Kauai Farms

I have just stumbled across a brochure that has a lot of interesting information about farms on Kauai. It is written to promote local farms to the local restaurant industry though I found some useful information. At the end is a chart that shows the growing seasons for different vegetables, fruits and herbs. Surprising to me there are different growing seasons even in Hawaii. There is also a list of farms and the farmers markets. For my next trip I'm going to see if any of the farms offer farm tours since that is facinating to me. On the last trip I toured Kauai Kunana Dairy which mainly produces goat cheese but also grows fruit and vegetables.

I am particularly interested in the local farms because whenever I visit I eat as local as I can. One of my most favorite meals was last thanksgiving where I enjoyed skewers of locally grown vegetables with local grass-fed beef marinated in Aloha Shoyu (locally made soy sauce), local ginger and juice from a local orange.

There are many reasons to eat locally produced food such fewer carbon emissions for transporting food, better quality and nutrition, supporting your local community and other. All of these reasons make even more sense when you are on an isolated island such as Kauai. Most of the produce you see at Safeway is from California and has been on a one week cruise in a refrigerated container.

Alan