Newsletter 14 - April 2010
Aloha!
If you haven't already done so, please check out the brand new Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network web site. Content from this newsletter and all past editions is posted there. Plus, the web site gives you new resources and features:
- An events calendar that is updated as new announcements come in, rather than only monthly in the newsletter.
- Brand new and archived events reports, publication reviews, featured organizations, videos & dvds, announcements, etc.
- A community page where you can find other people interested in local and sustainble food and interact with them.
- Site members (it's free to become a member) can submit events, reports, and announcements using online forms.
- And much more.
We welcome your participation in abundant local and sustainable food systems on our island.
Mahalo nui loa,
Craig Elevitch
Pedro Tama
http://hawaiihomegrown.net
Events
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 09:00am - 02:00pm, North Kona
ORCHID AND SUCCULENTS WORKSHOP/FIELD TRIP
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 11:00am - 02:00pm, South Kohala
THAI CURRIES & SPICE
Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 06:00pm - 08:30pm, North Kohala
CONTAINER PLANT DOCTOR
Saturday, April 03, 2010, 09:00am - 12:00pm, South Kohala
HOME COMPOSTING- COMPOST HEAPS AND VERMICULTURE
Saturday, April 03, 2010, 10:00am - 04:00pm, Puna
NATURAL FARMING SEMINAR: MAKE-UP SESSION
Saturday, April 03, 2010, 09:00am - 01:00pm, North Kona
KONA NURSERY CRAWL
Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 03:30pm - 05:00pm, South Kona
COFFEE FARMING TAXES
Saturday, April 10, 2010, 05:00pm - 08:00pm, North Kona
THE BREADFRUIT
Friday, April 16, 2010, 05:30pm - 07:00pm, North Kona
THE STORY OF SEED: WILD, DOMESTICATED, BRED, AND ENGINEERED
From Saturday, April 17, 2010 - 08:30am to Sunday, April 18, 2010 - 04:30pm, North Kona
HUA KA HUA SEED SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, April 17, 2010, 01:00pm, Puna
AT-HOME SMALL ANIMAL BUTCHERING AND SLAUGHTERING DEMONSTRATION CLASS
Monday, April 19, 2010, 07:00pm - 09:00pm, North Kona
HAWAI'I TROPICAL FRUIT GROWERS MEETING
Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 08:00am - 02:00pm, South Kona
VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS WORKSHOP
Friday, April 30, 2010, 05:30pm - 07:00pm, North Kona
AHUPUA'A RESTORATION
From Saturday, May 01, 2010 to Sunday, May 02, 2010, Ka’u
2ND ANNUAL KA'U COFFEE FESTIVAL
Saturday, May 01, 2010, 09:00am - 12:00pm, South Kohala
COOKING FROM THE GARDEN
Monday, May 03, 2010, 12:00pm - 01:30pm, South Hilo
AHUPUA'A RESTORATION
Wednesday, May 05, 2010, 03:30pm - 05:00pm, South Kona
BUGS AND COFFEE TREES
Saturday, May 08, 2010, 09:00am - 12:00pm, South Kohala
WAIMEA GARDEN TOURS
View events calendar
Reports
Written by Randyl Rupar | 23 March 2010
Have you ever made your own sushi and enjoyed it while listening to Hawaiian chants and experiencing hula? How about learning how to graft an avocado tree, or compost with worms, or cultivate honey bees for pollination, or the do’s and don’ts of macadamia nut cultivation and production?
These were some of the featured presentations at this year's Fourth Annual Avocado Festival, which took place on February 20, 2010 at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in South Kona. Leading island experts in agriculture and and gardening demonstrated their knowledge and skills for an overflowing crowd of nearly 3,000. Attendees learned about avocados and many other locally grown foods in a festival atmosphere of local arts and crafts and the din of countless conversations and stage entertainment.
Mala'ai: A model for Hawai'i school gardens—The 5th-year Anniversary Celebration
Written by Pedro Tama | 11 March 2010
In the very moving introduction that followed, Kumu Case -- who is also the Ike Hawai'i teacher for Waimea Middle School -- declared that, “Five years ago we pledged to create out of this land a learning tool and experience that would help make our children healthy and our school community whole – and we did.”
Written by Raina Wickham | 20 March 2010
Natural Farming Primer
Written by Jackie Prell | 24 March 2010
What if the best fertilizer was under your feet? What if you could make a product similar to EM and Bokashi simply and cheaply? Well, you can. It’s been happening in South Korea for decades and we have been fortunate to learn the basics here in Hawaii. Four years ago we bought a farm on the Big Island with soil that was flooded for more than seventy years with herbicides, fungicides, and arsenic: the usual arsenal of chemicals used by ginger, sweet potato and sugarcane growers. We were excited to be on land with soil, not just lava rock, common on the Big Island, but were immediately dismayed to see and feel the soil close-up: dry, lifeless powder, not a worm to be found. Our first crops struggled against weeds and pests. Then, a year and a half ago we were introduced to Natural Farming with Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO’s) and we are seeing amazing improvements in our soil structure and plant health. Wherever we put down our homemade, mycorrhizae-rich, “fertility drug” as my husband calls it, the soil regains its loaminess, tilth and structure, and the earthworms come in droves.
Announcements
Lotus Cafe Offers Homegrown Thai Cooking Classes
Slow Food Terra Madre Delegate Nominations
Tea Propagation Plants Available Now
Other announcements
Specialty Crop of the Month
Sweetpotato ('Uala)—Specialty Crop Profile
Written by Scot C. Nelson and Craig Elevitch | 23 March 2010
Sweetpotato has a wide range of uses, including foods, beverages, medicines, ceremonial and household objects, fishing bait, and animal feed.
Foods. Sweetpotato is baked or steamed in jackets in ovens to eat as a carbohydrate. Cooked sweetpotatoes may be peeled, mashed, and mixed with water to form a paste. Raw, peeled sweetpotatoes may be grated and mixed with coconut milk and served as a dessert after wrapping them in leaves and baking. Young leaves growing near the apex of vines are cooked as greens, sometimes in coconut milk.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Community Gardens
North Kohala
Uluwehi Farm (Hawi) 889-1081
South Kohala
Ka`Ohi Nani Farm (Waimea) 885-1950
Hamakua
Hawai'i Sustainable Education Initiative (HSEI) & Friendly Aquaponics (Honoka'a) 443-9231
Puna
Polestar Gardens (Pahoa) 430-8009
Ginger Ridge Farms (Mountain View) 968-7622
Milk and Honey Farm (Pahoa) 345-4401
Dragon's Eye CSA (Kapoho) 965-9371
South Kona
Adaptations (Captain Cook) 324-6600
Ka'u
West Hawaii Farms (Oceanview) 939-9701
Community Gardens
Eden Earthworks Community Garden, Mountain View http://www.edenearthworks.org
Kaiao, Hilo, South Hilo http://alohahilo.wordpress.com/kaiao-garden-kaiao-garden-camp/
Web Resources
This month's new resources
- A Homegrown Revolution
- Jamie Oliver on cooking & obesity
- Understanding Food Miles
- Grow Food
- Big Island Beekeepers Association
- Where Your Milk Comes From
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Other web resources
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Project Advisors
- Amanda Rieux, teacher at Mala ‘Ai Culinary Garden at Waimea Middle School
Andrea Dean, sustainability consultant andreadean.com and local foods advocate, North Kohala
Bruce Mathews, professor of Soil Science, UH Hilo
Deborah Ward, retired UH CTAHR extension agent and farmer, Kea‘au
Geoff Rauch, director of Know Your Farmer Alliance and farmer, Kapoho
Hector Valenzuela, vegetable crops extension specialist, UH Manoa
Jerry Konanui, mahi 'ai and educator, Pahoa
Joe Kassel, naturopathic physician and farmer, Holualoa
Ken Love, tropical fruit horticulture and marketing specialist, Captain Cook
Lyn Howe, director of Know Your Farmer Alliance and farmer, Kapoho
Mary Lynn Garner, Konawaena High School teacher and farmer, Kealakekua
Nancy Miller, marketing specialist and manager of Keauhou Farmers’ Market
Roen & Ken Hufford, Honopua Farm, managers, Hawaiian Homestead Farmers Market, Waimea
Ted Radovich, crop specialist, Sustainable Farming Systems Laboratory, UH Manoa
Supporting Organizations
Sponsors
Hawai'i County Resource Center, a program of the County of Hawai'i Department of Research and Development.
Hawaii Agricultural Development Program in partnership with the Big Island RC&D Council.
Hawai'i People's Fund and the Hawai'i Community Foundation
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Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network
PO Box 428
Holualoa, Hawaii 96725 USA
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Web: http://hawaiihomegrown.net