 Aloha and welcome to another episode of Hawaii Food and Farmer's Series, where we talk to Hawaii's farmers, foodies, and really anyone that cares about Hawaii's agriculture future. I am your co-host for today, Matt Johnson, along here with POMI. As always, you can join the conversation by tweeting it at thinktechhi, and you can actually even call in with your questions by calling in at the hotline 1-800-374-2014. So, POMI, I want you to go ahead and introduce our guest for today. Okay, everyone, welcome back. This is my great friend farmer, John Augustine from Augustine Farms, Waimanalo. Welcome, John. Oh, thank you for having me, POMI. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Was that a good enough intro? Yeah, that was great. Everyone's excited now. Definitely, yeah. So, John, tell us a little bit about yourself. And you've got the whole family. Unfortunately, they're not on camera just yet. They've got the whole family in the studio here. And yeah, what is Augustine Family Farm? Augustine Family Farm. We started years and years ago just as a dream. We were living in Florida. What year was this? Well, actually going way back. So, let's go way back. Let's go way back. So, I took one of those tests in high school. Like an IQ test? No, like the one whatever you should be when you grow up. So, I took one of those tests and it came back farmer. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. I'm not going to be a farmer. So, I skipped that. Just went to college and did a bunch of other things. I kept gnawing at me. I do love to be outside. I get off work and I go in my garden and just mess around, grow things. So, it just kept gnawing at me. But pretty much when I became, I got really sick. So, I got... A life just sick and tired. I sit totally sick of life. And you literally got sick. Yeah, I was diagnosed with cancer. So, I had just this huge tumor. You know, it just showed up out of the blue. And my wife's a nurse. And she said, you know, you need to go get this checked out, right? And I'm like, seriously? So, I go to the doctor's office. Doctor walks in. He takes one look at me and he grabs the phone and goes, you need to go stat, get a CT scan, all this other stuff. Oh, geez. And I said, oh my goodness. So, my life just changed overnight. Had surgery. Had, you know, all the radiation after that. And then it even came back for a second time. So, years later. So, I started thinking, you know, what is going on? Where do you come from? And why is it around? And so, I started thinking about the food that I'm eating and started watching documentaries. So, the doctors, they started just scratching their heads or sending me to Mayo Clinic. And, you know, so I was just like this spectacle where I'm, you know, these doctors are just checking me out, going, what's going on? So, I just started thinking about, you know, pesticides and what I've been eating growing up and just wanted to radically change everything. And just told my wife one day, I said, I just, this is it. We're changing everything and let's just go be farmers. Wait, so what were you doing before? So, you took this aptitude or life test. I think we all take that test. I think Mike came back. Mike came back to be a police officer. Maybe someday. I don't know. That's how you felt about being a farmer. You're going to get there. I don't know. What did you just go back? You see that? Yeah. So, you didn't follow this guidance of initially being a farmer. What were you doing? Right out of college, I got into radio and somebody in my class Do you hear that radio voice? I kept raising my hand and one girl said after class, she goes, you talk so much and you sound like an old retired game show host. She said, it is hilarious. You need to go and volunteer at the college radio stage. I said, okay, I'll do it. I'll know if that's an insult or what. Maybe more of a passenger. That's more of what I'm hearing. So, it just sort of led into a career in radio, which I absolutely love to do that in Florida. That led into working for a non-profit. I was doing PR and marketing. So, you like people? I do. I just want to be outside. And you want to be outside and you brought your whole family. You have a whole troop. Can you tell us a little bit about how it went from Augustine family farms? Yeah, we wrestled with the name. We went round and round and then we just thought this is a family thing. We couldn't have done it. I couldn't have done it by myself. It's my wife and I as a team and the boys are definitely involved. We're 26, 9 years old and we just wanted them to grow up, run around on a farm, playing around, do all kinds of things. You can see some pictures of them at the farmers market in Waimanalo. Looks like it's right by the co-op, yeah? Yes, and they love planting different things. They love trying different things. Gorgeous stuff there. What's all in the picture there? We've got all kinds of different things. Lettuce, kale, rocks. They're holding a sign down. How much do you sell rocks for a pound for? Right. They look great though. They just could go fast, yeah. And then what brought you folks to Hawaii? We lived on Kauai my wife and I before we had children for a brief sin and absolutely fell in love with Hawaii and we made the mistake of leaving once and we just kept talking about trying to get back. We were very special about this place and just felt that it was our home and this is where we wanted to raise our boys. And so we finally basically when it came time to really go for it, we sold just about everything we owned in Florida. We sold my truck, sold my wife's van, we had three garage sales and the night before we left, we had our tickets, we sold our TV, it was the last thing that went out the door. We had a couple bags packed and just got on a plane and basically just got here, went to Waikiki stayed in a room off the bat and looked for a place to live and just really just knew I wanted to do GoFarm. That was like the one thing I knew I wanted to do. So you knew about GoFarm before you moved back to Oahu? I did, yeah. So I learned about it. I did some Googling just kind of went around and it said how can I figure out how to do this? I kind of had this vision of like, okay we want to move back to Hawaii bring the whole family and get back, you know, really getting the farming. And so you learned about this GoFarm program. So we've definitely had guests before, including Pomai on the show talking about GoFarm but what is GoFarm for anyone who isn't maybe a regular viewer? Yeah, GoFarm is perfect for somebody like me coming from a different job where, you know, I had a garden I knew how to grow a few things but definitely not a farmer. So taking somebody who knows nothing about farming teaching them throughout the course of a year all sorts of different things from pest management to, you know, the field work and what to grow and marketing and everything else and building up a farming business and to become a commercial grower and then to actually get the land so we start, we get in and start growing pretty much almost day one in the program and then now I've reached, I've graduated from the GoFarm program and I'm in what's called the incubator side of things where I've got a plot for about three years now to continue to grow. What year are you on? In year one of the incubator. So yeah, we started in the summertime. Yes, you got a couple more years in there to just flourish and grow any any specific things that you like growing or you see grow well in the area, Waimanalo. I love growing all kinds of things. We're growing just about every vegetable we can think of. We've got banana trees, we've got papaya trees, we've got a huge patch of lilicoy that we really love but we're super excited about our salad greens right now. We're just growing all kinds of different stuff and putting together these beautiful bags and pretty much the kids will love eating it as well so that gets me excited. Great, people love it? They do, yes. Where can they find you? We're just at the Waimanalo Farmers Market on Friday nights. It's called Mamona Nights. Oh yes, I was going to say that from 4 to 6 p.m. there's live music, there's a cakey corner, our boys are always running around. I know, I feel like we need to field trip to Mamona Nights. We also sell through a small CSA. A lot of the folks that were with me from the Go Farm days when I was doing it as a student have stuck with me and we're able to grow that a little bit and offer weekly bags of whatever's fresh and then we also do sell on Farm Link, which is a great way of getting it out to different restaurants and things like that. Nice. So pretty much you kind of dropped your previous career doing nonprofits and doing your radio voice which I'm glad you're able to use here on the show. You could definitely be a host in the future. If you even have your own show, we're always looking for a new recruit. We really are, always out there looking for talent. This is pretty much your full-time gig now. I left everything and just went forward 100% with farming and so we really hope to continue to grow, continue to make the business successful here and just something to pass down to the kids one day. We really hope for and hopefully we could continue to grow on land as well so after these three years we'll see where we could be full-time after that and just looking forward to continuing to supply the community with lots of good fresh veggies. Let's talk a little bit more. I know we're going to have a little bit more time before the break, but talk a little bit more about the GoFarm program specifically because what you did is pretty drastic. Where you kind of have this career and you're doing certain things and then you're like, you know what? I'm moving to Hawaii and I'm going to become a farmer, which not a lot of people really do and there's a lot of just inherent challenges with that. And now you're in a position where you're doing it, you're making it work. So obviously this program that you went through was super helpful. Talk a little bit about some of the specifics and what do they really do that was very valuable for you. Definitely everyone thought I was completely nuts. Our friends and our family when they see us zippered up suitcases and go, we're really going to be growing a beer now. There was a chance that it wouldn't happen. That was kind of the scary thing getting off an airplane and going, well this could not work out. There's a lot of people who try to get into the GoFarm program because it's not even guaranteed that you get into the program. Yeah, and I didn't know that until a little bit after I signed up I didn't realize how competitive it was so then I started thinking, wow I really really need to get moving on this thing. Whoa, what a good resource job. I just moved the whole family over from Florida, I gave up my career, moved to Hawaii. Oh yeah, there's an opportunity. It's a pretty intense process. So the pressure was on, so I really put my head in the books and I really really tried as absolutely as hard as I could and starting farming when you turn 40 is probably not the best idea ever, I could have probably done a lot of that in my 20s. But it happens, it works, I mean it works I feel like a lot of people are looking for quality of life. So that's sort of, and you didn't want to just be a gardener, you wanted to kind of up the ante a little bit. And that's what Go Farm really helped me do is they're looking for people who really don't want to just learn more how to become a successful gardener but how to really start a farm and be a business and that's really what I was looking for. So from everything, understanding seeds and propagation and what to grow and different pests that are battling us out in Waimanalo the ones that we're fighting against and watering versus over watering and all the different ins and outs of everything they really take us through it step by step. So it's kind of gradual and then we hit the dirt we start with two rows and we move up now I've got a quarter acre so it's just an ounce of tint. I think that the network is also I've noticed the network of farmers really helps like the learning process and that sense of like farming community because you're not the only one who is crazy. We've got ongoing support too like you, you're able to help us out and great people that I could call or text were always asking each other questions and the neat thing about the ag land out in Waimanalo is we could see each other from our plots too so we could you know wave across and our kids are playing together Hey neighbor, do you have any kale? Yeah, we could trade things and work together in different ways so it's been amazing I definitely wouldn't be where I am without GoFarm. Yes, that's exactly what I was going to say thank you, thank you everyone just want to make sure everyone heard that This is really just a commercial for GoFarm Yeah, we expect the sponsorship to hit out there 30 minute long 30 minute long ad perfect this is perfect but unfortunately we do have to take a commercial break for our sponsors which hopefully some day we'll be GoFarm so yeah, we'll do this one minute and we'll be right back And we are back to white food and farmer series I am your host today Matt Johnson and we're talking to John Augustine and Augustine family we actually have a couple more members of the Augustine family farm who have just joined us so we have Brandy and we also have Ian who joined us on the show thank you so much guys for joining us Ian give a wave to your fans Say hi Chaka, big wave maybe a kiss, I don't know lots of fans out there so yeah, so we're just talking to John about the adventure moving from Florida and kind of having a big life change and moving the whole family out here to Hawaii going through the GoFarm program and now running the family farm so yeah, super exciting I can't wait to read the book that you're going to write one day I'm sure that's definitely in the works definitely so we're going to hear a little bit from Brandy so this is kind of like not just John running this operation but a real family effort I imagine there's a lot of pros and cons that come with that, some challenges but also some real exciting things so love to hear from you Brandy just kind of how's it been for you did you also take that test when you were younger you wanted to be a farmer? absolutely not so John as he mentioned went through several illnesses and it was one day that he said to me I want to be a farmer and I said oh well you don't know how to be a farmer if you can figure out a way to be a farmer I'll support you so I see the practical one okay, okay so he came out and he found this program and we had lived in Kauai loved it here and back we came with three little boys in tow so luckily I have a profession I'm a nurse practitioner could find a job here to come back and support our family but it was all him just wanting to pursue this dream watching him through every step of the way before but Brandy's out there with us she's our official weed puller she absolutely loves I love picking weeds on the weekends that's my favorite which is the best thing I can ask for in a wife it's fantastic just like just put me out there tell me which row to hit put my head down and just pick weeds and it's awesome I'm sure it's a nice change too from the work you do which I imagine is very stressful or handy so it's probably therapeutic when you get to come out to the field don't have to have the weeds talking back to you screaming or yelling I can imagine how it's nice well and I take care of people the end of life so I see what John is doing is starting life and helping to support life so I feel like we kind of have that whole circle of life we got the kids out there running out and it's great because our two older boys who aren't on camera now they're six years old and nine years old so kindergarten and third grade they love coming out there after school on the weekends after soccer they're always out there helping us plant and harvest and all kinds of fun things and then this guy right here this is little Ian he's three years old and basically he and I fire up the truck in the morning and head out there together and get to work just about every day we're together out there and you eat broccoli like a lollipop they're helping us take food they're eating it as we go super cool to see that what a great way to imagine to get kids excited and interested I was telling Ian earlier saying how when I was his age I hated broccoli it's fascinating to hear that these kids are super into it there he is out in the field he's picking green beans eating probably half of them pick one, eat one is that how you work Ian I gotta get paid somehow so yeah that's great obviously an alternative to putting Ian in preschool or daycare or whatever you have to do he's out there just running around barefoot and planting things with me so we learned our ABC's in the dirt this is probably the cleanest he's been in the longest time he took a bath just for this awesome so you're talking before about some of the ways you guys are selling your products you're doing a CSA which sounds like it's working out really well you also have the you're working with the co-op a little bit and going to some farmers markets working with FarmLink and your products online so you can start off with this ag and computer program and you're on a quarter acre land now where do you want this to go what's the vision for the family are you going to kind of keep it small are you going to become a mega farm and take over the entire windward side of Oahu I have no dreams of us becoming a mega farm but I'd like to say small three to five acres has always been our dream to have some animals on there one day and have a market garden just growing the healthiest organic food that we possibly can getting it out to the community continuing with the CSA with the farmers markets and different avenues like that I'd love to be in a few restaurants talking to a variety of chefs and things but just continuing to take some cautious steps ahead we've got about two more solid years where we are now so I don't need to worry about land just yet we've got the quarter acre for that long and then after that we'll start looking for something a little bigger and more long term do you have any ideas I was just talking about this with a group the other day accessing land so it's great that you're able to start with this go farm program but any ideas where you'll look in the future I mean I know it's a couple of years off but where would you like I'd love to stay in Waimanalo I love that area there's also the state owned ag land the Kamehameha schools land things like that I think would be perfect for us so maybe more moving more up towards the north end of the island maybe in Kuhuku something like that we're pretty much open to anything at this point a specialty or a crop that you guys are kind of getting more excited about that is kind of what you hope to focus on or is it still just kind of a little bit of this a little bit of that it's a little bit of this a little bit of that but our lily koi has been really selling well that's super super popular and we actually just started planting a huge section dedicated just to salad greens just all different types and salad and over lettuce so we're really going to push forward on that and that's something we really love to bring to market and can't wait to put in the CSA bags for the spring I'd love to talk to some chefs about that as well talk a little bit about your CSA program because we've definitely spoken about CSA on here before but I like how you guys are doing it where you have kind of a group of solid members that are sticking with you in the seasons where you'll get payment up front or how does it work yeah a lot of the folks that we're serving through our CSA have stuck with us from the beginning of the GoFarm days and they've told their friends and it's been from there and it pretty much be a weekly bag you know reusable bag right at the beginning of the week we'll do like an eight week or a ten week run Ian wants to shave ice yeah you guys grow that on the farm we promise them that if he did well yeah but yeah we'll take either payment right up front or some folks will pay us you know at the door they'll come over to the house and grab their bag and drop us the cash right there and take it home and then I love talking through email about what they're doing with it we'll send out different ideas for recipes it's just such a cool way to find new and upcoming vegetables you know different things fancy things and super cool things and you know Col Robbie is one of our favorites now making chips out of that and doing different things we're super excited about the CSA aspect of it all cool very neat so kind of thinking ahead a little bit you know we're kind of talking about you know what you guys are doing how long connected with the GoFarm community what other what do you see is how could the ag community in Hawaii become even stronger what kind of things do you see that are really needed well land always needed you know just good affordable land where we can continue growing on and you mentioned a couple so there's department of ag the Hawaii department and ag have some ag parks throughout the state so there's that one in Waimanalo do you know anything about that are there plots available is it good land do you know anything about it I believe it's good land definitely good quality land I know that you can bid on it when the time comes so I've got to become a bona fide farmer first which is having three years under my belt okay so you're going to be there at the end of that I'll keep plugging along keep doing the best I can and hopefully get to that point one day and then through Kamehameha schools we've got different opportunities there so it does seem like there is a push to keep ag land ag land which I love and the community the ag community has been nothing but supportive every time I meet fellow farmers they're just so excited and you know it's never like get out of my space you know we don't need any more farmers welcome aboard and that's one of the things I love the most about farming is we all become just like best friends off the bat and just super excited and sharing ideas and you know encouraging one another and it's super hard work but you know at the end of the day it's something we're all really proud of and we got to stick together and just help each other out awesome John yeah what a great story I'm very excited to hear about this change that you've made and it sounds like a lot of good things are happening I'm excited to check back in with you next year and see where you're at thank you Matt thank you we lost Brandy and Ian Brandy was getting a little rowdy so we had to kick her off this set you can imagine my 3 year old co-worker what that's like every day he's like yo that was good let's wrap this up well yeah thank you so much and thank you once again white food and farmer series we're here every other Thursday so we'll see you two weeks from now