Category Archives: Community

Chefs du Jour

August 3, 2007 Richard Ha 1 Comment

The sixth annual Chefs du Jour is a fundraiser for Easter Seals that will be held on August 11th at the Aloha Tower Marketplace in Honolulu. The event will be taped and shown on television as a one-hour special.

Last week we took a farm tour of Dean Okimoto’s farm in Waimanalo, on O‘ahu. The farm tour was taped too, and will also be a part of that television special.

Here’s Dean Okimoto’s Farm in Waimanalo. What a nice Hawaiian place.

After our farm tour, the Easter Seals children in attendance got a special lunch featuring the “Seal of Quality dream burger.” This is Ryan Lum of the North Shore Cattle Company grilling burgers from the company’s beef. It’s very lean, grass-fed, hormone free, dry aged beef. Fabulous taste and good for you.

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Conrad Nonaka and Dean Okimoto with Easter Seals kids, trying different greens from Dean’s farm.

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This special burger was made entirely of Seal of Quality member products: North Shore Cattle Company’s dry aged, grass-fed beef, Hamakua Springs’s heirloom tomatoes, Dean’s Greens, mushrooms from Hamakua Mushrooms, and Wailea Ag Group’s heart of palm. Celebrity chefs and Seal of Quality farmers served the burgers to the children.

Representative Clifton Tsuji, chairman of the House of Representative’s Agriculture committee, told us his thoughts about sustainability. His background is as a senior bank executive, and he grew up where people raised their own vegetables. He knows how farmers have to grow their crops and pay their bills.

Hawaii Seal of Quality members’ products at Dean’s farm.

Chef Hiroshi Fukui, Chef Roy Yamaguchi, me, Clifton Tsuji (House of Representatives Ag committee chairman), Chef Alan Wong.

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The serving line was made up of Chef Alan, Dean, me, Mike Crowell of Wailea Ag Group, Chef Hiroshi and Chef Roy.

The Easter Seals kids got to tour the farm and then eat a great lunch served by world-famous chefs. We farmers were glad to be a part of this special event, which you can also read about here.

Community, Eating Locally

Waimea Foodland’s Island Market

August 1, 2007 Richard Ha

This past Saturday June and I participated in an “Island Market” at Foodland Waimea. This is the third such event Foodland has sponsored recently. It’s the same as a farmers market in that the farmers that supply Foodland have their produce on display. Even though the regularly scheduled farmers market was right down the street, based on the volume of produce sold Foodland’s Island Market did very well.

There was a steady flow of customers from 8 a.m. until noon. We sold out most of what we brought and had to ask Jose, the produce manager, if we could get more product from the store’s stock.

The Dragonfruit lady attracted lots of attention. Dragonfruit is attractive to look at and delicious to eat.

We were at the next two tables. We had bananas, cucumbers, green onions, lettuce, cocktail, Hamakua sweets, and heirloom tomatoes on display. That’s Kelvin Shigemura, an executive at Armstrong Produce, lending a hand at our booth. June was further down, helping the chef putting out his tasty samples.

This next photo is of June preparing samples of Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes. People were eager to try these ugly, non-uniform, colorful and very tasty tomatoes, and asked a lot of questions. Some really liked the fact that the heirloom tomatoes are not uniform in appearance. We told them that heirloom tomatoes were developed more than 50 years ago, when people were more interested in good taste than in ease of shipping.

Chef Keoni, preparing pupu for the line of customers in front. Tiffany Tom, Foodland’s Produce Buyer, was making sure the farmers were supplied with food and drink. Again, Foodland made sure the farmers were well cared for.

Chef Kent made an heirloom sandwich. It was made up of heirloom tomato slices in place of bread, with grilled eggplant, basil, thick balsamic vinegar ($40 a bottle), olive oil, Hawaiian salt and white pepper. It was really good.

I would love to see the photos of the farmers, which were outside during the Island Market event, displayed inside the different Foodland stores. This would go a long way in showing customers how much of Foodland’s produce is supplied by local farmers.

Community, Film

Hamakua Jones

July 27, 2007 Leslie Lang 1 Comment

When Indiana Jones isn’t busy trying to keep Nazis from recovering the Ark of the Covenant, saving children from bloodthirsty cults or seeking the Holy Grail, what does he eat?

Why sweet, fresh Hamakua Springs vegetables, of course. After all, a guy’s gotta keep up his strength and his spirits.

[Leslie’s full disclosure: I’m about to bring my brother into this story.]

Steven Lang just finished working as Personal Chef for the Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford and his girlfriend, the actress Calista Flockhart, when they were recently in town.

They were here because Harrison Ford was filming part of his fourth Indiana Jones movie in Hilo, which was standing in for a Southern American rainforest. The town buzzed a little; but only a little, because we’re pretty laidback here in Hilo. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Cate Blanchette, John Hurt – there were some pretty high-powered people roaming around our sleepy little bayfront town.

Steve called both Harrison and Calista ahead of time, in Los Angeles, to discuss their food likes and dislikes, and he learned they are healthy eaters who like to eat fresh fish and other fresh foods.

So when gathering up his ingredients, one of the first places Steve hit was Hamakua Springs.

Steve had signed a non-disclosure agreement, so all they knew at the farm was that he had some big catering job. Charlotte told me everybody knew the movie people were in town, and that Richard kind of guessed Steve was cooking for some of them.

“But Steve didn’t take enough for the whole film crew,” she said, “so I hoped it was for Harrison Ford, because I’d heard he was already here.”

She loaded Steve up with tomatoes and lettuce, and then she went to a greenhouse where they grow specialty vegetables for Chef Alan Wong.

This isn’t really Charlotte creeping through the jungle to the greenhouse. It IS her with her Indiana Jones hat on, though. I made her pose for this picture.

“We had some extras and I pulled them right out of the greenhouse,” she said. “Our bright red beets that have a target design inside, and some baby carrots which are different colors: purple, ‘atomic red,’ and rainbow, which is a blend of yellow, white and orange.”

“I handed them to Steve and told him I hadn’t even washed them yet,” she said, “and he said that was okay because they’d know they were fresh.”

Harrison and Calista stayed in a rented private home located up above the farm. Steve told me he pointed out Hamakua Springs from the lanai, in order to show them how fresh their vegetables were. “These were picked this morning from that farm right there,” he showed them.

Harrison was interested in all the agriculture he noticed, and asked Steve about it. Steve told him about the island’s transition from a sugar plantation economy to one of diversified agriculture.

Maybe we should have finagled Harrison Ford a tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms. Shoot—a missed opportunity.

Charlotte said she thought it was cool when she learned, after the job was over, that the produce was indeed for Harrison Ford. “Raiders of the Los Ark is one of my favorite movies of all time,” she told me. “My sister and I were always giddy over him.”

“Very cool, very cool,” she said. “It appeals to me that our vegetables would appeal to him. He’s not just any actor—he’s Indiana Jones!”

Steve said it was interesting walking around in that film world for a couple weeks, and that the job went well. “They are really, really nice people,” he said, “and they raved about the food.”

Must have been those vegetables.

Community, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Tomatoes

Sidewalk Sale

July 25, 2007 Richard Ha 1 Comment

June and I participated in a sidewalk sale at KTA this past Saturday, and it was awesome. From 7 a.m. until noon, people did not stop coming. Most came for the summer fruit and yet even though we were not the focus of attention, we sold approximately 200 bunches of green onions, 15 boxes of cucumbers and a lot more.

We are big fans of KTA Superstores. KTA has been instrumental in easing this island’s transition from a sugar plantation economy to what it is today. The company has helped local farmers become economically stable by offering them the opportunity to sell their products under the Mountain Apple Brand label.

As for us, KTA has been willing to work with us on new items, new packaging and generally operating “outside of the box.” It is because of this help that we’ve been able to bring so many new products to market.

We sold our heirloom tomatoes. Heirlooms are generally varieties older than 50 years. When disease resistance, attractiveness and shelf life are primary considerations, heirlooms are not the most desirable. But chefs love them because heirlooms are noted for their good taste. We grow them because we like to eat them.

The Striped German is interesting. If you turn the tomato upside down, you see a red color radiating outward. That two-toned red and yellow color is what you see when the tomato is sliced. It’s very pretty and interesting. This tomato has a taste combination that leans toward sweetness with just a hint of acidity. People who like sweetness in their tomatoes might like this one best.

The Purple Cherokee has a nice balance of sweetness to acid. The seeds don’t tend to fall out and the tomato has a consistent texture throughout. It is, well, “meaty.” The description “beefy” comes to mind. I wonder if that’s where the name beefsteak tomato comes from? I like it simple—chilled and sliced with a little Hawaiian salt and ground black pepper. Very nice! People who like a balanced acid to sweetness ratio might choose this as their favorite.

In the clamshell containers are our living lettuce. They are called “living lettuce” because the roots are on and they have the ability to breathe oxygen. One of the reasons we like this is because we can ship these using less cooling energy. Also, the lettuce lasts longer than conventionally grown lettuces.

Our green onions are grown hydroponically. Mainland green onions have the tops cut off, but we like to leave the tops on so we can show them off. It’s hard to grow green onions that have green tips, but we do it. We also leave the tips on for food safety reasons—we feel that there is less chance for contamination if we don’t cut off them off.

We have finally learned how to grow crispy, crunchy Japanese cucumbers. It’s interesting to talk to customers as they decide whether to buy or not. As they carry on a conversation, they go through the cucumbers, carefully checking out each one. I think people really touch and feel the cucumber for confirmation that it will be crunchy and crispy. So we know what our job is. It’s more than just slapping on a pretty label.

Also, we don’t like waxed produce. So we don’t do it.

We are really proud of our green onions. But we feel that they are still too thin and leggy. In a couple of weeks we will have them where we want them—green from tip to bottom, a little bit shorter and more stout. They will be stronger looking and flawless, and all without harsh chemicals.

Community, Current Affairs, Eating Locally, Government

Volatile Situation

July 20, 2007 Richard Ha 4 Comments

At a recent planning commission meeting, I testified in favor of Councilman Stacy Higa’s initiative to ban superstores on the Big Island. Let me tell you why.

On any given day, 70 percent of Hawai‘i’s food is imported. And it is estimated that we have only seven to 10 days of food in the pipeline. We live on islands in the middle of the Pacific and it’s clear to me that we need to produce MORE foods locally, not less.

I have no objection to importing 100 percent of our computers, TV sets, stoves and cars. We cannot make these items here in Hawai‘i. And even if shipping was interrupted, we could adapt or make do without them.

But it is quite a different story with food. If shipping is interrupted for any length of time, and our food supply is cut off and people become desperate, we could have a very volatile and dangerous situation.

We depend on food for our very lives. Therefore, we must try to become as self-sufficient in food production as we can. We must grow as much of the food that we can here in Hawaii.

Superstores are not committed to supporting local agriculture production.They are geared to providing cheap food. Small farmers cannot meet the high-tech, steady supply requirements necessary to supply superstores with cheap food.

If the cost of that “cheap food” is that small, local farmers are forced out of business and Hawai‘i has to import even more than 70 percent of the food it consumes, that cost is way too high!

In contrast, some of our local supermarkets have consistently supported local farmers for many, many years. KTA Supermarkets has its Mountain Apple brand, which identifies items grown or produced locally. We farmers all know how committed KTA is to its local farmer program. It is what the company does, not just what it says, that resonates.

Foodland Supermarkets is also committed to supporting local farmers. Foodland has recently kicked off its Island Market program to showcase locally grown products.

When supercenters establish themselves in Hawai‘i, though, these local supermarkets cannot grow. And if they cannot grow, local small farmers cannot grow. Ultimately, the result is that we grow even less of the food we eat here, and are forced to depend even more on imports.

Clearly, this cannot go on indefinitely. For me, the time to stand up was at that recent planning commission meeting.

Community, Eating Locally, Tomatoes

More on the ‘Island-Grown Market’

July 18, 2007 Richard Ha

I want to tell you, and show you, a little more about that food event at the Pukalani Foodland last week because I think it’s so significant that Foodland is demonstrating its strong commitment to locally grown produce.

People are increasingly concerned that we live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and that we depend on 70 percent of our food being imported. It’s eye-opening to learn that there is only a week to 10 days’ worth of food in the pipeline. Interrupt that shipping and we run out.

This is why I’m so impressed with Foodland’s commitment to supporting local farmers.

And it isn’t only us here at Hamakua Springs that benefit from their support. At this Pukalani event, there were growers and producers from all over Hawai‘i. All of us are doing the same thing—producing, locally, the food people here eat. Fresh, Island-grown, delicious food.

And not only produce. Armstrong Produce & Kula Produce employees are an important part of the team that makes all this happen.

It is delicious to break out of old food habits and plan meals based on the fresh ingredients available around you. Eating more vegetables, putting together quick, simple dishes with fresh ingredients, enjoying a sweet, sweet summer watermelon—it doesn’t get any better than that.

I am so impressed when I see the turnout at these Foodland events, a farmer’s market that they hold outside their stores. Now the key is to get all those people to wheel their carts back in the store and realize this is not an isolated opportunity. These products are for sale inside Foodland, too, and on a regular basis! Read signs and labels when you buy your groceries, and support your local farmers so we can continue to bring you this delicious, Island-fresh food.

Community, Eating Locally, Sustainability, Tomatoes

Upcountry

July 16, 2007 Richard Ha

I am exercising and it’s going okay, but I’m not losing much weight right now. My resting heart rate is at 60 beats per minute, so that is going in the right direction. But regarding weight, I’ve hit some sort of plateau. I’ll let you know when I figure out a way out of it.

June and I just attended the second event of the Foodland Island Grown Market series. This time it was held at the Pukalani Foodland, part way up the slopes of Haleakala on Maui.

There were farmers there with lettuce and herbs, broccoli and cabbage, flowers from Maui and watermelon from O‘ahu. From the Big Island, there were Hamakua mushrooms and fresh fish and also us, with our tomatoes, bananas and living lettuce.

Chef Keoni Chang with the owners of Waipouli Hydroponics.

Fresh fish from Hilo

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The parakeet lady with some of our heirloom tomatoes

The people who came were very vocal about their support of local produce. They were knowledgeable and passionate about food security. They made a point of telling us how much they appreciate fresh produce grown in Hawaii.

And they came to buy. They bought every heirloom tomato we had, even those in the display. The tomatoes-on-the-vine went first. People bought all our cocktail tomatoes, as well as all the beef tomatoes in the clamshells.

Chef Kent explaining how he used our cocktail tomatoes in his watercress/tomato dish, “and you have to try the Striped German heirlooms.”

Armstrong Produce’s Tish Uehara, to Chef Keoni: “So that’s the trick? Ponzu sauce and togarashi?”

It was great to hear people say that they support local farmers. This was not just making polite conversation; they meant it. Sustainability and food security are big in Pukalani. All the farmers really enjoyed this event.

Mark Teruya, President of Armstrong Produce, making sure everyone has a Foodland tote bag.

Tiffany Tom, a buyer for Foodland Produce, finally taking a break because everything is going great

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Chef Keoni discussing the finer points of selecting a watermelon

And speaking of watermelon…

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Before they started, the little girl told the M.C.: “I’m going for the win!” She had such a great attitude it didn’t even matter who won!

Community, Tomatoes

Samples

July 11, 2007 Leslie Lang

Did you see the special Agriculture & Energy Expo insert in the
Tribune-Herald recently? They used this photo of Richard and family on the cover.

Richard, his mother Florence Ha, June, Kimo and Tracy (photo by Macario)

Tracy said that they were surprised to see that picture on the cover. “I was talking to Rob at the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce and he said they thought it was a nice presentation of agriculture,” she told me, “being that we had three generations.”

She and Kimo handed out samples of the farm’s heirloom tomatoes at the Expo. “People kept saying they didn’t know there were tomatoes that looked like that,” she said. “The different colors, the different shapes; and they were surprised that each individual variety of heirlooms has a different flavor.”

“A lot of people there knew our tomatoes already,” she said, “either from our donating cocktail tomatoes to the schools or they already buy them at the grocery stores. People were wanting to see our new products.”

Some of the tomatoes they offered as samples included Green Zebras, which are small, green crunchy tomatoes; the Purple Cherokees, which she describes as a dark, almost black tomato; and the bigger, bright yellow Striped Germans, which are very sweet and have a yellow and pink flesh.

“I only took a case of the heirlooms to sell,” she said, “because I didn’t know how people would react to them, but they sold out.” The heirloom tomatoes are starting to be available in one-lb. “clamshell” containers at local supermarkets.

Tracy and Kimo also sold Hamakua Springs lettuce, green onions and cucumbers at the Expo.

“I love doing the Expos,” said Tracy. “I like setting up the displays, and I’m a people person. When people stop by you get to talk story with them.”

Bananas, Community, Eating Locally

Bananas & Dignity

July 4, 2007 Richard Ha 2 Comments

There was a farmers market event this past Saturday at Foodland Supermarket in Ewa Beach. The weather was great and nearly 20 farmers participated, bringing their asparagus, bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, watercress, sweet potatoes, mangoes, papayas, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, beans and lots more. Foodland Supermarket set up cash registers outside and people could purchase things right on the spot.

June and I were there in all our dignity.

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The next photo is of the group in our tent. That’s our friends Clyde Fukuyama, Kylie Matsuda and Momi Matsuda of Kahuku Farms. June is third from the left.

Chef Kent with David Sumida from Sumida Watercress. Chef Kent showed us why aged balsamic vinegar is so special. He drizzled some aged balsamic vinegar and sprinkled a little pinch of Hawaiian salt on one of our Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes. It was great. Now we need to go get a bottle of aged thick balsamic vinegar.

There was even a watermelon-eating contest.

KCCN did a live show. Here’s the DJ from KCCN interviewing Kylie Matsuda.

James Law and Tisha Uyehara, both executives from Armstrong Produce, jumped right in. That’s James handing a Hamakua Springs tomato to a customer.

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Chef Keoni Chang, Corporate Chef at Foodland Supermarkets, had three action stations going where people could taste samples prepared by his staff. The chefs had a great time preparing small taste samples on the fly out of everything they could get their hands on. This is me with Chef Keoni.

This is June, John Schilf, who is Director of Purchasing for Foodland Supermarkets, and me.

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Jenai Walls, President of Foodland Supermarkets, came by and bought some of our tomatoes.

Mark Teruya, President of Armstrong Produce, personally saw to it that the farmers had all the support they needed. They even brought us Starbucks coffee to get us started in the morning. They did a great job.

We got to see our farmer friends. And we had a chance to talk story with the customers, who seemed to enjoy talking with the people who actually grow the crops. This was great fun.

Foodland will be having several of these around the state. Next weekend we head to one at the Foodland Supermarket in Pukalani on Maui.

Community, Sustainability

Whole Foods

June 27, 2007 Richard Ha

Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods, which has 195 stores in North America and the United Kingdom, has announced that it is opening stores in Hawai‘i. And its website, describing the company’s corporate values, seems to be in line with what we want for Hawai‘i. But I worry that the company may not really understand what it means to be located on islands in the middle of the ocean.

I think that the company’s benefit to life in Hawai‘i will be determined by whether or not it is a positive force in helping Hawaii become a food-sustainable society. In other words, will it support local farmers in a way that increases locally produced food?

We are the most isolated place in the world. If shipping is interrupted for a long time we are doomed. Will Whole Foods help Hawai‘i to become more food secure?

I can point to two supermarkets who have made a major difference in supporting local food producers. Although they also help many other local producers, I can use our own experiences to demonstrate what they do.

Several years ago, Jenai Walls, President of Foodland Supermarkets, and Abel Porter, its Chief Operating Officer, visited our farm. They let us know that it was their personal intent to support local farmers and to support us as we developed our farm business. Soon after, they invited June and me to lunch on O‘ahu to reinforce that commitment.

Subsequently, Jenai wrote a very strong letter in support of our application for a Rural Economic Transition Assistance Hawaii grant. This grant assists businesses in transitioning from a sugar-based economy to a diversified one. That grant was very important in the development of our hydroponic farm operations and I’m sure Jenai’s letter of support was instrumental in our obtaining it.

Recently Foodland Supermarket agreed to help us by marketing our excess bananas during the seasonal high point. This was very significant because if we were had not been able to sell our bananas during that period, we would have been forced to take them out of production, which would have caused a shortage during the next winter period. Because Foodland supported us during such a critical period, we will have adequate volume of bananas next winter.

Foodland’s support allows us to continue to grow our farm business. This is much more than just talk, and demonstrates real support for local agriculture.

Abel Porter, the company’s COO, visited us again last month. He wanted to see how our hydroponic operation was progressing and also to continue to demonstrate Foodland’s commitment to supporting locally grown produce. We showed him some new products in development. He thought some had potential and we will be working with Foodland to bring those products to market.

KTA Superstores is another local market that makes an extra effort to support local suppliers. Its company brand is called Mountain Apple. KTA makes a special effort to source local products. They are always game to try something new.

We have been fortunate over the years because KTA works very closely with us in product development. They advise us on what kind of packaging might work and then give us real time feedback. This gives us a great opportunity to see what works and what does not. KTA has helped us, in a real way, since we first produced bananas more than 30 years ago.

Recently we took a mainland trip with Derek Kurisu, KTA’s legendary Vice President of Operations. He showed us how some of the Napa Valley wine operators market their products. He took us to see how value-added salad dressing was manufactured—the kind one finds in the Williams Sonoma catalog. And we saw how value-added fresh cut fruit is packaged and processed. This was a very valuable, educational experience.

From our perspective, Foodland Supermarkets and KTA Superstores do a lot to help Hawai‘i become self-sufficient in terms of food. It’s a complex issue, but both of these companies do more than most to try to make this work.

We’ll see what happens when Whole Foods enters our Hawai‘i market. I am hopeful it will be a positive for our local farmers and other food producers. I’ll revisit this subject here on the blog after they’ve been in Hawai‘i awhile and we can see how things are unfolding.