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
It has been a science fiction dream: the completely integrated, closed loop system “micro-farm.” And we get it with the Inka Curve, a vertical minifarm that provides herbs, grasses, fruits or vegetables grown on a vertical “bio-quilt.”
But these need nutrients, which come from fish poop. But fish tanks need cleaning and aerating, and the vertical farm needs pumped water which requires power; that comes from wind turbines and solar panels, stored in a battery bank.
So the fish poop provides nutrients for the garden, all powered by the sun, using 10% of the water of conventional farming. The bacteria in the bioquilt of the vertical farm break down the nutrients and purify the water so that it can be returned to the fish tank, providing a balanced diet of protein and green vegetables on an incredibly small footprint. It is a dream kitchen addition that means we will never have to go out food shopping again.
Source: TreeHugger.com
Early Hawaiian agriculture was far more extensive and complex than anyone has fully understood, according to new research by scientists blending state-of-the-art technologies with traditional dirt archaeology.
Until now, it has been difficult to prove the full scope of Hawaiian farming technology, said Samuel M. Gon III, ecologist, cultural advisor and senior scientist with The Nature Conservancy. “At the peak of Hawaiian population, there were perhaps a million people. It takes thousands and thousands of acres to feed all those people,” Gon said. Where was all that farmland?
A new research tool has now identified thousands of farmed acres not previously known to science—including a vast dry-land agricultural field system in the grassy plains of Ka‘? on the Big Island.
Source: The Nature Conservancy
What: Public Hearing for Bill 2318 – Farm Worker Housing
When: Wednesday, July 8th at 1:30 pm
Where: County Council Chambers at the Old Historic County Building on Rice St., 2nd floor
Who: All who want our small Moloa’a organic farmers to continue farming and providing us with healthy produce on Kauai
