 Think Tech Hawaii, civil engagement lives here. And welcome back to another thrilling episode of Hawaii Food and Farmers series. I am your host today, Pomai Weigert. And I am joined today by De La Mesa. This is Brian and Natalie, yes. And they are farmers, they are in food, they are in law. So I have invited, I'm so happy to have them here today to talk about what they're doing. Surprise, surprise, they're also go farmers. So here we are, here we are again. And they do something really, really interesting and different. I'm always, I'm always pounding the pavement looking for different lifestyles, different themes in food and farming. They do something called urban farming, they do salsa, they do farmers markets, they do a whole bunch of different stuff. So we're just going to turn it over to them and have them introduce themselves. And if you could just tell us sort of how you got into farming. Yeah, cool. So I'm Brian, owner of De La Mesa, LOC. So how I got into farming actually was my passion for food and salsa. I wasn't able to find really good produce that was readily available for me. So I kind of started growing it in my backyard and then it like snowballed from there. I think Natalie said it better. She said there was no good Mexican food here. And we had to really, and we are grateful that you saw a need to fill that demand. So salsas, sorry, I just had to make sure, right? No, it's true, I mean, you would get canned salsa. Like you could taste the canned tomatoes in a lot of salsas. Yeah, locally. So it's like, okay. Definitely. Okay, no. Yeah, that is what you were saying, like, okay, no, I'm not into that. And is that because were you guys somewhere before you came to Hawaii? Oh yeah, I grew up in California. So good Mexican food is always available. It's definitely something I had been missing. Yeah, for sure. And then yeah, when I got into the stories and wasn't able to find like, you know, Pazia chilies or Guajillo's or Arbol chilies, I was just like shocked. And you're like, let's grow them. I know how to grow it, so it might as well, right? You're like, okay, sure, sure. And then what made the shift from California to Hawaii? Well, you moved here first. Yeah, it was different for both of us. I've been here almost 10 years now. I came out here for law school. And just never, never went back home to LA, fell in love with it here and stayed. It happens. Yeah, it does. And then I met this guy here too, and he was a transplant. Oh, so you guys met here. Okay, I didn't see that. I love being able to delve into like the GoFarm profiles, you know? Because you're like, oh, okay, so you guys met here. And farming, you were farming already or not? Actually, I was landscaping at the time. Yeah, I was owning a landscape company out in Kailua for, what was it, like the last two years? Last three years before I made the transition to get into farming. Once I figured out that all of our produce is shipped in, and a majority of it has been sitting on a boat for the last two weeks before it gets into the store. And yeah, not having the Mexican ingredients that I so long have. That you yearned for, that you were dreaming of every night. And then did you folks, so I know that you have an urban farm in Kailua, which we're going to touch on, but did you farm somewhere else before then? I actually did. So I started off in Waianae over on the west side. I found a little plot that a buddy of mine allowed me to blow up his backyard with a ton of peppers. I did it at the wrong time of year. Oh, it didn't work out, huh? No. Not during the summer over there, and here I am, you know, growing in California, coming from over there saying, you can grow this year around here, and it's like wintertime. Yeah. So that one didn't work out. Didn't work out. That one didn't work out. Lots of lessons learned. Yes. Yes. No, but I feel like that's a, you know, like we were talking about before, like if you've never failed forward, then there's going to be that in agriculture. There is going to be that. There is going to be some very crushing moments. So glad you guys survived. Yeah. So Waianae, and then you went to... And then we ended up getting a house in Kailua, and just went from there. I was like, what is the quickest way I can, you know, turn over produce? And I started doing research, and I got into microgreens, and I started turning over microgreens, and I started off with one or two trays a week. And then now I've evolved to about 65, 70 trays a week in our backyard. Our proponic systems grow beds, like everything. Potted plants. Yeah. Everywhere. Super neat. Farm tour status. I'm going to, well, like, see, you know, like, I would have to come visit your guys. See the operation. Can you tell us what urban farming is? I had this question earlier. So I was like, wait, we're going to come back to that because I feel like we should tell all the world. Yeah. So I know that there are a couple of different urban farms that actually are farming in like containers, like shipping containers as well. So that's considered urban farming in like a city area, or we're farming in a neighborhood, so it's not zoned as agricultural land. So it's like backyard, all of our neighbors are around. Right. So it's kind of like in, it's not your traditional sprawling. Oh, no, not acres. Yeah, sprawled out 100 foot rows, you know. Okay. So microgreens, what else do you guys grow? Currently, we have taro in one of our beds back there. We have taro and cassava. We have bananas. And then you have the stuff at the Go Farm. Oh, right, right. Because you know, the little backyard urban was in and of. You're like, oh, we need more things. So Go Farm, you guys are growing. This is you right here. This is amazing. Shantel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. This is just going to, this is great. And is this your guys' plot? Yes. So this is. So you're just cruising in someone else's? Yeah. Yeah. Like let's list a name drop and then be like, oh, thank you for letting us walk through your people. Yeah. He's very proud of that cabbage in the foreground. Oh. You're like, actually, really make sure that you get these cabbages. That's great. So you're growing cabbage. Yeah. Among other things, peppers and squash blossoms. Currently, edible flowers, salads. Wow. And bok choy. That's hot. And did you feel like it was hard for you to find a market? Or did you already have people you knew you wanted to sell to? Were you targeting Mexican restaurants? What was your strategy when you're like, hey, I'm going to grow microgreens and then cabbage and flowers? What was your thinking? What was your vision with us? So a lot of things kind of evolved, but initially I did know that I wanted to go into farmer's markets. And I wanted to start off that way. I've always loved being in farmer's markets. And when I came to Hawaii, there was no farms at these farmer's markets. It was all food vendors. And I'm thinking in my own mind, this isn't a farmer's market without farmers. I feel weird. Yeah. So I wanted to do that. And I wanted to have a niche there, too, as well. Because there was other things I didn't see, like fennel and just different types of herbs and how I keep going on about peppers and other things like that as well. So I really wanted to bring that to market and have that kind of stuff available to people as well. Because I know I couldn't be the only one that was missing out on some of this. And did you, or do you feel like the demand for those types of items has grown? Or do you see, because what farmer's markets are you going to now? Or like where? Yeah, where? So I do Kakaako on Saturdays. OK. And then... Right outside on Ward. OK. Right. I do Kailua on Sundays. That's at the elementary school there. And there's never really been an issue with selling the produce. I mean, I can't grow enough of it. It's a problem. So that's why we've been able to move out of the urban farm and get into GoFarm, which is an amazing program. That's what I heard. That's what I heard. The word on the street is that they're making some moves. They're making some moves. I don't know if you're giving yourself enough credit, though. Because I think there was some... We had to educate the market a little. When we first came out with microgreens, it was like... When? What year was this? April? Last year. Last year. What year was this? April? Yeah. OK. Several months ago. OK. Yeah. But still. Yeah. Still. Especially to the consumer market. Because restaurant market, their food scene, I think, on the restaurant market scale, very different. Yes. It's... Hawaii is already fairly diversified in that area. We do have a lot of progressive chefs. So, in that arena, microgreens, I think, are a little bit... And edible flowers and all of those kinds of things. But as a consumer, I would imagine that some education needed to be... What do you think has... What have you had to educate them on? Do you feel like... Oh, just what it is. How it's grown. It's grown at a week. And, you know, it's a cotyledon. It's not, you know, the full, true leaf. So, it's... Yeah. Like, at the... And he's taught me a lot, too. Because I kind of knew the business side, but none of the farming stuff. But, you know, like, at the farmer's markets, we have just a tray... Like, one of the 10 by 20 trays that we grow the greens in. And it's just sitting out there. And that captures people's attention. They're like, what is that? Because it's, like, fluffy and green. Right there. Just naturally drawn to it. I also feel like that's an important component to education is that, you know, especially now, and especially around food, is it's not really black and white. It is, like, people just seeing things and then, like, wanting to touch it, or it's green and wanting to know, like, what is this, or they want to taste something. Oh, look, there you are. There you are, teaching people. Micro greens down there, off to the right. And are these all things you guys make? That's a Kohlrabi and tomatoes, fennel, and then me pointing at some of the salsas we're making there. Is, are those peppers or tomatoes? What are those? Those are tomatoes. Those are tomatoes that you grew. Yeah, this is a hybrid variety, a more low variety from UH. I think that has resistance to tomato-yellow leaf curl. That's cool. So, in your farmer's market experience, what do you think is one of your best-selling items? Or what is, like, what is, like, fennel? Micro greens. Definitely. Micro greens. I can't, yeah. And the green salsa verde. We call it verde fresca. And then, boom. And our value-added products from the farm. That's great. Let's talk a little bit about value-add. So, I know that you folks make salsa, and is that where, how come salsa? And then recipes, like, where did the inspiration for salsa come? We said that you've had salsa all your life, but why was that? What direction you decided to go? Well, I'm Mexican, so. Easy. You stood really, really good. Boom, boom. I like this. I live for these moments. I try to set them up. And I don't know when my guest is going to be able to, like, boom, like, really hit it out of the park. So, thank you. Okay, so, there's that. And I was really missing some good salsa, some, you know, like, Manolo Mexican food, or homemade tortillas, and stuff like that. And did you, like, make these things growing up? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Since I was, like, five or six years old, and grandma's sitting there telling me, I'm not going to cook for you. You need to make eggs and do all this stuff. Kind of like, Hawaiians with poi, I think. You know, like, it's just something that, it's like a comfort. You know, and then you, like, also know what is, like, good, and then what is not good. Right, right. So I could see how one would year in for such a thing. And there is similarities to that, too, because, like, I make handmade salsa, so I have to, like, pound the onion and the tomatoes and the garlic and peppers. Right, like, put heart and soul and magic into your salsa, so that's great. And then recipes, did you come up with them on your own? Yeah, so I find a lot of inspiration in a lot of different places, actually. I find inspiration on my farm, and I'm like, oh, this is readily available, or this is readily available, I can whip this up into something, or go to market. And, like, I just got some hikama from Counterculture, and I threw some of the hikama together. No, sorry, but I role was, like, for them, like, in a good way. And I was like, I just really, like, they also taught me about hikama, because I did a farm tour there. That's amazing. And he was like, hikama, and I'm like, hikama. You know, what is, what is hikama? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he just, you know, he's like, this is what it is. And then I was like, oh, awesome. And he's like, here. Like, thanks, thank you so much, Counterculture. And then I had to take it home. And I was like, anybody, anybody know, like, that's cool. Okay, we're going to take a really quick break. And then we're going to come back with more de la mesa in a little bit. And we are back, Hawaii Food and Farmers Series. I'm Pomai, and I'm here with the owners of de la mesa, LLC, which is a farm store, a farm. Well, it's like a farm. Urban farm. Urban farm that also sells added stuff. Correct. Yeah, salsas. So we've just been talking. Pickles. Pickles. We don't talk about pickles. Yeah. We do a lot. Pickled peppers, pickled red onion. Stuff that you want to put on tacos. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. This is just opening up my mind. Like, well, and this, you know, really, I'm kind of like going around, you know, especially for, again, not that I'm with Go Farm. I, you know, I can kind of get a gauge of like what people are making. And we have so many people making so many different neat things. But then I always love to delve into, but why? And how? And what they're doing with it. So when we look at kind of what you folks have been doing, what do you feel like your future looks like in farming and in food? And like, what's your vision for that? Both. So definitely I plan to scale up this summer. Scaling up. With a lot of corn. Corn. Dried varieties. I want to do masa and start doing some pop-ups for some farm to table Mexican food. So everything that's from my farm will go ahead and try to make some Mexican food with it. See what I'm feeling. Wow. That's going to be super cool. I feel like, oh, look, we have some salsa. Oh, and you can soak people. Can order on Instagram? Yeah. Or is that an old thing? Well, we did that for Super Bowl. Oh. Like pre-orders. Yeah. So if it's something special. So if it's something special. They can always shoot us an email. And if they have a request for like a party or something like that. And we can do like a sample. Oh, that's super cool. How did, was there a lot of demand for Super Bowl? Oh yeah. I think we sold out in like an hour. If not less. And I probably made double the amount. Come down here quick because. It's ridiculous. Yeah. Well, you know, Super Bowl, it's a good time to generate revenue. All right. So any other, you're going to do farm to table. Are you thinking about partnering up with anyone? Or are you, is that something that you folks are going to do on your own? Do on our own. I mean, yeah, we'll definitely collaborate with different people when available. Different farmers, whatever they have available at the time. Right, right, right. So sourcing things from other people. Yeah, definitely. Even like, you know, porno pork and other people like that as well. Or two lady farms who are doing pork over there. I love pork. Yeah. Like anytime, like, is it a pork dish? Because then I'm totally into it. Totally into it. And then forage as well, who has like the antelope. Totally love them too. And she, and she loves you guys. She uses you in like all of her cooking IG stories. And then I'm like, oh my God, these are go farmers. And she's like, I know. So I just think that, you know, it's there's so much opportunity for collaboration. And I feel like so many people in food and farming are, it's like, not easy, but it's happening, you know. I think it's like a must. You have to in Hawaii. I mean, there's, you don't have that many resources available. So you got to come to the people that are doing it too. You got to come to your neighbors and other farmers or people at the booth and farmers markets and see what they're doing and partner up. Let's talk about farmers market scenes a little bit. Are there any sort of trends or shifts that you folks have seen since you've been there in people who are attending, what they buy, who's there? Tell me some of the insights that you get from being at the farmers market. I mean, like the thing that I probably loved the most and that was unexpected for me was the collaboration and the community amongst the different farmers and the farming booth, you know, the booths. Like, you know, we met, we met the forage and, you know, counterculture and all these, all these other farmers and they're all interested in what you're doing. And they're like, Hey, can I get this from you and barter and exchange. And it's that, that part has been really, really cool for me at least. And I feel like it really is a lifestyle. You know, I feel like that is what people are looking for. And even a lot of people that we work with or that I work with, I mean, they're looking for sort of that hybrid life. You know, they want really good paint jobs and then they don't want to be stuck in an office all the time. They want to have wide open space. They want to have fresh food. They want to have that for their children too. So you guys have a children. You have a child. Yeah. A one year old. A one year old. Sometimes it feels like more though. No, he's really just one, one child. And how does he like farm life? Yeah. That kid is amazing. Like he's taken him to the farm and he's like chomping on a tomato. And he's like, we just love, love having him learn how to eat just fresh. Again, trouble for bringing really dirty babies sometimes. And he's like, oh, look at her. Look at her. Very dirty. He took him to the farm. Just like covered in mud. He ate dirt, didn't he? Looks like he was eating some dirt. Looks like he was in the earth. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Love it. That's awesome. One, and just again, seeing more families involved in farming, I feel like that's, I don't know, makes me feel hopeful. Or I could see how so many families want that for their children to be outside and sort of to express in that way. Do you folks plan to expand the kind of farming that you're doing or more, produce more? What are you thinking as far as expansion for your company? Yeah, definitely. I definitely want to expand to a couple acres, but then also involve the community and educate the community as well. I'm having some kids from the Waimanala Health Center come down and tour the farm and teach them that food just doesn't come from the supermarket. It's actually grown. What? What? And there's people who grow it? Oh my God. I heard about that. It's crazy. There's this lack of education that I'm finding too here where people don't realize how hard it is to grow it. And I think also interfacing with who grows it. You know what I mean? Because it's like, okay, you know that the farms exist. I mean, farm, that idea of farming has become popular. But I feel like really interfacing and like you said seeing farmers and actually seeing a farm like I don't know because I came from my background before this was tourism. Like I don't know that I could just go back to just that. Like I need wide open space. I need fresh food. I need dirty sometimes. You know what I mean? To just sort of appreciate everything that we have here. I did want to talk a little bit about this variety showcase. Oh yeah, that's cool. And this variety showcase is coming up. March 13th. March 13th. Can you tell us a little bit about it? We're all involved. Yeah, definitely. So it's going to be a lot of local farmers and some mainland farmers as well. And they're all going to be showcasing what they've been working on for the last year. So all their hybrids, they'll be releasing. And we're also teaming up with some chefs to do some poo poo style farm to table event kind of. So there will be, I know, who's going to be there? Pig and the Lady. Pig and the Lady. Town, fat. I mean it's just, it's going to be a great opportunity if you're a foodie to get a little bit more behind the scenes of the farming. Right. Because like you already know the food stuff. But how do they get what they use? And how are they inspired? I completely agree. It's a very, especially if you're a foodie and you've been in the food scene. And I feel like if you're a foodie and you have been in the food scene, you've seen a lot of culinary art. You've already seen a lot of that. But I feel like with this event, you get to see the farm art too. Yeah, because it's really a lot of farm artisans in a way. Like they have created these magic varieties. So Jay. Yeah. Boast. Jay Boast. Who's a part of Go Farm. He is such a farm nerd. I love it. I love to just hang out. No, but all of our Go Farmers are we like make farm nerds? So I love it because then, you know, even today we were at Ag at the Capitol and Shayna was there. And we were there was somebody dressed up like a cockroach, you know, like to engage with the people and, you know, me and someone else were like, oh, there's a cockroach costume here. And she was like, oh, no, it's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, beetle. Like, thank you for the scientific. So, you know, as you can see, as you can see, we really need the interface. So I feel like Variety Show is going to be, it's going to be something like that because there's so many neat varieties of, I don't like tomatoes, sugarcane. I think they're having like wing beans there and different kinds of things that you want to Google. And then cool chefs from like all of Oahu's popular restaurants. It's going to be super hype. I'm like, and it's really inexpensive. It is $25. $25. Yeah. Kohana Rum is going to be there. Kohana Rum Beer Lab is going to be there. So are you? I will be a chef there. Oh, you're chefing. Yeah. So I'll have the salsa. You're chefing. What are you chefing? Well, I think it's going to be a salsa. I'm not sure yet. I haven't gotten the ingredients, so I don't know where my mind's going to take it. I'm still waiting. But it's supposed to be what? A new variety of a habanero or something? Yeah. It's a cross between like a new Mexican chili pepper. Right, because that's the whole thing. It's like farm innovation or like growing innovation. So I mean, and it started in Portland, which I mean they've obviously been like leaders in this kind of thing. Yeah, it's really cool. But I'm really super excited about it. I think that in Hawaii we're progressing in a way, in a way like that. I'm so grateful that you folks came to join me for this little quickie talk story session. If you would like to find De La Mesa, they are at, where are you guys at? DeLaMesaHawaii.com or you can find us at Farmers Market on Saturday in Kakaako or on Sunday Kailua. And then their Instagram is DeLaMesaHawaii. Yep. Yep. So go check them out on their IG, go to the Farmers Market, see you at the Variety Show. Thanks for joining us guys. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.