Our Next Steps!

Aloha from Pennsylvania with the Summer Solstice just around the corner!!!


We recently had a day long meeting with Jerry Brunetti and Dr. Paul Hepperly at the Rodale Institute. These brilliant leaders of ecological agriculture were inspiring to be around, and we are fortunate to have them as two of four presenters for our next Body and Soil Conference.

Our time together was very productive in viewing all of the trials being done there around cover cropping, composting and bio char soil remediation. Setting the tone and content of this next conference, which will be Jan 16 and 17th on Maui.

The theme being, how to beneficially colonize while understanding, the microbial world of our Body and the Soil.

We then will be taking it to the Big Island and Kauai so folks from outer islands can hear these provocative presentations too. Doc Hepperly shared with us that we all need to "have a sense of humus" and create "global worming" in developing our agricultural point of view!!!

We are also hoping to have a "Backside Farm Tour" to Kipahulu, Maui in October. Revisiting that area from last time we did in 2002. We will be calling on our data base of folks to assist in making it so
It was a great time then and will be again with us all going around Ulupalakua side in small buses and visiting these jewels of Biological farms!!! Stay tuned for more news on the details of that event.


We also went to see the premier of the movie "Food, Inc." in downtown Phila. Wow what a powerful flic. This industrial food system we have is crashing down under its own weight of dysfunction. Its up to us to help that along at the cash register, with our choosing to by local grown while finding out how it was grown. Only supporting a system that feeds us nutrient rich diversity of food, while building vitality in the environment.

Were so charged by what is possible in shifting the awareness on Maui to play a much bigger game agriculturally. We have been focused on building our next conference, followed by the agricultural summit into being a guiding light to achieve some attainable goals, employing proper agricultural protocols that feed back into a system that produces vitality into our food supply and environment.

We also envision anonymous financial support for our mission so that we can move forward a ecological food, energy and water system for Maui, that will represent the ability of what can be done. We are now on the threshold of a dream to actualize Maui as the paradise on earth that we all know it can be.

Hold that vision translating into your actions, whether its growing your own food or just appreciating those whose actions are putting "the culture back into agriculture".

May Day News from Ma'a

Weve been busy working on several fronts.
Look first at this all Organic local grown meal we prepared, yea baby!!!! We had fresh fish caught by our friend we cleaned and baked. Organic steamed green beans, Organic Avocado, Organic Garden Squash steamed, Organic salad with our compost grown sunflower greens, and Organic sweet potato. It was so ono!!!!

Next some great news, in our testimonies to the County of Maui Council on the budget for fiscal 09,10 we requested and received unanimous support for a separate line item in funding from the county.
It still needs to pass through two readings under a full council yet we are hopeful they will continue to support what they all agreed to.
What this means is that Maui Aloha Aina Association will no longer be under the farm bureau in getting our funding from the county. Also the county is going to be funding us to hold an agricultural summit to development an ecological whole system approach in the formation of an action plan for our islands food security and sustainability.
What is heartening for us is the county seeing the value of what we are doing and how we need as an island to be moving in a direction that will truly sustain our physical and environmental well being. Were also in the process of building our next "Body and Soil" conference slated for the middle of January 2010. Stay tuned for more details on this tradition of a very provocative event for Maui.

Sharing some very sad news we put out in a newsletter in January was the passing of Charles "Chuck" Walters founder of ACRES USA and an icon of eco-agriculture.
When we last posted our blog it was after the ACRES Conference where we last saw and spent time with Chuck. We feel so very fortunate to have had a personal friendship with this humble yet highly educated man who stood up and spoke up for the small family farm and all of our small diverse farms that make up the back bone of our eco-logical agricultural scene. 
His humor and wit along with his pointed "view from the country" will truly will be missed. 

Thankfully and selflessly  he left behind a legacy of holding space for eco agricultural leaders in Kinsey, Brunetti, Zimmer, Shaffer, Salatin, Anderson the list goes on and on to continue to blaze the educational trail he began back when he founded ACRES USA in the early seventies. While his son Fred who has been running the operations of the publication and conferences continues with the standards and values set by Chuck. 

Into a future that will serve as a beacon guiding us all into an eco logical relationship with the natural world in our agricultural evolution of practice. 

Our Ma'a board, Vincent Mina, Jim Hall, and Irene Plunkett with Ann Walters, Chucks wife and matriarch of the publication and conferences.

ACRES USA 2008 "In the Books"

Well its in the books the 2008 ACRES USA conference is now history.





(Chuck Walters enjoying some of sunflower greens we brought from our farm)

WOW what a lazier beam expression of agriculture, or as Charles "Chuck" Walters
shared this event being the university and the presenters being the professors of what the true essence of Agriculture is and will be as we move into the future. 

Jerry Brunetti was honored with the ACRES USA lifetime award for his contributions to agriculture. The attendance was over 1200 and many here for the first time. We got to hear presentations from ACRES leaders who also have presented at past Ma'a conferences.

 With the likes of Bob Shaffer, Will Winter, Richard Olree, Gary Zimmer, Neal Kinsey and Jerry Brunetti along with great keynotes from new faces with a long history of contributions in Agriculture.

First time presenting Michael Melendrez from New Mexico gave a great presentation of the soil food web and wants to come present on Maui at the Ma'a conference. Were feeling that for our next conference slated for January of 2010, we will be focused on the body and soil ecology in micro-flora with hopefully having two of the four presenters being Michael Melendrez and gut health with
Natasha Campbell McBride the star of the Westin Price Conference this past November.
I've been using the pro-biotic she formulated the results in support of my physiology have been impressive. This has me very excited since both are strong advocates of how the micro-flora in the body and the soil rules the roost. Something all persuasions of growers whether a farmer or gardener needs to pay attention to along with those who just want to eat and be well.
(By the way were figuring to have a backside Organic farm tour to Kipahulu in October of 09, that will be a follow up from the provocative one we experienced in 2002, called the "Backside Tour" where we chartered small buses and drove backside around Ulupalakua to Kipahulu and visited 4 Organic farms. It will be fortuitous to see how they have grown and developed over the years.)
All in all ACRES was truly a great event, we hope to bring all that we experienced back to the folks on Maui so that others can benefit from all of the scientific based expertise we were exposed to. 

We also were treated to the premier of the documentary "Food Fight" and are hoping to have it premiered on Maui as we did with King Corn before its release to the public. Stay tuned to this one it was a great film showing what is being done and the value that is being created in growing our food biologically.

Westin Price & ACRES USA Conferences

Aloha, Were back after a wonderful conference at Westin Price (Wise Traditions) over 1,400 folks attended, to think that eight years ago their first conference was held in a basement and 64 folks attended.



The presentations were top notch, and the food equally as good.

We met and spoke with two progressive MD's whose work are most provocative. Natasha Campbell McBride out of the UK was the shinning star of the conference along with Tom Cowan who happens to also be a board member of Westin Price, its our hope to have them speak at our upcoming events.

Pictured Natasha and her son with Vincent

These are folks who have developed nutritional protocols that support healthy heart and circulation, along with probiotics and enzymes that will support a healthy digestive system, or in Dr. Campbell's words assist to "seal and heal our gut".

Next up for us is to go to ACRES USA in St. Louis to recruit our other two presenters. We feel fortunate to be able to get to these events which saves folks here on the islands the thousands of dollars it would otherwise take to get to hear these world class presentations.

Conference 08 " One for the ages"!!!

Aloha All
The conference is now in the books, what a event it was,
Mahalo Nui to all who supported our efforts to connect community with provocative presentations environmental and body ecology.

Our 8th event we were heartened with the energy and gratitude of all that attended.
The tone being set by the Hanalei Colleado Ohana with their mele and chant.
The presenters were very inspired by the energetics and appreciation from the community that attended and it was evident by their presentations.

With the setting being the beautiful venue of Sam Vessels Property. Sam has been very supportive of our efforts in gifting us the use of her land to hold our events and where Steve Wilson has been farming organically and evolving his practices through the expertise that has been presented there, over the past few years held on this property.


Coupled with an off the charts spread of Organic food that mirrored the spirit and intention of what the conference is all about in growing nutritious food and being well.



What made it also so very successful was the networking among participants,enhanced by a vendor tent full of great services,it was indeed a great success. Truly folks that came experienced that they were the event.


We now are setting our sites on next years conference and along with that have an intention to hold a agricultural summit to develop an action plan for Maui County.
Mahalo again to all of you that made this years one to remember and build on.
Please feel free to comment on your experience of either coming to the conference or visiting our website and blog.

Mahalo Nui Loa to all!

Bee Aware

Aloha All, This coming Friday nite will tip off the start of a series of presentations on the life cycle and challenges of he honey bee here in Hawaii. Dennis Morihiro is a elder that has worked with bees for the past 25 years.
Its heartening to know that he is open to share his knowledge and experience with the community at large.

Our conference is now 32 days away. There has been much done to prepare and still much to do. Today I sent out 21 soil samples of folks that had the foresight to sign up for soil analysis with their early registration. Sept 22nd marks the end of early registration without soil analysis and at this point we have 30 registrations, making it the most we have had this far out from the conference over the eight years weve done these events.

It is very timely with alot of the soil samples coming in from ladies which doesn't surprise me since the ladies are the ones who are sensitized to environment and when the awareness needs to be raised they show up.


Speaking of showing up were hoping that they and others that are growing food and selling it will show up at the Kula Community Center this Saturday Sept 13. at 5:30 annual meeting of Maui County Farm Bureau to vote for new board members who want to implement programs in support of our small farmers. Namely Gerry Ross, Chuck Boerner, Steve Wilson, Bob Howerton and Vincent Mina.

NO TILL... Mo Bettah

Aloha All

I just returned from field days at Rodale Institute and purchased
a roller crimper to have on island in time for our conference
and demonstration October 11,12,2008


What is a roller crimper?


(Kumulani Organic Farm)


Its a piece of equipment that is mounted on the front of the tractor
that rolls and crimps every seven inches a cover crop into a living
mulch.
As it rolls and crimps the cover crop down a coulter (disc)then
slices through the cover crop enabling the farmer to plant starts
or seeds, without disturbing the soil with destructive tilling.

The system we are looking to develop here on the island using this
tool will be utilized on four foot raised vegetable beds growing a
cover crop to fix nitrogen in the soil and also aid in weed
suppression, in support of growing a vegetable crop.

With the rising cost of off farm inputs this direction will aid
in saving money on those costly inputs and in supporting our
small farmers in their practice to be more diversified while
adding important biology in the building their soil structure.

We know a soil that is fertile from mineral balance and biology will
have a structure that will support the growth of a vital plant for us
to eat and be healthy.

It is our intention to support the development of small diverse farms
that utilize regional resources to strengthen and sustain vitality in
its production of local grown produce.
Having a system in place that builds and maintains the vitality of multiple eco systems in our environment will strengthen our farmers ability to farm sustain-ably into the future.