#Hawaii Farm

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 22-28

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1. Four new cheetah cubs born in Saudi Arabia after 40 years of extinction

“[T]he discovery of mummified cheetahs in caves […] which ranged in age from 4,000 to as recent as 120 years, proved that the animals […] once called [Saudi Arabia] home. The realisation kick-started the country’s Cheetah Conservation Program to bring back the cats to their historic Arabian range. […] Dr Mohammed Qurban, CEO of the NCW, said: […] “This motivates us to continue our efforts to restore and reintroduce cheetahs, guided by an integrated strategy designed in accordance with best international practices.””

2. In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition

“[A study published in PNAS] examined “forgotten” crops that may help make sub-Saharan food systems more resilient, and more nutritious, as climate change makes it harder to grow [current staple crops.] [… The study identified 138 indigenous] food crops that were “relatively underresearched, underutilized, or underpromoted in an African context,” but which have the nutrient content and growing stability to support healthy diets and local economies in the region. […] In Eswatini, van Zonneveld and the World Vegetable Center are working with schools to introduce hardy, underutilized vegetables to their gardens, which have typically only grown beans and maize.”

3. Here's how $4 billion in government money is being spent to reduce climate pollution

“[New Orleans was awarded] nearly $50 million to help pay for installing solar on low to middle income homes [… and] plans to green up underserved areas with trees and build out its lackluster bike lane system to provide an alternative to cars. […] In Utah, $75 million will fund several measures from expanding electric vehicles to reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production. [… A] coalition of states led by North Carolina will look to store carbon in lands used for agriculture as well as natural places like wetlands, with more than $400 million. [… This funding is] “providing investments in communities, new jobs, cost savings for everyday Americans, improved air quality, … better health outcomes.””

4. From doom scrolling to hope scrolling: this week’s big Democratic vibe shift

“[Democrats] have been on an emotional rollercoaster for the past few weeks: from grim determination as Biden fought to hang on to his push for a second term, to outright exuberance after he stepped aside and Harris launched her campaign. […] In less than a week, the Harris campaign raised record-breaking sums and signed up more than 100,000 new volunteers[….] This honeymoon phase will end, said Democratic strategist Guy Cecil, warning the election will be a close race, despite this newfound exuberance in his party. [… But v]oters are saying they are excited to vote for Harris and not just against Trump. That’s new.”

5. Biodegradable luminescent polymers show promise for reducing electronic waste

“[A team of scientists discovered that a certain] chemical enables the recycling of [luminescent polymers] while maintaining high light-emitting functions. […] At the end of life, this new polymer can be degraded under either mild acidic conditions (near the pH of stomach acid) or relatively low heat treatment (> 410 F). The resulting materials can be isolated and remade into new materials for future applications. […] The researchers predict this new polymer can be applied to existing technologies, such as displays and medical imaging, and enable new applications […] such as cell phones and computer screens with continued testing.”

6. World’s Biggest Dam Removal Project to Open 420 Miles of Salmon Habitat this Fall

“Reconnecting the river will help salmon and steelhead populations survive a warming climate and [natural disasters….] In the long term, dam removal will significantly improve water quality in the Klamath. “Algae problems in the reservoirs behind the dams were so bad that the water was dangerous for contact […] and not drinkable,” says Fluvial Geomorphologist Brian Cluer. [… The project] will begin to reverse decades of habitat degradation, allow threatened salmon species to be resilient in the face of climate change, and restore tribal connections to their traditional food source.”

7. Biden-Harris Administration Awards $45.1 Million to Expand Mental Health and Substance Use Services Across the Lifespan

““Be it fostering wellness in young people, caring for the unhoused, facilitating treatment and more, this funding directly supports the needs of our neighbors,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. [The funding also supports] recovery and reentry services to adults in the criminal justice system who have a substance use disorder[… and clinics which] serve anyone who asks for help for mental health or substance use, regardless of their ability to pay.”

8. The World’s Rarest Crow Will Soon Fly Free on Maui

“[… In] the latest attempt to establish a wild crow population, biologists will investigate if this species can thrive on Maui, an island where it may have never lived before. Translocations outside of a species’ known historical range are rare in conservation work, but for a bird on the brink of extinction, it’s a necessary experiment: Scientists believe the crows will be safer from predators in a new locale—a main reason that past reintroduction attempts failed. […] As the release date approaches, the crows have already undergone extensive preparation for life in the wild. […] “We try to give them the respect that you would give if you were caring for someone’s elder.””

9. An optimist’s guide to the EV battery mining challenge

““Battery minerals have a tremendous benefit over oil, and that’s that you can reuse them.” [… T]he report’s authors found there’s evidence to suggest that [improvements in technology] and recycling have already helped limit demand for battery minerals in spite of this rapid growth — and that further improvements can reduce it even more. [… They] envision a scenario in which new mining for battery materials can basically stop by 2050, as battery recycling meets demand. In this fully realized circular battery economy, the world must extract a total of 125 million tons of battery minerals — a sum that, while hefty, is actually 17 times smaller than the oil currently harvested every year to fuel road transport.”

10. Peekaboo! A baby tree kangaroo debuts at the Bronx Zoo

“The tiny Matschie’s tree kangaroo […] was the third of its kind born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008. [… A] Bronx Zoo spokesperson said that the kangaroo's birth was significant for the network of zoos that aims to preserve genetic diversity among endangered animals. "It's a small population and because of that births are not very common," said Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Bronx Zoo[, …] adding that baby tree kangaroos are “possibly one of the cutest animals to have ever lived. They look like stuffed animals, it's amazing.””

July 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[riahlepapaya]

Foodland kine thingz 😏

[shoes--off]

via @j1m0ne on twitter (x)

[themanhattanfoodproject]

We spent a week in Hawaii last month on the big island of Hawaii itself, and one thing I was looking forward to was eating lots and lots of poke. I am someone who does my research before I go somewhere, and something I figured out pretty quickly in trying to better understand where we were staying was that there were a couple of grocery stores in the immediate vicinity, and the better one for my purposes was located up the road from our resort village in the next one, in part because it was a local chain and the touted their house-made poke, but also because they had a loyalty program and a pretty decent-looking selection of private brand products.

Foodland Farms definitely delivered. We went there on our first full day in Hawaii to pick up some poke for lunch and local snacks for the room, and basically everything we got was a homerun. The lady working at the poke counter was happy to give us samples and was clearly very proud of the poke on offer, and she made it really difficult to pick a couple for our first forays, but it was of little matter because we’d get lunch here most days as it was on the way back from the tradeshow my husband was attending, so we tried a lot. 

Not pictured was the seaweed salad I had later in the week, and damn, I wish it was more widely embraced because it’s my favorite salad out there. It’s savory, it has great texture, and unlike salads made with baby greens, it can stand to sit for a while and not turn into soup. 

(Photo of the store from their website, because I didn’t get a photo while we were there, stupidly.)

If you find yourself going to Hawaii Island and staying at either the Hilton Waikoloa Village or the Fairmont Orchid, do yourself a favor and sign up for a loyalty account for the Foodland Farms Mauna Lani and take advantage of the great deals and even better, freshly-made poke.

[mapdrawer]

The aptly named Bay View Farm in Captain Cook, HI

[theroadtripgirl]

8 Day Guide to the Big Island of Hawai'i

Overall thoughts on the Big Island The Big Island is the youngest and largest island of Hawaii with active volcanoes still creating new land. We recently spent 10 days on the Big Island, covering both Kona and Hilo. We know a lot of friends going to, or wanting to visit the Big Island, so this blog post series is for you! We chose to go to the Big Island based on raving reviews from a few…

[bumblebeeappletree]

#ad In Hawai’i, young Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system. The Partners in Development Foundation works with Kupa ʻAina Farm, Kinai ʻEha, Hale Lanipōlua, Residential Youth Services & Empowerment, Hawaiʻi Youth and Correctional Facility, Olomana School) at the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center to replace youth incarceration with a Native Hawaiian restorative system.

Listen as Opportunity Youth Action Hawaii administrator Mark Patterson shares how they plan to advance their goals of empowering Native Hawaiian communities, training youth healers, and shifting resources to be community-driven and culturally-grounded by 2030.

Learn more: https://wkkf.org/RE2030

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

IF A TOYOTA WERE MY SPIRIT ANIMAL...

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a 1969 Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser in a garage. Used as a farm truck in Hawaii. 📸: "Buickid," c. 2010.

Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1969_Toyota_FJ40_Land_Cruiser_1.jpg.

[familywelltraveled]

Kauai Hidden Hot Spots

There are so many things to do on Kauai. Activities abound. And that sometimes means crowds everywhere. However, your trip to the Garden Island need not be crowded. Here are ten Kauai hidden hot spots. Princeville Botanical Gardens At the Princeville Botanical Gardens Nestled on Kauai’s north shore is this fantastic hidden gem. It is a private property, but the owners open the site up for garden…

[samtaylorillustrator]

🚜 Zuck the farmer 🚜 for @jacobinmag 🌸

[kinialohaguy]

Big Island Country

Aloha kākou. On Sunday, East Hawai’i County Republican Party hosted at Town Hall Candidate Forum. The public was invited to Christian Central Chruch in downtown Hilo to meet and greet the Hawai’i County candidates for Senate, House, and County Council. These candidates are running for Congressional Office, State Senate and House, and Hawai’i Country Council. It is important that people get to…

[neechees]

Late night thoughts, but seeing white ppl's reaction to landback & Turtle Island & Hawaii has really showed us that so many people still don't understand settler colonialism or why it's bad, or even acknowledge the fact that them being born in Turtle Island does in fact, mean that they have privilege as a result of that settler colonialism.

"My ancestors didn't do any of the killing, so they didn't do any colonizing" You being in Turtle Island is proof that they did in fact, participate in colonization. Even if you know for a fact that your ancestors didn't kill any Indigenous people, the colonizers that DID do that specifically did it so that other White settlers could replace the Indigenous population. That's what settler colonialism is. The settlers that moved here were just as much part of colonization of the Americas as people like Christopher Columbus was.

"My ancestors were mostly farmers" I said this so many times in the past, but yeah they were still colonizers. Natives were pushed off good, farmable land onto reservations (specifically areas that tended to be worse off for farming, crop planting, and hunting) specifically so that white settlers could have the good areas to themselves to farm. The U.S and Canadian government paid for White settlers' travel expenses specifically so that they could come colonize Turtle Island. The gov put out ads to "buy Indian Land!" And people definitely took them up on it. Plenty of poor White people trespassed onto what even was designated as land reserved for Native Americans, and that land automatically became theirs ( and disenfranchised from the tribe) for no reason besides that they were on it. One reason why so many White Americans believe they have specifically a Cherokee ancestor is because there's lots who faked Native lineage in order to steal land from displaced Cherokee. Theres a good chance your ancestors did any one of these things.

I think people have this image of what a "colonizer" is in their head and it's a moustache twirling white villian holding a sword or a musket, so much that they don't remember or realize that "colonizer" or "settler" does very much in fact does also include their pastoral great grandparents who were "immigrants"

[tiamatsan]

[khakilike]

Just a "CHEAP EATS" video unironically featuring a $15 sandwich. 2023 kinda sucks. (At least that $10 lechon plate seems like a legit bargain!)

[jazmatazzzzzz]

Cloudy days on the island 🌫️

[benseo20]

Kulaniapia Falls | Best Waterfall on the Big Island, Hilo, Hawaii

Kulaniapia Falls is Hawaii's top private waterfall and offers day passes and unique off-the-grid accommodations and adventurous activities to do on the Big Island.