 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of Think Tech Hawaii's Food and Farmer Series. My name is Stephanie Mock, and today I'm guest hosting this episode in place of Justine and Matt. I want to thank them for this opportunity. We have two very special guests on today who are participating in our Parade of Farms event happening Saturday, May 6th, and we'll be talking to these guest speakers about their very unique farming operations they have here on Oahu, as well as their participation in this very special agricultural event called Parade of Farms. So first I'd like to introduce our guests. We have Ray D'Coito of Malama Local AF Fishpond, and we also have Emma Bello of Sweetland Farm. Thank you so much for joining us today. So I wanted to take a quick moment and just talk about Parade of Farms in general because I think it's a really unique opportunity for the community and the farms to integrate and get to know each other a little bit better. So Parade of Farms is a one-day event happening on Saturday, May 6th, and basically allows the community to take guided behind-the-scenes tours of local farms on Oahu's North Shore. We have eight farms participating this year, and we're very excited to be speaking to two of those farms who are participating in the event. So first we'd like to talk to Ray. Hello, Ray. Thank you for joining us today. I love this, Stephanie. Thanks so much for inviting us. Of course. Yes. I want to talk a little bit about your organization, Malama Local AF Fishpond. So if you could tell us what your role is there, and basically a quick mission statement and goal of your organization. So I'm the executive director. I've been there just under two years, and the mission of Malama Local AF is to restore a 400-year-old fishpond to full production and to bring back culturally appropriate education and sustainable food resources to the community. And how large is this fishpond? It's 12 acres. The 12 acres is the property. We have three different fishponds, and they total about nine acres of actual ponds. Nine acres of actual ponds. And so how much production does that allow you on nine acres? There's different levels of intensity that you can grow it at. We choose to be the sustainable, traditional method, which is called extensive, and we figure we'll be able to harvest probably five to six hundred pounds per year per acre. Five to six hundred pounds per year per acre times nine acres. Yes. Wow. That's fantastic. And where does this harvest go to? Does it go to the community? Do you sell it to markets? Is it a group effort? So we are actually still in the restoration phase. It's actually still a live fishpond, which means it's connected to the ocean, Haleiva Bay, through a Makaha. And so that's our chamber or our main artery into the fishpond. And it's also our natural recruitment. So we just went through mullet spawning season, and they come in because they like the brackish water and the algae and the conditions. But our depth is too low, which causes other issues. And so we're actually not harvesting and selling right now. So we're actually in the permitting stage, which hopefully we'll get through that in 2017, and we hope to be in production in 2018. And I mean, we could start doing it, and I think we'll probably start bartering with some of the other agriculture and distributors in the North Shore. But right now, our depths are only two feet, and we need to be to four feet, which will change the oxygen levels and the temperature and the ideal conditions for the mullet. And so to get this sustainable harvest, you were talking about restoration efforts and what's needed to bring the pond back to its glory days, if you will. So what can you, as an organization, and also the community do to help restore this fishpond? Well, we've actually been given, or granted, stewardship. Local EO is actually a 400-year-old fishpond owned by Kamehameha. It's been in the hands of the Ili'i since the beginning of time. Back 400 years ago, it was a food source for the Ili'i, not really the community. And over the generations, what happens is just natural sedimentation. I mean, everything is functioning. A lot of the other fishponds really have real hardcore issues. We don't. Ours is just depth. But unfortunately, depth requires dredging. And that's the magic D word, because you have to go to the Army Corps to get the permits. And there's just a lot of issues and levels of compliance and a lot of things that we have to do with agencies that don't necessarily understand a cultural site and the types of things that we're doing. And so with just a lot of patience and a lot of love, and really all we want to do is it sounds small, but we want to remove 20,000 tons, 20,000 tons of, which is just two feet of sediment in an eight-acre fishpond. Wow, that doesn't sound like a small feat. But considering a lot of the things that the other fishponds need to get to full functionality, that isn't so much. And so with these restoration efforts besides the dredging, I know that there's a lot of invasive species. And can you talk a little bit about how the community helps look away a fishpond in removing and restoring the pond as a general community effort? Sure. So it was really follow from the mid-80s until 2008 when Kamehameha decided to let community back into the fishponds and to start stewarding it. And it was at that time some of the regular volunteers resonated, and they kind of handpoint it to gentlemen, James Astoris and Benson Lee, who subsequently created Malama Local A.F. Foundation, which is the nonprofit that I manage. So what they did from 2008 to 2012 really was just habitat restoration, removing the invasive grasses through the acres. The ponds were fully covered. They had just been let go for 30, 40 years. And most of that was done manually through volunteer efforts, one day a month, the third Saturday a month. And that happens every month? Every month. The third Saturday of every month. So everyone can join you. And it really is. It really is a cocoa thing. It really is the community getting back. I mean, Aloha Aina is a big movement. And that's how traditionally places like this were managed. It was always a community kuleana. And we're starting to see that resurgence of families and locals wanting to get back and restore these precious vahipanas, sacred places. So yeah, we have a very, very small staff. We really just manage educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people that want to get in there. Can you speak a little bit more about the educational opportunities and volunteer base? Yeah. Well, you know, fish ponds, in addition to being a sustainable food resource and a management system, which provided food for a million people in the islands before the day of navigation or maps and containers coming in. It's a learning laboratory. A lot of people learn STEM and other sustainable resource techniques through the type of programs that we conduct. And so we've actually, over the year, since 2012, we've conducted educational programs. And mostly for the Department of Education local schools, they'll come out. And now we're to the point where we have about 3,000 students that come through every year. And fortunately, we're focused mostly on the local schools, like Lerahua and Wailua and Kahuku. And I mean, basically all of the teachers have learned that we're here and just love the programs that we put on. In some cases, like Wailua Elementary, the kindergarten teacher will come out, then we'll get them again in third grade, and then we'll get them again in sixth grade. So they're really able to grow that connection. And as they grow, realize more and more about sustainable food systems and stewardship, community engagement, all of these important things that they need to know what they can do in their community. Fantastic. And I forgot to mention the location of your fish pond. Would you like to share where you're located? So people are able to come out to these volunteer days and help you get it up to where you're at. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that we've been there. They drive by all the time. It's actually in Hale'iwa off of Kalaniane'ole, or Kamehameha Highway, sorry, behind the old Jamesons, which is now Hale'iwa Beach Grill, right across the street from Hale'iwa Beach. And so people want to learn more about your foundation and the fish pond. What website can they check out so they can come to these volunteer days or get their school group to come out and learn more about aquaculture? So we have a really great, informative website, www.localea.org, which is L-O-K-O-E-A dot org. And it says visit, so you can click on the visit, and we like the volunteers to RSVP directly online. And our next one is actually on Saturday, so that's two days away, and we have plenty of room for you guys. And if you're an educator or a business that wants to bring out a community group, there's also our educational menu, so depending on what you want to specialize on, focus. Fantastic. And so you're talking a little bit about mullet coming in because they like the brackish water. So imagine that I'm a group who needs an educational presentation. What other species of plants and fish can I find there? And what's good and what's bad in these fish ponds? Well, I mean, L-O-K-O-E-A is known for its sweet mullet. Sweet mullet. We have a holy, holy, we have a opu. Those are probably the three primary. Tilapia, a ways back, really is been introduced, and we want to figure out a way to utilize that and use it as a food source because it is invasive and it is plentiful. It's not our choice of food, but we have to kind of learn to work with it. Okay. But yeah, I mean, it's just, we really want to focus on the production of mullet since that's what we traditionally have used. And so for us, brackish water fishes are those specialties. And what is brackish water? So brackish water is the combination. So L-O-K-O-E-A is actually one half of two fish pond system. So a mile and a half is another fish pond called Ukoa, and there's a waterways or tributary in between us, which at this time is still filled with the California grass. So we need, you know, that's our longer goal is to get that open and restore that connection. The underground freshwater springs are still happening. So brackish water is when you have the freshwater meeting with the ocean water, and that makes a sweet sauce that the fish love and it generates the photo plankton and the type of food that they really enjoy. Wow. And according to stories from the community, really just delicious mullet. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for telling us about the organization, the fish pond. And you can find more at lokoa.org as well as visiting our Parade of Farms event where Milama Locoa of Fish Pond will be part of our agriculture tour in the morning featuring Namea Coupono, aloe ikalo, as well as Mojala Farms, a local organic farm. So thank you again for joining us Ray. I really appreciate it. And I hope we can learn more about your organization during the Parade of Farms event on Saturday, May 6th. Thank you. Thank you. Aloha, I'm Kauai Lucas, host of Hawaii Is My Mainland here on Think Tech Hawaii every Friday at 3 p.m. We address issues and importance for those of us who live here on the most isolated land mass on the planet. Please come join me Fridays at 3 p.m. Mahalo. Hi, I'm Carol Cox. I'm the new host of Eyes on Hawaii. Make sure you stay in the know on Hawaii. Join us on Tuesdays at 12 noon. We will see you then. Aloha. Hi, I'm Nicole Alexandreinos and I was born three weeks ago. Congratulations on being there for me for some of the few weeks of my life. I'm starting a new show, The Millennial Mind every Wednesday at 2 p.m. for the month of April where we'll go over some of the reasons why millennials are some of the most anxious and frustrated people at the moment. Welcome back everyone. For those of us who are just joining us, we are, my name is Stephanie Mock and I am guest hosting for Food and Farmer Series for Think Tech Hawaii this week. I'm joined this week by two guest speakers. We just featured Ray DiCoito from Malama Local A of Fishpond and next we'll be speaking to Emma Bello, the owner and manager of Sweetland Farm who will also be part of our Parade of Farms event on Saturday, May 6th. So thank you so much for joining us, Emma. Thank you for having me. Of course, thank you for joining us. So tell us a little bit about Sweetland Farm where it's located and basically what do you produce? We are a family-run goat dairy in Central Oahu and we mainly produce goat cheese. So chev, which is a spreadable goat cheese, feta, which is brined and you can like crumble it on salads. And then we do an aged cheese. It's semi-hard. It's called tome. So it has a natural rind on the outside. It looks like a piece of stone. But doesn't taste like it, right? No, it's very nutty and buttery. It's very nice. Yeah. Wow. And so you just named a bunch of cheeses that I don't personally know. So how did you get into cheesemaking and learning so much about cheese in general? It's not a skill that everyone has nowadays. It basically started as a summer job at Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui. Okay. I want to be a pastry chef. That was my dream. And I quickly realized that I want to be outside with animals. So I kind of put the cooking aspect in with the animals to making cheese. So I basically fell in love with goats and got my parents wanna get back into ag and we just went for it. And so you were talking about your parents getting back into ag. So is this a family business then? It is. But you're the owner and manager. Yes. That's fantastic. So what's your background in farming? You were mentioning your families in farming. Is there any sort of- Yes. Did you grow up in a farm or you know, work in the farm every day? What's your background in? My parents, my mom's parents have Peterson egg farm up in Wahewa Heights. In Wahewa, yes. And my parents are actually poultry majors from Cal Poly. So I've always grown up with chickens. Okay. Not goats. You got sick of the chickens though. A little bit. Yeah. And yeah, I just love animals. It's in my blood. Yeah. I think I found my calling. Oh, that's fantastic. I just- So young too to find your calling. In farming. Young farmer, yay. So you were talking a little bit about the products that you produced. Do you produce them on site? Do you rent a commercial kitchen? What kind of operation is that? Everything is produced on sites. We don't buy milk. We don't buy curds. It's all from the goats. All from- Right on site. Right on site. And so you make all that cheese right on site. Yes. So what kind of equipment do you use in cheese making? Do you have to pasteurize? Yeah. The main equipment is a pasteurizer. Okay. Which is a vat. We have a 211 gallon vat. It's kind of the middle size. They go really big and they go smaller. Okay. We have a drain table. Okay. And what is that? So the byproduct of cheese making is whey. Okay. So we want the curds. And the whey basically drips out onto this drain table from either a drain bag or a mold. Okay. And that byproduct goes to pig farms or they can go to your plants, into your garden. It's really high in protein. So you see like the powdered shakes in the stores that you buy. The whey protein. Yeah. That's just a powdered form of whey. So yeah, I hope to have some pigs on the farm one day and give the whey to them. You make them nice and fat and happy. Yes. And strong at the same time. So right now we're showing a picture of you actually making cheese on site. So what are you doing here? What are you making? So I'm making chev. That's the vat behind me. The 211 gallon vat. Okay. And it's going into a cheesecloth bag. It looks like a big pillowcase. And then I tie it off and then we'll put on the drain table which is in front of me also. And it's there for about two hours, two to five hours depending on what consistency of the chev we want. A softer or a more crumbly chev. And what's your favorite cheese? Because you've listed many different types of cheese. Do you have a favorite that you produce? I'm really excited about the tome. Oh, and what is that again? It's a semi-hard cheese with a natural rind on it. The stone one that doesn't taste like a stone. The picture of the cheeses, you'll see the tome on the left-hand side. Oh, okay. And all these different cheeses that you make, do you sell them to local markets? Like who is your main market, would you say? Restaurants and hotels. Okay. We also sell to Whole Foods. All three locations in Hawaii. One day, hopefully the mainland. Woo, big ideas and big dreams. And so you mentioned your farms in Wailua. So that's one reason you're part of the Parade of Farms event because we wanted to feature all these amazing farms and operations that are happening on the North Shore. What is something someone can see when they come out on the farm tour of your farm? How many goats are they going to see? Are they only going to see babies or adults? Can they see cheese making? What kind of things can we see on the tour? On Saturday, they'll be able to see all 196 goats. Wow. Oh my goodness. They'll be able to see the whole process, the cheese making room, the milking parlor, where we hold the milk, the barns, babies of course. The babies. Yeah. I have 86 right now. You have 86 babies. Oh my goodness. And when were they born? A bunch were born in January in a week, all in a week, about 50 something. And then- So no sleep that week, right? No. I was up for 32 hours, I believe. Helping them give birth? Wow. And then you have to milk the mom and then you have to feed the babies and make sure everyone's okay. Sometimes I had five going at one time giving birth. Oh my goodness. Yeah, that was a busy day. And do you have a team on your farm to help you? Is it a one-woman operation? What kind of team do you have? I do nights, but I work every day, so- So you work 24 hours a day? Yeah. I work seven days a week, average of 12 hours a day. Wow. They're kidding, it varies between 12, $32, 15 hours, yeah. But it's a labor of love. I love what I do. Good. So the pastry chef kind of morphed into goat farmer and cheese maker and wow, you have an amazing operation and I can't wait for people to visit and see your farm. I'm very excited. So what are the next steps for Sweetland Farm? So when did you start the farm and then how do you see it moving into the future? So we've been working on this farm for five years and we're finishing our last building which has a gift shop. Okay. And the tome and then aguda or howda. Howda. So we're gonna play around with the howda this year and get that going as well. So that building is finishing this year so hopefully agritourism at the end of the year or next year, early next year. So you're gonna have a full operation on site, you're gonna have the goat farm, you're gonna have the retail aspect, the agritourism aspect. And are you doing this for just diversifying farm operations to enlarge the operation as a whole? What's your goal in bringing all these different aspects of farming together? I wanna educate the students. Really, okay. That's one of my main goals is to get the schools out to the farm to educate them. Their food doesn't come from the shelves in the store. Are you sure? I think it just grows on the shelf right there, right? No farms or farmers involved. So I want them to come out, experience, get their hands dirty, play with the goats, just learn from start to finish, from the goats to the packaging and relate to that. You can be a whole business just with a farm, the whole agribusiness and agritourism aspect. That's fantastic. So we talked a little bit that you're gonna be part of the North Shore Specialist Tour which also features Twinbridge Farms and Counterculture. I was hoping you could speak a little bit about how you partner with other farms or just today meeting Ray, how you guys are already creating a barter system, cheese for mullet and tilapia. So if you could just talk about, do you have a connection with the other farmers? Do you rely on, do you give your way to other farmers or get anything in return? How does that work within the North Shore farming community as a whole? I have been giving my way to a pig farmer. Okay. But I don't get anything back in return. Not yet me. But then again, I want to have my own pigs and maybe sell that meat from the farm or just consume it ourselves. I don't get off the farm very often is the problem right now because I'm so busy. Working 24 hours a day? Yeah, I can see that. So slowly but surely I will branch out. Well, I think you have a great reputation so far and people always ask me questions about who's that goat farmer on the North Shore? Emma Bellow. Yeah, so I think that's a great mixture of how working with new farms and you were mentioning you don't really get off the farm and I know Ray is executive director and stewarding a 400 year old fish pie is busy and is being torn all different ways and you guys have to wear multiple hats. You're always businesswoman farmer. I'm birthing goats at two a.m. You know that kind of thing. And so there isn't that, there's only so much time in the day and so people don't always get to see the farmers face to face and so with parade of farms we thought if we can't get the farmers off the farms let's bring the public to them, right? We can get them all in one spot and that educational aspect that you're talking about just seeing where your food comes from and also just be a great day out in the field. You experience your farm every single day and so probably after a while it's like another goat, you know, making more cheese but for us outsiders it's an amazing process and we love seeing how hard you guys work and how you manage your natural resources sustainably as well so you can provide these community services through education, through agritourism, through delicious product. I can't wait to try the sweet mullet by the way. That's my goal. I'm thinking of sweet mullet. I'm thinking of different ways that we can partner. Yeah. I mean she said ecoteurs and that's something that we definitely want to start conducting. Just taking our educational program and modifying it for the visitor or the adult family and we think Hollywood is just so packed with that visitor industry and for a non-profit to start finding ways to fund itself. Fish pond production or fish production is not allucrative. It's a labor of love. It's high labor cost and so break even is where we want to be so we have to find other production models and I'd love to talk story to you. You could start your own retail outlet and feature sweet land farm cheeses there with your sweet mullet. There's just a lot of partners and we just need to get out there and talk to each other and find the similarities in the way that we can align with each other for sure. We have huge educational programs already so we can share our teachers with you. Definitely. Well I want to thank you guys both for coming on today. I loved hearing about your operations and I know the audience did too. You can learn more about Parade of Farms at parade-of-farms.org where we will be featuring farms and agribusinesses of the North Shore community in Oahu such as Malama Local A of Fish Pond and Sweetland Farm who are just two of one of the many farms who are being part of our tours that day happening on Saturday, May 6th. So again, we'd love to thank you for tuning in to this guest hosted episode of Think Tech Hawaii's Food and Farmer series and we want to hope to see you all in the next episode where we can talk to more farmers about food and farms in general. Thank you.