South Maui School Gardens Project from SelfMadeinHawaii on Vimeo.

What’s growing on in the Food Jungle?
> Kalo (taro) & ‘Olena (turmeric) Patch – more than 140 new plants!
> Gardens of the World: Asia – including okra, squash, bok choy, lemon grass, winged beans, long beans, eggplant, bitter melon and soybeans.
> Gardens of the World: Latin America – Salsa Garden with all the ingredients to make the world’s best salsa!
> Green Bean Teepee Tunnel – Pick green beans from the sky in an edible teepee tunnel with several varieties of organic and heirloom green beans.
> Sweet Potato Mounds – 2nd grade project planting several varieties in two new sweet potato mounds.
> Carrot Patch – planted with short & sweet and red dragon varieties of carrots.
> Salad Bowl & Green Smoothie Gardens – a mix of delicious mesculin greens, kale and chard for salads and green smoothies!
> Pizza Garden – back by popular demand with all the ingredients to make veggie pizzas, this year’s Pizza Garden shaped like a peace sign.

… and more to come!

When:

This weekend’s Garden Care Day will focus on building a new herb spiral garden, stringing jute runners for the green bean teepee tunnel, making directional signs, garden visioning, weeding, and basic garden maintenance.

Free Starts!
Volunteers this Saturday will learn about heirloom and organic plant varieties that grow well in South Maui this time of year and receive free plant starts and/or seeds to start their own herb gardens at home.

Our garden care days are always a lot of fun and a great way to learn about organic gardening from people in the neighborhood. Join us for all or part of the day. Water and light refreshments will be provided.

What else is growing on?
> Gardens of the World (East Asia, Latin America, Mediterranean & more!)
> Green Bean Teepee Tunnels
> Sweet Potato Mounds
> Carrots & Beets Patch
> Salad Bowl Garden
> Pizza Garden

… and we’re just getting started.

Planting is happening every day for the next few weeks until Winter Recess begins (Dec. 19 – Jan. 2).  We need volunteers to help us make this a fun, learning experience for everyone. No gardening experience necessary. Learn as you volunteer!

Volunteer Hours:
Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
NOTE: All volunteers must register at the school office upon arrival

Where:
Kihei Elementery School
250 E Lipoa St  Kihei, HI 96753

If you’d like to get involved, please email info@KiheiSchoolGardens.org or call 808.269.6300. Please indicate day(s) / time(s) available during weekdays. We’ll match you with a class that fits your schedule and fills your heart!

Mahalo for your kokua!

In celebration of the opening of Makahiki season this month, students from Mr. Little’s fourth grade class harvested the remaining taro (called kalo in Hawaiian). The kalo patch was planted and cultivated by last year’s fourth graders with the help of local kalo farmer Hōkūao Pellegrino. During the harvest, students learned the traditional mo’olelo (story) of Haloa (the “root of life”) and the connection of Hawaiians to this revered food staple, the earth and to all living things. After harvesting the kalo, students learned how to prepare the huli (the leaves were removed and the corm cut from the huli – the top portion of the corm) for planting while volunteers assisted students as they worked to lomi (prepare by massaging & loosening) the soil for the new huli.

By the end of the day, more than 60 new kalo plants were carefully planted by students and volunteers. Students also harvested more than 10 lbs. of ‘olena (turmeric root) which were planted within the kalo patch. Next up, students will learn how to prepare and serve kalo, by pounding poi. This process is called pa’i’ai in Hawaiian. All of this in preparation for a four month long Makahiki Festival and study of the traditional offerings of gratitude to Lono (Hawaiian god of fertility) for a bountiful harvest and the new crops to come!

Link here to a complete slideshow.

For more information or to subscribe to our school garden newsletter, please email info@KiheiSchoolGardens.org or call 808.269.6300.

WHERE:
Kihei Elementary School Garden
250 E. Lipoa Street, Kihei
Center campus adjacent to cafeteria and main office.

Caring for the Garden

Help us create the best garden ever this year at Kihei Elementary School. In the plans: peace pie (pizza) garden, gardens of the world field, expanded Native Hawaiian canoe garden, pollinator gardens, herb spirals, bamboo teepee tunnel of vine plants (beans, cucumber, lilikoi, etc), three sisters garden and more!

No experience necessary in this learning garden. Plenty of garden care projects for the entire family. We’ll be expanding planting areas, building bamboo tee pee tunnels, amending the soil, clearing weeds and old plants, spreading mulch, painting garden signs…

Learn about gardening from your neighbors while working together to inspire keiki to learn from nature. As always, fresh fruit and beverages will be served.
Please bring a hat, sunscreen, gloves, closed toe shoes and a drinking cup.

Learning in the Garden:
Fruit Fly Traps

Urban gardening expert & South Maui School Gardens Project Co-Founder Kathy Becklin will explain why your melons, citrus, tomatoes and zucchini are getting stung and what to do about it. A fruit fly talk followed by a fruit fly trap workshop will take place from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Collect your own empty 2 liter soda bottles and bring them to the event.

We’ll supply the lures specific to fruit flies most common in South Maui. Suggested donation: $5 (DIY with your bottle), $10 (to have one made for you). Proceeds benefit Kihei Elementary School Garden. Email info@KiheiSchoolGardens.org for more information.

See you in the garden!

To start the adventures, Chef Kristin Etheredge gave each student gardener a taste of fresh apple bananas from her home and juicy strawberry papayas, then collected compost scraps to feed the soil. As we sampled the harvest, students talked with Kathy and Kris about similarities between soil health and human health, plant parts, decomposers in the compost, then discovered a bright red ladybug on a tour with Gadener Kirk, learned about beneficial insects and brainstormed describing words to write in their journals.

Mahalo to all for sharing mana’o and helping to inspire a new generation of chefs, teachers, scientists, farmers and urban gardeners on these islands!

Greens and herbs were ready to pick in the garden before turning in cover crops and other growing areas, so Kihei Elementary School students from Ms. Sturm’s 1st grade class and YMCA A+ after schoolers got to try our first green smoothie day!

As we searched the garden for green herbs, we covered plant parts, how plants make food through photosynthesis, nutrition in fruits and vegetables – which plants have edible leaves, which ones have edible fruit.

View Complete Flickr Slideshow!

Think kids would be grossed out by green smoothies?  Not these kids! They went nuts over the greens (especially the mint!) and told us to add more! And they actually asked for seconds! Favorite names the students had for the green smoothies: Healthy Hulk and Green Lantern!

Check out the YouTube Video – Green Smoothie 101: Kihei Elementary School

Green Smoothie Recipe (serves 15-20 in small cups):
- bunches of parsley, mint, kale, thai basil (as much as you can pick!)
- two papayas
- 6 bananas
- 2 green apples
- 5 to 6 cups organic apple juice
- ice

Don’t forget… flowing water washing station, salad spinners, flexi cutting mats, non-latex gloves for little hands, butter knives, spoons and a blender … and 15 – 20 green smoothie maniacs!

Find more awesome green smoothie recipes at:

http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes

But once in while, like today, we get recognized for that work.   We get to make an impact on the gardens throughout the state.  Today, Governor Neil Abercrombie visited the Kihei Elementary School Garden.

It all started several months ago when Dania Katz from Edible Hawaiian Islands magazine, arranged for one of our chef sponsors, Dan Fiske (PrivateMauiChef.com), to provide lunch to the Governor during a trip to Maui.  Dan immediately sprung into action to highlight the garden at the luncheon, including having a student sit with the Governor.  That was enough to entice the Governor to want to see the garden in action.  We found out a few weeks ago that he was trying to fit it into his trip.  Last week, it was confirmed and we were asked to keep the gathering small.  So we carefully picked who we thought would be critical to discuss our core objectives.  Here are the objectives we gave to the Governor; he said he would keep this short list handy and work to make it happen.

6 Things You Can Do to Help School Gardens Thrive in Hawai’i

1. Living Classrooms: Advocate for school gardens as integral outdoor learning environments to improve science, math, literacy, physical education and nutrition programs.
2. Curricula: Facilitate the creation of Hawai’i-based, school garden-inspired standards and benchmarks for K-12 students.
3. Green School Campuses: Help schools green their campuses: establish recycling programs, purchase chippers to trim hauling fees and turn green waste into mulch for landscaping and school gardens, reduce single-use disposable materials.
4. Farm-to-School: Encourage the Department of Education (DOE) to foster local farm-to-school pilot programs, connecting students to their food sources.
5. Garden-to-Cafeteria: If they grow it, they’ll eat it! Establish DOE guidelines that allow use of school garden produce in cafeterias and school nutrition programs.
6. Wellness & Organic Produce for All: Support programs that link school gardens with community wellness and local food system improvements.

One thing that Governor Abercrombie stated that really stuck in my mind was that we don’t want to make Kihei Elementary or any similar school be special.    A successful school garden shouldn’t be headline news.  We need to have all of our schools hold these values and make it the norm.   Our keiki are our future.   We are what we eat.   We live on island and should be more self-sufficient.   This vision isn’t rocket science and I’m happy that our Governor get’s it.

It is going to take lots of work to change DOE systems and work through USDA standards.  But it can be done.   And each step forward will result in kids that are healthier, smarter and who will grow up to take our beautiful state to a higher level.

So this week, we worked hard to prepare for the big event.  The garden had to look good and at the end of the gardening season in Kihei, that is no easy task.   I kept reminding the guys that the garden looks so much better this year than it did last year at this time.  We coordinated menus with Chef Brian Etheredge and Chef Chris Kulis from Capische? to provide lunch in the garden.  It was already a busy week packed with taping a spot on AKAKU and curriculum planning with teachers who are getting ready for school to start next week.  We made our guest list, reviewed and cut.   We planned all the event details.  We harvested as much as we could and delivered it to the chefs.   My special thanks to all the people that participated.  Each person’s contribution was so important!

If you have an interest in supporting School Gardens in South Maui, connect with us!   We need more project team members, volunteers, parents, community sponsors, grant writers and donations!   If you have interest in creating or augmenting a school garden in Maui County,  contact Lehn at the Maui School Garden Network.

It takes a Community to Start a Garden!

View full slideshow on Flickr.