David Sumida slices off two bundles of watercress with his sickle. He’s ankle deep in the water of Sumida Farms. His watercress grows in gravel, not soil, in spring water that comes fresh from the aquifer. It must always be running, and it’s clean enough to drink, he says. Not far away, sirens wail down […]
Mama’s Fish House, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year, has been working with local fishermen and farmers for so long, their relationships are now three generations deep. “Without those important resources, we wouldn’t be where we are,” says Perry Bateman, the restaurant’s executive chef. Mama’s Fish House, one of Maui’s most beloved institutions for
Bee sex is simultaneously a delicate and violent act. Drone bees mate with the queen bee in mid flight, and once the semen is deposited, the drones are eviscerated and die shortly after, their one purpose in life complete. The queen bee, after mating with up to 20 drone bees, goes back to her hive and
Want to support local food production, add to the body of scientific knowledge on under-studied plants and expand your family circle? “Adopt” an ulu tree. Assistant professor Noa Lincoln, assisted by graduate student Blaire Langston, has launched a new citizen science project inviting volunteers to choose a local tree and observe its lifecycle events in order to build knowledge about breadfruit and
“I’m looking for the cassava farm.” “You’re in it!” says Alan Hoeft, working along a Hawaii Kai back road. He sweeps his arms in every direction. Hidden in plain sight alongside the usual suspects—papaya, bougainvillea—10 acres of 400 different cassava varieties grow. Cassava, also known as yuca, is a pest- and drought-resistant starch common throughout the tropics
Five years ago, Rob Barreca was a computer developer in the Bay Area without the slightest idea of how to farm, much less own one. Today, his five-acre, certified-organic farm in Waialua, Counter Culture, is two years old and thriving. Barreca attributes his success to GoFarm Hawaii, a program developed in partnership between the University of Hawaii’s
Sam Choy is known as “Hawaii’s culinary ambassador,” and he truly is: the wide, white-toothed smile, the jolly and warmhearted persona and the gracious aloha spirit are Sam Choy. And he can cook ono food, too. Far more than “just a local boy who made good,” as Choy describes himself, this is a chef who
Given Herringbone’s slogan of “fish meats field,” opening a Waikiki outpost of the southern California-based restaurant made sense. After all, a long history of hunting and gathering suffuses the Islands, and many of Hawaii’s diners have an equal zest for what the sea and land provides. The chefs at Herringbone recognized it. Generally, the menus at Herringbone restaurants contain
Hawaii Island’s Konawena High School is bustling with more than just teachers, students, coaches, and parent volunteers. There’s also a donkey named Grey; a moody, unnamed pony; Wilbur the potbellied pig; a handful of rabbits; and a sometimes free-roaming gaggle of turkeys, chickens, and ducks. They all live in a plot tucked behind the school’s aging agriculture building, and are
David Chai, an aquaculturalist at the exclusive Hualalai Resort on Hawaii Island, zips around the expansive 865-acre property in a golf cart—fitting, as his prized crop is raised in a golf course water feature. “We’ve had oysters in here since 2003, but they were more for a purpose,” he said. “We tried to raise fish here and oysters were actually the
The Mill House is a contender for the most beautiful restaurant on Maui, in a field of stiff competition. It’s tucked away at the Maui Tropical Plantation in Waikapu, between Central Maui and Lahaina. There’s no postcard view of the sun dropping into the sea here. Instead, guests at the Mill House gaze into the
Nearly two centuries after O‘ahu’s Governor Boki Kamā‘ule‘ule introduced the first fragrant beans to Hawai‘i, coffee has taken root on all the major islands. But from a traditional 20-acre farm to a 3,100-acre agribusiness—the largest coffee farm in the country—no two have the same story to tell. WAIALUA ESTATE COFFEE & CACAO Watching the coffee
