On the North Shore, "farming" is a dirty word. The aversion has nothing to do with dirt, mulch or manure, all of which Bill Howes excitedly describes as "great stuff!"
Rather, the ill feelings have everything to do with the desecration of land associated with large-scale, single-crop farms. In the worst cases, reliance on herbicides and pesticides has resulted in barren fields and water wells full of toxins.
In the interest of showing there is a way to nourish the land in return for nourishing us, Patagonia -- the clothing store with a "green" consciousness -- is sponsoring the Haleiwa Organic Farming Fair Saturday at the North Shore Marketplace.
Growers will be selling their produce and members of the Hawai'i Organic Farmers Association will be sharing information. Fair organizer Jane Duncan said the fair's intent is to provide a networking opportunity for those interested in foods grown organically, or without chemicals.
"There's a growing support for it and the community is ready for it," she said.
What's more, anyone can grow some food, whether it's sprouts and herbs on a window sill or planting trees in the back yard.
Bill Howes:
“Organic goes beyond gardening.
A lot of it is recovering folklore,
-- old ways of doing things --
and reapplying those principles
in a modern context.”
A trip through the Howe's back yard is the equivalent of walking through a buffet line as the architect and market gardener grazes his way through a plot of lettuces and herbs, munches on the "yuppie green" kale and chomps on the crunchy buds and leaves of the katook or nutty leaf plant.
This edible array wasn't dictated by mere cravings. "If I can get it free I put it in," he said. Fellow planters are willing to trade cuttings, seeds, anything that might grow.
This does not mean it all goes into the ground in a haphazard way. Employing a "permaculture" or permanent agriculture system, interrelationships between plants and environment are taken into careful consideration. For instance, coffee trees are planted on the shady side of his house, surrounded by clover that adds nitrogen to the soil. Rainwater flows off Howes' rooftop to the plants below, while a tree growing overhead drops leaves. This green waste is a natural mulch that helps the soil retain moisture needed by the coffee trees.
Howes' property is surrounded by weedy Napier grass -- as tall as sugar cane with stiletto-sharp leaves -- but even this has a purpose.
"Oh, no!" he says when someone suggests clearing it away. "It's great stuff. See. Break it off," he says, demonstrating his gardening technique. "Throw it down. It's mulch!"
The coffee trees and an Araconda duck came from neighbor Todd Corbin, whose flock of chicken and ducks provide a steady supply of eggs. He goes as far as harvesting, pulping, drying and roasting his own coffee -- a seven-step process -- all done manually. His coffee roaster is an Orville Redenbacher popcorn popper.
Corbin, a Vietnam veteran who traded an inheritance of 300 acres of land in Texas for a single acre in Pupukea, is also in the process of building a fish pond in his back yard.
"I'm trying to do the right thing for the property and trying to set a good example for the community," Corbin said. He knows firsthand the damage that traditional farming can do to the land.
"Cotton is one of the heaviest fertilized crops on the planet. I remember picking cotton by hand when I was 8, but then the machines came in that could pick more cotton, so they put more fertilizer in and more pesticide to keep up with the insects and one year the crop failed. They couldn't keep ahead of the problems."
Kim Clark, Oahu coordinator for the Hawai'i Organic Farmers Association, said "I always tell people that if you stand on your head you will understand organic agriculture."
This means taking a good look at the soil from which life springs. "The land is alive with bugs and living microorganisms that have to be there to have healthy and living soil.
"Soil is alive. It has to be fed the right thing. We have to learn that (the food chain) starts from the soil and works its way up to us."
Last year Howe began teaching this concept as part of Sunset Elementary School's community gardening project. He started with one class. This year, he'll be teaching four classes.
But he makes it clear that "We want to learn off other people so it doesn't become like 'I'm an expert' kind of thing."
Corbin adds, "It's all we can do is give inspiration. Even with my feeble attempts at making coffee, it's all learning, and everything adds to the whole picture."