Island websites
Andrea Dean Eat Local http://www.andreadean.com
Big Island Farmers Markets http://www.hcrs.info/sustainability/agriculture-and-food
Green Hawaii http://www.greenhawaii.com
Hawaii Physical Activity and Nutrition Newsletter http://http://www.healthyhawaii.com
How to Feed Chickens in Hawaii http://www.ahualoa.net/chickens/
La'akea Permaculture Community http://www.permaculture-hawaii.com
Plants Hawaii http://www.plantshawaii.com
South Kona Green Market http://www.skgm.org
University of Hawai’i College of Tropical Agriculture (CTAHR)
Organic- CTAHR http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/organic/
Buy Fresh - Buy Local http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/BFBL.asp
Sustainable- CTAHR http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/index.asp
Government agencies
Hawaii County Resource Center http://www.hcrc.info/sustainability/agriculture-and-food
National websites
Community Alliance with Family Farmers http://caff.org
Community Food Security Coalition http://www.foodsecurity.org
Food Declaration http://fooddeclaration.org
Food Share http://www.foodshare.net
National Homegrown Site http://www.homegrown.org
Natural Farming http://janonglove.com/janongusa/intro01.html
Organic Consumers Association http://www.organicconsumers.org
We invite you to submit information about educational events, resources, workshops, festivals, presentations, etc., related to growing, exchanging, selling, preparing, and eating locally grown food that is sustainable or organic. Please send us your submissions using the e-mail forms below.We will compile your submissions and send them to hundreds of Hawai'i Island sustainable food practitioners and supporters.
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Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network Submission Forms
The newsletter features upcoming events, new publications and web sites, resources and other vital news for the Grow Local/Eat Local Food movement. Our goal is to support and strengthen our Hawai'i Island sustainable and organic local food system: growers (farmers and gardeners), processors, wholesalers and marketers, retailers (stores and restaurants), and you and I -- eaters.
It's easy to submit the information you want to reach our Grow Local/Eat Local community:
1. First, click Reply to this e-mail.
2. Second, fill out the appropriate form(s): “EVENT,” “RESOURCE” and/or "REPORT" below.
3. Third, click Send.
We'll do the rest. Please note: Submissions will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff.
EVENT
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Brief Description:
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RESOURCE
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Book:
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Grower__? Educator__? Processor__? Wholesaler__? Marketer__? Retailer__? Other___?
REPORT
If you have sponsored a recent event, would you like to write a brief news report about it for our newsletter? Yes ______ No _______. (Deadline April 20th)
If you would prefer us to write the report, may we contact you for a brief interview? Yes ______ No ______
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Thank you for your contribution to the Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network. We envision an economically thriving, sustainable food system for Hawai'i Island that each year reduces our dependence on imported food.
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