Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School has recently received a USDA Farm-to-School Planning Grant. According to Jenny Bach, Farm-to-School Planning Director, the grant will be used to draft “a detailed implementation plan to create a robust farm-to-school program. “

Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School has a jump on the process, though! They already have a trial organic garden on the property and are testing out crops.  The plan is to convert a portion of the 33-acre campus to a large-scale organic farm.  The on-campus farm will grow 2-3 crops for the cafeteria, with an emphasis on foods that the students…

Like coffee itself, the story of the success of Rusty’s Hawaiian coffee is bittersweet.  When Rusty and Lorie Obra moved from New Jersey to Ka‘u with a dream to coax a coffee farm out of old sugarcane land, they had no idea that seven years later, after Rusty’s untimely death, Lorie would be left on her own with a big farm and a big dream.

And Rusty was a man with a dream—to make Ka‘u coffee some of the best in the world. 

The drive along Kohala mountain road between Hawi and Waimea is one of the most beautiful in the world.  The landscape is dominated by a sea of green grass, the color ever changing with the passing of the sun and clouds. Deep green tree-covered pu‘u (cinder cones) rise up out of the landscape like giant waves. The strong wind sweeps through—bringing rain, rainbows, moonbows. Black and white cows blink their sweet eyes at passerby.

If you look carefully makai (towards the ocean) you can see rock walls and contours in the landscape. Climbing on top of Pu‘u Kehena,…

Your skin is the largest organ in your body! Waimea Body Essentials owner Jane Hanano’s latest line of body products is called ‘ili—which means skin in Hawaiian. Jane believes that healthy skin is key to a healthy body.

Making luscious body products is actually a third career for Jane. She started out as a court reporter in Kansas and was then assistant to the headmaster at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy for 13 years. Jane’s father was a farmer and rancher in Kansas, where she grew up, and she was raised with a “have…