Natural Farming Hawai’i

Monthly Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, November 9th 2010

6pm @ Komohana Ag Research Center, Hilo

~40 people in attendance

• Master Cho coming December 6th to Hawaii. 7&8 workshop on Oahu. 9th farm tours. 10th Kohala with visit to Ho’ea Ag Park w/ David Fuertes. Will also see Richard Ha’s farm. Back to Korea on Dec. 11th.
• Hopefully Kohala will develop something big
• corn prices have gone up 70% in the last few months. food and oil prices going up - right time for natural farming.
• Dr. Park will teach a workshop: Hilo Korean Christian Church - ad this sunday in the Tribune Hearald w/ details. Nov 29 & 30 varying hours to accomodate peoples schedules. 3 hours at night.
• Andrea Dean - Eat Local for a week. Kohala 50% sustainable by 2012. events she hosted were successful - people came out. stone soup: everyone bring some local food and make several recipes - donated soup to elderly. restaurant effort was not so successful. future plans: get pledges from people to eat local, you’ll get a coupon. she’ll extend this island-wide; getting more grant money. andrea ate local for 60 days.  blog is andreadean.com
• ulu - effort between andrea dean and craig elevitch to feed us. 25 mature ulu trees per acre make 6 1/4 tons of food! used to be a 2x20 mile band of ulu in kealakekua.
• restaurants need consistency and timely supply. opportunities for local distributors.
• David Fuertes has a plan for sustainability. 10 familys with 10 kalo. keep planting all huli for 3 years and then will have 2,500 lbs of poi a month from 1/4 acre.
• Mike Dupont gave a tour of Kang’s Piggery for Practical Ag Hamakua last Saturday. the event was well attended.
• Norman Arancon’s class on vermicomposting - the worms are incubators and transporters for microbes directly in the soil. vermicompost can eliminate pathogens like e. coli from the soil in a matter of months. 20% is optimal for vermicompost in potting soil mixes. pig manures is the best manure for making vermicompost, chicken manures are not good unless washed first. pre-composting sawdust if you’re going to feed it to worms. blend food particles to a soup before feeding it to your worms for optimal results. Norman feeds his worms “infused” shredded paper. make sure worm castings are moist & stored out of the sun before you buy them. can mix biochar into worm castings for superior results. worm tea is volitile and must be used within 7 days. great for soaking compost and biochar. dewormed animal’s manure must be composted for at least 4 weeks before feeding to worms. give corn-meal to worms to super boost them. don’t stir the worms: they can live in up to 90% moisture. stirring just bruises and breaks them. piper@hawaii.edu can be reached for how to set up a home worm system.
• ted radovich’s presentation on compositng. talked a lot about C/N ratio. website at http://www.klickitatcounty.org/solidwaste/fileshtml/organics/compostcalc.htm - for building your own compost, can plug in up to 4 ingredients and ti will give you the proper amounts to make a good C/N ratio. when compost is done right it breaks quick. another resource is CTAHR newsletter Hanai ‘Ai. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/news/index.html Moringa, pumpkin and squash are all staple crops we can grow in Hawai’i. ted makes compost at about $9 acre that is effective. brews compost tea for usually 20 hours then dilutes 10:1 or 20:1 for application. can brew aerobic microbes without aeration with a keep it simple system. he applies 1 ton per acre of material compost. if one puts 3 tons per acre, you won’t see added benefits that year, but will definitely see remedial results. on a 10x10 garden, one would apply about 3.5~5 lbs of vermicompost.
• read the Carbon Connection.
• will be teaching NF to Master Gardener program @ CTAHR. ~50 people are master gardeners in hilo. they run school programs, local food in school lunch program, demo garden at Komohana Ag Center, field trips. to become a master gardener submit an application then take a series of classes, pass test. volunteer for 40 hours first year, 20 hours a year thereafter. lots of fun.
• Dr. Park reports - David’s kalo is taller than Dr. Park and it’s only 4 months old. and tons of hulis too. very successful in transplanting. pay attention to the balance of leaves, corms & keikis - can’t do everything big. we should also start to produce noni - boosts immunity.
• human manure workshop at La’akea in the future.
• Master Cho has written about human manure. most people ignore it, but sh it is a valuable resource in developing countries.
• Chicken workshop on November 20th at Kaiao w/ hubble bubble. will continue workshops on chickens saturday’s after that.
• Kim posts a lot of great info on facebook. her email is kimrealtorhawaii@gmail.com Kim chang to find her on facebook. add her as a friend.

Crop Discussion of Kalo

• Drake has been growing Kalo for 3 years. huli means “to turn”. many different varieties. can cook with a pressure cooker to reduce energy to prepare. if you ferment as poi it can get the rest of the crystals out. fermented poi’s predominant microbe is penicillin. mana kea is a great variety of kalo.
• cooking kalo with a hot box is a good idea. bring pot of water and kalo to a boil, then remove from heat and place in insulated box for forty minutes.
• poi is great as a baby food.
• traditionally one maintains a separate patch near the house specifically for harvesting leaf. always put the leaves in when cooking, they are a great boost to your immune system.
• amy greenwell has a great book on kalo
• Isis offered a trip to Waipio
• how to grow kalo: harvest huli from the side of the makua (parent). you eat the makua and pop off the oha to make huli. to prepare the huli: take off the leaves - don’t cut the new leaf in the middle. cut off the bottom leaving the top roots only, about 1/8th inch of corm left. let huli grow roots in water for 3 days. or just leave dry out of direct sun for 3 days. plant about 6 inches into the ground - careful not to cover the emerging leaf. if planting more shallow, hill up later in life.
• kalo is a stem crop, not a root crop. for first 6 months the plant grows up. the last 3 months the plant shrinks and puts all it’s energy into the corm.
• on average each plant makes 8 new huli. to make bigger corms: plant further apart. to make more keiki: plant elbow distance apart.
• dryland kalo can be grown in water, but wetland kalo can not be grown without water.
• wai keo’keo variety is known for it’s tender leaves.
• leaf blight makes bright brown patches that disintegrate leaves. Ginger John had this symptom and cured it by spreading IMO4 in his field. beneficial microbes combat blight.
• there are buds on the corm that can be grown by slicing them off with a knife and taking really good care of them.
• Traditional Waipio planting: one does not pull off the side shoots of the ha, instead they are sliced off with a machete leaving only the youngest leaf intact. the huli are left in the shade for a few days after preparation and planted when new roots pop.
• kalo should be rotated every 3 years. the fallow field can be smothered with kukui leaves to ensure future fertility.

Cassava will be the crop discussed next time.

Next Meeting December 14th 2010

Same place, same time. Email drake@localgarden.us for more info.

+ May the Microbes be with you.