Hawai'i Homegrown Food Network

TheGardenTalks: Soul Food

Church of the Pacific Food Pantry Gives Away More Than Food (Part II)

"The first thing we give away is aloha, then love, then food." John Burkhouse, Po’oku Community Garden Coordinator.

Farmers from the north shore of Kauai bring food and plants for the Church of the Pacific food pantry. ©2011HappyHourDesign

For one day every week an incredible abundance of food and good people come together to be sure that their community on the north shore of Kaua‘i is fed. For this group it’s not important who you are, how much or how little money you have. No one is standing there to check your credentials and decide if you need food. All you need to do is show up and share in the generosity and hospitality of the Church of the PacificFood Pantry.

It’s been just six months since I last visited Po‘oku Community Garden (see story here) and the garden has grown up to match the vision of its hardest workers, Gabrielle Pla and John Burkhouse. Several fantastic boons have fallen in the path of the garden -– garden angels they might be called. The first is Kevin, a former participant in the pantry who now dedicates his time to creating an organic garden filled with abundant, sustainable produce. Kevin takes the Kaua‘i Community College Growing Food Seminar Series and uses the Po‘oku Community Garden to employ new ideas from the class topped with his own gardening know-how. He is a big advocate of companion planting and uses plants that help each other out to get the nutrition they need. For example, he grew corn for the pantry and planted pole beans at the end of the season allowing them to ramble over the dying stalks and use the old corn as a prop while they decompose. Corn is a heavy nitrogen user and beans will put nitrogen right back in the soil.

Ka 'Ohi Nani Farm -- Featured CSA

Steve and Lark Willey at Ka 'Ohi Nani Farm in Waimea

“Ka ‘Ohi Nani” means The Beautiful Harvest, and Ka ‘Ohi Nani Farm in Waimea is very aptly named. Tucked into one of the many little lanes near Pu’u Kapu, and just off the main road on the Hamakua side of Waimea, the farm is as beautiful as the name implies. Owners Steve and Lark Willey are as dedicated to beauty as they are to the fruit of their labors.

The first sign of beauty in the garden is a six year old rose vine covered arbor entryway that serves as the portal to the official ‘garden,’ fields, and farm buildings. After parking we walked to the recently finished processing shed. Outfitted with a center table, shelving, counters, and sinks with running water, this is where all the produce is first brought to be cleaned and packed for distribution.

Hits: 16108

Value-added small farm enterprises

Ka'u coffee has developed a reputation as a high-quality coffee, and continues the tradition of coffee as a value-added crop for Hawai'i.

Even though hundreds of potential new crops have been introduced to Hawai‘i during the past 200 years, few continue to be economically sustainable for family farms. This is due to the relatively high cost of labor, land, and materials in Hawai‘i, which gives an advantage to cheap imports. One way family farms can remain economically viable is to vertically integrate their operations, i.e., grow, harvest, process, package, and sell in ways that add value to their products. When planned and executed well, the time, effort, and resources put into adding value can increase profits along with revenue.

Hits: 8328

Adaptations -- Featured CSA

Overview of Adaptations raised beds.

The Adaptations CSA operation has been farming and providing locally grown organic produce to chefs and families since 1984. Owners Tane and Maureen Datta’s operation combines produce grown on their Adaptations Farm while also acting as a distribution center for produce and fruits grown by over 100 other organic farms all around Hawai’i Island. The 7.5 acre certified organic farm at 1,500 foot elevation in Honaunau, South Kona, has been in operation for 15 years growing micro mix, edible flowers, herbs, salad greens, avocadoes and medicinal plants -- and experimenting with crops not usually seen on the island.

Read more …Adaptations -- Featured CSA

Hits: 18892

TheGardenTalks: Putting the Community First

Church of the Pacific Po‘oku Community Garden (Part 1)

Gabrielle & John work diligently on Kauai to see that no one goes hungry.

"The first thing we give away is aloha, then love, then food." John Burkhouse, Garden Coordinator

Quietly and steadily the Church of the Pacific Food Pantry, in Po‘oku, Kaua’i, fed over 8000 people last year and fed them well. Fresh basil, kale, green beans, chard, sweet potatoes, papayas and citrus are just some of the food items offered at this food pantry. It doesn’t sound like what you’d expect from a typical food pantry and, well, that’s because it’s not. The goal is to provide balanced and nutritious food for families in need.

Hits: 9605