History

A Peek Backwards and a Peck

There’s an interesting timeline of the history of agriculture in Hawai‘i on the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture’s website. See it here.

Did you know:

• That the orange is thought to have first arrived in these islands in 1792?

• That coffee and pineapples were brought to Hawai‘i by the Spaniard Don Marin in 1813?

• How much money 15,000 pecks of pineapple brought in, when they were exported from Hawai‘i in 1897?

Do you even know what a “peck” is? As in, “a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

That’s beyond the scope of the History of Agriculture in Hawai‘i page. But here you go.

Community, Government, Sustainability

They Did Have Kukui Nut Oil

Wednesday night I attended a meeting to discuss the Hawai‘i 2050 Sustainability draft plan. There was an article about the meeting on the front page of yesterday’s Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald.

Senator Russell Kokubun is chairman of the 24-member task force. He gave an overview of the plan and I like his approach, which was inclusion and collaboration—an approach from the bottom up, rather than the typical “top down, force-it-through” approach one often sees from ineffective leaders. This is a good sign.

Next, Jane Testa, director of the Hawai‘i County Research and Development department, spoke. She, too, was very patient, respectful and thorough as she explained parts of the plan. Assistant Planning Director Brad Kurokawa followed and he was also positive but deferential and patient. It was evident to me that they are all very invested in this plan. This is a good start.

The objective of this meeting was to expand, contract and give relative weight to particular sustainability issues that are of concern to the community members. They split the audience into five groups, each with a facilitator. We were to make comments and lend color to the sections of the plan.

I came to the meeting with an agenda. I want to see Peak Oil given high priority, and its effects monitored continuously and adapted to as necessary.

It’s important to realize that population, oil and food are related. In the earliest days, one hundred percent of the energy needed to grow food was provided by the sun, and the human population was in balance with how difficult it was to catch and eat mastodons and saber tooth tigers.

Then 150 years ago, we discovered oil and it was cheap—$3 for a 55-gallon drum. Using energy obtained from oil produced inexpensive food. And the world population soared—it was easy to go hunting in the supermarkets.

But with Peak Oil, where oil will start to become expensive and scarce, it will be more difficult to produce food. And then what?

Back to the sustainability meeting. We need to be able to monitor Peak Oil and to take decisive action. We really don’t have time to play around and the last thing we need is flowery prose.

I was pleased to see that there will be a sustainability council. This group of people is a quasi-government group with powers given to them by the legislature. They will be on the job all the time on a specific task. Not like the legislature, which has a year-to-year memory. They will have to report at least annually, if not more frequently, to the public. This group will be the vehicle to monitor and react to Peak Oil for the State of Hawai‘i. I like this!

The part I like most is that one of the five goals is related to Kanaka Maoli cultural and island values. The Hawaiian culture already accomplished what we are now trying to do—they survived, and thrived, without oil. Okay, they did have kukui nut oil. No sense reinventing the wheel.

But with our ability now to harness alternative energy, we should be able to accomplish what the Hawaiians did hundreds of years ago.

Not, “no can.” Can!

Big Island, History, Where We Live

Wailoa Pond Memories

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When I was a kid, Pop would deliver eggs from our poultry farm to the Hilo Egg Producers Co-op, which was located between the Wailoa Pond and the Hilo Civic Auditorium.

A couple days after the 1960 tsunami, we were delivering eggs when we found weke swimming in ponds on the gravel road. The waves had swept through Wailoa Pond and stranded the fish on land. This was an unbelievable sight. I was in the 10th grade then, and my brother Robert in the 7th grade.

Pop spent a lot of time mullet fishing on Wailoa Pond—sometimes from the shore and sometimes from his rowboat. Sometimes, when the mullet came close to shore, the fishermen would stand shoulder to shoulder, casting out to the middle of the school.

Mullet fishing protocol states that one must not cross over another fisherman’s line. To be in the middle of the group, closest to the fish, you had to be accurate. The less accurate you were, the further to the edge you found yourself forced.

I was not a real mullet fisherman, and after a few casts I would find myself out on the edge by myself. Pop and Robert always fit comfortably in the center of the group.

On the day I returned from Vietnam, I got home and Mom told me they were at the pond. I drove down there and they were all happy to see me.

There was what I estimate to be a 50+-pound ulua swimming along the edge of the bank that fronts the Lagoon Center, heading toward the Café 100 direction. We knew he had to come back and my brother Kenneth ran to get his spear gun.

Since I was just back from Vietnam and they were so happy to see me, they gave me the honors. The ulua swam back and passed right in front of me, only about 5 feet away. I used all my combat skills and let it fly.

Missed! I couldn’t believe it, and neither could they. That was the end of the welcome back party.

But hey, I was an Army lieutenant, a Vietnam veteran!

Big deal—I missed the ulua.

Adopt-a-Class, Community

“Adopt-a-Class” Update

You may recall that we started our Adopt-a-Class project when we learned that Keaukaha Elementary School does not have enough funds to take its students on regular field trips. Because they have no funds, they only took walking excursions around the community.

So we started the Adopt-a-Class project, where individuals or groups could adopt one class for $600. Three hundred dollars would go for bus transportation and the other $300 would go toward entry fees to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, should the teachers want to take the kids there, or other destinations.

That was in May, and in these four months we have had enthusiastic support from the community. Just $300 more, to sponsor the second graders for the second semester, and all the classes are adopted and can go on excursions this school year.

For their first excursion, some of the students recently went to see Cinderella, a stage play at Hilo High School. As the school’s principal Lehua Veincent pointed out, many have never seen a play or other stage production, and it may open up a whole new world to them. We will post some photos here soon.

We have had several organizational meetings with Kumu Lehua, the school’s Adopt-a-Class coordinator Lynn Fujii, Tutu Momi Wakita, who is president of the Keaukaha School Foundation and Terry Crichton, secretary. All administrative tasks are done for free, and one hundred percent of the donations go to the Keaukaha Elementary School Foundation for the children’s excursions.

Aunty Momi told us that she had been planning to retire. But the Adopt-a-Class project generated enough work that she decided to work on it instead of retiring. She was smiling when she told us this.

Every time we meet with Kumu Lehua, we learn more about the school. For instance, he told us recently that the school’s enrollment is increasing significantly. For a while parents were taking their kids out of Keaukaha Elementary and sending them elsewhere. Now parents are bringing their kids back, because they feel like the kids are getting a good education.

He said that when he started there as principal two-and-a-half years ago, the student attendance rate averaged 92%, as compared to the state average, which is 95%. Keaukaha Elementary’s attendance rate is now above 97%. These kids must want to come to class.

I was floored when he told me that they have a monthly ‘Ohana night that draws 150 or more parents. I know of much larger schools where only a handful of parents participate.

Leslie asked about writing a press release about the Adopt-a-Class project and Lehua suggested she do it after the ‘Ohana night they have planned for November. That’s when the students will show where they went and what they did on their excursions and aloha the donors, who will be invited to attend. He said that the students’ acknowledging and thanking the Adopt-a-Class sponsors who help them is part of the education process.

We know this will be a special, unreal occasion. Roland Torres of the television program Kama‘aina Backroads told me he wants to film this event. Chicken skin time!

Current Affairs, Peak Oil, Sustainability

Frog in the Pot

Lately I’ve been talking a lot here about how rising oil prices are worrying me, and what we’re doing at the farm in response. Today I want to back up a little bit and tell you about how I have become aware of this, and why I’m worried.

For the past few months, something has been bothering me. I’ve been feeling like a frog in a pot on the stove. As the temperature is increased a little bit at a time, he does not notice the water getting hot until he is, well, done. “Hmm, it’s getting warmer—kinda cozy. But, wait. How come bubbles are starting to rise? I’m getting outta here!”

If I were a frog I would have jumped out of the pot and landed on the floor, and I would be heading for the door by now.

What’s been bothering me is something that has become known as “Peak Oil.” It’s when the demand for oil exceeds the ability to flow enough to meet demand. And we all know that when demand exceeds supply, prices go up.

When we started planning to diversify our business five years ago, oil prices were $30 per barrel. Now, five years later, oil is more than $80 per barrel. On CNBC this morning, the business channel, they were wondering if oil will go over $84 per barrel and set another record. I heard someone on the program say that $4 per gallon gas is in our not too distant future.

Since we started our diversified agriculture five years ago, conventional wisdom has been that nothing unusual is happening. But we have noticed that the phrase “fuel adjustment” has been added to our language.

In our business, we have noticed that fertilizer, chemicals, packaging and transportation is more expensive than before. But the news says that inflation is under control and everything is all right and the stock market is at near record levels. So if everything is all right, how come fertilizer costs so much more now? And how come plastic clamshells and plastic bags cost so much? How come supplies of all types cost so much?

Lately I’ve realized that petroleum products are involved in almost every facet of our lives, though we don’t always realize it. So when prices rise, it’s easy for us to miss that it is due to a rise in petroleum prices. It’s like the frog, sitting in a pot on the stove, who doesn’t realize that the temperature is going up.

I knew that agricultural costs were steadily rising, but what raised alarm bells for me was when I complained to a lawyer friend that the rise in oil prices was affecting us in many ways. He said, “Oh yeah, and the mom-&-pop plate lunch places are suffering because the plastic containers and utensils are rising in price and they cannot easily pass the costs on.”

Right then, I realized that rising oil prices were affecting many people in many businesses. So I started reading a lot of articles about oil supply and demand. That was my wake-up call. I decided right then to “jump out of the pot of warming water.”

Frankly, there are a lot of alarmist websites about “Peak Oil,” which sell books and videos about “the end of the world as we know it,” and about how to protect oneself. Looking at some of those websites, one could easily dismiss Peak Oil as a made-up problem being touted by those who are trying to make a buck by scaring people.

But that wouldn’t be correct. “Peak Oil” is not at all merely some sort of alarmist nonsense. It is nothing more than oil prices rising higher and higher. The question is: “How will we adapt?”

A highly credible site on the subject, if you’d like to read more, is that of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO). ASPO is a “Non-profit, Non-partisan Research and Public Education Initiative to Address America’s Peak Oil Energy Challenge.”

Its board of directors is impressive, as is its advisory board, “a volunteer group of recognized experts in energy, science, geology and business,” consisting of petroleum geologists, physicists, retired government analysts and more. Here is the association’s mission statement.

Where am I going with all this? I think oil prices will continue rising steadily, and as a result, things will start to change in ways we have not yet considered. But we will adapt by car pooling, using clotheslines to dry our clothes, catching drinking water, etc.

I am mostly concerned, as prices rise, about our most basic need—the ability to feed ourselves. Before industrial agriculture we relied on the sun to provide one hundred percent of the energy to grow our food; directly for the greens, and indirectly for the animals that ate the greens. Industrial agriculture relied on cheap oil, as low as $3 per barrel, to fuel its growth. As oil prices rise, more and more of our income will go to buy food.

However, I don’t believe in the doomsday scenarios like on those alarmist sites. I believe we can absolutely influence the course of events to come.

We are lucky here, because we know that the ancient Hawaiians were able to sustain a population that was nearly the size of today’s population. We know it can be done. That knowledge, along with modern technology, should allow us to produce enough food for this entire island if we put our minds to it, and contribute to the needs of the state, as well.

We also need to engage youngsters—our next generation—at the earliest levels. We should frame the issue and pose the question to elementary school kids: “How can you help us feed Hawai‘i?” I can see them jumping on their computers and proudly pointing out different methods that people in other parts of the world use to grow food.

This is one of my missions now—to make people aware that we need to address this issue, and to show how it can be done; how all farmers, large and small, working together can make Hawai‘i self-sufficient in food once more.

We can do this!

Current Affairs, Government, Sustainability

Legislative Visitors

Last week the Hawai‘i State Legislature’s Senate Ways and Means committee visited us. This is the first year we’ve had legislative committees visit us and we were very happy to share with them our history, our philosophy, our present situation and our plans for the future.

I told them we started with no money except for a $300 limit credit card, which I worked hard to qualify for. But Dad had a chicken farm and we were able to trade chicken manure for banana keiki.

I told them something I learned as a former Army office in Vietnam—that leaving someone behind is never an option—and that I carry this forward to my relationships with our employees. We make sure that the most defenseless of our employees are looked out for. And we have profit sharing, so if the farm does good we all do well.

If we are anything, we are survivors. We always ask: “Where do we need to be five years from now?” And we start right away to position ourselves for that future.

I told them that what they were looking at was a result of decisions we made five years ago, back when a barrel of oil cost $30. We all knew then that China was growing fast and would cause oil prices to rise. So we set out to avoid petroleum-based costs as much as possible. But we had no idea oil prices would rise to $80 per barrel.

Today we are looking at Peak Oil, where the demand for oil will eventually exceed the ability to sump that oil. That means prices will rise even further. We are preparing for the possibility that oil will hit $200 per barrel in less than five years.

We doing that by building a hydro-electric plant. We are in the process of decoupling ourselves as much as we can from fossil-fuel based energy. We love and thrive on change. Adversity brings opportunity, and that makes life exciting. We love it!r 

I told them that we are a family farm and that our blog, HaHaHa, represents three generations of Ha’s working on the farm. I told them that without my mom—who, in the old days, worked late at night packing bananas so we could take the only trailer we owned and refill it the following day—we would never have made it.

I told them I was reluctant to tell them that story because it might appear that I was enslaving my mother. And yet I also told them that I had to admit I still buy Mom dumbbells, treadmills and stationery bikes so she can keep on working hard. She’s 82 years old now. We had a good laugh.They all knew that I do it for Mom’s health.

It was great to meet these people who will make the decisions that direct Hawaii’s future. It seemed like they were happy to see an organization positioning itself to be able to feed Hawaii’s people, in an environment of rising fuel prices, because it was the right thing to do. My impression was that they are very sharp and will do the right things for our future.

Sustainability

Some Responses

My commentary, entitled Hawaii Needs to Produce More of Its Own Food, was published in the Honolulu Advertiser’s Opinion section the other day. Here are some of the responses I’ve gotten:

I love it when someone dreams of something, turns it into a vision, comes up with a game plan, does the homework and research, and actually does it and it comes to fruition. The word “sustainable” will become a bigger word as time goes along. On the biggest scope, how do we all contribute to making our planet one in which our grandchildren’s children can enjoy as we do, if not better. He displays to us his efforts and thoughts on that subject very clearly.

For Hawaii to be Hawaii, rainforests, water systems, agriculture and farming need to exist on large scale percentages in relation to development. How do we keep it sustainable for it to happen, how do we help our local farmers and agriculture? To be reliant on shipping and importing produce and product into Hawaii for a majority percentage is not a “sustainable,” long term idea. If tourism is saying that visitors are seeking true “local” experiences to differentiate this from other visitor destinations, how can agriculture play a larger role? If guests want to taste a true slice of Hawaii, one way is to give them things that are from Hawaii, made in Hawaii, unique to Hawaii. – Alan Wong, Chef

Thanks for the great opinion piece in the Advertiser this morning. –  Andrew G. Hashimoto, Dean and Director, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

In addition to your “law of comparative advantage position,” it seems to be true that Hawaii cannot compete only if:
• We do not pay attention to the real or external cost of imported goods
• It assumes that the goods are commodities, and quality is not a factor

Even before we start to figure in the advantage of the law of survival, locally grown food is the obvious best choice. – Peter Merriman, Restaurateur

Europeans have had a long standing policy of protecting the farmers.  Europeans have had many experiences of starvations and thus have felt the need to provide for themselves.  Modern economics, as you said, speaks of buying the cheapest, but what happens after we drive the farmers out by buying “cheap” foreign fruits and veggies?  – Barry Mizuno, former CEO of Puna Geothermal

There are many other factors which are positively impacted as well: Creates jobs, promotes diversity, keeps money here (local economy) and let’s not forget my favorite–the taste. I always say “from the plant to the plate.” – James Babian, Executive Chef, Orchid at Maunalani

I agree more needs to be done to promote local farmers, so Hawaii produces more of its own food supply.

I think one way this could occur is if the State of Hawaii would use its purchasing power to buy local food products.

The Hawaii Revised Statutes provides the state should give a preference to purchase local products, however the administrative rules have not implemented to assist farmers. –  Elizabeth Haws Connally, Esq., Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing

Greetings and aloha!  I read your editorial in yesterday’s paper, “Hawaii Must Produce More of its Own Food” and I totally agree with the statement you made in which you said, “The law of survival teaches us to always keep our options open.  To keep our options open, we need to produce more food locally, not less.”

I recently did some research for a college class on the ability of the food supply on Oahu to efficiently and nutritiously feed the people living on Oahu during a sustained interruption of resupply shipments.  What I discovered makes me very worried about the Hawaii State Government’s lack of insight and ability to plan for an extended interruption of food re-supply flights or shipments coming to Oahu in the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack or political processes (Strike/Legislation).

It seems our leadership is all about planning for a hurricane which everyone can see coming and will have plenty of time to prepare for. However, they are not prepared for a quick and decisive attack, earthquake or other natural or man-made disaster which could strike in or around our islands at any time and seriously hamper or disrupt regular food/cargo shipmements or flights into the islands.

Here’s why I am so worried.  While doing my research, I contacted XX to inquire about what plans the state has to turn some of the old Pineapple ag-lands back over to local farmers so we can start growing more food.  His reply back to me is as follows:

“Since the turn of the century, we were a commercial agricultural state and these lands were never intended for self-sustenance; sugar and pineapple were grown not to sustain our population, but as income generation.”

That tells me that our political leaders are not thinking about what’s best for the people.  They’re only thinking about the bottom line… money! – John C. Williams, Hawaii resident and member of the U.S. Navy.

This article is wonderful and timely, thank you so much for sticking your neck out. – Nancy Redfeather, Organizer, Big Island Food Summit

I’m going to share this with Slow Food Hawai‘i members as soon as I return tomorrow – we have been in India for a few weeks – what an amazing experience for both of us. How fortunate we are to live in Hawaii, but how challenging and complicated survival and a good life really is. – Nancy Pi‘ianaia, Leader, Slow Food Hawaii

Sustainability

Advertiser article

Richard wrote a commentary that was published in yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser.

The gist of it: “We must make changes so that Hawai’i produces more of its own food — making us more sustainable and less reliant on outside forces.”

Click here to read it. Comments? We’d love to know what you think.

The Good Life, Tomatoes, Travel

Tomato Fest

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Here it is, Tomato Fest time again in Carmel.

We stayed in Monterey. That’s where, as a second lieutenant stationed at Ft. Ord, I spent some time bottom-fishing with fellow rookie officers for ling cod and yellow tail from charters on the Fisherman’s Wharf.

This is our second time at the Tomato Fest, and we’re veterans now. Take Highway One south from Monterey. Turn into Carmel Valley Road and turn right past the Quail Lodge, down to the golf course to park. We catch the shuttle and we’re there in a few minutes.

We go to the special section where we get a head start on tasting more than 200 varieties of tomatoes. This time we recognize a lot of the varieties. And we do find some very special ones. One grape variety, in particular, we found because a little girl maybe eight years old kept coming back to eat more of them. I counted nine tomatoes that she ate. So we made sure to find out why. Sure enough, it was spectacularly good tasting. We’re going to grow that variety for sure.

We walk over to chat with Dagma and Gary Ibsen, founders of the Tomato Fest. I introduce myself and Dagma says, Of course I remember you, Richard and June. Thanks for coming all the way over from Hawai‘i. We tell them to please come to visit us when they are on the Big Island. Very nice folks.

We walk past a television crew filming and a lady comes over and says, You’re Richard and June, I recognize you from your blog.

You must be Mary-Anne, I say. Back home Sonia Martinez had introduced us (online) to her friend Mary-Anne Durkee who was going to film the event for iFood TV online.

She says, Let me interview you. Tell me a bit of your history, what you do, what products you grow, the chefs you work with. O.K. ready? You’re on!

 

One take and it’s over and then she has to rush over to interview a famous chef before the music started. Boy, she is efficient, I think to myself. Very impressive. Maybe we’ll be on TV. Sonia says she’ll let us know if and when it airs.

We head for the chefs’ tent and try the different sample dishes. And again, we are amazed with the imagination the chefs exhibit. We try a micro-sample. Instead of a cracker, the chef cuts out tiny rounds from a flat sheet that looks like a crepe. On top of that he places goat cheese and places the tiniest tomato with a leaf of basil. Something about this tiny taste made it stand out. And there are various shooters, tomato soups, won ton for crackers and all kinds of tomato with cheese and basil or other herbs. All very beautiful to look at, and very tasty.

Toward the end of the event, June found herself holding a Bloody Mary and sampling a tomato sorbet while the band plays the song Johnny B. Goode.

Lots of fun and very contagious. Last year we decided this is an annual trek for us. It was a good decision.

Recipes, Tomatoes

Tomato Cake

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Macario’s mom Blanche used to make a Tomato Cake. I knew her before she passed away suddenly a couple years back, but somehow I never tasted her Tomato Cake and I regret that.

This is the same woman who made an absolutely unparalleled Avocado Pie, which people are still talking about (in a good way). Maybe I’ll tell you about that another time.

But about that Tomato Cake. I poked around on the web looking for Tomato Cake recipes but only found recipes for spice cakes made with tomatoes, and Macario says no, no, no.

Blanche used a white cake recipe, but she substituted tomato juice for the liquid. She topped it with a white butter frosting that she mixed peach chunks into.

Macario looks hungry when he describes it and says the combination went together really well. I told him he could make me one for my upcoming birthday, and we both liked that idea.

What other interesting tomato recipes are floating around out there?