Tag Archives: Geoff Haines

Visiting Upcountry Maui Farms

The Board of Agriculture recently held its monthly meeting on Maui, and after the meeting we visited several farms in upcountry Maui. It was really good to see the successful farm operations.

Clark Hashimoto’s Persimmon Farm produces value-added products like jellies and dried persimmons.

Clark

Persimmons drying

Clark’s 90-year-old mom was busy helping to dry persimmons.

Clark's mom

Their 90-year-old persimmon tree. (They are the same age!)

90-yr-old persimmon tree

I had not realized just how tasty persimmons can be.

Waipoli Hydroponic Greens in Kula was very impressive – it’s very functional, well-organized and efficient.

Waipoli hydroponic farm

As a fellow farmer, I could see how well run that farm was. This is owner Geoff Haines.

Photo

They started from nothing and grew the business using ingenuity, the Internet, handwork and common sense. I was very impressed.

Chauncey Monden’s Kula Country Farms and its pumpkin patch was full of people, even on a weekday.

Owner Chauncey Monden is 30-something and has a finance degree. So I said, “You know how to keep score!”

Owner Chauncey Monden

Grown not flown

It was a fun experience for families with small kids.

Baby & small animals

Bananas & pumpkins

They grow Kula strawberries here.

Kula strawberries are grown here

Tangerines and pumpkins

Department of Agriculture Chairman Russell Kokubun.

Dept of Ag chair Kokubun

Mahalo for visiting

It was nice to see these successful farming operations.