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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Maui Farmers Union United September Meeting


Maui Farmers Union United Meeting (Advocating for the rights of our small farmers)
Tavares Center Pool Room Sept. 27th
Tuesday nite doors open 6:00pm
Dinner 6:30 pm

Our State President and NFU facilitator will be present.

The Maui Farmers Union United meetings are a LocaVore Potluck & Produce Swap
Share the Maui Abundance of what you prepare and grow!!!
Sign up for membership and get a free meal* tonight!
$15-Individual Non Voting Member
$30- Individual Voting Member
$75- Ohana Membership up to 4 Voting Members 
*Normally there is a $10 charge for non members and $5 for members if unable to bring food and want to eat. It's potluck, so bring a dish to the meetings and you eat like royalty for free. Where else can you get a huge variety of locally grown and produced foods, prepared with the love and passion that Maui's farmer's, gardeners and people put into these meals. It's all about the food, so while you can pay, sharing your food with neighbors is always so much better. 
Please bring a locavore dish exhibiting to our mainland guest on how we value our locally grown food.

Helping the Maui Farmers Union United through their generous and consistent giving back to Maui are the following merchants and people. Support them when ever you can. 
Support the Maui Farmers Union United tonight and you may go home with some of the following goodies: 
Gift cards from DTE & Hawaiian Moons
Basket of local produce. Mana Foods, Whole Foods!
Basket of produce from Greenleaf Farm Marta & Bill
Feather Meal- Crop Production Service
Bio Char- Maui Bio Char
Large Jackfruit- Whispering Winds Bamboo

This is a trash free event please bring your own eating and drinking vessels.

Meeting Agenda
6:30pm-7:00pm- LocaVore Potluck Great meals!!! Be creative and
add to the abundance,your the event!!!
"Its all about growing, sharing and being nourished by our food"

6:45pm-7:00pm Evening Agenda-Vincent Mina - www.MauiGrown.com
7:00pm-7:10pm Chefs Corner-Chef Jason Skandunas - Maui MacroBiotics-(Jan. 2011 article on MauiTime)
7:10pm-7:20pm Produce Scoop-Ryan Eareheart - Mana Foods
7:20pm-7:30pm Astronomy in Agriculture- HarrietteWitt -
7:30pm-7:45pm Education- Jenna Tallman - Making Bokashi
7:45pm-8:00pm State of the State HFU - State Board of Directors
Report on our Strategic Planning session on Kauai
8:00pm-8:10pm MFU Website- Lehua VanderVelde
8:10pm-8:40pm Member Breakout Groups - Legislation, Education
and Cooperation.
8:40-9pm Meeting Pau

PRODUCE SWAP:
Bring your home grown farm produce, seeds or plant starts to share and swap with others.
"Remember its all about celebrating our communities food"

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I thought this presentation by Charlie Price on aquaponics was a good place to start this page. He runs through all the aspects and thoughts around an aquaponics system.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Water, Cool Clear Water.

I was reminded of the song from a commercial or Disney show or something that the words were "Water, cool clean water". With a meeting that the DLNR is holding tomorrow to take input on a company that wants to take water from wells on it's Wailea property and ship some to Japan or at least off Maui, I tend to wonder why Maui doesn't ever seem to have a plan that is comprehensive and looks at all the angles.
Issues about having water for Mauians is one thing, but the issues extend into the depletion of the aquifer and the infiltration of the brackish salt water. This process could destroy a system that has taken lifetimes to achieve in nature.
In addition, we have only a few wetlands left that are part of the natural water filtration systems that make water available to Maui.
Granted not all of them are as obvious as the rain forest, but marshlands like Kealia Pond, Waihee, the areas behind Longs in Kihei, Olomalu, what was once Lahaina and Kanaha pond are examples that have been disturbed, destroyed and have further plans under way to alter.
The Kanaha Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area under the national wildlife protection. For some reason a medical building seem to be a good choice to build in an industrial tsunami zone that would require the removal and disturbing of the Kanaha Wetlands, but they plan to put work into the Waihee wetlands to make up for it.
That doesn't seem right to take one away for any reason.

I spent time documenting the water run-off canals from their beginning in the Kahului industrial park, all the way to the edge of Kanaha Pond and on into the ocean.
Combinations of various tilapia, mosquito fish and a lot of snails abound. Today I even caught a foot long algae eater that obviously was released from someones aquarium.

If nothing else, I will have dozens of pictures before it changes to an after.

The are many good movies with dire warnings out and all good movies that should be watched. I thought this old 1953 movie on water was pretty interesting and between the music and the narration it was classic. It's a bout 10 minutes long and easy watching. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Mahalo.