Sonia Martinez, of Sonia Tastes Hawai‘i, has put together a great resource over at the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network — it’s a list of the 30 or so farmers markets on the Big Island as well as CSAs and community gardens.
CSAs are Community Supported Agriculture, a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.
Her very thorough list of Farmers Markets and CSAs is here.
June and I went to yesterday’s matinee of the musical
Seussical at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. It was packed with small kids and their parents and grandmas and grandpas.
From the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:
Itching to see a funny musical? Then what you need is an evening of ‘Seussical.’
“Who doesn’t like Seuss?” That rhetorical observation by drama professor Jackie Pualani Johnson sums up the appeal of “Seussical,” the spring musical at University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Performing Arts Center.
The play, which hit Broadway in 2000, features music by Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime”), lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Flaherty and Ahrens. Based on the characters and stories of Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, “Seussical” was co-conceived by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame.
“It’s a delightful pastiche. It’s a little of everything of what Seuss is about,” said Johnson, who directs the mostly-student cast….
If you want to have a happy afternoon, go see it. You can catch it on the 16th and 17th at 7:30 p.m. and on the 18th at 2 p.m.
The acting and singing were just great. UH Hilo’s theatre has
great acoustics; as good as the theaters on Broadway. Our grandson Kapono designed some of the costumes.
As we left the UH Hilo theatre, I looked back and saw that everyone had a big smile on their face.
Go see it. You’ll leave in a great mood.
I was interested in this energybulletin.net article.
Elinor Ostrom Wins Nobel for Common(s) Sense
by Fran Korten
Fran: Many people associate “the commons” with Garrett Hardin’s famous essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons.” He says that if, for example, you have a pasture that everyone in a village has access to, then each person will put as many cows on that land as he can to maximize his own benefit, and pretty soon the pasture will be overgrazed and become worthless. What’s the difference between your perspective and Hardin’s?
Elinor: Well, I don’t see the human as hopeless. There’s a general tendency to presume people just act for short-term profit. But anyone who knows about small-town businesses and how people in a community relate to one another realizes that many of those decisions are not just for profit and that humans do try to organize and solve problems.
If you are in a fishery or have a pasture and you know your family’s long-term benefit is that you don’t destroy it, and if you can talk with the other people who use that resource, then you may well figure out rules that fit that local setting and organize to enforce them…. Read more
This is the Hawaiian way, and it’s the way we are trying to go. Common(s) sense is appropriate.
The world has changed in the face of Peak Oil. So that we will be relevant years from now, we are changing. I am turning our farm, Hamakua Springs Country Farms at Pepe‘ekeo, and the resources available to us – people, water, land and hydro power – into a commons of sorts.
We are bringing more and more farmers to work together with us for the common good.
Pacific Business News recently wrote about Ka‘iu Kimura: People Who Make Hawaii Work: Kaiu Kimura.
“Ka‘iu is representative of the next generation of Hawaiian leaders,” says Richard.
“I saw her defend her convictions at public hearings having to do with the Comprehensive Management Plan for Mauna Kea,” he says. “She is very strong, and it’s why I support her as strongly as I do. I could not be more proud of her.”
The Waimea-born and -reared Kamehameha Schools graduate is, at age 31, interim Executive Director of Hilo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.
I had a chance to speak with Ka‘iu the other day.
Q. When did you start at ‘Imiloa, and in what position?
A. It was the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center then, in 2001. I was hired as a research assistant to help develop Hawaiian content.
Through the exhibit development phase, there were a lot of discussions, meetings, and focus groups with various community stakeholders and experts. It was a real educational process for me. For the first time, members of the Hawaiian, astronomy and business communities had to sit down and plan this center that was going to be for the general public, with a mission to really excite local youth about science and technology and the opportunities that exist here on the island. And also to talk about Mauna Kea and its uniqueness with all these different communities – particularly Hawaiian and Astronomy communities.
Q. What were the challenges?
Everybody had different ideas and different interpretations about what the center needed to be, and how to communicate to the community. It was valuable and difficult all at the same time. It got to be really challenging at the end.
In 2006, when we opened the doors, that was a major step. We’d made it through the planning stage and we had a product; something that came out of all that, because of the collaborative approach we took.
Q. What are you working on now?
I just came back last week from a conference in San Diego. It was about bringing Native American people together with scientists and the science center community.
We shared the process of how we built the center. You don’t have to divorce yourself from your culture or from your cultural values if you’re interested in pursuing science and technology. In fact, because you have those values and that cultural perspective, you can enrich the direction science is going. It made me realize more so that ‘Imiloa has a responsibility to take this kind of perspective to the science community.
I know there will always be a variety of opinions about any future development on that mountain. Many opinions won’t change; they’ll stay the same. But the goal is about relationship building. Coming to the table and saying what you need to say. To help educate both ways. Sharing with the community is about. The average person has been left out of that conversation in the past. The role of ‘Imiloa is to open up the conversation to more people.
It’s all a part of the education process. If people don’t understand about that mountain, and why it’s so revered and unique, then how can we say we’re all about educating the youth and getting them excited about science?
‘Imiloa is here because Mauna Kea is such a special place. I think it’s all about the kuleana thing. Go after your dreams and ambitions, but also understand the community you come from and the history, and know you have the kuleana to give back to it.
Q. What are your next goals?
Our big goal is to increase our attendance. We’ve had a wonderful growth in attendance. We average 53-55,000 people a year. Eighty-five percent are kama‘aina. That’s been great. Our challenge is, and will always be, to create fresh programs and activities and exhibits and planetarium shows to keep our kama‘aina people engaged and wanting to come back for more. That’s a major priority.
We also want to grow that 53-55,000. We want to double that. Our core mission will always be to inspire and excite the youth of Hawai‘i, our next leaders. And we’d also like to increase our offshore numbers, and impact the rest of the world. We think Hawai‘i can really serve as a strong model internationally.
Q. What would you like people to know about ‘Imiloa?
What is unique about ‘Imiloa is that it’s a result of massive collaborative effort of people in the community. I’m very, very aware we have a lot of work to do, and that there are a lot of ways to strengthen what we have. But I think it’s a very good first step to sharing the Hawaiian culture, and in bringing our culture together with science and in particular with astronomy.
‘Imiloa shares a great story of exploration. That’s what ‘Imiloa means: To explore, seek new knowledge, make new discoveries, new landfall. It’s a great place to come and learn about exploration, and how people in Hawai‘i have explored in the past, and how it continues today and for the future.
It’s unique to us here in Hawai‘i, but also, on a human level, every culture has histories and culture and innovation. It’s about tying those together with where we’re heading in the future.
Richard told me he is very impressed with what Michelle Galimba and her family are doing in Ka‘u, and so I thought I’d give her a call and learn a little more.
I learned that Michelle grew up on dairy farms in Ka‘u and then lived in Haleiwa on O‘ahu, where her dad worked for Meadow Gold Dairies. These days, she and her family own and run a cattle ranch in Na‘alehu.“There’s a little bit of irony in the name,” she told me about their Kuahiwi Ranch. “Kuahiwi means ‘mountain,’ but the other meaning is ‘back country,’ like ‘the sticks.’”
To some people, Ka‘u has that sort of back country reputation. Michelle says she thinks people in Ka‘u are starting to rethink values, though, such as of its traditional culture, and that the lifestyle of Ka‘u is becoming more and more relevant.
“If we can find success stories for people in Ka‘u,” she says, “I think that goes a long way in changing other people’s perceptions and also our own, for ourselves.”
She mentions the coffee industry that’s recently sprung up in Ka‘u. “My friend Chris [Manfredi] started talking with the coffee farmers and thought their coffee was really good. He entered it into this international competition and it did really, really well. People were just so thrilled.”
She is one of the organizers of this year’s Ka‘u Coffee Festival, which will be May 1st and 2nd.
“There’s starting to be a stable of agriculture products in Ka‘u that are premium and interesting and something people can be proud of,” she says. “It’s what I’m hoping for with our beef. That we can get other ranchers involved with it and build up this market for it.”
Kuahiwi Ranch started in 1993, about the time the sugar plantations were going out and sugar cane lands were becoming available. It’s operated by Michelle’s parents, her youngest brother and herself, with age-appropriate help from her daughter and her brother’s three children (who range in age from 8 to 13).
They raise cattle for beef on 10,000 acres between Wood Valley and Waiohinu. Their cattle are free range and grass fed, and the cattles’ diet is also supplemented with grain.
“It’s a little different from grass-fed beef,” she explains. “If you just feed the cattle grass, the tenderness varies. Our beef is a little bit more expensive, but it’s more consistently tender.”
From the Kuahiwi Ranch website:
With the growing public interest in eating local and sustainable food systems, Kuahiwi Ranch decided to offer the public the best beef we know how to produce — beef that is tender, mild-flavored, and of consistent quality, but also raised naturally and humanely.
Our cattle always have plenty of room to roam and green grass to eat, but they are also given access to a grain ration for approximately 90 days. This grain ration consists of three natural ingredients — corn, barley, molasses, that’s it. It’s kind of like granola.
Since the late ‘70s, most Hawai‘i ranchers ship their cattle to mainland feed lots, which has been the most economically efficient model. In the last three or four years, says Michelle, as corn and transportation prices have risen, things have changed and it’s become more viable to keep cattle here.
There is little infrastructure here, though, to process the beef, and until recently there wasn’t a market locally for grass-fed beef.
She says you cannot get local beef at any supermarket on O‘ahu, and that this is a focus for Kuahiwi Ranch right now. “But everything is set up to come over in a container from the mainland,” she says. “It’s what everybody’s used to working with.”
“It’s an ongoing struggle on all kinds of fronts, and in the industry as a whole, to get it to work,” she says. “On the other hand, there’s a lot of enthusiasm – from chefs and people at the farmers’ markets. That’s kind of what keeps us going.”
Here on the Big Island you can buy their beef at KTA, where it’s sold under the “Kulana Natural” and “Mountain Apple” labels. She also sells their product, under the Kuahiwi Ranch name, at the Na‘alehu Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays and at the Volcano Farmers Market on Sundays.
Somewhere in the midst of all that dairy farm living and cattle raising, Michelle went to UC Berkeley and got a PhD in comparative literature. It’s a little jarring in its dissonance from what she does now – the ranch’s marketing as well as its accounting, though she says her favorite thing is to get on her horse and drive the cattle – until she is asked about her thesis, which was about an 11th century Chinese poet named Su Shi.
“He was this academic superstar,” she says, “and in China if you were really good in literature you rose through politics really quickly. He became the premier, running the whole country, but then he was exiled to, like, Ka‘u.” She laughs.
“He wrote a lot of poems about having to grow his own food and how rewarding that was,” she says.
I get the impression that Michele and Su Shi would have gotten along.
Richard and June just attended the “Evening of Song” holiday program at Keaukaha Elementary School, and he told me that when it was over and they came out of the program, they were both amazed.
“It was the most fun thing,” he said. “We couldn’t believe it. I don’t know how often you see a principal of a school with an ‘ukulele out in the front, dancing. We came out pretty happy, both of us.
June at left, with Principal Kumu Lehua Veincent and his mother
He said another thing that really struck him was the Santa Claus. “The Santa came out boogying while carrying his boogie board in one hand,” he said. “He had the beat, and stayed with it, spinning around and punctuating the beat with his rubbah slippahs, waving to the crowd as he made his way to his Santa chair.
“How could kids be afraid of a dancing Santa Claus wearing rubbah slippahs and carrying a boogie board?” he said. “They loved him; you could see it in the tiniest ones’ faces. When he sat down and the kids came to sit on his lap, they were not afraid of him. You cannot be afraid of someone in rubbah slippers.”
During the program the school recognized Ilde Aceret, a custodian retiring after 27 years of service; Aunty Momi Wakita, for starting up the Evening of Song several years ago; and Ed and Irene Kozohara, retired teachers who volunteered for many years to give the keiki ‘ukulele lessons.
“You can just see the values at that school,” said Richard. “You can see that the community there is really tight. They are really basic, down to earth, solid values. When you see the folks being recognized…. that janitor, she’s very important. If everybody there had had shiny shoes on, I don’t think the janitor would have been up there being recognized.”
“Just the look at how the community interacts – it’s no wonder the school is doing so good.”
Then Kumu Lehua called up Richard and June. “June and I were totally surprised to be called up,” he said. “We recognized that it was in appreciation of the folks that fund the Adopt-A-Class project, which sends that school’s keiki on excursions.”
Counting the people that were outside the gym, Kumu Lehua estimated there were about 750 people there.
Each class sang during the program, with what Richard said was only minimal backup. “We all know there are lots of entertainers in Keaukaha, but it was just an ‘ukulele and a bass. The bass was way in the background but kept up a nice beat. It made them look and sound almost professional. They’re starting at a high level, not a low level.
“When they did the introduction chant, it was three or four times more enthusiastic. Those voices were STRONG. There was no loudspeaker; they didn’t need it, the voices were strong.”
“The school, the parents, they cannot force that. It was something else.”
Do you remember when we wrote about Brudda Skibs awhile back? Here’s an article from Big Island Weekly about what he’s up to lately.
Saturday, Nov. 21 marked another monumental year for the Honoli’i Paka as they celebrated with their annual surfing classic and keiki fun day.
This is their sixth year in the running and the park hasn’t looked better. Projects are ongoing throughout the year for the parks beautification, but this day was a special day to embrace what has been done and to give back to the community yet again. It was a day of fun, food, prizes, Hawaiian games and lots and lots of surfing.
“What is so special about this event is that people came together and never gave up,” said as Uncle Skibbs, organizer of the Honoli’i Paka. “We cleaned the park and now we have families and kids here enjoying it regularly.”(read more)
Richard says, “This is what true aloha is all about. He shows us that we are one island; one people. It’s not money that makes us rich.
“I’m proud to say that he and I are cousins on the Kamahele side.”
A couple years ago I gave a speech to the graduating class of the Hawai‘i Community College. I talked about survival. I told them stories that my Pop told me when I was a small kid. And how they could make short-term decisions without sacrificing their long-term core values. It was very well received and it was good fun.
That was in May, 2007. That October, I went to the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO) conference in Houston. There I learned that world oil supplies are depleting faster than new discoveries are coming online. And that there are fewer giant oil fields being discovered, and that the world’s population was increasing at the rate of 70 million new people a year.
This was important information and, although not complete, it was enough to make me start to position our farm for five and 10 years in the future. If we were wrong? No harm, no foul. If we were right, we would be survivors.
After that conference, I could think of three things that would help the Big Island move in that direction, too.
The first was to let people know they were not alone. The E Malama ‘Aina sustainability Festival would help do that.
The second thing was to help get the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) sited on Mauna Kea. This would help to lift up and educate our keiki and future generations. And, it would provide a safe, steady income and stabilize our economy.
The third was to get as much geothermal energy as possible into HELCO as base power. It is the cheapest source of renewable energy and the discretionary income saved would benefit the low income folks, since they were the ones who would get their lights turned off first. It would also benefit the island’s small businesses, because their customers would have money to spend. That is what I mean when I go around saying: “If the most defenseless among us are safe, we are all safe.”
All of these things could be done without sacrificing our core values. We just need to do the right things, local style. We need to take our time and go talk story. If the folks believe that we have their and their keikis’ well-being foremost in our minds, then we can all go do this together. It’s not rocket science!
By the way, I went to the ASPO conference again last month in Denver – yet again, the only person from Hawai‘i to attend. After that conference, I am more convinced than ever that we are moving in the right direction.
It’s the same as what I told the graduating HCC students – about survival, and about making short-term decisions without sacrificing our long-term, core values.
My dear friend, Ka‘iu Kimura, was just appointed interim Executive Director of HIlo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. She is representative of the next generation of Hawaiian leaders. I cannot be more proud of her.
A couple of weeks ago, Ka‘iu Kimura, Kalepa Babayan, Wallace Ishibashi, Clyde Hayashi, Pete Lindsey and myself met for lunch at Kuhio Grill. Ka‘iu talked generally about how things are changing. She said that ‘Imiloa was getting more and more international attention for its unique role of combining astronomy and the Hawaiian culture.
She told us her view of what is going on now and how much international attention they are getting. She said, Imagine what will happen if the Thirty Meter Telescope is built on Mauna Kea. She said, “I dream of a conference center being built to accommodate international conferees.” I was amazed at how many things were going on. But at the same time, I could see what she was talking about. When the Thirty Meter Telescope is built here on the Big Island, we are going to get increasingly more international visitors and it would be nice to be able to welcome the guests in the proper way.
I could see exactly what Ka’iu was saying. And I agree, and support her 1000 percent.
University of Hawai`i at Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng today announced the appointment of Ka`iu Kimura as interim executive director of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai`i. Kimura replaces Peter Giles, who served as ‘Imiloa’s executive director since 2005.
Kimura joined ‘Imiloa as the Hawaiian content research specialist during its planning phase in 2001 and later served as the Center’s experience coordinator. She most recently held the position of associate director with the additional responsibility for all visitor experiences as well as planetarium, educational, exhibit, cultural and cultural landscape programming.
“Ka`iu brings a wealth of experience to this position, combined with energy and drive,” Tseng said. “She also embraces `Imiloa’s mission to integrate science and culture, which will enable her to build on the Center’s accomplishments and take it to the next level.”
Kimura was raised in Waimea and graduated from Kamehameha Schools Kapalama Campus. She returned to the Big Island to attend UH Hilo where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian studies. Kimura says she is humbled and excited about the opportunity to head ‘Imiloa.
“I’ve watched and participated as the Center has evolved from its development, through its opening and beyond to its operational phase,” Kimura explained. “And I’m constantly amazed at how ‘Imiloa pursues its greater mission to inspire and provide greater opportunities for our youth and the community-at-large in the area of scientific innovation through a living and dynamic world view of our Hawaiian culture.”
Kimura said she wants to see ‘Imiloa develop more creative educational programming to engage Hawai`i’s youth and inspire them to become the next generation of innovation leaders. She also plans to continue developing ‘Imiloa as a place for meaningful dialogue to promote scientific advancement and innovation.
We are now marketing products under a new brand: Hilo Coast Farms. Under this label we are starting to market the produce of other Hilo/Hamakua farmers who see a value in shipping and marketing together.
We now pack locally grown Williams and Apple bananas, sweet Hawaiian corn, Japanese cucumber and green onions.
My son-in-law Kimo Pa, our farm manager, and Mike Nist of Seattle Tacoma Box Company designed this box over a couple of beers. Our farm is mauka of the “gears” in Pepe‘ekeo, hence the picture of the gears and the “Hilo Coast” name.
I have written about the “Family of Farms” concept here before. From my previous post:
This is how the concept of “Families of Farms” came to me. I asked myself, What happens if we lease lands and hydroponic houses to area farmers?
Our idea is that we would each bring certain resources to make the whole more than the sum of the parts. We believe that this will help each of us make more money together than if we operated independently. So it’s in all of our interests to stay together.
• We would get effective and efficient farmers working with us. Small farmers do not waste anything. And we would get more production than what we could do ourselves
• We would get more variety than we could do ourselves
• We would get more young farmers into farming
• We would bring the water and electricity resource that we have
• We would bring our technical expertise
• We would bring our marketing and distribution system
• We would bring our cooling facilities
We will need to adapt to a new normal. Necessity is the mother of invention.
