We are so grateful to the Maui Farm for their investment in Hui Malama and its students. Monthly visits to the farm have given our students new lessons on gardening and hard work. Our students have taken what they’ve learned and integrated new ways of planting, maintaining and harvesting our school garden. Taking care of the land has turned into an invaluable lesson on the importance of community service as well as life skills.

January. Beginning a new year with new lessons! Students learned about companion planting through work on a Three Sisters garden – A Native American system of growing corn, squash and beans.

Eager to gain a better understanding of a productive garden, our students listen and learn from the wonderful staff of the Maui Farm.

February at the Maui Farm was focused on worm bins, soil and composting, as well as the benefits of and techniques for creating raised beds.

Our focus in April at our monthly Maui Farm excursion was on propagation, water conservation and urban gardening techniques, as demonstrated through cultivation of potato seeds in horse wire cylinders of hay. Mahalo Maui Farm for these valuable lessons.

Commencement for Hui Malama Middle School, High School, and GED students is May 23. Have you RSVP’d yet?

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Kirk Surry, along with his Master Gardeners who assisted Hui Malama students with gardening classes earlier this year, dropped off some straw bales for our garden today. We will be using this to create our sweet potato beds.

Maui News photographer Brian Perry captured our students in action spreading mulch for our garden. Get the whole scoop here.

Hui Malama students and staff are full of enthusiasm at the Agricultural Festival April 7, held at the Maui Tropical Plantation. They have been tending a “Victory Garden” on the grounds there as part of this year’s curriculum. Mahalo to Beth Mathias, ex-officio board member, for the group photo!

The Victory Garden land was generously offered by the Plantation, and working with The Maui County Farm Bureau, Ka`uhane Inc., Maui School Garden Network, Pukalani Plant Company, Community Work Day, and Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, our students were able to plant, maintain, and harvest its produce to share with the community.

Hui Malama received a grant from Rotary Club of Valley Isle Sunset to support its agricultural project.

Read more about our work day with the club, or from the Maui News website or in the PDF below.

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Hui Malama received a $15,000 grant from The Rev. Takie Okumura Family Fund.

Read more about it from the Maui News website or in the PDF below.

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Hui Malama students and members of the Rotary Club of Valley Isle Sunset worked together on a gardening project this spring, turning the lawn around the school into a garden. Other local businesses and groups pitched in to help, including Goodfellow Brothers, Kamehameha School Interact Club, Community Work Day, and the Hui Malama Board of Directors. The video below captures some of the action.

The Rotary Club of Valley Isle Sunset donated $498 for materials to Hui Malama Learning Center’s Community School Garden Program and Whole Foods Nutrition Program. These funds will assist Hui Malama staff and students to plan and develop an agricultural project. The project will provide for hands-on, project-based learning experience. The project will promote agricultural sustainability and the utilization of renewable energy. The students will be involved in the planning, implementation and maintenance of the project that is integrated throughout the HMLC curriculum.

Hui Malama students visited the Haiku Aina Permaculture Initiative on February 23. Students gained an understanding of the permaculture method of sustainable agriculture through hands-on learning. We were shown a living example of a self-sustaining community. Volunteers of HAPI, who are from all over the world, have a wealth of knowledge and share techniques from different places and cultures.

Kirk Surry and his volunteer Master Gardeners supported our garden project through weekly classes from August through October. Various aspects of gardening were introduced and taught and was a hands-on learning experience for our students. Composting, Vermiculture and Container gardening were among the activities that our students were involved in.

See more photos in this post.

“Our work with Hui Malama has been such an awesome experience. These students are totally engaged in sustainable living projects that translate classroom curricula into valuable life skills. We’ve learned a lot from each other and look forward to seeing these students develop into our next generation farmers, scientists, chefs, entrepreneurs and teachers.”
~ Kirk Surry