Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 2, 1 February 2005 — Sowing healthy futures [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sowing healthy futures

Story and photos by Derek Ferrar It's a Wednesday - market day - and the young interns at Wai'anae's MA'O organic farm are busy washing and bagging greens, veggies and fruit to sell at several lunehlime stands along the Leeward coast. Laughing and joking as they work, they bustle around the farm's open-air shed, decorated with a vibrant mural painted by native artist Solomon Enos, one of the farm's early employ ees . The lighthearted atmosphere perfectly captures the farm's catchy motto: "No panie, go organic." MA'O - whieh is both the name of a native cotton plant and the initials of the farm's full name, Māla 'Ai 'Ōpio, whieh translates as "youth garden" - is a "community food security initiative" that provides both healthy, locally grown food and a training program for Wai'anae youth who are seeking direction after high school. "It's something positive for the youth out here," says Manny Miles, a 20-year-old former intern who now works as a mentor in the farm's 10-month Leadership Training Program. "Most youth in Wai'anae wind up doing nothing after high school, and then a lot of them end up on the heaeh, doing drugs. This is somewhere different to start." Located on five acres of land leased from the Community of Christ Church in Lualualei Valley, the certified-organic farm was started in 2001 by a nonprofit group called the Wai'anae Community Redevelopment Corporation (WCRC), headed by community activist Kukui MaunakeaForth and her New Zealand-born husband Gary. "What the farm is about is a combination of value and values," says Kukui. "You get something that's healthy and tastes good, at a good price. But our greatest product is the young people we work with." The farm grew out of long-term discussions the eouple had been having with fellow community activists about the need to offer positive alternatives to the area's post-high school youth. "For

so many of them the only real choices seemed to be selling drugs or working a McDonalds," says Gary, who began working on Wai'anae communitydevelopment projects when he was pursuing a graduate degree in polilieal science and environmental studies at the University of Hawai'i. "Our idea was to take kids who had made it through school but didn't know what to do next and to offer them skills and training, while paying them as a parttime job." In early 2001, the WCRC started its first demonstration project at Hoa'āina Mākaha, an existing educational garden connected with Mākaha Elementary School. A few months later, the group secured the lease to the farm and was able to garner $350,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Administration for Native Americans. Some of the grant money was targeted specifically at promoting "community food security," whieh Gary defines as "the ability of any plaee to produce its own food in a healthy way." "People talk about the organic salad mixes at Costco and Sam's Club, but do you really know where that food comes from?" says Kanoe Burgess, who graduated from the leadership program in 2003 and now works full time at the farm as a project assistant. "We piek our salad greens the same day we sell them, and we sell them in

our own community, so people ean get fresh quality without having to paying a really high price for organic food at the supermarket." The farm graduated its first group of nine interns from the Leadership Training Program in June of 2003 and is currently training its third group. The interns, who are paid minimum wage and offered health benefits, work three days a week at the farm and also run MA'0's market stands on Wednesdays and Saturdays, along with pulling shifts at the group's popular Aloha 'Āina Cafe in the Wai'anae town center (see sidebars). "The curriculum has evolved over time according to the needs and interests of eaeh group," Kukui says. "Their kuleana is to learn all the facets of organic farming, from soil analysis, irrigation and planting to harvesting and marketing the product. But we also offer guest speakers and educational classes in things like conflict resolution, personal development and entrepreneurship, and we emphasize the Hawaiian culture as mueh as eaeh group is ean handle." With the help of an OHA grant, MA'O has also started educational gardens at Wai'anae's intermediate and high schools. This semester, the high school will begin offering a five-month internship program that is an abbreviated version See MA'O on page 18

At Wai'anae^ MA'O farm, the prospects of young interns grow along with the organic produce

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Depending on what's in season, MA'O Farm's certified-organic products include taro and lū'au leaf, limes, tangerines, apple bananas, avocados, mangoes, daikon, beets, radishes and a wide variety of salad greens and fresh herbs. The farm's produce is available at the following times and locations: Wednesdays, noon-1 p.m. • Wai'anae Comprehensive Health Center • Kaiser Permanente Nanaikeola Clinic • Leeward Community College, main quad Saturdays, 9-11 a.m. • Aloha 'Āina Cafe farmers market First and third Saturday of every moiilh. 7:30-11:30 • Kapi'olani Community College Farmers Market In addition, the farm's produce is regularly available at Kōkua Market in Mō'ili'ili.

MA'O farmers Ikaika Burgo, Rowan lshitani and Kanoe Burgess bag greens. Top: No panie - go organic!

CAFE from page 10

with breakfast treats like sweet-bread French toast smothered in melted peanut butter (and served with farmgrown apple bananas, of course). "If there's anything we really get naughty with, health-wise," Kaleo says, "it's our desserts, like the pumpkin crunch or our cheesecakes. But still, it's all homemade, not from a jar." Interns at the farm also put in time working at the cafe. "We try to teach them customer skills and how to prepare certain dishes, Kaleo says. "Some of them have never cooked anything in their life, and I think they enjoy learning. I guess you could say they 'planted the seed' with the farm program, and this is what's blooming now." The Aloha 'Āina Cafe is located at 85-773 Farrington Hwy. and is open Monday - Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 697-8808. ■