Garden Chef is a garden culinary program which began this year at Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science. Just under 30 people came out to experience the fruits of the students gardening and culinary knowledge . Their motto is “From Garden to Grinds” and these students showed the audience that they were very comfortable in both growing and cooking vegetables. Located on 13 acres near Pahoa HAAS has beautiful gardens, a greenhouse and an aquaponics system for talapia. Students were involved in every aspect of the project from planting, monitoring and researching the vegetable crops to harvesting, cooking and critiquing the prepared vegetables. It was a pleasure watching these capable 7th and 8th grade students demonstrating fresh, nutritious cooking from the garden.
Our day started with a tour of the lower garden led by Garden Educator Chioke Mims.
This is a compost bin made out of banana logs. It has notched log cabin style corners.
Participants return from the tour of the lower garden
Sophie Smith displays a beautiful chard harvest!
Sophie Smith, Malia Becker, Billy Trout and Noa Walker
double wash and inspect each leaf
Teacher Wendy Baker assists students
The finished salad. Students also made a healthy salad dressing. Both dishes were delicious. Mahalo to Chioke, Wendy and their students for a fabulous day at HAAS.
On Dec 1, 2011, several students and their teachers from Honokaa HS Forestry and Ag classes spent the day on a field trip to Laupahoehoe Forest Natural Area Reserve.
Students got to see and experience the forest and received information from the experts from the field.
This trip was possible through a Program through the USDA Forest Service, More Kids in the Woods grant and Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance’s Starts with a Seed Project.
Students also produced a video documenting their trip and is available on line at http://manoa.hawaii.edu/coe/kulia/video.html
For more info about the program contact Manuel Jadulang, Honokaa HS Ag Teacher and CTE Coordinator
http://www.kohalacenter.org/HISGN/honokaa.htmlhttp://manoa.hawaii.edu/coe/kulia/kulia_team.html
Mama Chioke’s students at Kua O Ka La are learning some highly valuable skills such as how to coax food to grow out of lava. On a recent visit to this Public Charter School in Kapoho we watched students working together to build soil in pukas in the lava field near their campus. These pockets of soil were small but productive. Students have been developing this garden since last year. They have learned how to collect water in a variety of ways to optimize their water holding capacity for the garden. Students have built fences, water catchment and are defining a system which produces food in an unusual environment. By using shredded paper, cardboard and vegetative matter they are able to build soil and retain moisture in a garden with challenging conditions. Using materials found in the immediate area to maintain the garden help students learn to use what is available in any given location.
Students chant before entering the mala
Chioke Mims and her students discuss the day’s tasks
Several varieties of kalo are cultivated and used regularly for culinary events at Kua O Ka La
This tomato plant is growing in a small puka filled with soil the students made through compost and organic material collected from the area. It is mulched with paper and cardboard to retain moisture. Once established plants seem to do very well.
The students at Pūnana Leo o Hilo Preschool recently learned about composting worms in their classroom. Students were given a brief explanation about worms and how important they are for healthy soil then worked together to make two worm bins for use at their school. Teacher Naupaka Gouevia has been helping students learn gardening skills in the mala near their Kea`au classroom. The worm bins will be used for classroom observation and to process classroom food waste. If you are interested in having a vermiculture demonstration in your classroom please contact Donna Mitts at dmitts@kohalacenter.org.
Left to right: Makana Agcaoli-State FFA Sec (Pahoa), Shanecee Nobriga- State FFA Hawaii County VP (Honokaa), Teacher Manuel Jadulang (Honokaa), Paula Rincon-State FFA Pres (Honokaa) and Jayten Galario -State Oahu County VP (Waipahu).
The national FFA convention is held each October with nearly 55,000 FFA members and guests from across the country in attendance. Members participate in general sessions, competitive events, educational tours, leadership workshops, a career show and expo, volunteer activities and much more. It is one of the largest annual student conventions in the country.
This website https://www.ffa.org/Events/NationalFFAConvention/Highlights/Pages/default.aspx provides some insights of many of the activities that the students took part during this national Convention that was attended by over 50,000 students from across the nation.
Honoka`a FFA would especially like to thank Kohala Center, UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Hawaii Beef Producers, KK Ranch (Jason Moniz), RJ Ranch (Roy and Jill Mattos), Kawamata Farms, Friends of Dwight Takamine, Ryan Cantor, Mr and Mrs. Peter Cantor, Hamakua Farm Bureau, Hawaiian Vanilla Company, and Mrs Dorothy Ramos for their support for the their in-kind donations towards the travel for the Honoka`a FFA .
Josiah Hunt demonstrates a bio char burn
This season’s series of Practical Agriculture for Hamakua classes and farm tours have been a wonderful success. There are two locations again this year. One in Papaikou at the Community Center across from Kalanianaole School and at North Hawaii Education and Research Center in Honoka’a.
At a recent farm tour we visited John Caverly’s farm in Onomea for a biochar burn demo with Josiah Hunt. While the fire burned we were treated to a discussion on Natural Farming methods with John. He generously gave us some of his fresh pressed cane juice to drink. If you have not tried freshly pressed cane juice you are missing out on a slice of heaven!!!
The series runs through November 29th. For more details please check the HISGN events page or contact Donna Mitts at dmitts@kohalacenter.org.
Aloha Kohala Elementary School ohana,
I cannot believe it is the last week of school. We have had a very successful year in the garden. These are several indicators of success that I found:
1. Harvest – over 300 pounds of food harvested, shared, cooked and eaten.
2. Wellness – eating new vegetables, cooking at home and bringing back to school to share.
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