Kauai Community Market

SUBHEAD: Great new market Saturdays from 10:00am to 1:00pm at KCC front parking lot. Image above: Vegetables from Moloaa Organicaa at market. All Photos by Juan Wilson. By Linda Pascatore on 22 November 2009 - There is a great new market being held every Saturday at the parking lot of Kauai Community College (KCC), across from Grove Farm in Puhi. Hours are from 10am to 1 pm. The endeavor is sponsored by Kauai Community College and Grow Kauai. The Saturday schedule allows attendance by working people who can never make it to the other local Farmer's Markets held on weekdays. We visited the market last week, and were delighted with the great variety of fresh produce, value added agricultural products, local culinary treats at food and drink concessions, and plants and plant starters for sale. Everything was farm fresh, and the produce offered was the best quality and so healthy looking! This market is really extensive, and offers much more than your average sunshine market, which usually has only produce and maybe some flowers for sale. They also host cooking demonstrations, tours of the KCC garden, educational displays and growing tips for home gardeners. Image above: KCC representatives of the Kauai Community Market are Glenn Hontz (r.) and Kelly Ball (r.). As we entered the market, we were greeted by Glenn Hontz. Glenn is a KCC professor who has worked very hard to promote sustainability on Kauai. He has spearheaded a regular offering of classes in organic gardening, and also marketing and business development classes for small local producers. I can personally recommend the Growing Food Seminar, where I learned so much to apply to my home garden. For information on the course offerings, contact Glenn Hontz at 246-4859 or e-mail him: hontz@hawaii.edu This market is a shining example of an easily accessible marketing opportunity for small local growers. Most of the vendors were the growers or producers themselves, so you could really get a feel for where your food is coming from, seed to table. This is food you can feel good about, much of it grown organically, by locals. So what you eat is fresh, good quality, and you are supporting our local ohana and the Kauai economy when you buy there. On Saturday, we had coffee grown organically on Kauai, a slice of hand-made pie, some gluten-free cookies, and some delicious gelato made with Kauai grown chocolate. Kelly Ball, who is running the campus garden, sold us some peas and herb starters for our own garden. We also came home with the best looking and tasting fresh produce I have seen except in a home garden, and some local goat cheese. Everything looked as if it had been picked that morning. What a contrast from the tired, wilted old produce offered at the grocery store! Image above: Kauai Kunana Dairy offers value added products like goat cheese with sun-dried tomatoes. Kauai Community Market welcomes new vendors. Applications are open to farmers, value-added product producers and caterers using fresh ingredients, agricultural commodity groups and educational programs with a focus on agriculture. For more information, contact Kauai County Farm Bureau Executive Director Melissa McFerrin at kcfb@hawaiian.net or call (808) 337-9944.