Mahalo to ‘Ōhua O Nā Kia‘i No Nā Keiki O Ka Āina for sharing your wisdom with Kohala’s keiki!

Kohala Elementary School 4th Grade students learn traditional methods of planting kalo (taro).

“Plants need love, just like people” says volunteer Sa‘o Vaefaga.

Students plant mai‘a (banana) with the help of volunteer O‘liko Cookman.

Photo Credit:  Karla Heath

Dash Kuhr of HIP Agriculture describes how to create a productive Polynesian polyculture.

Keiki and crops grow together in HIP Agriculture’s GRACE garden.

Farmer Peter Risley leads the group through his lush and productive vegetable beds.

Chef Howie prepares gourmet tacos for tour participants, using ingredients fresh from the fields of Risley Farms.

Sa‘o Vaefaga of ʻŌhua O Nā Kiaʻi No Nā Keiki O Ka ʻĀina shares the history and inspiration behind the lo‘i restoration project.

Kalo growing happily in the lo‘i.

Keep up to date with our events, including future Farm to Fork Tours, on our Events Calendar!

Click here to download Neil Logan & Sophia Bowart’s paper on the use of Sandalwood in a Hawaiian agroforestry system (with planting schematic).

The Videos:
*Please note that many of the videos are subtitled in English.  For videos without translation, you may simply observe the systems and planting styles.

On This Ground Everything Grows

Sistemas Agroflorestais | Experiências de Ernst Götsch no Sul da Bahia

Agenda Gotsch Trailer

Area 1 – Escolha / Selection

Area 2 – Escolha / Selection

Abundance

Agroflorestação: outro jeito de fazer agricultura no semi-árido – Parte 1 de 4

Agroflorestação: outro jeito de fazer agricultura no semi-árido – Parte 2 de 4

Agroflorestação: outro jeito de fazer agricultura no semi-árido – Parte 3 de 4

Agroflorestação: outro jeito de fazer agricultura no semi-árido – Parte 4 de 4

Agricultura Agroflorestal Realidade na Mata Atlântica

#2 Sistemas Agroforestales Multiestrato

Sistemas Agroforestales

Do you have a passion for food, farms, and kids?  Do you want to help Kohala’s keiki connect with a healthier food system? FoodCorps, a national organization addressing childhood obesity and food insecurity, is recruiting service members throughout Hawaii for the 2013-2014 year.  One service member will be placed right here in our community, at the Kohala Elementary School!

Taro growing at Palili ‘O Kohala

On Saturday, February 2, North Kohala Eat Locally Grown hosted a Farm-to-Fork Tour of three farms on Ho’ea Road.

Lokahi Farm, Palili ‘O Kohala and Sage Farms opened their gates to the North Kohala community and visitors from all around Hawaii Island for a taste of the agricultural scene in and around Hawi.

The tour began at Lokahi Farm, a tropical botanical garden and working organic farm where Richard Liebmann and Natalie Young are fusing farming with the healing arts. Our hosts led us through the farm’s diverse plantings (crops include asparagus, dragon fruit, and horseradish) and showed us the farm’s research plot of medicinal plants. We were amazed by the diversity of plants grown at Lokahi—from recognizable daily fare, to edible flowers and healing herbs.

We were treated to two tastes of the farm’s prolific cassava crop: homemade cassava fritters with vegan pesto and a sweet tapioca and coconut pudding. Richard and Natalie also allowed us to sample dried ginger chips sweetened with fresh sugar-cane juice. It’s a new product that the farm is developing! Our visit to Lokahi ended tea made of relaxing herbs from their garden.

The next stop on our tour was Palili ‘O Kohala, a taro-growing cooperative project headed by David Fuertes. His project brings 10 families together to work their own portion of land and support each other during times of planting and harvesting. We learned about the Korean Natural Farming methods that Palili ‘O Kohala uses to improve their yields, and were fascinated by the natural “potions” David feeds to the plants.

David shared with us that the cooperative plans to add more families on new land holdings, and will begin raising pigs in the near future. Through their expansion, they are working toward the North Kohala Community Development Plan goal to produce 50% of the food the community consumes. As an example, we snacked on steamed purple sweet potato, along with taro chunks cooked in coconut milk.

Our final stop was Sage Farms, where Ben Nicholson led us through his fields while explaining his farming philosophy. His cover crop for the fallow rows consists of a variety of common vegetables and herbs (beets, kale, mustard greens, chard, basil, cilantro, parsley, etc.), all from his own seed. He explained that the added benefit of seeing what does well before it’s plowed under is that he knows what that soil is ready to support. Among many bits of wisdom, he encouraged us to just keep putting seeds in the ground in our own gardens, to observe, and learn from the results.

Fara Boisvert had prepared a lovely spread of farm-fresh appetizers, which included three pesto varieties on tortilla chips, crackers and assorted jams. We were also offered Sage Farms’ spring greens with lilikoi vinaigrette, along with fresh coconut water and lilikoi lemonade.

The North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Campaign and Sustainable Kohala will co-sponsor another Kohala Farm-to-Fork Tour on Saturday, April 6 at ‘Iole. Keep up with events at www.foodhubkohala.org  and join us as we continue to learn what it means to “eat local” in North Kohala.

On Saturday January 26, after the weeds were pulled and new garden beds prepped, Peter Pomeranze and Chef Nick of Sushi Rock Hawi treated the garden volunteers to a sushi-making demonstration.  As a few keiki volunteers discovered their own sushi rolling skills, Peter spoke to us about the importance of eating locally and organically whenever possible.  The keiki-created sushi rolls–which included local sprouts, greens, and even local apples!–convinced us how tasty it can be.

Join us on Saturday, February 23 from 9:00 – 11:00 am for another “Loving Local Foods” Volunteer Day at the Discovery Garden.  This week Jeff Coakley, Senior Lifeguard of the Kohala Swimming Pool, will show us how fresh, local ingredients power an active lifestyle.

This poster, which was designed by Travis Dodson of the Hawaii Institute of Pacific Agriculture (HIP Agriculture), spreads the “Eat Local” message to Kohala Middle School and Honoka‘a Middle School students.  As part of the statewide Kanu Eat Local Challenge, stickers of the same design will be used to reward students for getting involved in their school gardens and farmers markets, and for bringing fresh, healthy, locally grown foods to school!

HIP Agriculture and North Kohala Eat Locally grown  will soon be partnering to produce three student co-created Public Service Announcements on the benefits of eating local.  These short films will be shown to all KMS and HMS students.

Educators are invited to download the Poster PDF to print and use in their classrooms.