Hawaii Island school gardens opened the garden gates to their outdoor classrooms, each highlighting their unique student projects and botanical areas. Our spring school garden tours were a wonderful way for our communities to see the work being done in our school gardens. Some of the students of these school gardens had an opportunity to see that people are truly interested in these outdoor learning environments.
Mahalo nui loa to the following garden teachers and their students who hosted this year’s garden tours:
Steve Velonza ~ Hualalai Academy
Krista Donaldson ~ Innovations PCS
Manuel Jadulang ~ Honoka`a High
Lanakila Mangauil & Jenny Bach ~ Honoka`a Elem.
Donna Mitts ~ Pa`auilo Elem. & Inter.
Ellen Jacobs ~ Laupahoehoe School
Melissa Chivers ~ Hounaunau Elem.
Ben Publico ~ Kona Pacific PCS
Kamuela Naihe ~ Hua o Ke Au at Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
Chioke Mims ~ Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science/Kua O Ka La
Mariposa Summers, Culinary Instructor ~ Kua o Ka La PCS
Kaika Welch ~ Dragon’s Eye Learning Center
Haley Blondin ~ Waimea Country School
Amanda Rieux ~ Mala`ai: The Culinary Garden at Waimea Middle School
Steve Nemeth ~ Hilo High School
George Parrish ~ Lanakila Learning Center
Let the tours begin!
Our school garden tours in West Hawaii began on April 14th with Hualalai Academy..
This school has fruit trees dotted around the campus that are maturing, many different garden areas with both raised beds and ground planting, an ipu trellis, water harvesting system off the roof, aquaponics “ebb and flow” and the “raft” systems (growing kalo and rice), a student farmers market, vermi-composting program, and many beautiful landscaped beds throughout the campus with flowers and unique tropical plants. Steve Velonza is the Garden Teacher. Mahalo to Steve and all the students who participated in the day’s tours.
Student Farmers Market at Hualalai Academy
Innovations has a zero waste and recycling program, nursery area and garden, outdoor classroom, washing area with grey-water recycling, and fruit trees throughout the campus. Garden Teacher Krista Donaldson led the tour and elaborated on each of the programs for the community attending. Mahalo to everyone for sharing their mala.
Krista Donaldson explains the school’s composting system.
At the same time this was all going on, Kealakehe Intermediate’s Na Kahumoku Program was busy clearing the land on campus of grasses and hale koa for their new garden that will be shared with the Elementary School. Students from Kealakehe High School, Kealakehe Intermediate and Mahealani Pai joined in the fun.
Volunteers help to clear the new garden site at Kealakehe Inter.
In East Hawaii we began our garden tour series with a tour of Honoka`a High School’s Agriculture program led by Ag Teacher Manuel Jadulang’s two FFA students. We were shown the tissue culture lab, production gardens, greenhouses, goats and rabbits.
James Marlin, Honoka`a senior and FFA Chapter President explains to group the work students do in the tissue culture lab.
From the high school we walked down hill to Honoka’a Elementary see the work being done in the after school garden club led by Garden Teachers Lanakila Mangauil and Jenny Bach. These young students have learned the meaning of “huki!” as they have been pulling out large clumps of Guinea grass in a wild corridor area between the campus and county park which adjoins the garden area. They have a lovely mala of raised beds which are producing an assortment of vegetables and flowers.
Terraced beds made by Honoka’a Elementary students.
Next we traveled to Pa’auilo School for a quick look at “Wormville” a mid scale vermicomposting system. This ten foot long trough processes cafeteria lunch waste and provides an opportunity for students to study a working vermicomposting system. The finished vermicast is added to the garden to enhance soil fertility.
Tour participant views a scoop of vermicast and worms from the worm tough.
At Laupahoehoe School Agriculture Teacher Ellen Jacobs led us on a tour through the student built nature trail through the wooded area of the campus. We worked our way over to the aquaponics tanks and on to the garden beds. There was a flock of laying hens which the students help to raise from young birds.
Natural Resources Teacher Ellen Jacobs (EJ) shows the group the aquaculture tanks.
On Saturday April 21, 3 Schools in West Hawai’i invited parents and community to come and see first hand their garden programs and connections to community. Honaunau School Garden is expanding and growing under the direction of Garden Educator Melissa Chivers. An outdoor classroom, tool shed and washing area, and many raised bed gardens have been built in this past year. Miss Melissa is enjoying working with the faculty and the students to bring outdoor learning experiences around food, science, and environment to all the students at Honaunau, her alma mater.
The garden area at Honaunau Elementary.
Next our group toured Kona Pacific PCS in Kealakekua under the direction of Mala Teacher Ben Publico. The gardens at KPPCS are expanding, as the school has also just purchased the 40 acres of surrounding farm land. Ben has family that were from that land and so he is returning to help guide all the students to reconnect with the source of their food and the land.
Garden Teacher Ben Publico leads the group tour at Kona Pacific PCS.
We finished up the tours at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, where the Hua O Ke Ao Youth Agriculture Program is growing on Wednesday afternoons with Kumu Kamuela Naihe. The students led the tour of the 10 acres of native gardens and talked about the many and diverse projects they work with. We ended with a traditional lunch and enjoyed each other’s company!
Garden Educator Kamuela Naihe works with students in the mala.
Also on April 21 in East Hawaii another round of tours began with a visit to the Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science in Pahoa. Our tour group was treated to some very practical and innovative methods in sustainable food production. Garden Teacher Chioke Mims showed us the work students do in one of the largest school gardens on our island.
Kalo beds at Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science
Next on our tour agenda that day was a visit to Dragon’s Eye Learning Center in Kapoho. Diga Kearn and Kaika Welch lead a group of enthusiastic learners by way of a 4-H Club. This club meets several days per week. They are encouraged to be independent thinkers and follow the Sudbury model of education. Projects are student driven and include leather tanning, gardening, cooking, film making and much more. Kaika’s daughter gave us a demonstation on her axis deer hide tanning process. She acquired the deer hide herself on a hunting trip last summer. We also saw their large scale flock of chickens using the Korean Farming Model and the large aquaculture system on site.
The aquaponics system at Dragon’s Eye Farm.
Our final stop for the day was the beautiful campus of Kua O Ka La PCS in Kapoho. We began with a student prepared luncheon. The meal was 100% locally sourced, much of it grown in the student malas. Following lunch was a tour of the garden areas and projects students are working on. This garden program is also led by Garden Teacher Chioke Mims and is a rich learning environment where students grow high quality produce using sustainable practices.
Students at Kua O Ka La preparing 100% locally sourced lunch.
On Saturday April 28, there were 2 tours in Waimea. First the students at the Waimea Country School shared their garden expertise with us, and their Garden Teacher Hayley Blondin Piper took us through typical class in the school garden. ”When you hear the sound of the Io please come and gather up back here.” The children led groups that mulched paths, made snacks for everyone, took care of the worm boxes, and did other garden jobs that were typical of a day for the children. A wonderful time was had by all. We also enjoyed seeing the Green Projects of the Classrooms.
Students made this sign for their mala.
We ended up at the Mala’ai Culinary Garden of the Waimea Middle School with Amanda Rieux and her many board members and volunteers and staff. Amanda gave us a wonderful overview of her program and we talked with the 50 people who attended, toured the gardens and culinary arts program, and then sat down to a delicious lunch. Mahalo Everyone for opening your programs to everyone, so that the community begins to see for themselves the wonderful and diverse educational aspects that make up a children’s gardening program.
Singer Jack Johnson and his wife Kim pose with the Mala’ai group. What a fun day!
In East Hawaii also on April 28th we began our two school tour with a walk through Hilo High School’s varied assortment of theme gardens. Natural Resources Teacher Steve Nemeth is truly a master gardener with an encyclopedic knowledge of plant species, history and uses of tropical plants. We experienced an herb garden, canoe garden, post contact garden, value added plants, cash crops and a Japanese rock garden. The students also manage a hydroponics system. We were all given plant cuttings and potted plants to take home compliments of Steve and his students
Natural Resources Teacher Steve Nemeth leads us through the large herb garden collection offering cuttings to participants.
Next on our tour agenda was a stop by the Lanakila Learning Center just down the road from Hilo High School on Waianuenue Avenue. The Lanakila Learning Center is an alternative learning program for students from Hilo High School. Under the guidance of Teacher George Parrish students are learning hydroponics systems as well as growing vegetables in soil. We also traveled a short drive to see the student work being done at nearby Kalalau Ranch. There students are developing an aquaculture system of ponds as well as a greenhouse production area.
Natural Resources Teacher George Parrish explains the student built aquaponics system in use at the Kalalau Ranch site.
See you next year!
