photo: J. Novak
By Sara Novak, TreeHugger
Slow Food is the organization that first brought me to sustainable eating. It showed me how to enjoy the experience of eating the best in local foods. I learned that often times local foods are easier on the planet than organic if they are grown sustainably and that my diet was one of the best tools in my plight to reduce my carbon footprint. December 10 marks the first annual Terra Madre Day celebration.
Source: TreeHugger.com
Nectar Gardens, run by Scott Pomeroy, in Moloaa
By Linda Pascatore, Island Breath
KCC Garden Class Tour – Kauai Organic Farms
Our first stop was Nectar Gardens, run by Scott Pomeroy in Moloaa. He was farming 15 acres of a beautiful, well organized gardens and orchards. Scott has been commercially gardening here on Kauai for many years. He currently sells most of his produce at local farmer’s markets, but in the past has done CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), sales to local restaurants, and even exporting to Oahu.
Scott uses frequent plantings of cover crops to enrich his soil. They fix nitrogen and add organic material. Some of his favorite cover crops are cowpeas, sudan grass, and buckwheat. He also rotates crops and even moves gardening areas to let the soil recover from depletion of nutrients caused by intensively growing food crops.
Scott’s main vegetable gardening area is an array of beautiful curved rows. He weeds weekly, before the weeds have time to get established. A sprinkler system is used for watering. Scott recently bought a tiller which pushes soil from the paths into raised beds for planting.
Other farms mentioned: Spirit of the Earth Farm and Moonfruit Orchard
Source: Island Breath
Originally Published: January 18, 2009
Related News …
Down on the Farm (The Garden Island)
John Wooten of Wooten’s Produce of Kaua’i, located in Anahola, discusses Organic Farming with VegTV’s Michelle Celestino.
By Brandon Keim, Wired.com
After decades of seeing plants as passive recipients of fate, scientists have found them capable of behaviors once thought unique to animals. Some plants even appear to be social, favoring family while pushing strangers from the neighborhood.
Research into plant sociality is still young, with many questions unanswered. But it may change how people conceive of the floral world, and provide new ways of raising productivity on Earth’s maxed-out farmlands.
“When I was in school, researchers assumed that some plants were better or worse than others at getting resources, but they were blind to the whole social situation,” said Susan Dudley, a McMaster University biologist. “I went looking for it, and to my shock, found it. And we’ve found more of it since.”
Source: Wired.com
By Linda Pascatore, Island Breath
There is a great new market being held every Saturday at the parking lot of Kauai Community College (KCC), across from Grove Farm in Puhi. Hours are from 10am to 1 pm. The endeavor is sponsored by Kauai Community College and Grow Kauai. The Saturday schedule allows attendance by working people who can never make it to the other local Farmer’s Markets held on weekdays.
Source: Island Breath
Westside solar thermal project in the works
Abundant Westside sunshine could potentially save the island from importing 1 million gallons of diesel annually, Pacific Light & Power CEO Dick Roth said.
The Anahola-based development company is proposing to build a 10-megawatt concentrated solar thermal power plant on some 100 acres of “sub-optimal” agricultural land between Kekaha and Waimea, he said Wednesday.
“This island needs its own source of energy,” he said. “It’s become a really critical need.”
Different from photovoltaic systems which use light from the sun to create electricity, solar thermal systems capture the sun’s heat. More efficient and less expensive, it’s like using a magnifying glass to start a fire, Roth said.
Multiple rows of 18-foot tall mirrors capture the sun’s heat, warming a fluid located in tubes which run above the solar collectors or troughs. This 750 degree heated fluid is moved to a heat exchanger that boils water under pressure, generating steam which drives the turbine, thereby creating electricity for the local grid.
The advantages are profound, Roth said.
Source: Coco Zickos, The Garden Island
