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

6 talks on “food”

Vincent Mina ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·36 min

A Sewer-Pipe Worm Trough That Eats 100 lb of Pulp a Week

Vincent Mina, state president of Hawaii Farmers Union United, opened the symposium hall talks with the story of his 2,000-square-foot greens farm and the union's policy work, then walked through slides of his backyard worm system: half-pipe troughs cut from 2-foot sewer pipe and fed health-food-store juice pulp, mineral powder, biochar and Microbes (IMO-3). He also showed how he makes IMO-3 by the ton on wheat mill run and biochar, his compost screener, a hau-flower Food (FPJ), and a taro planting on old cane land mulched with sun hemp.

Found His farm makes a living on 2,000 sq ft, producing about 400 lb of greens a week

biochar food microbes policy soil taro

Dr. Hoon Park, John Caverly ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·50 min

Microbes (IMO) by Hand: Squeeze Test, Keep It Under 120°F

Dr. Hoon Park and farmer John (very likely 'Ginger John' Caverly) teach the Microbes (IMO) method on the lawn: rice in a box, then rice plus brown sugar, then a pile of wheat mill run wetted with IMO-2 and Food (FPJ) water and checked with a squeeze test. A woman helper who is never named shows an IMO-1 box and talks about mill run supply. A second group gets the IMO-3 temperature rule and Master Cho's four jobs of IMO, Dr. Park tells how he drinks Protectors (LAB) for his stomach, and John says roots and microbes work together.

Found IMO-1 takes about three days here

economics food health microbes protectors soil

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

Richard Perea ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·38 min

Fermenting the Weeds Bugs Won't Eat

Richard Perea, a farmer from Ocean View, Kaʻū, runs an outdoor skill share on fermenting plants from his land that bugs won't eat. He shows a Christmas berry ferment of rehydrated leaves, brown sugar and water that he drinks and sprays (the 'Biome Rejuvenation Juice' of the YouTube title; it is neither Cleanser (BRV) nor Cho's Food (FPJ)), plus a hydrosol and a vodka bark extract. Then he builds a 'wild grass fertilizer' from guinea grass, forest mulch, Protectors (LAB) and water, used at a cup and a half per 55 gallons.

Found Guinea grass stopped at the line where he sprayed guinea grass fertilizer

christmas berry food guinea grass health microbes pests

Drake Weinert ·USA (Hawaiʻi) ·86 min

Liquid Wood Chips and the 1:2:2 Maintenance Mix

Drake Weinert, introduced by Vincent Mina, shows how he combines the natural farming solutions into ready-to-use mixes: diluted seawater, a blended-weed "liquid green manure", an IMO-4 field treatment, a 1:2:2 maintenance spray of Medicine (OHN), Food (FPJ) and Cleanser (BRV), and one add-on per growth stage. The second half is a microbe primer built on his own microscope work, then photos from a 2008 or 2009 Korea tour, a downtown Hilo street planting and his Kalanianaʻole school garden. It is also an early public version of his idea to name the solutions by what they are used for.

Found Maintenance spraying: about $175 per acre per year for vegetables, $100 for orchards

cleanser economics food medicine microbes minerals

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