Alan Wong, Aquaponics

We Took Alan Wong To See The Tilapia

Chef Alan Wong came to our farm and cooked an unbelievable meal for his Big Island farmer friends this past Friday.

He does this every year, bringing along staff from his Alan Wong’s Restaurant as well as the Pineapple Room, and it serves several purposes. Touring farms and breaking bread with the farmers gives his staff a totally new confidence level when they describe the ingredients that make up dishes on the menu. Instead of just a word on the menu, the ingredient becomes a product of a friend.

And as for the farmers, Chef Alan and his staff have become our friends. Can you imagine it? Chef Alan and his staff cooking for the farmers?

Farmers look at the people they supply as the customer. Customers are never wrong! And so farmers are always attempting to please the customer.

Chef Alan reverses this role. And the farmers are very, very grateful. Now, we all want to try even harder to make sure everything we supply to Chef Alan is absolutely top notch. I know I speak for all the farmers when I say this.

For all us farmers, Alan Wong’s Restaurant is no longer an abstraction. It is made up of people—real people.

We went together down to Roy Tanaka’s tilapia farm, and because it was drizzly and muddy Chef Alan had to choose between wearing slippers or waterlogged shoes. Who knew that Chef Alan wears slippers! Chef Alan and his staff are real people; they did not let a little Hilo rain stop them from checking out the fish. It impressed me and I know it impressed Roy.

Alan richard roy staff fishpondThat’s Alan Wong in the blue jacket; Roy Tanaka with hand on fishpond

Richard roy and tilapia
Richard (left) and Roy Tanaka

Roy’s farm is elegant in its simplicity. Water from a waterfall was piped into a series of tanks, each one dropping to the next, aerating and cleaning as it passes by. His plumbing joints were not glued so draining his tanks was just a matter of disconnecting some joints or repositioning angles. Harvesting the fish was simple when the water level was lowered to a manageable level. Alan’s crew enjoyed talking to Roy. They got it that there was definitely more there than meets the eye.

Alan with tilapia
Alan Wong with tilapia

Alan with tilapia 2

Leigh with tilapia
Leigh Ito of Alan Wong’s staff

Chef Alan and Leigh Ito had too much fun catching dinner. Chef Alan and his staff cooked the tilapia for us that night.

Thanks to Roy, we are setting up a similar system on fish farming at our farm. Since we have a difficult time raising our workers’ pay, we are attempting to grow food for our workers. Every Thursday we distribute fruit and vegetables to them.

We have running water going into our reservoir, so we diverted some and utilized the same principle that Roy uses.

Tilapia at hamakua springs
Tilapia at Hamakua Springs Country Farms

Tilapia fish are vegetarians and we are attempting to feed them some of the waste stream from our operations. And their waste goes into the reservoir that we use to irrigate our crops. We may then be able to decrease a certain amount of fertilizer input.

Roy tanakaRoy Tanaka 

Our objective is to see how much of a zero waste farm we can achieve. Thanks to Roy Tanaka for helping us. He even gave all the tilapia fish for stocking our tanks.

Stay tuned for Part 2: “…And Then They Cooked For Us.”

Community, Education, Sustainability

Mai Ka Mala‘ai: Diabetes Education Program

When Nani Rothfus, Nutritionist at Hilo’s Native Hawaiian Health Care Organization Hui Malama Ola Na ‘Oiwi, set up her booth at the recent E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival, she brought dirt, seeds and egg cartons so kids could participate in a hands-on activity.

Why plant seeds?

Along with Edna Baldado, Rothfus coordinates Mai Ka Mala‘ai, (“From The Garden”), a diabetes education program funded through the Native Hawaiian Health Department of the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

It’s a 10-week educational program that teaches participants how to manage their diabetes.

“The really neat thing about the program is that we deliver a 4 x 4 box to each of our clients,” she says. “Richard has been so generous in providing the seedlings. We fill the boxes with soil and have a couple volunteer gardeners who teach them how to plant the seeds.”

They take home the cartons and tend their seeds over the course of the workshop, and hopefully beyond. “The idea is for them to get some physical activity,” she says, “and also to eat from the garden and to share from the garden. It’s also something for them to be able to bond with each other over. When they first come into the program, they may not say a word to each other. Once they have their garden and I ask, ‘How is your garden growing?’ everybody talks!’”

She says that Mai Ka Mala‘ai also teaches what’s taught in other diabetes education classes. “What diabetes is, medications, how to monitor your blood sugar, healthy recipes, how much to eat,” she lists. “But there’s a component of teaching traditional values, too,” she says.

She describes the five cultural values they incorporate into the program:

  • Malama – Taking care of someone; (“And it’s part of our name.”)
  • Aloha – Making sure when people come and when they leave we speak to them, acknowledge them
  • Kuleana – Making sure they understand that even though they come to us and we give them skills, they have to take care of themselves
  • Ho‘ihi – Respecting one another; when somebody shares something it’s important for all of us to listen and learn from it
  • Ho‘omanawanui – Being patient with one another; all are at different levels of their conditions.

The class of 16 students meets every Thursday night at Hui Malama Ola Na ‘Oiwi’s Railroad Avenue office for 10 weeks. There are three such classes a year.

Rothfus says they encourage the person with diabetes to bring along family members to learn and support the person with diabetes.

And she says the workshops are very popular. When they started offered them in 2006, she says it was a lot of work finding people to enroll. “Now most of them don’t want to leave the class when it ends. They’ve got tremendous support from the class. They tell other people they know and we have people lining up.”

The current class just got their box and seedlings last week. Now, with the storm that’s flooded East Hawai‘i, she says, “their gardens are just floating.”

But presumably they will be patient, ho‘omanawanui, and will malama, take care of, their seedlings, because it’s their kuleana, their responsibility. And Mai Ka Mala‘ai will help them along the way.

Community, Education, Hawaiian Role Models

Lehua Veincent: 2009 Distinguished Alumni

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On February 27th, Lehua Mark Veincent was awarded a 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo’s Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards banquet.

Known affectionately by many as “Kumu Lehua,” Lehua Mark Veincent is on the vanguard of Hawaiian language immersion education. The Hawaii Island native, with genealogical ties to Ka’u, Puna and Keaukaha, earned dual degrees at UH-Hilo – a BA in Hawaiian studies and a BBA in business in 1988, plus teacher certification in 1990.
Lehuaveincent
He has also earned two master’s degrees from UH Manoa, in curriculum and instruction in 1999, and in educational administration in 2002.

He has served as a teacher at Keaukaha School in Hilo, Pa‘ia Elementary School on Maui and Ke Kula o Nawahiokalaniopu‘u when it was established in 1994. He has taught kindergarten through 12th grades, and has also served as a lecturer and supervisor in the teacher education program at UH-Hilo.

For more than two decades, he has taught and coordinated the Hawaiian language, literature, and cultural classes for the DOE Community School for Adults. He served as producer, host, curriculum developer, and instructor of ITV Hawaiian Language Conversation through a partnership between Hilo Community School for Adults and Pacific Resources for Education and Learning.

In 2001, Veincent co-founded the Ke Ana La‘ahana Public Charter School, a grades 7-12 Hawaiian cultural-based school within Keaukaha School. He has served as a state resource teacher in Hawaiian studies and language, vice principal at Hilo Intermediate and Hilo High Schools, and principal of Ke Ana La‘ahana.

Veincent is currently principal of Keaukaha Elementary School, a K-6 school on Hawaiian Home Lands, which has gained recognition as one of the schools meeting annual yearly progress goals under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Despite the long hours required of an administrator, Veincent continues to serve as coordinator of the Keaukaha night tutorial program for grades K-12 and summer school programs for high school students of Keaukaha with Aunty Luana Kawelu of the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center, as he has for 12 years. He also continues to teach Hawaiian language in the evenings in Keaukaha and recently at the Kulani Correctional Facility.

I first met Kumu Lehua three years ago after volunteering to serve on the Thirty-Meter Telescope committee of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board. When talking about Mauna Kea one automatically thinks Hawaiian culture and specifically about Keaukaha, since it is the longest-lived Hawaiian Homes project on the Big Island – more than 75 years in existence. At Keaukaha, the elementary school is the center of the community. And Kumu Lehua is the principal of Keaukaha Elementary School.

I introduced myself and explained that I wanted to know what benefits he thought might be appropriate for a project such as the TMT. I went on to suggest that we might ask for full scholarships for a few students to attend the best schools in the nation.

He asked me in a very sincere way: “What about the rest?” I could feel my ears getting warm. Indeed. What about the rest? I felt pretty stupid. I learned a lot from Kumu Lehua.

I returned to chat with Kumu Lehua many times. I started to see how personally involved he was with the students. He included the community and the culture into the fabric of school life. The school’s motto is “Got Pono?” “Do the right thing” is a basic tenet at Keaukaha School, and Kumu Lehua makes sure that everyone lives it.

About a year and a half ago, I was sitting with Kumu Lehua and his staff at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center when a ripple went through the group. They had just heard that Keaukaha Elementary School had improved in its No Child Left Behind annual ratings. Some of the teachers were in tears. And then a year later, when the school was improved two years in a row, it made the front page of the Hilo paper as one of a mere handful of schools that had achieved special status.

Under Kumu Lehua, Keaukaha Elementary School had become a role model. UNBELIEVABLE!

Kumu Lehua is not a talker, he is a doer. I have enormous respect for him. Now that he has the kids at the elementary schools operating at such a high level, we must figure out how to keep them engaged so they can achieve their highest potential. If Keaukaha Elementary can get such good results in the public school system, maybe we can learn something from them?

I am very proud to say that I know Kumu Lehua.

Community, Education

Distinguished Alumni Carol Ginoza-Arakaki & Ron Terry

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June and I attended the Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards ceremonies for the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo last week.

Representative Clift Tsuji, Margaret Ushijima and Senator John Ushijima received the Distinguished Service Award.

The Distinguished Alumni awards went to Carol Ginoza-Arakaki and Ron Terry, and that was especially meaningful for me.

I knew Carol Ginoza-Arikawa when we were both new real estate sales people working for Ala Kai Realty in the mid ’70s. She was more senior than me. We’ve been friends ever since.

The thing I remember most from those early days was that Carol was absolutely unequivocally ethical in all her dealings. Everything was absolutely clear to her. Now if I have a property to rent, I know that I can call her and know without a doubt everything will be fine.

Carol ginoza arikawa Carol is a 1973 graduate of UH Hilo with degrees in both English and Social studies. She founded Ginoza Realty, Inc. in 1982 and remains its principal broker and president.

She serves on many business organizations. Her community service includes membership on the Kuikahi Mediation Board of Directors since 2006, and also served as its fundraising co-chair the past three years. She served as treasurer of Hilo Little League from 1997-2006, and served double-duty as its secretary from 2000-2006. She was also on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of Hilo from 2003-2006.

She has a long record of service to UH Hilo. She chaired the UH Hilo Athletic Fund Drive from 1992-1995, and has served on the UH Hilo Athletics Advisory Board since 2003. She is a charter member of Hui Ka‘ua, seving on various committees. Her company donated funds to furnish the Vulcan softball team in 2003. In 2007, she contributed toward the UH Hilo Performing Arts “Name A Seat” campaign, and she is the newest member to join the Performing Arts Center’ Advisory Committee.

Although I don’t know Ron Terry personally, I very much related to his experiences. He said that he started UH Hilo as a red-haired kid with an Afro from Puna. He came from a modest background and he and his sister were the first in their family to go to college. He received financial assistance, which made it possible for him to graduate from UH Hilo with a geography degree. With encouragement from his teachers at UH Hilo, he later went on to get a doctorate degree at LSU. The way he told the story was very inspiring.

In June 2008, Terry established the Geography Founders Scholarship, naming the $25,000 endowed scholarship after UH Hilo Geography Department founders Drs. Jim and Sonia Juvik, Jim Kelly and Jack Healy, who all inspired and encouraged him to continue his education after earning his degree at UH Hilo.RonTerry

I was fortunate myself to work with Sonia Juvik and the Keaholoa STEM Native Hawaiian program. She knew I was very interested in contributing to the program and she gave me that opportunity. I can relate to how grateful Ron felt.

In 1992, he started Geometrician Associates. His company has now completed more than 100 Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statement documents.

In 2004, Terry was selected as a member of the Mauna Kea Management Board, which is an advisory group to UH Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng in the management of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve. Since 2006, he has served as its second vice chair, has worked to revive the Environment Committee and was overseeing completion of Mauna Kea’s first Natural Resource Management Plan.

Three years ago, I volunteered to be on the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board’s newly formed Thirty-Meter Telescope committee, and since then I have learned a lot about the Mauna Kea Management Board’s efforts to take care of Mauna Kea.

The first thing to remember and understand is that it is a volunteer position. Members do this work because they want to do it; they aren’t forced to. Dr. Ron Terry not only volunteered to do this job without pay, he had the educational background that enables him to do it well. And, being a person who owes the University a lot and who loves the Big Island, he wants to make sure that it is done right.

In our changing futures we will need to take care of our whole community, make more friends and be closer to our families. Carol Ginoza-Arakaki and Dr. Ron Terry are inspirational examples of people doing just that.

Renewable Energy Sources

President Obama’s Energy Policy

An article in The Oil Drum makes some sense of President Obama’s recently announced energy policy, which does look logical and doable to me. It doesn’t chase after hair-brained schemes.

The article starts like this:

The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:

  • Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
  • Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
  • Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
  • Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
  • Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

The Obama energy agenda focuses on – and these are not mutually exclusive – efficiency, electrification and the promotion of alternative energy resources. Its five main goals are set up in a way so that success in any one of the five individual areas will reinforce the other four, helping the overall agenda achieve success.

For example, creating 25 percent of the U.S. electricity production from renewable resources (Goal #4) will aid in decreasing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent (Goal #5).

The energy agenda is a welcome change, showing a future outlook that is based, at least to some [small] extent, on the physical realities of the natural resource world. However, from the perspective of net energy, some potential problems do exist. My goal here is to discuss some possible shortcomings of the new administration’s energy agenda from the perspective of net energy….

See the rest of the article here.

Mauna Kea

Summary Sheet: Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan CMP

The Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP)

What are the key points of the CMP?

  • The CMP provides a cultural foundation that is based upon recognizing the cultural significance of Mauna Kea.
  • The CMP was developed with extensive community input involving over 150 individuals and groups, 6 public meetings on the Big Island, a website, and a statewide survey.
  • The intent of the CMP is to preserve and protect the valued cultural and natural resources of Mauna Kea by managing uses and activities, including astronomy, recreational, and commercial uses.
  • The CMP does not advocate or allow new telescope development.  It does recommend management actions which would be applicable not only to existing astronomy facilities but also any future astronomy facilities, including improvements to the unpaved summit road and Hale Pōhaku.
  • Finally, the State Auditor recommended in 2005 that the University of Hawai‘i obtain rule-making authority and develop, implement, and monitor a comprehensive management plan for Mauna Kea.  The CMP recommends promulgation of administrative rules necessary to implement and enforce the CMP.

Why should we support the CMP?

  • There are valuable cultural and natural resources on Mauna Kea that need to be protected and preserved for not only this generation but generations to come.  For example, wēkiu bug habitat should be preserved and protected, and access should be provided to native Hawaiians for traditional and customary practices such as gathering mamake or worship of Mauna Kea. The CMP’s goal is to protect those valuable resources.
  • While the CMP isn’t perfect, it is the first important step toward taking responsibility for good stewardship of Mauna Kea in a culturally appropriate way.

How can I support the CMP?

  • Please sign the petition that will be presented to Board of Land and Natural Resources for approval.
  • Submit supportive testimony to the legislature on HB 1174 and SB 502.
  • Attend the public meeting before the Mauna Kea Management Board on March 20 and the Land Board meeting on April 9, 2009.

HB 1174 and SB 502

  • These two bills will grant authority to the University of Hawai‘i to adopt administrative rules to manage and regulate activities on the lands it leases on Mauna Kea.  They also allow the University to establish a special fund to deposit fees collected from activities on Mauna Kea.
  • The bills do not transfer ceded lands to the University.
Tomatoes

Someone Else’s Life With Tomatoes

And now for a change of pace, have a look at this interesting article about tomatoes from Gourmet.com.

It starts out like this:

Nurturing more than 200 varieties leads to a gardener toward a perfect mix: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something…well, green, purple,or orange.

Tomato planting came early this year, due to a relentlessly hot spring. But no matter how early you start them, tomatoes seem to follow their own instincts and peak out in August (some claim it’s the light of a full August moon that does it), then glide graciously into a fulsome September harvest. If the tomato gods require moonlight to work their magic, the largesse of their culinary rewards is vast, for the list of distinct varieties of tomatoes runs into the thousands…..

Read the rest of the article here.

Community, Eating Locally, Sustainability

Sustainable Food at E Malama ‘Aina Festival

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Sonia Martinez, the Big Island’s own foodie and food blogger, was in charge of food at the recent E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival, and she says it was important that the food vendors were, well, sustainable.

“The main criteria was that they used mostly Big Island products,” she says. “Of course we don’t grow everything here, like wheat for the bread, but we wanted them to use at least 70 percent Big Island-grown foods. And #2 was that they used “green” ware – napkins, serving plates, bowls, cups, etc.”

It was the point of the whole festival – that people saw that it is possible (and delicious, in this case) to buy local and act sustainable; and to provide examples.

Some of the foodsellers at the festival:

  • The Boys and Girls Club – teriyaki and beef sandwiches
  • Michael’s Hawaiian food from Pahoa
  • Naung Mai – Thai food
  • Crivello’s – Portuguese Bean Soup and malasadas
  • Filipino food
  • Hilo Bay Fudge, with popsicles, fudge and dipped pretzels
  • Hawai‘i Island Goat Cheese farm
  • The University Scuba Divers Fish Club – brownies, banana brad and cookies
  • Big Island Tacos
  • Ai Opena espresso coffee truck (say the name of that business out loud)

The E Malama ‘Aina organizers’ group also sold bottles of donated Kona Deep water.

“Everyone that I have heard from was very complimentary about the food,” says Sonia. She’s already contacted some food vendors and asked them to “save the date” of the second annual E Malama ‘Aina festival, which will be on November 7, 2009. Any food vendors who’d like to talk with her about participating can email her at cubanwahine@hawaii.rr.com.

“I’ve heard from several that they plan to be there,” she says. “It was fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again. All my volunteers have already asked if we are doing it again.”

And what did she eat at the festival that day, surrounded by so much good, healthy, local and sustainable food?

“I hate to admit it,” she says, sounding a little guilty about singling out one vendor, “but I had to have Portuguese Bean Soup, because Loretta Crivello kept after me. I had planned to eat a little bit from here and a little bit from there, but then I got so busy.

“It was gooood,” she says. “She also gave me a malasada that morning for breakfast.”

Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea, Past & Future

RA couple of years ago, June and I invited our friends Ralph and Lynn Cramer to go with us to the summit of Mauna Kea.

Being from Pennsylvania, they were well-prepared for northeast-like cold weather and snow. Being from Hawai‘i, we wore light windbreakers and shorts.

As we drove up the mountain, we passed people parked along the side, shoveling snow into their pickup trucks. A bare-backed guy on a snowboard went cruising past. And others were coming down.

We made the turn heading up to the last climb. I told Ralph and Lynn that my Pop had had the contract to make the road to the summit with his bulldozer. I’d gone off to school on O‘ahu, but my brothers Robert, Kenneth and Guy and my brother-in-law Dennis Vierra would drive the fuel truck and grease up the tractor for him. That was him on his D-9 in the PBS special “First Light.” You can see his name, Richard Ha, on the bulldozer. I’m junior.

At the summit, our friends were awestruck. We walked over to the east to look toward Hilo, and then across to the west to look toward Kona. Lynn said that her son was probably on Mt. Blanc right then. She tried to call him, but could not get through.

We were parked next to the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope where my son Brian worked for more than a year. June called him at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, where he was a Apache helicopter pilot. He told her, “Watch out for the icicles hanging from the observatory.” I contemplated what had just happened for a bit. What a small world, I thought.

I walked over to a pickup truck full of snow and chop suey kids and asked, “What you guys going do with the snow?” The guy sounded local, though not necessarily Hawaiian. He told me they always go up to get snow. They were going to get all the kids together to make a snowman at his grandma’s grave at Kukuihaele.  It had become a family tradition.

When I think about that now, I think: We definitely must try to make sure that he and his future ‘ohana can always keep on doing that.

I told Ralph and Lynn how when we were youngsters we would go to Hapuna Beach in the morning, and then on the way back to Hilo, still dressed in swim shorts and slippers, we would drive up to the summit, run around a little, jump back in the car and head down.

That was more than 40 years ago. We must make sure we do what’s necessary so we can pass on those types of experiences to future generations. With respect, courtesy and common sense, we can make it work for all of us.

Mauna Kea

Sacred Science On The Sacred Mountain

RTo me, it’s just as easy to envision ahu and lele on Mauna Kea as it is to envision telescopes.

This incredible photo is too big to post here, but please go look at it. Scroll to the right to view the whole panorama.

There is so much divisiveness in response to a Honolulu Advertiser editorial yesterday about the Comprehensive Management Plan for Mauna Kea (see the comments). This photo reminds us that everybody could fit in. If there were ahu and lele in that photo area, all could coexist under the heavens.