Komohana Research and Extension Center, Hilo, Hawaiʻi · October 1–3, 2015

Natural Farming Symposium 2015

A day of talks and hands-on skill shares in Hilo, a day of panels, then farm tours and a film. 25 recordings: nine talks including Drake Weinert's keynote, six demonstrations on the lawn, eight panels, a short ceremony and hallway interviews. Every one is checked line by line and boiled down to what was made, what was measured and what was only told.

Read what it all adds up to →

Also on the record: Konkuk 2016

Topics microbes soil economics policy health taro culture food pigs scale protectors research biochar fermentation minerals school gardens Clear

3 talks on “fermentation”

Kim Chang ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·12 min

Sweet Potato Leaves + Brown Sugar = Food (FPJ) in a Week

Kim Chang makes a jar of Food (FPJ) from sweet potato leaves on the lawn at Komohana, layering the leaves with an equal weight of brown sugar, capping with sugar, covering with paper and dating it October 1, 2015. She explains which plants to pick and when, how to deal with mold, why the bottle must not be sealed tight, and shows finished jars made from young noni fruit and from fruit for the flowering and fruiting stages.

Found Liquid starts coming out of the leaves within minutes of mixing with sugar

fermentation food mugwort noni recipe sweet potato

Kim Chang ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·21 min

Medicine (OHN): Five Herbs, Six Jars, Three Months

Kim Chang shows a crowd on the lawn how she makes Medicine (OHN): angelica, licorice and cinnamon soaked in beer, ginger and garlic packed with brown sugar, each in its own jar, then vodka poured on and poured off every two weeks, five times. She mixes the finished extracts two parts angelica to one part of each of the others and dilutes the mix 1 to 1,000. It takes about three months, and she says six half-gallon jars give a little over six gallons.

Found Dry herbs: one-third of the jar, beer to the half line, 1–2 days

brown sugar dilution fermentation garlic ginger medicine

Vincent Mina, with Drake Weinert and Dr. Hoon Park ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·12 min

Purslane Food (FPJ) Fast: Chop It in a Tub With a Flat Spade

After the day's announcements, Vince Mina plays two short videos of how he makes Food (FPJ) from purslane on his farm: sugar dumped on a tubful of purslane, chopped to a mash with a flat spade, packed three-quarters into jars under a paint-strainer cover. He also passes around a hau-flower Food he uses as a spreader-sticker, Drake Weinert suggests a little salt for dry plants, and Dr. Hoon Park explains Cho's unglazed clay jar and two-thirds fill.

Found About 4 lb of sugar on a tub of purslane made about three gallons of Food

compost fermentation food hau purslane worms