All posts by Richard Ha

Family News

Music Man

Richard and June were thrilled to watch their grandson Kapono Pa star in the Kamehameha Schools musical “The Music Man” last month. He played Mayor Shinn.

“I auditioned for the role of Harold,” he says, “but there was pretty much no one else who could play the role of mayor the way I played Harold. I had the really loud voice and I could yell a lot, which was basically my role—to yell at everyone.”

Richard and June say their grandson Kapono Pa has always been a performer.

“When he was five years old he would cut small pieces of colored paper into confetti,” says Richard. “He’d throw it into the air to mark the entrance of whichever make believe character was about to enter our living room, knowing full well that he would have to pick up all the bits of paper.
   

“And when he was about 10,” he says, “he used our video camera to make hilarious video productions with his sister Kimberly.”

_musicman_2

Kapono says his grandparents were proud of him for his performance in The Music Man. “They didn’t know I could act like that,” he says. “I don’t think any of my family knew I was capable of that. Yelling and screaming. I never rehearsed at home so they didn’t have any idea what my character was about.”

The Kamehameha Schools student, who will be a senior this year, wrote about the experience of acting in The Music Man for his college applications. “It was one of the bigger things I did this year,” he says, “and I am extremely proud I did it.

“At first I was afraid I wasn’t going to get a part,” he says. “For the audition you had to first learn a dance, even if you weren’t going to be dancing. You had to learn a dance in 15-20 minutes, then go to the front of the room and perform it in front of everybody in the room. We’d get a scene out of the musical and have 15-20 minutes to examine it, study it and bring your own character into it.”

June, who loves musicals, has always given Kapono CDs from musicals.  “Last year we took Kapono and went to New York City,” says Richard, “and we took in The Color Purple, Chicago, Phantom and The Producers.”

Kapono says going to New York City really inspired him in terms of acting. “We went to see all those big famous plays everybody hears about. It got me to thinking that I really like this. It’s not a normal thing everybody gets to do, so if you get a chance do it….”

“I’m ready for next year,” he says. “I want to do it again already.”

While he really enjoys acting, and hopes to do more of it, his college plans are to study business and entrepreneurship. “So when it’s my turn to take over the farm,” he says, “I’m ready.”  — posted by Leslie Lang

Losing Weight

Keeping It Light

Richard Ha writes:

I’m back lifting light weights and getting in some aerobics training. I have three more weeks to take it easy before I can go back to the gym and start lifting weights seriously again.

In the meantime, I’m doing a routine that is ideal for someone who wants to strengthen his or her cardiovascular system. It goes like this: On an elliptical or treadmill do a one lap warm up—six minutes or so. Then do a warm up set of ten reps of light curls, dumbbell front laterals, side laterals, cable pull down and crunches. Move from one to the next smoothly. Then get back on the elliptical or treadmill and do another lap at a moderate speed. Go back to the dumbbells and repeat the cycle at 10 reps.

I do four cycles increasing the weight a little if I feel strong or the same or less weights if I don’t feel strong. I train by feel rather than by a rigid schedule. That is how I was able to enter 16 straight powerlifting meets without an injury.

When I’m 100 percent, after four cycles, I continue for two more laps on the treadmill, for a total of 35 minutes or so of walking. Together with the weightlifting that can be an hour of cardiovascular exercising. Depending on how hard one pushes the weightlifting, it can make for a strenuous workout. My heart rate can hit the 160s if I’m doing curls with 45 pounds or front laterals with 35 pounds on the last set.

I like this exercise combination because it breaks up the monotony of doing just one thing. It is very important that one performs the weightlifting in slow strict form. This helps to prevent injuries.

In my mind I squeeze the blood in and out of the muscles when using the weights and then when I walk on the treadmill I imagine replenishing the oxygen and removing the waste from the weightlifting. To me this is better then just lifting weights or just doing aerobic exercises.

I’m off to Honolulu to go to the Father’s Day Brunch at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room. We got the sneak preview menu, and I’ll have to try as much of it as I can. And Leslie is on the East Coast. But we’re still blogging!

Community

Taking Issue

Richard Ha writes:

Gloria Baraquio writes a column in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and last month she had a column called Auntie, Sistah, Bruddah or Cuz? It was about a conversation she had with friends about “the rules” –- when do you call someone Auntie, Sistah, Bruddah or Cuz? What’s the difference between Bruddah and Cuz? And more.

It reminded me of something that happened to me recently, and after her column appeared I sent Gloria this note:

Aloha Gloria,

I am 62 years old now. Six or seven years ago, when I was into serious power lifting, a kid I estimated to be 17 or 18 years old called me Uncle in the gym. As in, “Excuse me Uncle while I grab this dumbbell.”

“I not your uncle.” “No call me Uncle if you no can out lift me.” “If I’m your uncle then I should be able to slap your head.” I said all this to myself. I think there should be a rule that one cannot call another person in the gym Uncle.

That was 6 or 7 years ago. When it happened, my thinning hair stood up. But soon after that, I found the humor in the situation. I like to find any excuse to laugh.

A couple of weeks ago, a young guy maybe in his late 20s/early 30s was entering One Plus One Café with his wife and young child while June and I were leaving. He jumped forward, pulling the door open for us, and said in the most sincere, respectful way possible: “You go, Ta’ta.” I accepted in the most gracious way I knew how –- nodding, body language, “Thanks, eh.”

On the one hand it was so nice to see respect for traditional values. On the other hand, I’m a ta’ta. “Did you hear that, June? He called me ta’ta.” She laughed, knowing that I refuse to even accept senior citizen discounts.

Anyway, you know what I mean. I love your column.

Richard

I got a note back from her. It started,

“Hi Ta’ta. That’s HILARIOUS!”

Food and Drink

Evaluation

Richard Ha writes:

June and I went to a lu‘au at Leslie and Macario’s place recently. It was to celebrate Shannon’s graduation from UH Hilo. Shannon is Leslie’s brother Steve’s girlfriend. We arrived just as Macario, Rodrigo and Freddy were taking the pig out of the imu.

I just fit myself in and did what needed to be done. I was the runner. Macario pulled the meat from the bones and filled up a pan, which I ran back and forth to the table where Rodrigo, Freddy and Ray shredded the meat. Later I helped with that as well.

The best part of the job was evaluating the crispy skin. All of us “evaluators” would take the crispiest pieces and evaluate it. It was part of the job to nod approvingly and go “Ummmm!!!”

Nothing like going to a lu‘au and seeing the pig come out of the imu and then getting to be an evaluator. Here is some video of opening the imu, courtesy of our friends at Kama‘aina Backroads. And Rodrigo wrote a really thorough and interesting post about how to do every step of the imu, too.

Our Adopt-A-Class project, where we’re trying to send all Keaukaha Elementary School students on field trips this year, is going really well. The latest news:

Lance Duyao, Director of Retail Operations at Big Island Candies, is adopting the 3rd grade/second semester in memory of his mom Audrey.

And Alan Ikawa, President of Big Island Candies, has just donated 60 ‘Imiloa entrance tickets to Keaukaha Elementary School.

We only have two and a half more classes to fund. Have a look.

Uncategorized

The Big Picture

Richard Ha writes:

Because I can’t exercise strenuously yet, I’ve decided to eat a higher percent of vegetables—nearly 100 percent, in fact, to help me keep my calorie-intake under control.

Last night I made a salad from stuff we grow: Manoa Lettuce, spinach and watercress. Then I diced up three different colored heirloom tomatoes, diced some sweet onion that we grew, mixed in Grey Poupon mustard, minced garlic, alae salt and coarse black pepper, and tossed it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

It’s really nice to be able to grow stuff we like to eat. We always focus on good taste first, but recently we’ve been looking at increasing nutritional content in our vegetables, as well. In other words, we produce what we feel really good about eating.

I think that my weight, at 205, will start to decline as I become more active. This morning my resting heart rate was 60 beats per minute, instead of the mid-60s as it was last week. I’ve started exercising lightly, and will gradually increase it in the coming weeks.

I was interested to see a Honolulu Advertiser article the other day with the headline Private donations fill gaps at Isle schools. That’s exactly what our adopt-a-class project is all about.

Our “adopt-a-class” project is coming along very nicely, by the way. We only need to fund approximately three and a half more classes, and then every Keaukaha Elementary School class will be able to take school buses and go on excursions during this upcoming school year. It’s beyond everyone’s expectations.

There’s an editorial about our adopt-a-class project running right now on Kama‘aina Backroads. View it here.

Company News, R&D, Taro/Poi

Poi

4 Comments

While we’re on the topic of new things happening at Hamakua Springs, here’s something else coming up that is very interesting: The farm is planning to start growing taro and producing and selling poi.

Why poi? I asked Richard.

“You know when we had that last cookout, the big deal was the smoked meat,” he said. “That’s the sort of stuff we eat and like. We also like to eat poi. I feel like we’ve gotta go do it. There’s a poi shortage, for one.”

He stresses that the poi production, like everything else at the farm, will be taste-driven. “We really need to find out what taro makes a really good poi, and then we’ll grow that,” he said. “It won’t just be who happens to have some huli we can get. We’ll go with what we think is the best tasting. We’ve gotta make ourselves happy first and then go from there.”

Kalo
taro leaf photo by Macario

He plans to grow the kalo in the traditional wetland style, but will depart from tradition by pumping the water back up after it runs down through the lo‘i. “The water won’t just go into the stream,” he said. “We’ll have our own electricity and we can pump it back uphill. Using the traditional along with the modern.”

“Hawaiian style was all about sustainability,” he said. “If you weren’t sustainable, the race would perish. We’re still thinking along those lines today. I don’t see it as much different. We’re doing with what we have.”

I was fascinated when he told me this, and started to say something about how I’m sure the Hawaiians would have used a similar technology had it been available to them.

But then it occurred to me: They are. He is. Richard is Hawaiian (as well as Okinawan and Korean), and he is using the traditional style while adapting it to modern conditions. Bingo.

I asked Richard how far he planned to go with growing taro and producing poi, and he said it would be largely demand-driven. I thought about how many times I’ve stood, staring at an empty supermarket shelf where the poi would be if there demand didn’t far exceed supply. The demand is there. Like with the farmstand, I think this, too, is an exciting avenue for Hamakua Springs.

Stay tuned for more info. – posted by Leslie Lang

Articles

Going Round the Bend

Richard Ha writes:

I read a fascinating article in the New York Times recently. It was about Ray Anderson, CEO of the carpet tile company Interface, based in Georgia.

Back in 1994, he had what he calls his “conversion experience.” He was asked to speak to his sales force on the company’s approach to the environment. He says he thought, “That’s simple. We comply with the law.” But that wasn’t enough to speak about.

From the article:

So he started reading about environmental issues, and thinking about them, until pretty soon it hit him: “I was running a company that was plundering the earth,” he realized. “I thought, ‘Damn, some day people like me will be put in jail!’ ”

…He challenged his colleagues to set a deadline for Interface to become a “restorative enterprise,” a sustainable operation that takes nothing out of the earth that cannot be recycled or quickly regenerated, and that does no harm to the biosphere.

Our experiences are similar to Anderson’s. Sustainability pays; it doesn’t only cost. We had people ask us, “What does it mean when you are first in the world and no one pays you more for what you do?” Well, it’s turned out that now we have higher margins and the added benefit that our people are happy to work for a company that stands for something.

We’re doing the same sort of thing as Ray Anderson, and for the same reasons. I liked the end of his article where he gave a talk and heard whispers, “Has he gone round the bend?”

He says he confessed immediately: “That’s my job. To see around the bend.”

Food and Drink, Health, Losing Weight

Antsy

Richard Ha writes:

The doctor told me to do nothing for one week after the GreenLight laser procedure. He said I could start walking around a little during the second week. But no lifting and no strenuous exercise for a total of six weeks.

It’s been eleven days now and I’m getting very antsy. Yesterday we went to Charlotte and Rodrigo’s for a “Mexican lu‘au.” They had lots of different Mexican dishes that we had not tried before. Everything was delicious and exceptional and I followed the doctor’s order of not walking around too much.

Since the procedure I’ve gained two pounds. I really need to cut down on my food intake, in addition to increasing the percentage of vegetables I eat. I’m afraid I’m going to gain back all the weight I’ve lost if I don’t cut way back. Lying around all day just can’t require many calories to sustain.

I am also a little concerned that my resting heart rate is in the mid-60s. There is no good reason I can think of that it should not still be in the high 50s, where it was before the procedure. I go for a check-up tomorrow and I’ll ask the doctor about that.

I really want to start exercising again.

Community, Company News, Eating Locally, Farm Stand

Farm Stand!

There is something interesting going on behind the scenes at Hamakua Springs and I talked Richard into letting me tell you about it.

They are fixing up a small building that has long sat empty on the road at the edge of the farm, and the plan is to open a farm stand there, probably around late August.

It will most likely be open on Saturday mornings, though everything is still in preliminary stages right now. Richard says the number one goal is to serve the farm’s neighbors in Pepe‘ekeo (though you are welcome, too).

On Fridays, you’ll be able to come here to the blog and see what produce will be available the following morning.

“It will depend on the season,” Richard told me. “I can tell you for sure that we’re going to try to do watermelons and melons during the off-season. Smaller, personal-size specialty melons, like the French Chrentais. That’s an orange-fleshed melon with a real sweet aroma you can smell through the skin.

“And pumpkins at Halloween, and I don’t know what else yet. This is all kind of new to us, so we are doing a lot of experimenting.”

He says they don’t intend the farm stand to compete with the supermarkets. In addition to selling “seconds” of bananas, tomatoes and other produce, they will test-market different, interesting produce there.

You’ll get to see (and buy) some of the fancy vegetables Hamakua Springs grows for and sells to chefs, but which aren’t available in the stores. Like really tiny baby lettuces, different-colored carrots and radishes and small eggplants and squashes that are great for throwing on the grill. Richard says they are tastier than some of what’s available at the market, and I can attest to that.

There will also be gift baskets of various combinations of produce.

“We’ll do what we do,” he says, “and develop it along the way. Who knows where it will go. It’s kind of exciting. I know that we’ll be very responsive to the people and what they want to see.”

Richard is very open to ideas as they think through the scope of the farm stand. “I’d like to hear what people think might be unique or interesting—something they’d like to see in a farm stand that’s not being done now, or a kind of product that’s not being produced now,” he says. “We’re just open to all kinds of suggestions.”

If you have ideas, you can comment here or contact Richard directly at “mkeabanana@aol.com.”

You’ll have to stop by the farm stand if only to have a look at the building, too, because it has an interesting history. It sits near the old airstrip, and Richard says they assumed it had been used to support the airplane operation, which the sugar plantations used to fertilize the sugarcane.

But he has since learned the building predated the airstrip, and thinking back, he remembered there were leather harnesses in the building when they bought the farm. It turns out the building was there to support mules, back when the plantations used to plow with mules.

We’ll update you here as plans develop. And if you have ideas and want to help shape the farm stand, let us know.

We’re almost halfway to our goal of sending Keaukaha Elementary students on field trips they otherwise won’t get to take. Click here.

– posted by Leslie Lang

Lettuce

“As if accidentally eating a slug wasn’t bad enough”

Richard Ha writes:

From the May 27th Hawaii Tribune-Herald: “Ingesting a parmarion martensi, a brown slug that can reach about 2 inches in length, can be harmful because the mollusk is a known carrier of a disease-causing parasite, a nematode called angiostrongylus, or rat lungworm, that can cause meningitis, pulmonary disease or gastrointestinal illness.”

There have been reports of people ingesting this small slug on homegrown lettuce and becoming ill.

We first heard about this when it was reported in the newspaper three years ago. It has been found in lower Puna, and in isolated spots in Waimea and Kona.

We are not aware of it being found in Hamakua. But just to be cautious, we do have a first line of defense—we apply slug bait. Also, we feel confident we’d have an easier time spotting the slug, if it did show up, since we do not grow our lettuces in the ground.

We are starting to think of other control strategies in case it reaches our location. We will make a wide, weed-free barrier around our lettuce operation. We are also planning to put down cinder as a barrier around the perimeter.

We take these kinds of stories seriously and try to plan ahead—sooner, rather than later.

On another topic: We’re at 44 percent of goal in our grass roots “adopt-a-class” campaign and have almost covered the whole school for the first semester. But the first graders still need a sponsor, and we still need contributions toward a couple other classes.