Newsletter 1 - April 2009

Maize seed
Seed saving is a skill everyone should know. Three upcoming events listed below focus on saving and exchanging seeds.

 


Contents

Events
Reports
Web resources
Submissions

 


Aloha mai e!

Agroforestry.net is pleased to present the first edition of a new periodic publication for Hawai'i Island: the Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network e-mail newsletter. The 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.

The newsletter features upcoming events, web resources, and other news for the Grow Local/Eat Local Food movement. Enjoy!

Mahalo nui loa,

Craig Elevitch
Pedro Tama
http://agroforestry.net


Events

April 10, 2009, begins at 4:30 pm
Event: Farm Community Potluck and Seed Exchange
Sponsor/Organizer: Hawai‘i Farmers Union
Brief Description of Event: Seed exchange begins at 4:30 pm, with potluck
dinner at 6 pm. Home gardeners, farmers and other community members are most
welcome whether you bring seeds, plants or cuttings, or just take some home!
Place: Honokaa's historic ILWU Jack Wayne Hall building (on the Waipi'o, makai end of Mamane Street)
Cost: free
Contact: http://www.hawaiifarmersunion.org/

April 11, 2009, 8:45 am - Noon
Event: Work & Learn Day: Compost and Soil
Sponsor/Organizer: Mala'ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Brief Description of Event: 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.

April 16, 2009, 9 am - Noon & April 17, 2009 9 am - 1 pm
Event: From Bean to Bar
Sponsor/Organizer: Kuaiwi Farm - Una Greenaway & Leon Rosner
Brief Description of Event: Two morning chocolate making class, from dried fermented bean to candy
Place: Kuaiwi Farm, Captain Cook mauka
Cost: $75
Contact: Una Greenaway email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel: 328-8888

April 18, 2009, 8:45 am - 1 pm
Event: Hamakua Small Farms Tour (small scale animal production)
Sponsor/Organizer: Mala'ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School
Brief Description of Event: Field tours.
Place: Meet at 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.

April 25, 2009, 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
Brief Description of Event: 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.

April 25, 2009, 9 am - 1 pm
Event: Kawanui Farm with Nancy redfeather: A Unique Experience in
Self-Sufficiency

Sponsor/Organizer: The Kohala Center
Brief Description of Event: 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

April 26, 2009, 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
Brief Description of Event: 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

April 26, 2009, 12:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Event: Transitioning to Organic Workshop
Sponsor/Organizer: Hawaii Organic Farmers Association
Brief Description of Event: The workshop will feature University of Hawaii 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.

June 13, 2009, 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
Brief Description of Event: 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

July 25, 2009, 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Event: Honopua Farm: A Waimea Family Farm
Sponsor/Organizer: The Kohala Center
Brief Description of Event: 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

Recurring Events

every Saturday morning, 9 am - noon
Event: Holualoa Farmer's Market
Sponsor/Organizer: Holuakoa Gardens & Cafe
Brief Description of Event: all locally grown, direct from the growers, farm fresh produce and products
Place: in the front yard of the Holuakoa Gardens
Cost: free
Contact: Barb Gerrits, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 322-2233

every Saturday morning, 8 am - noon
Event: Keauhou Farmers Market
Sponsor/Organizer: Hawaii Farm Bureau
Brief Description of Event: all locally grown produce, flowers, 100% Kona Coffee and more
Place: Keauhou Shopping Center parking lot
Cost: free
Contact: Nancy Miller, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

every Sunday morning, 9 am - 2 pm
Event: South Kona Green Market
Sponsor/Organizer: Local community
Brief Description of Event: all locally grown produce, local crafts, and more
Place: Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens, Captain Cook, Mile Marker 110
Cost: free
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Reports

Holuakoa Gardens and Café Slow Food Dinner

On March 21st the Holuakoa Gardens and Café in Holualoa hosted a Spring Equinox Slow Food 5-course dinner that used only locally sourced food. This meant foregoing bread, rice, pasta, and olive oil, among other dinner favorites. About 95% of the food was organically grown.

Here is the menu:

Salad: Roasted Beet, Baby Fennel and Tangelo

Soup: Hawai'i Pumpkin Soup; Holualoa fresh goat milk Chevre

Entrée: Holuakoa Spicy Lamb Sausage with Figs; Roasted Eggplant; Cherry Tomato Compote; Preserved Myer Lemon

Entrée: Grilled Mahi Mahi; Heirloom Tomatoes; Baby Leeks; Rainbow Swiss Chard;  Macnut Pesto

Dessert: Warm Triple Banana Compote with Honey Macnuts; Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream and Hayden Mango Syrup

For 5 years, owner-managers Barbara Gerrits and Chef Wilson, who created the menu, have together dedicated the Holuakoa Gardens & Café to the three principles of the Slow Food movement: 1. Quality and taste, 2. Environmental sustainability, and 3. Social justice. Among the full house of diners were many of the local growers who supply the restaurant with their daily fresh food. In addition to simply enjoying the unique menu and sampling their fellow growers products, they had a chance to meet, network and learn from each other. For Hawai'i Island this Grow Local/Eat Local dinner was an educational and culinary tour-de-force, a sumptuous model not only for restaurants but also for ordinary households striving to increase the proportion of locally grown foods into their daily eating habits. Chef Wilson is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York. Barbara Gerrits, owner-manager, can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


Web resources

Agroforestry Net www.agroforestry.net
Andrea Dean Eat Local www.andreadean.com
Big Island Farmers Markets www.hcrs.info/sustainability/agriculture-and-food
Buy Fresh - Buy Local www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/BFBL.asp
Green Hawaii www.greenhawaii.com
Hawai'i Island School Garden Network www.kohalacenter.org/HISGN/about.html
Hawai'i Tropical Fruit Growers www.hawaiitropicalfruitgrowers.org
Hawaii Agriculture Notes ahualoa.net/ag/notes_farming.html
Hawaii County Resource Center www.hcrc.info/sustainability/agriculture-and-food
Hawaii Physical Activity and Nutrition Newsletter http://www.healthyhawaii.com
Hawaii Organic Farmers Association www.hawaiiorganicfarmers.org
Hawaii SEED www.hawaiiseed.org
How to Feed Chickens in Hawaii ahualoa.net/chickens/
Know Your Farmer Alliance www.knowyourfarmeralliance.com
La'akea Permaculture Community www.permaculture-hawaii.com
National Homegrown Site www.homegrown.org
Natural Farming http://janonglove.com/janongusa/intro01.html
Outdoor Circle (Kona & Waimea) www.konaoutdoorcircle.org
Plants Hawaii www.plantshawaii.com
Slow Food Hawaii www.slowfoodhawaii.org
South Kona Green Market www.skgm.org
UH College of Tropical Ag-sustainable www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/index.asp
UH College of Tropical Agriculture-organic www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/organic/
Waimea Outdoor Circle www.waimeaoutdoorcircle.org


Submissions

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


It's easy to submit the information you want to get out to our community.

1.  First, click Reply to this e-mail
2.  Second, fill out the appropriate form(s), “Event” and/or “Resource” below
3.  Third, click Send

That's all there is to it, we'll do the rest. Please note: Submissions will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff.

 

EVENT
Date & Time of Event:
Title of Event:
Sponsor/Organizer:
Brief Description:
Place (be specific):
Cost:
Contact (name, e-mail, website, phone):

 

RESOURCE
Web site:
Book:
Video:
Article:
Course:
Other:
Contact (name, e-mail, website, phone):
Are you a
Grower__? Educator__? Processor__? Wholesaler__? Marketer__? Retailer__? Other___?

 


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