Highlights from the first Hawai'i Public Seed Initiative workshop

Cleaning lettuce seed for replanting.

In the not so distant past, seeds were one of the most valuable currencies one could have. Just imagine for a moment no Home Depot, no Internet, and no seed catalogue sales. Where would we get our seeds? In years past, seeds were a strong commodity, and special varieties would be handed down from generation to generation, moving across time and across countries: Auntie’s beans, Uncle’s tatsoi, the yam from my grandmother’s garden, and the basil from my family in Italy. The first settlers to Hawai‘i brought with them canoes filled with vegetative propagation materials for bananas, kalo, and sweet potatoes, among many other Polynesian staples.

Live-culture veggies by Donna Maltz at Hawi Farmers Market.

Fermented foods are those that have been transformed by microbial action. Many very common foods are products of fermentation, including bread, cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, chocolate, coffee, almost all condiments, and much more. In Hawai’i, poi is a traditional staple that many people prefer after it has fermented for several days. By some estimates, as much as one-third of all food consumed by humans has been subjected to fermentation.

Figure 1: In this picture you can see a varroa mite, a small, dark pink, oval shape on the upper left bee's back.

In its pure form, beekeeping is a joyful activity that can be peaceful and rewarding for beekeepers. Unfortunately, it is not quite as simple as it used to be because of the confluence of diseases now threatening bee populations worldwide.

Hawai‘i's geographic remoteness kept it isolated from the spread of new diseases for a long time. But in just the past few years, several new pathogens have arrived, with serious consequences for bees and beekeepers around the State. 

The three main pests affecting Hawai‘i Island include: 1) Varroa mite, 2) Small Hive Beetle, and 3) Nosema cerenae, a parasitic fungus. These pathogens are not related by cause and effect, but their impact does seem to 'pile up' — such that their combined effect is more serious (and complicated) than each one individually.

Prize-winning breadfruit tart at the inaugural Breadfruit Festival.

When I arrived at an ethnobotanical garden near the town of Captain Cook, on the big island of Hawai’i, to attend an inaugural Breadfruit Festival in late September, I had my doubts about this nutrient-packed fruit that I’d never tried before.

My skepticism was based on my preliminary reporting. Before my visit, I’d talked to one of the world’s leading experts, the Breadfruit Institute’s Director, Diane Ragone PhD., who had told me she hadn’t cared for it when she first tried it. I’d learned from the Breadfruit Institute’s own website about the difficulties faced by Captain Bligh in fulfilling his mission of introducing breadfruit plants to the Caribbean (during the infamous mutiny on the bounty, the mutineers tossed the trees overboard). I’d even found a discussion on the gardening website GardenWeb under lists of the “five WORST tropical fruits,” with one writer pronouncing breadfruit “nauseous.”

Kawa ('awa in Hawaiian) is a traditional ceremonial beverage in many parts of the Pacific, with commercial potential.

A traditional beverage made from the roots and stump of the kava plant is the most important kava product. This medicinal, psychoactive, and ceremonial drink is an aqueous suspension of phytochemicals called kavalactones and other components. Aerial portions of the plant should never be used in beverage preparations; consumption of photosynthetic tissues may pose a human health hazard.