Christmas Parade in Pahala

Ka`u Coffee farmers and beauty queens joined the annual Christmas Parade in Pahala, Dec. 11.

Ka'u Coffee Growers Cooperative

‎2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee First Princess Shailei-Marie Penera, 2010 Miss Ka'u Peaberry, 2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee Second Princess Malia Corpuz.

‎2011 Young Miss Ka'u Coffee Queen Dayse Andrade

 

 

Ka`u Coffee Festival 2012

The 2012 Ka`u Coffee Festival has been set for Saturday, May 12, and Ka`u Coffee Cooperative members and other supporters are welcoming the entire community to get involved and volunteer. This will be the fourth Ka`u Coffee Festival for the growing industry. Those interested in helping can call Ka`u Coffee Co-op president Gloria Camba at 928-8558.

Congratulations!

Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya (left), with Miss Kona Coffee Corinne Quinajon and first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera.   

Photo by Nalani Parlin 

Congratulations from Ka`u Coffee Mill to Miss Ka`u Coffee, Brandy Shibuya, on winning Miss Aloha Hawai`i! The islandwide pageant was held at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa on November 5<sup>th</sup>. Shibuya, the daughter of Terry-Lee and Dane Shibuya, danced hula for talent and won Miss Congeniality. Next step for the West Hawai`i Community College student is the Miss Hawai`i Pageant to be held next year in Honolulu. The winner of Miss Hawai`i goes on to Miss America. Shibuya will be welcomed at the Veterans Day Concert this Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House where she will be performing hula. Also on stage will be One Journey; the Ka`u High School Ensemble; the Rev. Dennis Kamakahi; David Kamakahi; George Kahumoku, Jr.; Moses Kahumoku; John and Hope Keawe; James Hill; Anne Davison and more. Plate lunches and bottled water will be on sale as a fundraiser for the Ka`u High Ensemble. Ka`u Coffee Mill also congratulates Miss Aloha Hawaii first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera. Lapera is a 2007 graduate of Ka`u High, and daughter of Hi`ilani and Thomas Lapera, Jr.

Ka`u Coffee Mill and the Edmund C. Olson Trust were honored to fund the 2011 Miss Ka`u Coffee scholarship and to underwrite the participation of Miss Ka`u Coffee, Brandy Shibuya, and many community and promotional events. 

 

Ka'u Coffee Mill Develops Hydroelectric Energy

The sugar plantation's old water system came down the mountain in wooden flumes to transport cane to the mill. Now in pipes, it is used for irrigation and will be used to produce energy. Photo by Julia Neal.

Olson Trust is using abandoned sugar plantation water resources and Keaiwa Reservoir to produce hydroelectric energy for farms along Wood Valley Road. Olson Trust workers recently laid pipe, drained the reservoir to repair it and set a course down the hillside to give the water the drop it needs to make electricity.

Keaiwa Reservoir drained for repair. Photo by Julia Neal.

Olson land manager John Cross said the goal is to make the new Ka`u Coffee Mill and macadamia husking plant totally “green and using only renewable energy.” Cross said that Olson also plans to use the excess water for additional agricultural projects such as growing watercress and a loi system to grow kalo – taro – and perhaps make poi. The irrigation water is already used for coffee trees, taro, and truck crops grown by farmers leasing the Olson Trust land.

Kathleen Kam Wins Cover Art Contest

Detail of Akebono Ka`u, Kathleen Kam's winning
art for The Directory 2012 cover, showing
plantation history and the new
independent agriculture.

Kathleen Kam, a local artist who was recently commissioned to paint two large murals at the Ka'u Coffee Mill, has won the cover contest for the 2012 Ka'u Directory, the community and resource guide and phone book for the district. Kathleen recently taught art at Na`alehu School and painted the murals at Punalu`u Bake Shop in Na`alehu, Kilauea General Store in Volcano, the Keauhou Bird Sanctuary in Volcano, KTA in Hilo and Kamehameha Schools on O`ahu. She has also provided artwork for signage and displays at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The selection of The Directory artwork was made through public voting at the Ka`u Federal Credit Union.

Accolades for Our Founder

       When speaking about Edmund C. Olson, Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co. President and Partner Richard Schnitzler told Pacific Business News, “there are people out there, they touch things and they turn to gold, and I would put him in that category. It’s not all about the buck for him.” But Olson didn’t begin life as a wealthy man; his hard work, intuition and good investments have helped him become the self-made millionaire he is today. A man who, according to Schnitzler, “actually cares.”
       Olson has helped several local organizations and businesses; he revived Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co. which was in danger of going bankrupt, helped Hawai’i County buy 230 acres of oceanfront land in Ka‘u, and is selling another 500 acres to the county, which plans to use it for a public park. He also donated $500 thousand to The Nature Conservancy this year.
      After discovering that Ka’u coffee farmers were driving some 70 miles to mill coffee cherries in Hilo or Kona coffee mills, Olson began seeking out ways to help them. Olson began construction on the Ka’u Coffee Mill in 2010. Since then he has meticulously overseen every detail of the project, making sure everything is as he envisioned it.

Ed Olson, Honored by The Nature Conservancy

Edmund C. Olson

Ka'u Landowner, Philanthropist, and Ka'u Coffee Mill Founder Ed Olson has donated $500,000 to The Nature Conservancy to protect native forests of Ka'u and South Kona, which provide critical habitat for many of the island’s endangered forest birds. The Nature Conservancy hailed Olson as “quietly becoming one of the state’s leading conservationists.” In 2009, Olson helped acquire 6,500 acres in the Waianae Mountains on O`ahu from the James Campbell Company to keep the land in agricultural and preservation. Olson gave part of this land to the state to create the Honouliuli Forest Reserve.

He also put more than 900 acres mauka of Honu'apo into permanent conservation easements to prevent development, including multiple residences, commercial structures, roads or power lines, The Nature Conservancy statement says. The easements also safeguard the property’s numerous cultural sites and pockets of healthy wildlife habitats. They are managed by the Hawai'i Islands Land Trust.

This was the second time Olson has helped preservation interests in the Honu'apo ahupua'a. In 2006, he donated $50,000 through the Trust for Public Land to protect the area’s historic fishponds and acquire lands around Honu'apo to be put into public ownership.

Olson also supports the macadamia and coffee industries and leases out land to farmers for diversified agriculture.

Remembering the Plantation Days

Sugar truck is decorated in flowers, ti leaves and cane to
open Ka'u Plantation Days.  Photo by Michael Neal

Ka'u Coffee Mill welcomes visitors from Plantation Days to enjoy a free tour of the coffee mill.

Ka'u Plantation Days, in Pahala, brings together not only many people from many communities with stories of the past, but many maps, books, photos, charts and other documents from the many ethnic communities who settled here. One special request is for people to bring in any old photos of school gardens of Pahala and Na'alehu.

An old sugar cane truck will be fired up and on display. Displaced sugar worker Manuel Marques, who operated a crane at the sugar mill, will show off his new business, growing and selling Ka'u Coffee. He will serve it to the public and talk about his transition from sugar to award-winning Ka'u Coffee.

Honu'apo Pier, where sugar was loaded onto ships.

The event will be held at Pahala Plantation House from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

2011 marks the 15th anniversary of the closing of the Ka'u sugar mill. The anniversary will celebrate history of the plantation and the evolution of agriculture in Ka'u. Lunch will celebrate the town’s diversity with Filipino, Hawaiian, Portuguese, and Japanese food. Displays of Chinese life and the other ethnic groups form the town will be at stations around the yard and in the house. There will be Portuguese and Filipino dancing and singing throughout the day, a video on the last cane harvest in Pahala and a slide show of old photos from plantation days.

Visitors to Plantation Days will also be able to take a tour of the new Ka'u Coffee Mill during the afternoon.