Category Archives: Community

Community, Water

Water Works

Richard Ha writes:

Our farm is neighbors with Andrade Camp, a small neighborhood whose residents are working to transition from its private water system, developed in the sugar plantation era, to a modern municipal system.

It’s a complicated effort that brings together the residents’ Representative to the legislature, the County Board of Water Supply, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the County Research and Development Department, the County Planning Dept and Senator Inouye’s office.

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I’ve been very impressed with how these government agencies, and especially Representative Dwight Takamine, Board of Water Supply manager Milton Pavao and USDA’s Ted Matsuo, work in the best interest of the people. It gives a person renewed faith in government.

Andrade Camp consists of approximately 20 sugar plantation-style homes located 11 miles north of Hilo, mauka of Highway 19. The houses, built by the Hilo Coast Processing Company, are owned by former company employees. Today most of the residents are in their late 70s or even in their 80s. They are accustomed to the sugar plantation taking care of their needs.

We at the farm got involved because our neighbors, the residents of Andrade Camp, are members of the previous generation who helped make Hawaii what it is today. They are uncomplaining and trust that someone is going to do the right thing. It is the least we can do.

A few years back, when C. Brewer sold all of their former sugar lands, they informed Andrade Camp residents they would need to take over the private water system and start paying the county for their water use. We helped the residents form an association which could bill each household for its water usage. The association is given a bill based on the reading from the county’s master meter. Residents are then billed by the association based on their individual meter reading.

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The water system was originally served by a pipeline that went down to the Pepe’ekeo sugar mill, and residents were charged a flat rate for their water use. They paid $8 per month, and the sugar company took care of all maintenance. Just prior to leaving, the sugar company replaced all the old lines with a plastic 2-inch pipe that passed by each house, and new water meters were installed at each house, which made it possible to determine how much water each house uses.

Several years ago, Dwight Takamine held a series of information gathering meetings with all the interested parties, and the process to upgrade the water system began. A budget was developed, and then the plan to upgrade the system was brought before the Board of Water Supply for approval and funding. The project was approved for funding and the formal process began. A contractor was hired to develop the plan and submit the application to the Department of Agriculture for grant approval. It is going through the process right now.

It is heartwarming to see how all the parties involved are doing everything they can to help the residents of Andrade Camp. I wish everyone could see their government in action as I am seeing it. It would make them feel good.

Alan Wong, Community, Contest

Partnerships

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Richard Ha writes:

Sometimes Hawaii Community College is overlooked in favor of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, but it shouldn’t be. The school gives students some excellent opportunities not otherwise available here.

My son Brian took the community college’s carpentry and electrician courses and now he’s an Apache helicopter pilot. The machine he flies costs more than our entire farm.

Several years ago I mentioned to Allan Okuda, director of the Community College’s food service program, that we were starting hydroponic vegetable production and wanted to do something with his culinary program. He was very receptive to the idea.

The Hamakua Springs Tomato Recipe Contest is our first opportunity to work with the culinary school. When I called Allan Okuda about doing something with them re: the tomato recipe contest, he said he’d been waiting for us to get back in touch. He liked the idea of having the program’s students prepare the recipes for final judging. Students will get the opportunity to use the skills they have learned to prepare the recipes for judging, he said.

Foodland Super Markets helped to make this event a reality by publicizing the Hamakua Springs Tomato Recipe Contest in their mailouts, as well as with point of purchase instructions next to their tomato displays.

As an added bonus, internationally renowned chef Alan Wong, who often visits us at Hamakua Springs and who treats us farmers like his partners, said he’d be happy to talk to some of the food service students.

In addition to being an internationally acclaimed chef, Alan Wong is a teacher at heart. He makes people comfortable and he also makes everything seem possible. I truly believe that for some of the students it could be a pivotal moment in their lives.

I asked Allan Okuda if he would select a few students to meet with Chef Alan, and he was happy to do it. He thinks this will be a unique opportunity for students to meet one of the best chefs in the world.

In Hilo, the “culinary backwoods” where we live, we will be so happy to help bring something like this about.

Community, Tomatoes

A Shiny Red Tomato For The Teacher

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Richard Ha writes:

Our philosophy of sustainable farming means we are always concerned about our workers, our community and the environment.

An example of this is when we sometimes have unexpected spikes in production of our hydroponic tomatoes. We asked ourselves, What should we do when this occurs? And we came to the conclusion that we wanted to support our community. But how?

We thought about teachers, and the important role they play in our community.

So we planned what we would do when the inevitable spike in tomato production occurred. Depending on the number of tomatoes we had available, we would find a school with a similar number of teachers. But we wanted to go a step further. We didn’t want to leave anyone out, so we decided we would give to a school only if we could give something to everybody on the staff.

Last week we had one of those spikes, so we went into action. We donated 97 boxes of Hamakua Springs cocktail tomatoes (that’s 776 individual “clamshell” containers) to teachers. We gave one clamshell to everybody on staff at the following schools: Kalaniana‘ole School, Waiakea Elementary, Waiakea Waena, Kea‘au Elementary and Middle Schools, Mountain View, Pahoa and Kaumana Schools.

We put a note in each container saying how much we appreciate the work they do for our keiki. We feel so good about being able to recognize these important members of our community.

Community

Old School

At Kaumana Elementary School’s 100th Birthday Bash a couple weeks back, kindergarten teacher (and Hamakua Springs daughter-in-law) Kris Cabreira said it was “chicken skin” to see the two daughters of the school’s first principal and hear their story.

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“We found out that their father used to ride his horse to school,” she said, “and that he decided to find another profession after he wanted to get married but his salary only allowed him to feed his horse.”

Kris, who is married to Richard and June’s son Brian, talked about watching a 70-year-old former student bowing down to his 95-year-old principal. Seeing the composer of the school’s alma mater. Having the Cera family there, who used the event as a family reunion.

She said the day was packed with more people than they expected. There were former and current students, parents, teachers and stuff as well as the community.

Hamakua Springs donated bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce to the celebration, and the kindergartners and first graders sold them in their produce booth to raise funds for classroom supplies and field trips. They sold out of five cases of each product.

There was also a history of Kaumana School memory room, games, food booths, craft booths, a rummage sale, a plant sale, and 100th birthday commemorative t-shirts. Entertainment went on all day with Taishoji Taiko, Dru Kekaualua and friends, and Ho’okoa. In the afternoon, students put on a talent show. The principal, Lloyd Matsunami, a counselor and Gumby took turns in the dunking booth.

“We were surprised at how much this meant to so many former students,” said Kris. “You could see the pride in their eyes. It was a very humbling experience.”

Community

Walking With the Goats

A couple weeks ago, about a hundred people turned up for a mile-long walk through the beautifully landscaped Panaewa Rainforest Zoo. It was part of the national WalkAmerica event, and the first time the March of Dimes event was held in Hilo.

It’s just the kind of event we like donating our product to. It raises money for a good cause while also encouraging people to get outside for some physical activity.

The band No Etiquette played. A breakfast was available—bentos from Blane’s Drive-In, juice from Meadow Gold, and our Hamakua Springs bananas. And Terry the Tiger was there. That’s a guy in a giant white tiger costume (the Panaewa Zoo is, of course, home to the white tiger Namaste).

It turned out that everybody who participated in the walk took home a door prize. There were gift certificates from places like Hilo Bay Café, the Palace Theatre, Seaside Restaurant; $50 worth of tickets from Cold Stone Creamery; boxes of posters from Hot Topic, gift baskets of hair products from Regis Salon, and a lot more.

And if that wasn’t interesting enough, a couple goats from the petting zoo joined the party and they did the walk, too. Although they didn’t get out and gather as many pledges as some of the people did. While one gentleman raised more than $1000 (which won him a weekend stay at the Hilton Waikoloa), the goats only brought in $5.

Our congratulations to everybody who walked for the March of Dimes. We hope to see you there again next year. — posted by Leslie Lang

Community

Flying tomatoes

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Charlotte Romo, who works at the farm, set up a Hamakua Springs Country Farms booth at the St. Joseph’s Country Fair last weekend, with bright, tomato-red balloons, and watched the tomatoes and lettuce practically fly off the table.

She said people would stop in their tracks and rush up to her and ask if these were the same Hamakua Springs as in the stores. “I guess even with the big sign and my Hamakua Springs shirt I still don’t look like a Ha or a Pa,” she joked, referring to the rhyming surnames at the family farm.

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When she said yes, and especially when they saw the tomatoes were priced at about half the price they go for at the stores, people scooped them up. It was a good opportunity to let people know, too, where our tomatoes are available: at Foodland, KTA, Safeway, Costco, from wholesalers, or they can call the farm (981-0805).

“I am always impressed by how loyal our customers are,” said Charlotte. “Many people, usually women, tell me that because of the good flavor they will only buy our tomatoes.”

She said a lot of people told her they buy the lettuce and are impressed with how long it stays crisp in the refrigerator (that’s because of how it’s harvested and packed).

By 11:30, she told me, people had wiped her out of tomatoes, lettuce and balloons. “It was a good day visiting with friends and making people happy with good produce, and also raising money for a good cause,” said Charlotte, whose two girls go to St. Joseph’s School. “I want to give big thanks to Richard and family for donating all that wonderful produce for the fair.”

And once the produce was gone, she got to go check out the old-style, small-town country fair. “I had never been to the St. Joseph’s fair,” said the newcomer to Hawai‘i, “but when I mentioned it people’s eyes would glaze over and they would get a smile on their face and say, ‘Malassadas….’”

“I was happy to go early so I could try those famous treats. They were onolicious! Warm, sugary, deep-fried cake. And I wonder why I can’t lose weight.”

It’s a pretty neat fair, with train and pony rides for the young ones, a rock climbing wall and jumping castles, arts and crafts for sale as well as pickles, preserves, lau lau, sushi and baked goods. There was a plant sale, and carnival games, music and good food and more. What a fun, small-town community event to be a part of. — posted by Leslie Lang

Bananas, Community

Run, Then Eat Bananas

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Besides the supermarkets, our bananas sometimes find their way to some interesting places.

Such as the ones we donate to the annual Kilauea Volcano Runs. Every summer, up at the 4000-foot elevation of Kilauea Volcano within the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, people gather from Hawai‘i, the mainland U.S. and other countries to participate in what has become the state’s largest trail run.

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The runs started modestly more than 20 years ago when a Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park ranger wanted to “toughen up” his staff by having them run in the back country. And it is “back country”—still, runners find themselves climbing crater walls and crossing dirt trails, cooled lava fields, the Ka‘u Desert’s sand, tropical rainforest and more.

These days, more than 1000 people participate each year in what’s sometimes called “Athletes for the Arts.” That’s because the runs benefit the many arts, cultural and educational programs offered by the non-profit Volcano Art Center. The VAC also donates artwork as prizes for top finishers.

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There are three different races. The Volcano Marathon, considered “the world’s toughest measured marathon,” encompasses rough, uneven terrain, stark lava fields and 1000-foot elevation changes. Race information warns that runners should have trained on trails, or have participated in trail running events, and should be able to finish in 7 hours and 30 minutes. “Add one hour to your best time to see if you can meet this requirement,” paperwork warns.

The 10-mile “Kilauea Rim Rum” circles the summit caldera of Kilauea, mostly following its rim. Runners cross rugged pahoehoe lava, pass steam vents and cinder cones, and traverse beautiful wooded trails amidst birdsong.

The 5-mile Kilauea Caldera Run & Walk—the only run that allows walkers—takes runners past steam vents along the caldera’s edge, down into the caldera and along its pahoehoe lava floor, and then out again through the high-elevation rainforest.

Afterwards, participants visit the refreshment tent where they pick up their finisher t-shirts and some rejuvenative snacks. Besides Hamakua Springs Country Farms bananas, there are papaya, potato chips, cookies and other goodies, as well as water and juice. And then it’s on to the awards ceremony.

Maybe, when Richard loses some more weight, we could bully him into registering for one of the Kilauea Volcano Runs. I wonder if he would try to sneak his bike in. – posted by Leslie Lang

Bananas, Community, Our Employees

Not “Just a Banana Farm”

Richard Ha writes:

When Leslie was putting together that post about our employee Susie White, she asked me whether she should include Susie’s quote—“I thought, ‘I don’t want to work on a banana farm’”—or whether it wasn’t what we wanted to portray.

I told her that it was very honest and to include it.

I told her that I tell politicians and business people, and everybody, the same thing—that we know our workers don’t want their kids to be banana farm workers. They want more for their kids.

I understand that and that’s why I try to do whatever I can to help the situation so their kids might have more opportunities. That’s why I push for economic development opportunities. Like when the brand new College of Pharmacy (at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo) came up and they were accepting testimony, I went and spoke in favor of it. I kept it light and humorous—I told them I wasn’t there to support the school of pharmacy because we were going to sell more bananas. I was there because it meant more opportunities for our banana workers’ kids.

Another example is the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) proposed for Mauna Kea. It gives economic opportunity; some of the kids might want to become astronomers. That’s my agenda, really. When I support something like the TMT, it’s with the thought of how this will help our workers.

What it really comes down to is if the kids can get good jobs, maybe they can buy their own piece of property. We can help them help themselves, without their having to leave Hawai‘i, or having to go get subsidies from the state.

I’m glad Susie made that comment about thinking we were just a banana farm, but soon realizing that we are much more than that. I don’t often get the opportunity to talk about this important subject.

Community, Government, Tomatoes

A Whole Lot of Salads and Pasta Sauces Were Made

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When Hamakua Springs had an unexpected tomato surplus recently, Richard called over to the county building and said he had some extra tomatoes he wanted to give to county workers.

P1010053_3Dayday Hopkins, Economic Development Specialist at the Hawai‘i County Department of Research and Development, says she asked Richard how many tomatoes he was talking about. “I thought it was a case or two,” she said, “but he asked how many departments we have.”

“He went hog wild in sharing,” she said. “He gave us like 25 cases. Who gives away 25 cases of tomatoes? For him to do that, it really makes you feel good that there’s a business person who is not only for himself and his business but also wants to share with the rest of the people that touch him.”

Richard says sometimes they give extra tomatoes to the local schools their grandchildren attend: Kalaniana‘ole Elementary, Keaukaha Elementary and Kea‘au Middle School. P1010061_2

“Or schools that are having a hard time with the ‘No Child Left Behind’ thing,” says Richard. “We give to the teachers and staff and try to do a morale booster kind of thing.”

Last month, though, when they had a lot of extra cocktail tomatoes, Richard sent some to the Hawai‘i Island Food Bank and then took the rest to the Hawai‘i County Building.

He explains that sometimes there’s an unexpected short spike in production due to timing–one crop comes into production as another is going out. “Because we harvest the tomatoes when they’re vine ripe,” he says, “we cannot hold them very long when that happens and we have to move them quickly.”

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“The reason we chose the county workers,” says Richard, “is because they are pretty much not recognized for the work they do and we wanted to acknowledge their hard work.”

Dayday couldn’t say enough nice things about Richard. “We ask him for donations of bananas when we have fundraisers for the schools, and other community activities, and he’s always open and accommodating,” she said. “Mr. Ha is just one of those unique breed of farmers and people. June was here, too, and as goodhearted as the husband. I couldn’t believe she got up in the pickup truck and was getting out cases of tomatoes. She said, ‘Yeah, I have to help.’”

Richard took some cases to the Department of Water Supply, which isn’t located in the county building. Dayday got some help and took the rest around to offices in the County building: Planning, Parks and Recreation, Civil Service, Finance, Office of the Aging, Corporation Council and others.

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She says some of the workers were surprised and even suspicious when handed containers of tomatoes. “They asked me, ‘Are you selling them?’ I told them, ‘Mr. Ha wants to share his bounty of tomatoes for you to taste and enjoy. He has a big heart; he just really wants to share with the people in the county because he said the county has been very nice to him.’” Others, she said, were surprised they were such beautiful, perfect tomatoes and not “seconds,” or tomatoes that weren’t good enough to sell.

Dayday even sent some to the mayor’s office, where they were a hit. The mayor Harry Kim called her and asked if there was any way he could get two more. (He got them.) Andylevin_2

In these last two photos, that’s Dayday with Pat Koga, executive secretary to Planning Director Chris Yuen, and then with Andy Levin, executive director to Mayor Kim.

Dayday took her tomatoes home. “My husband eats tomatoes like grapes. And I cut some up and made a green salad.”

She also shares her recipe for a salsa she makes. She chops up Hamakua Springs cocktail tomatoes with a pinch of cilantro, some green onions and sea salt, and puts that salsa over her special fried rice: “I buy poke, cut it a little smaller and sauté it with garlic. Then cook it with rice, soy sauce, and put the salsa over it.”

“Ha ha ha!” she said as she recounted the recipe. Our kind of person! — posted by Leslie Lang

Community, Shorts

Making Good Life Decisions, and Wearing Long Pants

Leslie Lang writes:

You might remember that even when Richard met the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, he wore short pants. So here’s something you don’t see every day:

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Richard busted out his long pants recently to speak at a graduation for 169 high and middle school students considered “at risk.” The students were graduating from some pretty impressive summer programs funded by the Department of Human Services and the Hawai‘i National Guard.

Jenea Respicio is program director at the Paxen Group, the group that administers the summer programs. She says the students liked Richard; they thought he was funny.

“He started off saying, ‘I actually always wear shorts. I never, ever wear long pants. I met the governor and I still wore shorts. But I think this is really important and so I wore pants for you.’”

Jenea says Richard was invited to speak at the graduation because he was someone the kids could relate to—a local boy who, Jenea says, would be classified “high risk” if he were in school today. And one who definitely “made good.”

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“He was a very effective speaker,” she told me, “and the kids could relate to him. It was nice for them to see a local boy who was just like them. It was nice for them to see that he made the decisions he made and did well.”

When Richard was that age, he admits, he was “drifting” and making some bad decisions. He went to college, but did poorly. He had more traffic tickets than he could pay. He got behind in payments on his Harley Davidson motorcycle and it was repossessed right off the street. “That was the end of my bike,” he says. Richardlectern_4

And he got into a lot of fights and at one point was charged with malicious injury.“I had all those things going on,” he says, “and at one point I asked myself, ‘Am I a crook? Am I a criminal?’” The thought distressed him.

He flunked out of college, got drafted and ended up in Vietnam, where he says he decided to make the best of the situation. He became an officer.

That was undoubtedly a good decision, which is what the summer programs concentrate on teaching. Jenea explains that in addition to teaching at-risk students about decisions, they also teach life and employability skills with courses called Exploring Careers, Effective Employee, Job Search and others. Among other things, “Life Skills” teaches them to write a check, balance a checkbook, fill out a job application and the hard facts about drugs, sex and smoking.

She explains they just present the facts. “We don’t tell students what they should or shouldn’t do and we don’t push an agenda. We just teach them all the facts and then it’s their life, their choice.”

And the summer program is a job. Students fill out time sheets and are paid $30 per day for six hours of work. Jenea says that’s about teaching responsibility. “If you don’t fill out the time sheet, you don’t get paid,” she says. “It’s your responsibility; it’s not my problem.”

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Students learn how to keep a budget, write checks, and keep a check register. In a form of “reality programming” way more useful than what you see on TV, they learn, through a simulation exercise, about the real world. They are assigned minimum-wage “jobs,” and checkbooks, and every month the instructor “collects” rent (based on real prices from the local paper) and real-world amount payments for electricity, water and telephone.

She explains what always happens. “At the end of the month, we ask ‘How much do you have in your check register?’ They say, ‘I’m minus $247.’ We say, ‘I thought you said you were going to drive a Lexus when you got out of school?’ We say, ‘This is what your parents go through every month paying bills.’”

Then, she says, they present information on how much someone with a college education makes. “We don’t tell them to go to college,” she says. “We just give them the facts so they can decide what they want to do.”

At the June 29th graduation, the Kaua‘i Hilton’s chef flew in with his staff and they volunteered their time to prepare lu‘au food for the 700 graduates, family members and friends.

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The graduation ceremony speakers (seated from left to right) were General Ishikawa, deputy adjutant general of the Hawai‘i National Guard; Richard Ha; Tim Iida, The Paxen Group’s program manager for the Big Island, and Colonel Wayne Kanemoto, retired Hawai‘i National Guard.

Richard says he made two main points in his talk. He passed on some important wisdom he learned as a kid, sitting at the table with his dad. “He always said, ‘Not no can, can!’ He’d pound the table and all the dishes would jump. I needed to say that, just that way, in pidgin English,” he explains.

“The second thing is that it’s a good thing to take care of each other, and treat everybody well,” he says. “That’s what I learned in Vietnam. Leaving anybody behind is not an option. Taking care of each other. That’s a good thing and I use that in my business.”

He also used it that night at the graduation, when he stood up there in his long pants and talked to a group of kids whose futures could go either way.

He says he really relates to kids not having any direction and just drifting along. “Myself, having found direction, I ran with it,” he says. “So I felt like I had something to share.”