This past Saturday, my grandson Kapono and I set up a booth at the Big Island Farm Bureau’s farmers market. It’s on Kino‘ole Street, in the parking lot of the old Food Fair Supermarket close to Kawate Seed Shop, and operates from 7 a.m. to 12 noon. We wanted to see what it was like.

We got there at 6:45 in the morning, and with help from our neighbors at the Keolanui and Olson fruit booth, we were set up in less than 15 minutes. We brought beefsteak, heirloom and other tomatoes, Japanese cucumbers and green onions, and we displayed them on a 6-foot table with a nice tablecloth. We taped up price tags and priced everything in 50-cent increments so it would be easy to make change. Just like that we were ready to go.

One unexpected thing happened. There was a series of strong gusts, so we drove the truck up and secured the tent to it. Next time we’ll copy our left side neighbor, Green Point Nurseries—they tied their tent to five-gallon buckets that were filled with water. That’s a good idea and we’ll have to do that next time.

The Farm Bureau provided Hawaiian music entertainment and speakers talked about coqui frog control and other subjects. The Department of Agriculture had an informational booth about invasive species. It was very informative. Every half hour there was a drawing. Some of the booths were decorated in Chirstmas themes. It lent a festive air to the market.

There were maybe 15 tents. Aaron and Vinel Sugino had their Blue Kalo products two booths down. Their products have a blue and white theme, and their tent was blue and white as was their Christmas theme. She runs the Hakalau Incubator Kitchen, housed in the old Fujii Bakery in Hakalau. She told me they recently opened up the storefront for retail sales.

Rusty and Jenny Perry sold papayas, citrus and orchid plants in a tent close to the stage. I’ve known Rusty and Jenny for 30 years. Their daughter Vicky was over at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) booth. I can remember when she was a small kid running around barefoot. Now she has graduated from UH Manoa and works for CTAHR Dean Andy Hashimoto on O‘ahu.

Cyrus Wagatsuma had an assortment of vegetables at his booth, which was nicely decorated as well.

It started off slowly but picked up from 8 a.m. to 10:30 or so. The tomatoes were very popular. It was pretty apparent that many people had never seen an heirloom tomato before; some thought they were mini pumpkins. Next time we’ll be prepared to have people sample the heirlooms.

We had two lettuces in glasses filled with water. Our objective was to show hydroponic farming in miniature, but a lot of people asked if we had any for sale. We’ll bring some next time.

It seemed like many of the shoppers were senior citizens on a budget. We’re going to bring some “seconds” bananas and tomatoes next time to see if they appeal to those shoppers.

It was fun to talk to people, explain how hydroponics work and just interact with the customers. Lots of them actually knew who we were and what we did. And now we know what quantities to bring. I think we’ll mark the prices down after 10:30 if we feel like we have too much of a particular item.

Kapono and I are looking forward to next Saturday.