News Archive

In the Book Bag, More Garden Tools
November 23, 2012
In the East Village, children planted garlic bulbs and harvested Swiss chard before Thanksgiving. On the other side of town, in Greenwich Village, they learned about storm water runoff, solar energy and wind turbines. And in Queens, students and teachers cultivated flowers that attract butterflies and pollinators. Across New York City, gardens and miniature farms — whether on rooftops or at ground level — are joining smart boards and digital darkrooms as must-have teaching tools.
» Read more

Kealakekua school works toward a zero waste cafeteria
November 18, 2012
Almost everything used in Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino’s cafeteria is washable, reusable, recyclable or compostable, said Clare Loprinzi, the school’s garden coordinator. Daily, more than 170 students in kindergarten through 12th grade toss their leftover food, paper trays, utensils and milk cartons in separate bins. Scraps are given to pig farmers. Trays, as well as other paper goods and organic waste, are taken to a giant worm bin in the school’s garden, where the garbage is transformed into compost — a dark, crumbly humus used for the school’s landscaping. 
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Mala‘ai School Garden’s eBay Online Auction Tempts ‘Black Friday’ Shoppers To Make It A ‘Green Friday’
November 18, 2012 
WAIMEA, HAWAI’I ISLAND — “Black Friday” – the popular nickname for the day after Thanksgiving – is the busiest retail day of the year, a time when shoppers search for fantastic finds, even though it can mean getting up before dawn and fighting crowds. To simplify holiday shopping…avoid crowds…reduce gas consumption…and also put gift giving to work to support a healthier planet, Mala’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School is staging its second eBay “Giving Works” online auction and inviting friends to convert “Black Friday” November 23, 2012, into “Green Friday.” All items will be available now through Dec. 3, 2012 on Ebay’s Giving Works by clicking here.
» Read more

WHEA Students Exchange Seeds and Knowledge
November 11, 2012
Farmers, avid gardeners, students, and many community members gathered November 2nd at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens for their annual seed exchange. A seed exchange is when community members bring in any seeds they’ve grown so other growers can have access to that plant as well.
» Read more

School Recycling Petition Aims to Protect Aina
November 9, 2012
Early in the school year of 2011, one of my favorite teachers invited me to join her in forming an Environmental Leadership Club at Kealakehe High School. While I really had no idea what we might accomplish, for me or for our island, I thought it would be a great way to learn about becoming a leader. The newly branded Environmental Leadership Club started out small, planning in-school educations campaigns – to teach students about the impact we can have on the environment and the things we could to do to make a difference.
» Read more

LHES Garden Newsletter Lana‘i
November 2012

School Garden Network Flourishes
by Colleen Carroll Ed.D., director, Kaua‘i School Garden Network
On-campus gardens are on the rise as schools make the connection between the healthy food they grow and a healthy lifestyle. From Hanalei to Kekaha, school teachers, parents and students are digging in and growing their outdoor learning environments, focusing on everything from social agriculture and Hawaiian culture to nature’s life cycles and a student favorite — harvesting and eating the plants they grow.
» Read more

American Academy of Pediatrics’ clinical report highlights benefits of organic
October 22, 2012
A clinical report published online today by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) highlighting the many attributes of organic foods provides guidance to parents confused by conflicting marketing messages regarding healthy food choices for their children. Calling the report a major milestone for the organic sector, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) hails it as a confirmation of the significance of the benefits that organic provides.
» Read more

Keeping it Green
Recycle Hawai‘i Newsletter Fall 2012
Recycle Hawai‘i supports organizations that not only promote recycling and resource awareness, but also sustainability. The Kohala Center is one of these organizations.
» Read more

10 Reasons To Take Your Students Outside
October 9, 2012
We all care about the well-being of our students and want to provide a positive environment in which students are healthy and motivated and learning content in creative ways. Every educational setting, whether urban or rural, has such a place … outdoors.
» Read more

Waimea’s Mala‘ai School Garden to Introduce Student-Run ‘Farm Stand’ This Week.
October 7, 2012
Waimea Middle and Elementary School families and the entire community are invited to check out Mala‘ai school garden’s new weekly student-run “Farm Stand,” beginning this Friday, Oct. 12 from 2:15 to 4 p.m. Located in the back — or south side — of the school campus near the entry to the ¾-acre organic Mala’ai learning garden, the Farm Stand will offer a variety of fresh produce – most of which has been grown by students. 
» Read more

Laupahoehoe Community PCS open house set By Carol Yurth
September 9, 2012
The Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School, LCPCS, is holding an open house for the ohana of grade 6-12 students, as well as parents of prospective students, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. First off, parents and teachers will have an opportunity to mingle and meet during a spaghetti dinner. Following dinner, teachers will open their classrooms for tours, and the sharing of more specific information about class content, teacher philosophy and student achievement.
» Read more
Used with permission from The Hawaii Tribune Herald

Hawaii Island’s first corn maze in Kohala
September 8, 2012
An autumn favorite is back this year on Kohala Mountain, and this year there is a new attraction on Kahua Ranch. Some lucky residents were got a glimpse of Hawaii Island’s first-ever corn maze on Sunday. In August, Kohala Mountain Farm, in partnership with MacArthur & Company | Sotheby’s International Realty and The Kohala Center, announced a corn-maze design content open to all Hawaii Island high school students attending schools that participate in the Hawaii Island School Garden Network (HIGSN) program. 
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Video News

Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
Issue Paper August 2012 
By Dana Gunders
Natural Resources Defense Council

Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of all freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also that the uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions. 
» Read more

A-maize-ing: Kohala Mountain Farm creates island’s first corn maze
August 17, 2012

Lend me your ears: There’s a corny new attraction opening this fall at the Kohala Mountain Farm. With flags, paint and grass killer in hand, Braden Bair began mapping out and creating passageways for a giant labyrinth Thursday in a roughly 3-acre cornfield at the picturesque farm, located makai of Kahua Ranch on Kohala Mountain Road between Hawi and Waimea. 
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Eat-Think-Grow events for families and teachers
Learn simple ways to encourage healthy eating habits and curb growing obesity rates
August 15, 2012
In hopes of reversing the trend of skyrocketing childhood and adult obesity rates, several Hawai‘i Island organizations are working together to provide free educational workshops and events for families and school garden teachers. Eat-Think-Grow—an initiative created by The Kohala Center in conjunction with its Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN) program—will host nutrition education events for island families and community members during the 2012-2013 school year.
» Read more
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly

Study links autism with industrial food, environment
New research models real-world exposures to environmental cause of autism
Minneapolis — The epidemic of autism in children in the United States may be linked to the typical American diet according to a new study published online in Clinical Epigenetics by Renee Dufault, et. al. The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides.
Click here to view the article online.

Healthy eating can cost less, study finds
Is it really more expensive to eat healthy? An Agriculture Department study released Wednesday found that most fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods cost less than foods high in fat, sugar and salt. That counters a common perception among some consumers that it’s cheaper to eat junk food than a nutritionally balanced meal. The government says it all depends on how you measure the price. If you compare the price per calorie – as some previous researchers have done – then higher-calorie pastries and processed snacks might seem like a bargain compared with fruits and vegetables. 
Click here to view the article online. 

Hawaii Education Program Seeks to Increase STEM Education through Gardening
May 15, 2012
This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from the USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. Many teachers use creative methods to keep their students engaged in the curriculum they are teaching. Some methods work far better than others. For one group in Hawaii, teachers are using gardening to boost their science, technology and math classes, while placing an emphasis on Hawaii’s need for more experiential science learning related to agriculture and sustainability.
Click here to view the article online.

Watching TV Steers Children Toward Eating Junk
What you see is what you eat, according to the latest study to confirm that TV viewing encourages children to eat more junk food. But the researchers say there may be an easy way to counter unhealthy snacking in front of the tube, simply by putting healthier foods within easy reach. Leah Lipsky and Ronal Iannotti, staff scientists at the Eunice Kennedy Shrive National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, report that for every hour of television children watch, they are 8% less likely to eat fruit every day, 18% more likely to eat candy, and 16% more likely to eat fast food.
Click here to view the article online.

School Garden Network wraps up first Spring School Garden Tour
May 3, 2012
For amateur gardeners and school garden teachers, it was a free opportunity to explore a different garden space and pick up a few tips. But according to Nancy Redfeather, project director, the Kohala Center’s School Garden Network organized the first Spring School Garden Tour to bring schools and their surrounding community together through their garden.
» Read more

Used with permission from North Hawaii News

Mudslinging: Workshop sparks a fervor for outdoor earth ovens
April 16, 2012
Approximately 20 Big Island residents and visitors spent Sunday squishing mud, sand and straw between their toes at Hawaii Preparatory Academy Village Campus in Waimea. Some mudslingers did the Chubby Checker twist, Riverdance-style moves or tango-like steps while delightfully stomping the wet contents inside a giant tarp. Once the right consistency was obtained, others carefully packed the mud with their hands into wooden frames, later removed, revealing perfectly formed adobe bricks
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Is sugar toxic?
April 1, 2012 
Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports on new research showing that beyond weight gain, sugar can take a serious toll on your health, worsening conditions ranging from heart disease to cancer.
» Watch the video

Schools show off gardens
March 21, 2012
School gardens around Hawaii Island are in full bloom, and students and teachers at several school gardens are opening their gates for tours and tastings in April. On these tours, the public can enjoy produce grown and prepared by the students, teachers, and volunteers, and see how food self-reliance is growing in our communities. The tours will be April 14, 21, and 28, and are hosted by The Kohala Center, a local nonprofit with an emphasis on education, environment, and empowerment. Lunch is offered on some of the tours.
» Read more
Used with permission from The Hawaii Tribune Herald

School Garden Tours Coming Up in April
March 21, 2012
School gardens around Hawai‘i Island are in full bloom, and students and teachers at several school gardens are opening their gates for tours and tastings in April. On these tours, the public can enjoy produce grown and prepared by the students, teachers, and volunteers, and see how food self-reliance is growing in our communities. The tours will be April 14, 21, and 28, and are hosted by The Kohala Center, a local non-profit with an emphasis on education, environment, and empowerment. Lunch is offered on some of the tours.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island News Center

17 healthy eating, living projects get funding
March 11, 2012
Approximately $300,000 in federal stimulus funding has been awarded to 17 projects, striving to make positive changes in more than 15,000 Hawaii Island residents’ eating, physical activity and tobacco use habits, Hawaii Island Beacon Community announced Wednesday. The Hawaii Island Beacon is a consortium of healthcare and community leaders that was created to improve healthcare quality, efficiency and population health islandwide. The projects will receive $3,000 to $20,000, said Jessica Yamamoto, Beacon’s community engagement manager. 
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Hawaii’s Environmental Sustainability Movement
Flying into Hawaii in January for a week of school visits, I was quickly reminded of why this state is in the vanguard of our nation’s environmental sustainability movement. From the air, Hawaii’s islands appear as emeralds surrounded by fringe collars of white, dotting the vast blue ocean of the Mid-Pacific. Hawaii is further from the continental landmass than anywhere on earth, and this distance and sense of isolation shapes a consciousness among Hawaiians that their fragile ecosystem is at risk, and that they must take urgent action to protect it. 
This article is no longer available online.

Sprucing up schools
February 7, 2012
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii physicians and staff members volunteered their time working in sustainable gardens and on campus maintenance and beautification at Kahakai Elementary, Waimea Middle and Waiakea High school’s in commemoration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in January.
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Cafeteria conflicts for school gardens
Strict regulations over food service leave advocates seeking solutions
February 5, 2012
Advocates of school gardens and healthy eating remain frustrated that they are blocked from serving student-grown produce in school lunch programs. “We are not able to get it into the cafeteria,” said Kirk Surry, coordinator for the South Maui School Gardens Project. Surry said his students are allowed to taste fruits and vegetables as they pick them, or enjoy samples from a cooking demonstration in the classroom, but that lunchtime remained strictly off-limits.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from The Maui News

Ag education adapting to changes
February 3, 2012
Honokaa High School has offered agriculture programs at least since the 1940s. Back then, the education was mostly aimed at adequately preparing students for trade work at the plantations. It also catered to those who hoped someday to run the family farm, said Manuel Jadulang, the school’s agriculture teacher. Today, Honokaa’s agriculture education classes focus on horticulture, agricultural technology, forestry, natural resources, agricultural science and aquaculture. 
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Lost L.A.: School gardens, an idea planted a century ago
February 3, 2012 
Good schools make good citizens and responsible citizens plant gardens. Combine the two and you get the school garden movement that’s back in Los Angeles a century after it began. In 1889, officials built one of the city’s first public schools, four rooms in a building at the corner of East 7th and Wilson streets downtown. It soon became a two-story, windowed pile crowded with a thousand kids. At the time, social engineers wrote that an effective education combined classroom learning and outdoor experience. Here in Los Angeles, still a region of fields and orchards, the Board of Education in 1910 hired Marie Aloysius Larkey. Trained in agriculture economy, she brought the school garden movement to Angelenos.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from The Los Angeles Times

Finally, Good News About School Lunches
January 31, 2012
Thirty-two million kids — 10 percent of the American population, and the future of the country — are about to start eating better. That’s the bottom line of the new Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) guidelines for government-subsidized school meals, announced last week. The new rules are the first changes to the program in 15 years, and come as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from The New York Times The Opinion Pages

Volunteers help Waiakea school garden on MLK Day
January 17, 2012
HILO, Hawaii: Monday was the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday… that means all federal, state and county offices were closed. Public and private schools were also closed on Hawaii Island, but that doesn’t mean they were empty. Here at Waiakea High School, physicians and staff members with Kaiser Permanente joined students, teachers, and members of the Hawaii Island School Garden Network, to refurbish the school’s garden. 
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Video News

Kaiser commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 17, 2012
More than 500 Kaiser Permanente Hawaii physicians and staff members volunteered their time today working on community projects on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The volunteer effort was led by the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, which was formed in 1960 to provide care to all Kaiser Permanente members in Hawaii.
» Read more

Used with permission from Hawaii 247

Hawaii school gardens receive grants from Kohala Center
December 14, 2011
Sixteen Hawai‘i Island schools have received grants from The Kohala Center to support funding for garden educators, for curriculum development, and for garden supplies. The Kohala Center funding supports school garden programs at participating K-12 schools in order to improve the quality of food and agriculture sciences education in Hawai‘i.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Big Island Video News

At Prep School, Rolling Up Sleeves and Working the Soil
Wendy Carlson for The New York Times
November 18, 2011
When Hannah Arin arrived here this fall to begin her first year as a boarding school student at the Hotchkiss School, a prestigious co-educational prep school, she expected something of a culture shock. Set in the foothills of the Berkshires, the 820-acre woodsy campus with its imposing Georgian-style brick buildings was a far cry from Las Vegas, her hometown. But the school’s working farm, replete with clucking hens, beef cattle, acres of vegetables and a prodigious number of earthworms, proved to be even more unfamiliar turf.
» Read more
Used with permission from The New York Times

Dispatch from Hawai‘i: Supporting the Growing School Garden Movement
Center for Ecoliteracy
November 2011
Think “Hawai’i,” and lush, abundant landscapes likely come to mind. Yet statistics tell a different story: Located more than 2,000 miles from the nearest port, Hawai’i imports 85–90% of its food and has less than a seven-day supply in stores at any given time, making it vulnerable to economic disruptions and natural disasters. Over 9% of residents are “food insecure,” which means they lack consistent access to enough food for a healthy, productive life. There is heightened demand to feed the state’s 1.3 million residents and 7 million-plus annual tourists.
» Read more
Used with permission from the Center for Ecoliteracy

Want your kids to get into Harvard? Tell ’em to go outside!
August 25th, 2011
By Richard Louv
September is back-to-school month, and the chanting begins: Drill, test, lengthen the school day, skip recess, cancel field trips, and by all means discourage free time for (gasp!) self-directed play. Is that approach working, particularly in science learning? Not so well. A few months ago, I met with a dozen biology professors at Central North Carolina University. They were deeply concerned about the dramatic deterioration of student knowledge of what’s out there: these students can tell you all about the Amazon rain forest, but nothing about the plants and animals of the neighborhoods in which they live.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from The New Nature Movement

School garden conference at Makaha Elementary
July 6, 2011
MAKAHA—School garden and classroom teachers from around the state will converge this week at the oldest school garden in the state, Hoa ‘Aina O Makaha, for the 4th annual Summer School Garden Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is Planting Hope: Growing the Next Generation. The conference is hosted by The Kohala Center of the Big Island, an independent, not-for-profit center for research and education about and for the environment. 
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from The Hawaii Independent

Students’ Garden
May 16, 2011
By Carolyn Lucas-Zenk
Tending her family’s garden made 12-year-old Shady Shirai feel right at home while planting native and culturally significant flora on the Hulihee Palace grounds. But these plants serve a different purpose, they’re part of a living memorial to the Hawaiian royalty who vacationed here and they are an educational public display. Monday morning, Shirai and eight other Innovations Public Charter School students began planting this garden, located between the palace and Kuakini Building.
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Hawai‘i Public Health Association Newsletter May 2011

Big Island Green: School Garden fosters Community and Sustainability
April 13, 2011
By Roger Harris & Diane Koerner
Mala‘ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School shares the bounty of their school garden with students, families, faculty and the community too. Long a teaching force that combines the pleasure and excitement of working with the earth and growing food, the Mala‘ai Saturday afternoon Crop Share gathers the abundance of their garden as well as surplus produce from nearby farms and offers them to the community.
» Read more
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly

Poi Pounders
March 26, 2011
By Fiona McDonough
Native Hawaiians have pounded kalo, or taro, into poi by hand for centuries. This tradition is something community members and organizations hope to restore through public instruction on the technique and value of hand pounding. Hand-pounded poi is often the product of community education programs, whereas commercial poi is generally machine-made.
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Fresh sprouts at school Sunset Beach students grow, harvest, sell and eat local produce, thanks to the help of farms and the community
March 9, 2011
By Joleen Oshiro
When you think about it, farms and schools have the same goal: to plant seeds and nurture growth. At Sunset Beach Elementary School the figurative ideal has gone literal. Seed-planting, plus a healthy dose of support from educators, parents, farms and the community, has sprouted and nurtured students’ love of gardening and their taste for locally grown fruits and vegetables.
» Read more
Used with permission from the Star Advertiser

Bees Rock! at Malaai School Garden
January 28, 2011
Waimea families and friends are invited to Malaai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29 as Jenny Bach shares her knowledge about the amazing wonders of bees and bee guardianship. Jenny is a seasoned bee keeper and has a deep understanding of the important work honey bees perform in sustaining agricultural health and also how we can best use and support them. It’s free — bring friends and family. This is one of a series of workshops planned in coming months to encourage home food gardens. 
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawaii 24/7

Kaiser Permanente to “Walk the Walk” with Hawaii island school garden network Community to come together on Martin Luther King, Jr. “day of service” to promote healthy living.
January 12, 2011
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii physicians and clinic staff will set aside their sterile medical garb, equipment and working environment and, instead, get down and dirty working in the dirt – volunteering in Hawaii Island school gardens to celebrate the 25th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. “Day of Service” on Monday, Jan. 17. In doing so, they hope to practice what they preach daily to patients via their “HEAL” prescription for “Healthy Eating, Active Living.”
» Read more
Used with permission from the Big Island Weekly

Hanai‘Ai Newsletter January 2011
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

Planting seeds of good health
December 10, 2010
Waimea school’s ‘Crop Share’ aims to make fresh produce accessible A stroll through Waimea Middle School’s Mala’ai culinary garden can start your stomach rumbling. Artichoke. Green beans. Tomatoes. Lemongrass. Onions. Arugula. Chili peppers. Cucumbers. Sunchokes. Spinach. Cilantro. The list goes on and on. As one of the largest and most ambitious school gardens on the island, Mala’ai has helped spark a movement to emphasize sustainability and farming practices in daily lesson plans across the state.
» Read more
Used with permission from the Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Kaiser supports produce exchange program
December 9, 2010
Kaiser Permanente has presented a $5,000 grant to The Kohala Center to support the establishment of a surplus fresh produce exchange program – called Crop Share – at Malaai Garden: The Culinary Garden at Waimea Middle School. Crop Share provides the opportunity for community members to bring surplus produce from their farm or garden to exchange with other community members.
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Hawaii 24/7

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act
Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono
December 2, 2010
Our keiki’s health is a crucial priority. Today I voted to send a landmark child nutrition bill to President Obama for his signature. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307) is the largest federal effort in 30 years to fight childhood obesity and hunger in Hawaii and nationwide. We’ve seen the statistics. Hawaii faced a 15 percent increase in diabetes rates from 2005 to 2009, and 28.5 percent of youth in Hawaii ages 10-17 are obese. Meanwhile, 9.1 percent of Hawaii residents are “food insecure,” lacking consistent access to enough food for a healthy and productive life. 
This article is no longer available online.

Back to basics
Chefs challenge youths to plant gardens and think fresh, not processed, when it comes to food choices
December 1, 2010
Children faced with challenge have existed since the beginning of time. But fundamental health issues plaguing today’s youth are unprecedented: Obesity and diabetes, once rare in children, are epidemic. While a variety of factors come into play, diets of processed food and sedentary lifestyles are two of the largest contributors to the phenomenon. These have not only affected children’s physical well-being, but their knowledge and awareness of fresh food, their connection to the natural world – and, by default, the health of the planet.
» Read more
Used with permission from the Star Advertiser

School gardens
‘The garden echoes what happens in the classroom’
November 28, 2010
With hands deep in the soil, students at Kona Pacific Public Charter School in Kealakekua spend time twice a week in their 6,000-square-foot garden. Their garden teacher, Barrow Hutchison, is right there with them, teaching them everything from planting and harvesting to building a shed. They even learned how to build an electric fence to keep pigs out. It might seem like innocent fun, but beyond learning to grow and even eat eggplant and squash, the students are applying what they’ve learned in math, science, reading and social studies in a hands-on way.
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

A Summer of Education for Sustainable Living
September 2010
Dedicated teachers don’t take the summer off. They are busy stretching their minds and gathering inspiration and ideas for the next school year. The Center for Ecoliteracy was privileged to present three seminars during summer 2010. We shared an array of strategies for teaching about sustainable living with diverse groups of lively, committed educators. The seminars featured interdisciplinary approaches to linking classroom teaching and learning to the natural environment, school gardens and food, and the community. They included our first seminar in Hawai’i…
» Read more
Used with permission from the Center for Ecoliteracy Blog

Garden teachers cultivate new ideas 
Big Isle conference draws instructors from across Hawaii
August 22, 2010
A single harvest of corn yielded many lessons for Sacred Hearts School students last week. After picking hybrid Indian corn from the school garden, the students were counting kernels that came in yellow, blue, dark brown and a rainbow of other colors.”Today we were doing math with corn. Corn math,” science enrichment teacher Ed Mahoney said Thursday.
» Read more
Used with permission from The Maui News

Have I Taught You Well Enough? Instilling an Environmental Ethic. 
August 11, 2010
Have I taught you well enough? Spoken softly by Kumu Pua Case, these powerful words left a strong impact on the circle of teachers standing in the foothills of the Waimea mountains in the summer of 2010. Have I taught you well enough to make the decisions for the future of our island? Have I taught you well enough to make the decisions on where, what type and how much development? Have I taught you well enough to make the decisions on land use and resource use?
Click here to view the article online.
Used with permission from Nature Talks

Smart by Nature: School garden teachers gather in Waimea
July 16, 2010
Dozens of school garden teachers are gathering this weekend on the Big Island for the 3rd annual Hawaii School Garden Teacher Conference. The conference at Waimea Middle School’s Malaai Culinary Garden runs through Sunday, July 18 and features guest speakers from Center for Ecoliteracy, a Berkeley, Calif.-based company focused on the education for sustainable living.
» Read more
Used with permission from the Hawaii247.com

Sustaining Hamakua
July 2010
“Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was loaned to you by your children.” Kenyan Proverb
There are so many ways that we can live more sustainably. We can live in harmony with the earth by growing our food at home or buying locally grown groceries (in little or no disposable packaging.) Like the Kenyan proverb, something adults tell children is to leave a place nicer than when they came to it.
» Read more
Used with permission from Hamakua Times

The Pa‘aulio School Agriculture Program
June 24, 2010
Pa‘auilo Elementary & Intermediate School is located on the Hamakua Coast, between Honoka‘a and Laupahoehoe. Its student population is around 275 and is the last K-9th grade school in the state. The school has had a long history of promoting agriculture and I started the garden here as a volunteer ten years ago. I’ve been leading the school’s agriculture program since then. Besides staffing the parent center, my purpose is to teach students how to produce healthy food and care for small-scale livestock.
» Read more
Used with permission from Hawaii Homegrown Food Network

Need for Seed
June 20, 2010
Maintaining Hawaii Island’s agricultural diversity is dependent on residents sharing seeds, and the Hawaii Island Seed Exchange provides the venue for people to do just that.
“The seed exchange is a time for everyone to come together and exchange seeds from different parts of a island and learn about the work that each other is doing,” said event coordinator Nancy Redfeather.
» Read more
Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

School of the Soil
June / July 2010
Pua Mendoca knows who’s been nibbling holes in the leaves of her taro, eggplant and basil. Mendoca is the kumu kahua mala, or school garden instructor, at a charter school in Hilo called Ka ‘Umeke Ka‘eo. The culprits nibbling on the leaves? They’re the Chinese rose beetles that recently discovered the school’s raised vegetable beds. But Kumu Pua, as the children call her, has a plan to end the beetles’ schoolyard feast. It involves worms and kindergartners.
» Read more
Used with permission from Hana Hou!

Kohala Center joins a national race to help our keiki stay healthy
May 28, 2010
HONOLULU—The Kohala Center on Hawaii Island will partner with The Center for Ecoliteracy in California and Kaiser Permanente on a July conference to help teachers help kids grow gardens and healthier bodies—and maybe teach their parents a thing or two.
» Read more
Used with permission from The Hawaii Independent

The Hawaii Island School Garden Network
May 26, 2010
Have you ever wondered how the next generations will learn about where their food comes from? Or who will teach our kids how to grow their own food? Did you think that perhaps parents and families would teach their children these things? Think again: all evidence demonstrates that over the past century fewer and fewer parents even know where their food comes from or what a healthy diet is, let alone how to grow a backyard vegetable garden.
Although this tragic trend is starting to change in small ways, there is a dedicated group of Hawai’i Island farmer-educators who have thought about these questions for years and not long ago decided to answer them with an idea and program that is innovative, effective, and powerful. It’s called the Hawai’i Island School Garden Network (HISGN).
» Read more
Used with permission from The Hawaii Homegrown Food Network

Farming Internships–Growing a Green Career
March 24, 2010
Reports have come out that farming will be the hottest green job for the next decade. Just how can our children tap into this job market?
Here on the Big Island, we have a need for local food sustainability that could be met by the growing crop of potential farmers who have been inspired by their school gardens, where they connect with the source of their food, grow it, harvest it and eat it themselves.
» Read more
Used with permission from Big Island Weekly

Kaiser volunteers help out school gardens
February 9, 2010
On Jan. 18, in honor of Martin Luther King (MLK), Jr., and his commitment to community service, doctors and staff from Kaiser Permanente joined hands with students, teachers, and volunteers to work in three school gardens around Hawaii Island.
“This is our way of giving back to our community,” said Dr. Jeffrey Tolan, Family Practice Physician at Kaiser Permanente’s Waimea Clinic.
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Used with permission from Hawaii247.com

Volunteers at Work–Kahakai Elementary garden gets a helping hand
January 19, 2010
The earthy smell of freshly turned soil mingled with the spicy, pepper scent of just-plucked basil Monday morning, as volunteers from Kaiser Permanente descended on the school’s garden for weeding, pruning and picking.
Several dozen volunteers, including Kaiser employees, their spouses and their children, as well as teachers and school workers, arrived at Kahakai Elementary School to help with the school garden.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Kaiser to lend hands in service projects
January 17, 2010
About 300 Kaiser Permanente Hawaii physicians and staff members will get their hands dirty tomorrow for a good cause.
Many will be doing gardening and other community projects in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
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Used with permission from the Star Bulletin

Planting “Seeds of Hope” in the future
October 21, 2009
School gardens on the Big Island are growing in popularity, and educators spearheading these initiatives hope that today’s keiki will hoe the row towards a future of sustainability.
Nancy Redfeather, Hawai’i Island School Garden Network project director, said hopes more will pop up and continue to blossom.
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Used with permission from the Big Island Weekly

All Aboard for School Gardens! Opulent Lunch Aboard the Golden Princess
October 17, 2009
On Friday, Oct. 16th, the Kohala Center held a fundraiser for the Hawaii Island School Garden Network on board the Golden Princess, a luxury cruise ship docked in Hilo Harbor.
Click here to view the blog post online.
Used with permission from the Andrea Dean Blog

Growing Food Security — One Garden at a Time
September 27, 2009
School gardens are sprouting and growing in 50 schools around Hawaii Island. These gardens, coordinated by the Hawaii Island School Garden Network, encourage youngsters and their families to plant and eat tropical food plants. The experience creates opportunities to connect to the land and the culture.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

No Child Left Inside: Hawai‘i Island School Gardens and the Kohala Center
September 22, 2009
Beginning in 2001, the Kohala Center was created as an independent, not-for-profit center for research and education. The center has made it their mission “to respectfully engage the Island of Hawai’i as an extraordinary and vibrant research and learning laboratory for humanity”.
They go about this through a multitude of programs; The Mellon-Hawai’i Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, Hawai’i Island Meaningful Environmental Education for Teachers (HI-MEET), the Hawai’i County Agriculture Development Plan, the Waimea Nature Camp for youth, and many more.
Click here to view the blog post online.
Used with permission from Kanu Hawaii

Oct. 16 Luncheon Celebrates school gardens program on World Food Day
September 16, 2009
The Kohala Center celebrates the 26th Annual World Food Day.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Kohala Center sponsors benefit for school gardens
September 14, 2009
The Kohala Center celebrates the 26th Annual World Food Day with a benefit “Seeds of Hope” luncheon for the Hawai’i Island School Garden Network (HISGN) from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. October 16 aboard the Golden Princess docked at Hilo Harbor. Reservations are required by September 30.
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Used with permission from HonoluluAdvertiser.com

Growing Trend
December 2008
IT’S NO SECRET: Hawaii is facing a farmer shortage, which could one day cripple the state’s local agriculture industry. That’s why for the past year, Nancy Redfeather, executive director of the Hawaii Island School Gardens Network, has been working closely with Big Island parents and educators to get students interested in farming by creating their own on-site gardens.
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Used with permission from Hawaii Business Magazine

Saturday workshop focuses on growing food
November 19, 2008
In the last year, the Hawaii Island School Garden Network has expanded to serve school gardens in communities around the island. There are currently 45 projects, at varying stages of development, participating in the Garden Network.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today