The 5th Annual Hawai‘i Farm to School Conference “Growing From the Ground Up” will be held on O‘ahu, on June 1st and 2nd, 2012. This year’s conference is hosted by Kokua Hawai‘i Foundation, Hawai‘i Association of Independent Schools, and Waikiki Elementary School and will include visits to other farm to school sites on O‘ahu. Plenary sessions, workshops, and field trips (Huaka‘i) will focus on hands-on topics relevant to establishing thriving school garden and farm to school programs, including such topics as soil building, curriculum connections, fundraising, community building, and more.

Ku ‘Aina Pa: Teacher Training for School Learning Gardens in Hawai‘i Date: June 10-16, 2012  Location: HPA Elab and the Mala‘ai Culinary Garden of the Waimea Middle School For more information click here.

Art and Sol is taking place again, featuring delicious pupu and wine, along with tantalizing items at the silent and live auctions. Buy your tickets today! This is our most important fundraiser of the year featuring an amazing selection of Art, health centered items, and experiences. Please stay tuned for more information on auction items. Thank you for your support!

Please join us for a fun, interactive and informative 2-Part workshop on basic home composting. The first half of our workshop will focus on backyard composting. The second will discuss worm composting. A voucher for a free Earth Machine home composter will be given to each family participating. Help us keep Hawai?i green by composting home and yard green waste. Backyard composting doesn't have to be back-breaking or sweaty work. Learn how to do it the easy way and reap the benefit of improved soil! Composting with worms is an easy and fun way to save money and turn your kitchen scraps into garden "gold" or free fishing bait. Highlights include a "How To" demonstration on setting up your very own Worm Condo. We will also explore basic worm management, harvesting methods and more. Join us to learn about composting and worms in Hawai?i. Worms and some commercial units will be available. Call the instructor for more info. For more information, please e-mail Ann Hassler, the instructor:crazy4compost2@gmail.com or call 937-1100.

Farm to Cafeteria began with the common goal of building strong communities, healthy individuals and resilient local farms. Across the country great progress has been made connecting farm-fresh foods with K-12 schools, pre-schools, childcare settings, colleges, universities, hospitals, prisons and beyond – now we are Digging In!

Create a Field Trip for your students. Each tour tailored to your students grade level. This year the farm is cultivating 4 acres of pumpkins with a 5 acre corn maze! Tent Space will be available for lunch. Make reservations by e-mail. See the Web site for more information.

If your farm energy cost is too high and you want to reduce it but aren’t sure where to begin, this workshop will get you started. This workshop will educate you about energy efficiency and how to participate in various government cost-share programs.
Topics of the workshop include:
- How to better understand your utility bill
- Where energy is used on your farm
- Tips to save energy on your farm
- How to receive farm energy audits
- Various Federal programs that offer financial assistance for farm energy audits and energy efficiency improvements on your farm.
This workshop will be presented by energy experts from EnSave, Inc. Representatives from federal agencies will be on-hand to help you start saving more of your energy dollars. For more information contact Kawika Marquez at 808-987-9101 Don’t miss out register now!