I wanted to write this post earlier, but I wanted to wait until I knew a little more about the program etc. Kahumana is located in Waianae which is historically one of the poorest areas of Oahu. Since 1974 Kahumana has been providing social services to the community. Kahumana was given it's name which means "guardian of the life force or spirit".
Currently, the Kahumana community is the base of operations for Alternative Structures International, which manages transitional housing for families and serves the Developmentally Disabled population. However, originally Kahumana was an intentional residential community serving and healing those suffering from mental illness. Kahumana switched focuses in 1987 to start addressing and helping the growing homeless population with their transitional housing facilities. I have been fortunate to meet some of the people living next door and they have been a great help to the farm since they are all hawaiian born and know and understand the land. Although Kahumana is no longer a community for those with a mental illness it still helps some of the core/founding community members.
 |
| In front of Kahumana |
 |
| Kelly waiting for the bus in front of Kahumana |
Besides helping families in transition, the Kahumana Community has a cafe. The cafe is where people from the transition program can get a good work experience and education to help them get jobs in the hospitality/tourism industry. Tourism is Hawaii's largest industry, so if they are able to get jobs in the industry, they will be able to get on track to financially supporting their family. The cafe is about 3 years old and grows everyday just by word of mouth. It is one of the nicest restaurants to eat at, especially on this side of the island.
 |
| Helena and Todd washing the lettuce |
The farm originally was used to supply the cafeteria where the patients and community members ate. However as time went on, the farm grew in order to supply not only the community members, but the cafe and the weekly CSA boxes. Currently the farm is being managed by Robert's (the cafe manager) son Christian who grew up on the farm and just moved back home after college. He is working hard to get the farm back to its full potential by growing the CSA program and by offering greens and hopefully more produce to local restaurants. Just last week we dropped off a 1 lb. bag of baby greens to Roys Restaurant in Ko Olina and they let us know right away that they wanted to order from us 3 times a week. It is a great time to be at Kahumana because you are able to physically see the farm grow, from more plantable space to supplying more and more people and restaurants.
The weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a great program that we do every friday. For about $25 a week we make a box filled with all sorts of organic fruits and veggies (including herbs). This current week we filled the boxes with eggplant, long squash, oranges, carrots, beets, radishes, baby greens, stir fry greens, arugula, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos and herbs (cilantro, parsley, celery herb, oregano, sage and thyme). People sign up for the program that fits their needs and then they pick up their box on the farm anytime Friday afternoon.
 |
| Baby Greens |
We have also started to go to Kapolei Farmers market on Thursday evenings. This has led to having us have two long harvesting days. Thursday we harvest, bundle and pack up the trucks to send people off to the market and then Friday is mostly harvesting and preparing the boxes.
 |
| Leeks |
 |
| Chives |
 |
| Kale |
 |
| Radishes |
 |
| Purple Carrots (great for color in the salads at the cafe) |
Below are pictures of us getting ready to put everything we harvested early in the morning in the boxes for pick up.
 |
| almost finished box |
 |
| Group of us showing off all of the produce we picked that day |
You can look up more information about the Kahumana community at
www.kahumanafarms.org
I have really enjoyed my time at Kahumana and although half my time here has already passed, I am looking forward to learning more about the program, farming and exploring the land and culture.
I wanted to write this post earlier, but I wanted to wait until I knew a little more about the program etc. Kahumana is located in Waianae which is historically one of the poorest areas of Oahu. Since 1974 Kahumana has been providing social services to the community. Kahumana was given it's name which means "guardian of the life force or spirit".
The weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a great program that we do every friday. For about $25 a week we make a box filled with all sorts of organic fruits and veggies (including herbs). This current week we filled the boxes with eggplant, long squash, oranges, carrots, beets, radishes, baby greens, stir fry greens, arugula, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos and herbs (cilantro, parsley, celery herb, oregano, sage and thyme). People sign up for the program that fits their needs and then they pick up their box on the farm anytime Friday afternoon. 
