Kaiser volunteers worked at the Kahakai Elementary School garden on January 18th, 2010, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

A recurring question in the agricultural community is: can the invasive species Little Fire Ants (LFA) be transmitted from mulch picked up at the Hilo transfer station? Chris Chin-Chance, Recycling Specialist III from the County of Hawai‘i, Dept. of Environmental Management, Recycling Section in Hilo, responds:
“We did a survey of the site prior to the grinder returning to Hilo recently and the survey did not turn up any Little Fire Ants (LFA); other types of harmless ants were detected. We have implemented a periodic regimen of baiting the surrounding areas and spraying the adjoining property and this has suppressed any detections of the Little Fire Ant on our property since the initial reports of LFA.”

Chin-Chance also states that Little Fire Ants do not like “disturbances and heat above a certain level. Therefore, the mulching process of loading and grinding the material along with the increased traffic around the site also discourages the LFA from making a home in the mulch.” He also says that the mulch “rarely sits for very long at our site and if it did it would generate considerable heat as it begins the composting process,” and that “LFA’s have never been detected in the mulch or green waste” at the site.

As a precaution, Chin-Chance encourages everyone to “first make sure their property is free of the LFA” by following the instructions in the LFA brochure available at the County’s Department of Environmental Management Web site: http://hawaiizerowaste.org/recycle/greenwaste. Before taking mulch, check it and notify site personnel if any LFA’s are suspected.

Read More!
Little Fire Ant Advisory Media Release
Little Fire Ant Brochure
Hilo Green Waste Facility Positive LFA Detections

The Hawai‘i Coqui Frog Blog: Creating Community Connection Through Coqui Control

Do you hear the coqui frogs in the evening? With the encroaching spread of coqui habitat to West Hawai‘i, more residents are becoming concerned and aware of invasive coqui calling noise. This blog is an excellent resource and place to find out why coqui frogs must be controlled, methods to do so, and what you can do to prevent their spread. Full of useful tips, links, and information, check out the Hawai‘i Coqui Frog Blog.

The Hawai‘i Coqui Frog Blog is Inspired by a community Coqui Watch meeting and is an invitation to Hawai‘i residents to share their personal experience of Hawai‘i coqui control. The blog welcomes your success stories, suggestions, and struggles toward the goal of community coqui control.

“Building Skills, Extending Knowledge, Sharing Successes”
Kawanui Farm – Honalo

Indeed, it takes a village to raise a garden program! Last weekend, 45 Teachers and Supporters from four islands converged at Nancy Redfeather and Gerry Herbert’s Kawanui Farm in Honalo to convene the 2nd Annual HISGN Summer Garden Teacher Conference. For three days, 30 of those participants lived on-farm, their tents spread out through the orchards and gardens like a lei surrounding the farm. We ate, studied, conversed, worked, played, and networked together to build and enliven a new curriculum for our keiki and youth in public, private, and charter schools across the state.

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Norman Q. Arancon, Professor at UH Hilo, assisted by his two graduate students Joe Santiago and Paul Flessner, presented the “Vermiculture 101” course on Saturday morning. Dr. Arancon patiently (and with good humor) took us first along the soil fertility road step-by-step leading up to the Vermiculture systems of building soil microorganisms (MO). The talk included all of the basics plus “Principles of Vermiculture Composting” (Did you know that worms have 10 hearts and can live 50 years or more?), “Vermicomposting Technologies,” that included tea-making for building soil MO, and “Results of Research” by Dr. Arancon. We looked at practical tea making systems and worm boxes of all sizes and shapes from industrial models to the simplest home/school garden boxes. We were riveted for the three-hour presentation, and grateful to Dr. Arancon and his students for traveling to Kona to extend their knowledge of these incredible systems of building soil fertility. We asked him to work with us again this coming year and to take this knowledge that we will be implementing the next step. We are indeed fortunate to have such a new Organic Professor at UH Hilo!

Saturday afternoon was dedicated to Garden/Ag Curriculum. Six teachers from elementary through high school presented an overview of the essentials of their curriculums. Unique and varied, each presentation hit on key knowledge that all garden/ag programs would want to incorporate. Many thanks to Dash Kuhr “Hawai‘i Youth Agriculture Project” in Kohala; Amanda Rieux “Mala‘ai Culinary Garden” at the Waimea Middle School; Koh Ming Wei of the “Sustainable Education Initiative” in Honoka‘a; Janice Crowl, Author and Master Gardener from Volcano; Donna Mitts, Pa’auilo Elementary School Garden; and Pua Mendonca, “Ka Umeke Ka Eo School Garden” in Keaukaha in Hilo for their enlivening presentations.

In the evenings we enjoyed each other’s company over long dinners on the candle-lit porch, followed by deep discussions about the connections of youth and nature today, and we watched relevant movies.

Sunday morning classes featured Nancy Redfeather’s hands-on class entitled “Weeds, Guardians of the Soil” and Gerry Herbert’s “Grow Your Garden’s Fertility” talk which featured the many locally available/sustainable soil building amendments available here on Hawai‘i Island. The classes were followed by a discussion with all conference participants on the “Challenges and Opportunities” to building school Garden programs in the coming year. This discussion was followed by our final fabulous lunch buffet and an afternoon meeting, with the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Josh Stanbro, Diane Chadwick, and Lydia Clements, who graciously have taken interest in helping to build our communication network statewide.

I would like to thank Molly Hui, Debra Crosson, Sam Birch, and Betsy Cole from The Kohala Center for their incredible support, and Jeff Alvord and the Omidyar Family for their vision and belief that we could build a movement of school garden programs that someday would change the face of local agriculture and community food self-reliance!

Mahalo Nui to all the participants who came from far and near, many blessings on your work this year, and may our collaboration to create this “garden revolution” help to turn around the state of agriculture today. Mahalo also for each of your unique inspirations without which we would not feel waiwai (wealthy) now!

Deep appreciation goes out to my apprentice Chelsea Haworth and her soon to be husband John Rosario for their tireless dedication to the production of high quality nutritious meals for us all! They incorporated as much of our farm food stores as possible combining with locally produced foods to create memorable menus for three days!

We will be updating our Web site in the next week or so, and we will be announcing a Teacher Grant Writing Workshop for sometime in July. Watch for the announcement! Have a relaxing and rejuvenating summer!

Aloha,

Nancy Redfeather
Program Director