Farms

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,…

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…

Tonight’s guests at Slow Food Maui‘s Taste Education series were Anthony LaBua and Maleta Van Loan of Maui Preserved. They’ve created a wonderful brand that supports local farmers and inspires creativity in the kitchen. Their first product, a Hawaiian Chile Pepper Sauce was created in 2010. They established their commercial kitchen in Haiku and since then have developed a line of products including spicy pickled pineapple spears, pickled beets, onions, Pohole (fiddlehead fern shoots), pickled strawberries, pineapple Thai Chili spread, and a Mexican Gherkin pickle. They acidify with either apple cider vinegars or a green tea brine. Mexican Gherkin was bright and crisp. The Pineapple Sweet Thai Chile spread had some heat and was delicious. Anthony talked about chef inspired products, sustainability, the demand for local food that could be preserved, food security and keeping the culture alive with new…

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…

  I know it’s been a while but here we are with a beautiful visual of our recent West Maui Coffee Tour. I was asked by Stephanie Hua of @lickmyspoon to share our West Maui Coffee Tour. She was here for the Kapalua Food and Wine festival and she will feature us on her blog….

April 19, 2012 Dania Katz, Chef and farmer James Simpliciano and Chef Jenna Haugaard made their dream come true… They created the first Kupu Maui Pop Up brunch event at Ali`i Kula Lavender FarmInspired by other Pop Up restaurants in Honolulu like “The Pig and The Lady”, Dania was determined to pull it off on…

   The thought of lavender conjures images of purple fields sloping on a mountain looking out to the sea…    The feeling is relaxation, one of lavender’s most potent properties. It directly affects the central nervous system. The benefits of lavender are more than wonderful.   Just being near acres of lavender, drinking…