Ag-Tourism

First at Ho’okipa On through Pineapple country to the Lavender Farm for Tea and scones. This lovely unique geranium … And the beautiful Mercedes of AKLMaui   Then Ulupalakua, Maui’s Winery, and lunch at Kula Country Farms…   Another gorgeous, ever changing day, from bright sunshine with big puffy clouds to big grey clouds and impending rain. Love Maui.   ~ Marilyn   808 283-9131 808 280-1621   Marilyn Jansen Lopes http://Mauicountryfarmtours.com

This weekend was the Ka’anapali Fresh “a culinary experience” an event featuring the Chefs, Farmers, creative Mixologists, with music performances Saturday by Makana and Spyro Gyro and Sunday by Third Eye Blind. My weekend began at the Westin Villas where we checked in for two nights and prepared for our Ag-Tour of Kaanapali Coffee Estate in the morning. Here’s my husband Ricky with Akina Tours Bus driver, Herman, who did a wonderful job transporting our group of nearly fifty passengers. Shelley Kekuna (above with me) is the executive director of Kaanapali Resorts. Shelley created this event along with her superb event planner Toni Rojas of Sterling Performance Company. That’s James “Kimo” Falconer on the right. It was great to meet Kimo and learn more about the coffee farm he revived and how we’re making history on Maui in Kaanapali with…

The famed Maui Mokka, Red Catuai (Cat-Y-ee), and Yellow Caturra We’ll be sampling these coffee cherries on the farm tour at K`aanapali Fresh “A Culinary Experience” Saturday September 1, 9 AM- 12PM I’ll be giving the history of coffee from its origin in Ethiopia and migration to Yemen where it was first cultivated over a thousand years ago. Do you know how coffee was discovered?   That’s Jeff Ferguson above pictured next to a coffee harvester. It’s amazing how the rods spin among the coffee branches to shake the cherries loose where they fall into a hopper and an elevator takes them to the top to be transported by trailer to the mill. It’s an amazing story of betrayal, love and legends that have been made about whole crops being destroyed and a single plant creating the future plants of…

Getting ready to share Kaanapali’s Agricultural Beauty at #KFreshMaui on Saturday, September 1, 2012 9-Noon We’re hosting the Farm tour for 50 people, mostly media persons who have come to write about the Ka’anapali Fresh Culinary Event. James “Kimo” Falconer is responsible for resurrecting the farm and establishing the brand “MauiGrown Coffee” in 2003. He’ll be on the farm to meet everyone on the tour. Can’t wait to get Into the field and see the coffee trees ripe for harvest. We’ll be sampling coffee cherries in the Maui Mokka section of the Kaanapali Coffee Estates. Maui Mokka is gaining world wide recognition. These are coffees packaged and ready to ship at the MauiGrown Coffee Company Store in Lahaina by the famous Old Pioneer Mill Smokestack. There are four types of coffee grown on the 500 acre coffee estate. Red Catuai,…

Photos are c/o Maui Coffee Association… 2012 first place winner of the Hawaii Coffee Association recent cupping competition was Tambra Gardens Kula Beans. See the full gallery on Posterous Greg and Susy Stille of Piliani Kope Coffee Farm in Launiupoko, Maui. Greg is President of the Maui Coffee Association and recently elected as President of the Hawaii Coffee Association. All the top growers on Maui were there in Wailea for the first Maui Coffee Festival August 4, 2012. Greg said they had a fabulous turn out and everyone had great sales. So that’s terrific. Maui Coffee Association is hoping to do events monthly involving students, chefs, pastry chefs, bringing Grown on Maui Coffees to the world.   Stayed tuned for Kaanapali Fresh August 31- September 3rd, 2012 Check out the schedule for all the farm-to-table events.     Marilyn Jansen…

The first Maui Coffee Festival will take place this Saturday at The Shops at Wailea. The Maui Coffee Association together with the Maui County Farm Bureau have been planning this event for months. Greg Stille, president of the Maui Coffee Association and president of the Hawaii Coffee Association says there will be tents near the…

One of our largest group tours was this private tour with fifteen passengers who arrived on Maui via Carnival Cruise. You never know what to expect so you have to be ready for anything. Two of the guests were slightly handicapped. One gentleman had fallen on his face during rough waters on the cruise ship. Another lady had swollen legs due to her medical condition so at the Lavender Farm they were kind enough to transport these two via the gator to our luncheon area down off the lower walking tour trail. This was no problem for us. Rick loves taking care of elderly folks and I’m an RN with 16 years experience. Though I’m only practicing once a year now doing Flu shot clinics, my background is in Emergency Room and family practice. My last position was at Hana…

What a happy sight to see gorgeous flowers, sweeping vistas, blue blue ocean from grassy, green pastures high on the slopes of Haleakala. I smile when I look at this bouquet of lavender at Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm. Our guests from all over the world love nature and how the beauty of the land restores the soul and spirit. Maui has such diversity that not everyone knows… We love to travel off the beaten path to the small towns and back roads of Up Country as well as the farms that are well known. It brings the country to life. We see fields of cabbage, lettuces, kale, onions, strawberries and lavender,while recollecting on the old days of Maui and what life was like growing up in the sixties. My husband Ricky is Portuguese and his ancestors arrived on…

A tour of the Lavender Farm in Kula, Maui is an agricultural adventure. In summer, as you approach the entrance, you begin to see thousands of grey mounds with purple stems bursting to the sky. Upon close observation you’ll see over 45 varieties of English, Spanish and French Lavender. Sweet English lavender has the long beautiful stems. French Lavender can be identified by the serrated leaf or French Braid like leaves. Spanish lavender has a peppery scent and buds shaped like pineapples or two bunny ears… The French varieties are most often used in culinary preparations. Lavender comes from the French word “lavage” and was used by royalty in ancient times to bathe. Hence, the lavender gives a sweet smelling scent to the bath and has many wonderful properties for the skin. It is a natural bug repellant, an antiseptic,…

As you can see, our celebration of Pies at Kula Country Farms was very popular… There were even more pies to follow these beauties. I was hoping for more pizzas and again didn’t get a chance to taste this one by @daniakatz because it’s difficult to eat that much pie! But it’s fun to see it all come together with everyone in their country spirit on Maui. There were some gorgeous two crust pies that I didn’t get close ups on, darn… it happens so fast with guests arriving… Putting out pies… Meeting, greeting, hugs, photos, talking story and all on a beautiful mountain farm overlooking the sea… look at these local strawberries from Kula Country Farms… @daniaedibleHI is responsible for putting the #MauiPie TweetUp together with Teena Monden of Kula County Farms here. I helped to tweet it and…