Autumn is upon us. In some places, autumn means harvesting, and then comes the long cold winter where anything fresh has to be trucked or shipped in from far away. Here, we have the blessing of a year-round growing climate,
Autumn is upon us. In some places, autumn means harvesting, and then comes the long cold winter where anything fresh has to be trucked or shipped in from far away. Here, we have the blessing of a year-round growing climate, yet we’re still shipping in the vast majority of our produce. We’re called the “Garden Island” — but are we gardening?
Some of you have seen and enjoyed the bounty produced in the mayor’s Aloha Garden, planted by community members last spring at the War Memorial Convention Hall. Watching food grow never ceases to amaze me. It’s especially rewarding to be able to eat delicious food that has come from a local garden rather than eating expensive imported produce. The food from the mayor’s Aloha Garden is currently being harvested by members of the Kaua‘i High School Key Club, and is donated to the Salvation Army and the Kauai Food Bank to feed the hungry.
So my message this month is: “Let’s grow our own together!”
Growing food is probably the single-most energy- and cost-saving action you can do for yourself and the environment; especially in Hawai’i, where things grow bigger and faster than anywhere else in the U.S. When you plant food, not only are you eliminating all the energy production and cost of packaging and transporting food three thousand miles from California or Mexico to your table, but you’re greening your local environment, showing children and neighbors how easy it is, and you get to eat the very best: fresh, homegrown and, in many cases, organic.
I’m happy to say that family gardens are making a big comeback in Hawai’i. Very soon, a group of community members under the leadership of Kaua‘i Community College will establish a community garden at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. It’s exciting to envision what Kaua‘i would be like if every resident has access to a cabbage patch, corn rows and an herb garden. Talk about abundance! The early Hawaiians certainly knew how to harvest bounty from the ‘aina, and there’s no reason why we can’t as well.
So let’s live up to our name, Garden Island! Plant food, eat better, save money, and share the abundance. One way to measure true wealth is knowing that we reap the benefits of a healthy, affordable, locally-grown diet.
• Bernard Carvalho Jr. is mayor of Kaua‘i County.
