Waimea Middle School students walk to Mala'ai for the 5th anniversary celebration.

In the very moving introduction that followed, Kumu Case -- who is also the Ike Hawai'i teacher for Waimea Middle School -- declared  that, “Five years ago we pledged to create out of this land a learning tool and experience that would help make our children healthy and our school community whole – and we did.”

Left to right: Vincent Mina, Theresa Vernon, Paul Hepperly, Jerry Brunetti, and Michael Melendrez.

On January 23-24, 2010, Maui Aloha Aina Association presented a conference on "Culturing the Micro-Flora of the Body and the Soil" at Waiaha Farm in Holualoa, North Kona. Four experts presented at the conference, assembled from Acres USA and the Westin A Price conference held each year on the mainland.

On March 21st the Holuakoa Gardens and Café in Holualoa hosted a Spring Equinox Slow Food 5-course dinner that used only locally sourced food. This meant foregoing bread, rice, pasta, and olive oil, among other dinner favorites. About 95% of the food was organically grown.

Bringing wild honey bee colonies such as this under human management is a proactive measure we can take now to prepare for the varroa mite's establishment on Hawai'i Island.

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an important pollinator in Hawai'i. It was brought here first in 1857 and flourished in both wild and human-managed colonies. Many of our food plants rely on the honey bee for pollination to produce good crops, including macadamia nut, coffee, lychee, avocado, melons, and many more. Until recently, the honey bee has been relatively free of serious pests and diseases in Hawai'i, having been geographically isolated in the Hawaiian islands and protected by agricultural quarantine from new honey bee imports.