All posts by Richard Ha

Bike, Losing Weight

Riding Along

Richard Ha writes:

On January 7th, I started on a program to lose a half-pound per week.

Weight on Jan. 7, 2007: 204.5 lbs.
Weight on Sunday, Mar. 18th: 198.5 lbs.
Target weight yesterday was 199.5 lbs.

I am 1.0 lbs ahead of schedule.
I gained .5 lbs. this week.

My resting heart rate was 57 beats per minute. As long as it’s in the 50s, I consider that good.

I trained twice this week instead of the five or six days I normally do. After spending the last two weeks on special, one-time work projects, I spent a lot of this week catching up and I lost focus. If I had planned properly, I could have fit in the exercise. I must remember to put my exercise time as the highest priority.

Two days this week I rode my bike for 90 minutes. A circuit that normally takes me an hour only took me 50 minutes. That was surprising. But then I was very well-rested.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot lose weight by exercise alone. I think I need to really concentrate on how many calories I’m taking in. I’ve tried to work around that. But I don’t think that there is any alternative for me. In contrast, my friend Mike Tanabe tells me he can eat anything he wants. He’s in his late 50s and is an elite mountain bike rider. I’m far from that caliber of bike rider.

I now have four weeks left to prepare for the Poker Run. I plan to train this week at a medium high rate, next week at a high rate and at a moderate rate during the third week. I’ll take the fourth week off except for easy riding, and that should be good enough preparation for the Poker Run.

R&D

Five-a-Day

Purple caulifower? Orange cauliflower? Who knew!

“It just feels like trickery,” laughs Charlotte Romo, the farm’s hydroponic crop specialist. She says her work in the farm’s “Variety Garden,” where she is experimenting with growing interesting varieties of vegetables, feels like playing.

charlotte

 

 
Charlotte with some of her vegetables

“I was telling one of my old professors from the University of Arizona about my job and she said, ‘You just lucked out.’ You know, I can even see the ocean from the greenhouses.”

“Richard and I kept getting these ideas,” she says. “Can we grow this? Let’s try.”

They are interesting varieties that she is growing—not much in the Variety Garden is run-of-the-mill. There are things like tiny carrots that are purple outside and orange inside; beet sprouts, which taste like beets and are a fuscia color; beets with a pink and white spiral inside; sweet golden beets, which are, you know, golden; pea sprouts; and lots of different squashes.

purple-carrots

Purple carrots

There’s also eggplant, and a bi-colored sweet corn, and peppers—hot peppers, bell pepper, all kind of in-between, white bell peppers. And there are tomatillos, and also more varieties of heirloom tomatoes, some of which are just starting to ripen and soon be ready to taste for the first time. “It’s so exciting,” she says. “I really like it.”

“With heirlooms,” she explains, “they are the true, naked, ancient seed, so they don’t have anything built into them as far as resistance. Some turn out to be just too much trouble. It’s all about trying them out.”

She explains that her job is to figure out which of these experimental crops grows well, how to water it, what each one’s obstacles are and how to overcome them. She grows a crop for at least one cycle, makes adjustments to her methods as needed, and then grows it out again.

Vegetables“It’s so fun to grow something for the first time,” she says. “It’s all this different, funny-looking stuff, like stripey vegetables. A lot of these carrots we’re growing are higher in Beta-carotene and Vitamin A than the usual. In the stores, a lot of farms tend to do just one variety based on performance and disease-resistance, rather than color. We will be accomplishing the goal of getting more nutrients out to people by growing these varieties.”

She’s even got really sweet poha berries (“husked tomatoes”) growing in the Variety Garden. “They’re one of those things that has kind of disappeared as people have built where all the wild bushes used to be,” she says.

Charlotte explains that the goal to try different crops and be able to provide more diversity locally, as well as supplying produce to chefs. The plan also includes selling some of these seasonal products in our open-to-the-public farm stand, which is coming soon. More details about that here soon – stay tuned! – posted by Leslie Lang

Contest, Tomatoes

Contest Winners!

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Monday morning was our big day: the judging for our tomato recipe contest.

We had culled 90+ tomato recipes—all entries to our “You Say Tomato” recipe contest—down to the top five in each of three categories: Salad, Entrée, and Preserves & Condiments.

We met at the Hawai‘i Community College’s cafeteria, where, led by Allan Okuda, director of the Hawai‘i Community College Food Service Program, and HCC’s Chef Sandy Barr, 30 culinary students had been working hard all morning preparing those top 15 recipes.

Our line-up of judges sat at a long table in front of the room, and sampled the delicious dishes as they came out. They had scoring sheets in front of them and rated each one.

Tomato Contest

Randy Nunokawa, Audrey Wilson, Rockne Freitas, Marlene Hapai, Joan Namkoong, Sonia Martinez

I have to say that the students did an incredible job. Their job was to prepare a recipe they’d never used before, following its instructions exactly—no improvising—so the judges could sample the dishes and judge the recipe. They really did a wonderful and very professional job. The dishes came out looking, smelling and tasting terrific.

I know this because after the judging was over, they brought out more of everything and made a buffet line, and all us hangers-on got a plate and feasted. It was delicious. Richard, June and I marveled that we get to do things like this for our job!

mark

 

Chef Allan said the students enjoyed the opportunity, and worked really hard at it. He and Richard have already agreed to do a second annual “Hamakua Springs Tomato Challenge” next year.

Randy Nunokawa, HCC’s Non-Credit Culinary Program coordinator, agreed that it’s great for the students to be exposed to this sort of project, where it all matters—presentation, texture, taste. He added his appreciation that Hamakua Springs brought its Tomato Recipe Contest to the college. “The community coming to the college,” he said; “that’s what Community College is for. That’s what we all strive for.”

judges
Randy Nunokawa, Joan Namkoong, Audrey Wilson, June Ha, Sonia Martinez, Richard Ha, Marlene Hapai

Richard said he was happy to work with the culinary students, whom he hosted on a tour of the farm last week. “This was a great event,” he said. “I had great faith in the students and staff of HCC. But the results even exceeded expectations. June and I are extremely happy with how it went.

“I was so proud of the students,” he said. “I think that they presented the recipes that were submitted at a very professional, high level. And the dishes were not only wonderful to look at, they were also delicious.”

In addition to Nunokawa, judges were Rockne Freitas, Chancellor of Hawai‘i Community College; Marlene Hapai of the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents; food writer and cookbook author Sonia Martinez, who helped coordinate the event; food writer and author Joan Namkoong and Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald food columnist Audrey Wilson.

lined-up

Roland Torres, producer of the television program Kama‘aina Backroads, videotaped the contest judging for a segment that will appear on a future Kama‘aina Backroads episode. We’ll post about it here when that’s coming up.

Here are the winners:

Candace Ames of Hilo won Grand Prize in the Entrée category with her “Hamakua Style Tomato Pie,” which was also the overall Grand Prize winner. Each grand prize winner receives a $350 Foodland/Sack and Save gift certificate and a personal tour of the farm.

tomato-pie
The winning Entree: Hamakua Style Tomato Pie

Ames’s “Hamakua Style Tomato Pie” was a crowd-pleaser, creating a lot of buzz and ending up with a large point spread between it and the next highest-rated recipe. Judges, students and visitors alike raved about the quiche-like dish.

“Candace Ames told me she was blown away, happy and surprised,” Richard said. “She said she tries to eat healthy and she experiments and modifies recipes a lot. She said she loves Hamakua Springs tomatoes in the pie because they are firm.”

top-3
The top three entrees

Second place in the Entrée category went to Carolyn Uejo Kuntemeyer of Hilo for her “Ripe Tomatoes Stuffed with Lentils and Rice.” Third place went to “Tomato and Flank Steak in Awesome Sauce,” submitted by Aiea resident Barbara Lee.

All second place winners receive $300 in Foodland gift certificates, and each third place winner $250 in certificates.

winning-salads
The three winning salads

The Grand Prize Salad was Leonora Tsukayama of Hilo’s “Crunchy Lomi Salad.” Second place went to Eileen T. Tredway of Hilo, for “Tomato is a Fruit” Salad, and third place to Alyssa Moreau of Honolulu for her “Fresh Tomato & Corn Salad.”

In the category of Preserves & Condiments, Grand Prize went to Suzie Littlejohn of Kea‘au for her “Tomato Chutney,” which was also a crowd favorite. Second place, the colorful, tasty and interesting “Tomato Sass,” went to the Kea‘au High School Food Service Class. Third place was “Simple Salad Dressing,” submitted by Jessie Hillinger of Hilo.

Our first recipe contest was a wonderful experience all the way around. Our thanks to every single person involved, and we’ll see you next year! — posted by Leslie Lang

Contest, Losing Weight, Tomatoes

No Gain

On January 7th, I started on a program to lose a half-pound per week.

Weight on Jan. 7, 2007: 204.5 lbs. 
Weight on Sunday, Mar.11th: 198.0 lbs.
Target weight yesterday was 200.0 lbs.

I am 2.0 lbs ahead of schedule.

I lost just .1 lbs. this week. At least I did not gain anything. My resting heart rate was 56 beats per minute. As long as it’s in the 50’s, I consider that good.

This week there was an unusual amount of eating out. And to make matters worse, I didn’t train at all for the whole week. But it was not because I was totally lazy. It was because I felt that the rest would do me good.

I plan to resume my normal exercise routine tomorrow, and must make sure to ride my bike tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, that’s when we’re having the final judging of the Tomato Recipe Contest we are sponsoring. It will be held at the Hawai‘i Community College Gourmet Dining Room, where our judges will taste-test 15 tomato dishes in three different categories. Students from the Hawai’i Community College food service department will prepare each dish.

Each winner gets a $350 Foodland gift certificate and a personal farm tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms, as well as their way paid here. We will tell you about the tasting and judging and announce the winners here on Wednesday.

History, Peter Merriman

This Old Car

Chef Peter Merriman came over to visit today, along with Chef Neil Murphy and Assistant Chef Dan Salvador, all of Merriman’s in Waimea.

Peter was the first person to value fresh, locally grown produce over imported produce. It was common knowledge then that he was paying a premium for products grown locally. That was at a time when local farmers were otherwise receiving the same as what it cost to buy imported produce, or less.

He’s a special friend. Fifteen years ago I was in a reflective mood on Christmas day and called him at home in Puako. I thanked him on behalf of local farmers everywhere.

He was one of the founders of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement. And now he is one of the founding member chefs of the new Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture Seal of Quality program.

I surprised our guests today by taking them on a tour of the farm on our old sampan bus. We drove over to see the hydroponic lettuce and watercress operation, where they saw how we grow our lettuces without soil. I explained that we are food safety-certified, and they were pleasantly surprised by the good taste and tenderness of the watercress.

I asked if we could ship them samples to see how the watercress holds up. So we’ll be delivering to Merriman’s first thing next week.

sampan
(l-r) Assistant Chef Dan Salvador, Chef Neil Murphy and Chef Peter Merriman

We bought this old sampan bus at auction a few years ago. There were seven or eight of them for sale that day, but June’s dad, who’s an old car hobbyist, told me that this one, which had previously been owned by the Lyman Museum, was the most authentic.

In the 1930s through ‘50s, sampans (or “jitneys”) were a common and inexpensive form of transportation in Hilo. They were open-sided, built from small bus bodies that were mounted onto the chassis of passenger cars.

I wanted a sampan really badly and at the auction I got caught up in the bidding process. I bid quickly and decisively.

When the bidding reached $8,000, I lost track of who had made the last bid and I raised it. The auctioneer said, “He must really want it; he just bid against himself.”

Everything got quiet, no one else bid and I got it for $8,000. As it turned out, that was the lowest bid for any of the sampans that day.

The other day I brought the bus up to the farm. I drove over to the tomato-packing house and waved for Ida, Flo and Susie come over.

I told them, “It’s okay, jump in, we go” and I took them for a ride. Flo reminisced about catching the sampan to go to school back in the day. I told them, “That will be a nickel.” We were all smiling.

Bike, Losing Weight

Training

On January 7th, I started on a program to lose a half pound per week.

Weight on Jan. 7, 2007: 204.5 lbs.
Weight on Sunday, Mar. 4th: 198.4 lbs.

Target weight yesterday was 200.5 lbs.
I am 2.1 lbs ahead of schedule.

I’m getting in shape for a mountain bike “Poker Run” on April 15:

Monday – Forty minutes on the elliptical training, plus some weight lifting (three sets of 10 reps).

Tuesday – Cross-country hill climbs on the farm. There is a 35-minute course with three steep hills. Next week, I’ll do one of those hills twice.

Wednesday – Sixty easy minutes on the elliptical.

Thursday – Forty minutes on the elliptical, plus weight lifting (three sets of 10 reps). I’m working toward four sets and increased weight. Last week, I did four sets of 25 crunches. This week, two of those sets were done with five-pound weights behind my head.

Friday – I rode Banana Hill, which is 45 minutes straight up. I’m improving; it wasn’t so painful.

Saturday – Rest.

Sunday – I rode for three hours. I am a little ahead of schedule with my weight loss, so next week I’ll take it easy and do two and a half hours. Then the following week, three hours and the week after that three hours and 30 minutes.

I am increasing my training intensity and so far, so good. Every third week, I’ll decrease the intensity so that I don’t injure myself.

Training is something I like to do. It’s much easier for me than controlling calorie intake. It is what it is and I’m not agonizing about it.

Melons, R&D, Travel

Stonehenge

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Stonehenge

Richard Ha writes:

A couple years ago June and I wanted to learn more about hydroponic vegetable production methods in a place similar to drizzly, rainy Hilo, so—logically, right?—we went to England.

We bought that French melon, which had been grown in Israel, when we saw it at a local market. Back home we were really determined to grow French melons.

And Stonehenge had really captured my imagination since the time I was a young boy, so I couldn’t have just an ordinary photo taken of us at Stonehenge.

I had to take that melon with us to Stonehenge and have this photo taken as proof that we were in England doing R&D because of its similarity to Hilo.

I just love having taken that melon with us to Stonehenge and getting that photo. It makes me chuckle every time I see it.

And now we are growing the French Charentais melon, which is considered the premium French melon. It’s so sweet it cannot travel far. It’s the only type of melon we grow, and we chose this particular variety because it’s the very best tasting.

Bike, Losing Weight

Riding

Richard Ha writes:

On January 7th, I started on a program to lose a half pound per week.

Weight on Jan. 7, 2007: 204.5 lbs.
Weight on Sunday, Feb. 25th: 199.6 lbs.
Target weight today: 201.0 lbs.

I am 1.4 lbs ahead of schedule.

Last week, I wrote that I’m in training for a mountain bike Poker Run on April 15th. My plan is to be able to ride my bike for three continuous hours by then.

Today I rode for two hours and 35 minutes at an average heart rate of 126 beats per minute. I’ll probably be able to do three hours within two more weeks.

Although I was not able to go this week, I still plan to practice in Kulani twice per week. This past week, I did a cross country ride through the farm, going up and down four hills. This week I’ll add one more hill, and so on. The whole ride takes less than an hour.

It’s obvious to me, though, that the single most effective thing I can do to increase my performance on April 15th is to lose weight. So in between the heavy training, I’ll spend at least an hour per day burning fat at a very low heart rate. I say a “very low heart rate” because my objective is to avoid training so hard that it affects my training schedule. This takes a lot of self discipline. One needs to force oneself not to charge, and train too hard.

Company News, Recipes, Salads

State of the Farm

Richard Ha writes:

We had a short employee meeting at lunchtime yesterday, to look back a bit and see where we are today, and also to catch everybody up on what’s going on.

We had a similar meeting three years ago, when we had a crisis. I told our workers that C. Brewer was selling all of its sugar lands, including the land under our banana farm, which we were leasing. We had two choices: 1) Do nothing, in which case it would be likely the land would be subdivided for home sites and we would probably have to quit farming, or 2) Buy the land.

We didn’t know how we were going to pay for the land but we decided to try. We put in an offer to Willie Tallett of C. Brewer. Our offer was accepted and we had four years to come up with the balloon payment.

That was then. Now, three years later, the land’s value has multiplied by nearly eight times. We’ve been able to sell off some of it and pay down the land note, and we’re still left with 590-something acres.

What a difference this has made. When we leased, we could not do any real, long-term planning. Now we say that we will be farming for another hundred years. And we’re serious.

In the last few years we have diversified into hydroponic vegetable production, and we’re comfortable that we’ve figured that out.

Hydroponics At our meeting yesterday, I informed everyone that we just reroofed our old sugar company warehouse, which we will start using soon as a farm stand. When we’re satisfied that we’ve figured out what we’re doing, we will move to the “Gears”—our new property across the highway, where the big gear stands—and build a farm stand and snack bar there. We hope it will be a venue for community events and festivals.

I mentioned that we are in the middle of a tomato recipe contest with the Hawai‘i Community College culinary program; we are helping our neighbors—the residents of Andrade Camp—upgrade their private water system to county standard; Chef Alan Wong will visit us soon. We were just recently on the semi-finals and finals of the Top Chef show. I asked if everyone saw our new company newsletter, which we are starting to put in each paycheck envelope. The Hamakua Springs brand is growing by leaps and bounds. Things are going well. Let’s eat.

Hydroponics

The company bought lunch, and the office personnel and management served. I even made the salad.

Hydroponics

The food was from Hilo Lunch Shop:

Real crispy fried chicken
Ono tempura
Shoyu Pork
Corned beef hash patties
Macaroni potato salad
Hamakua Springs tomato, lettuce, cucumber salad

Everyone loved the Hamakua Springs salad. I told them it was a recipe that June and I learned from Chef Alan Wong.

Recipe:

5-1/2 ounce container of Hamakua Springs Chef Select Salad. Break lettuce into bite sized pieces.

3 medium-sized beef clamshell Hamakua Springs tomatoes, cubed.

2/3 of a Hamakua Springs Japanese cucumber, cubed.

Place cubed tomatoes and cucumbers in bowl. Marinate with Hawaiian salt and black pepper for 15 minutes.

Add:
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon grey poupon mustard
1/2 tablespoon minced shallots
1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley

Toss.

Make a mixture of 1 part balsamic vinegar to 3 parts extra virgin olive oil. Shake well before use.

Place lettuce in a bowl. Add tomato, cucumber, garlic, mustard, shallot and parsley. Add oil to coat lettuce leaves, toss and serve.

At the end of the day, every worker took home a container of Chef Select lettuce and tomatoes.