More than 40 Ka'u residents participated in this fourth Food Self-Reliance workshop sponsored by the Hawai'i County Resource Center and Permanent Agriculture Resources. It followed similar workshops in Kona, Kohala and Puna, with each workshop uniquely designed for growing conditions in its respective district. For Ocean View, conditions are particularly challenging: shallow soils and little rainfall. The workshop addressed these issues, and enlisted local farmers to describe how they meet this challenge. A major theme was soil building and conservation and water retention methods.

Hoea Ea II, Hawai'i Island Youth Food Sovereignty Conference, June 10 - 14

Hoea Ea II, The Hawai'i Island Youth Food Sovereignty Conference, was held June 10 – 14 at Lihikai Hawaiian Cultural Learning Center in Keaukaha, Hilo. Hoea Ea II is one of a series of Hawaiian food sovereignty conferences and part of the age-old tradition of producing food. About 130 people -- youth, adults, and families – were involved in five days of malama 'aina, traditional and modern food production, cooking, and eating.

Kuaiwi Farm in Captain Cook hosted two chocolate-making classes which brought together 11 participants to learn the basics of the farm-to-table chocolate-making process. Farmer-hosts Una Greenway and Leon Rosner demonstrated the harvesting of the cacao beans, the drying and fermenting processes, and the complex methods involved in transforming the fermented beans into the finished candy product that so many chocolate lovers swoon over.

North Kohala

Andrea Dean co-facilitates the North Kohala Food Forum, which took place in Kapa'au on Saturday, August 22, 2009

How does a community move towards producing 50% of its own food? This past Saturday, about 200 North Kohala residents came together at the North Kohala Food Forum in Kapa'au to find out. The North Kohala Food Forum began by surveying about 70 people in the food community in the following categories: food retailers, commercial food growers, commercial and institutional buyers, government-planning-education, and infrastructure managers. The survey results formed the basis for Saturday's event.