Hoea Ea II, Hawai'i Island Youth Food Sovereignty Conference, June 10 - 14

Hoea Ea II, The Hawai'i Island Youth Food Sovereignty Conference, was held June 10 – 14 at Lihikai Hawaiian Cultural Learning Center in Keaukaha, Hilo. Hoea Ea II is one of a series of Hawaiian food sovereignty conferences and part of the age-old tradition of producing food. About 130 people -- youth, adults, and families – were involved in five days of malama 'aina, traditional and modern food production, cooking, and eating.

Explore the roots of Hawaiian food culture in several events listed below. Pictured: Kumu Keala Ching with Ka Pa Hula Na Wai Iwi Ola at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Cultural Festival in July 2006.

More than 40 Ka'u residents participated in this fourth Food Self-Reliance workshop sponsored by the Hawai'i County Resource Center and Permanent Agriculture Resources. It followed similar workshops in Kona, Kohala and Puna, with each workshop uniquely designed for growing conditions in its respective district. For Ocean View, conditions are particularly challenging: shallow soils and little rainfall. The workshop addressed these issues, and enlisted local farmers to describe how they meet this challenge. A major theme was soil building and conservation and water retention methods.

Seed exchanges take place periodically island wide. One of Hawai'i Island's biggest and oldest seed exchanges takes place on June 13 (see details below).

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.

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.