Speakers for HFUU Ag Workshops @ ThriveFest 2020!
FRIDAY
1:00-2:30
Tree-to-Bar Chocolate with Maddy Smith, the Barefoot Chocolatini.
Maddy has loved all things chocolate for the past 25+ years. She is an active member of the East Hawai’i Cacao Association based in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawai’i. She was asked to be a cacao bean judge by Dr. Nat Bletter at the 7th Annual Big Island Chocolate Festival this year, and grows 80 cacao plants of her own. She has been studying chocolate for over 10 years and specifically Hawaiian cacao and chocolate for the past 4 years. People know her as “the chocolate lady” or “Barefoot Chocolatini” around town. Maddy gives Chocolate Farm Tours and tastings. She is helping put Hawai’i on the map for chocolate makers, cacao cultivators, and chocolate lovers around the world. http://www.barefootchocolatini.com
2:30-4:00
Intuitive Treatment-free Beekeeping: Starting New Top Bar Hives with Jen Bee
In 2008 a seed was planted in the mind of a mother to learn how to care for honeybees and teach her children how to love them. Since that time Jen Rasmussen has birthed that seed into a sustainable family business called Paradise Nectar Apiaries. They offer treatment-free honeybee nucs, top bar hives, swarm & wild hive removal, delicious honey and other products made from the hive, natural-cell queens, education, and much more. Through her educational workshops and honeybee sales she has spread amazing bees who have now survived over many years without chemicals or treatments in their hives. For more information about Paradise Nectar Apiaries, look them up on youtube and facebook or visit http://www.paradisenectar.com
SATURDAY
12:00-1:30
KNF (Korean Natural Farming) Solutions for Sweeter Fruits and Dank Flowers with Eric “Drake” Weinert
We’ll make a mini lava lamp that in a few days turns into a solution that can be applied to any plant to help it ease the reproductive period and improve your yields.
Drake was born and raised in Hawaiian Acres. He has lived and taught Korean Natural Farming for over a decade under Master Cho and is presently consulting and teaching locally and around the world. PureKNF https://naturalfarminghawaii.net
1:30-3:00
Hawaiian & Medicinal Plants: Tinctures and Elixirs with Keoni & Ella Bigno
Keoni & Ella will teach the contemporary significance of traditional Hawaiian plants. Their practical, spiritual, and health applications will be discussed, with a hands-on session on harvest and propagation. They will also provide an introduction to the holistic health benefits from these traditional Hawaiian and other medicinal plants.
Keoni Bigno is a permaculture kumu (teacher) sharing traditional knowledge through contemporary practices of regenerative organic agriculture and bioremediation. Keoni’s mission is to inspire environmental awareness, create sustainable and healthy communities, and restore balance to our ecosystems by teaching and preserving cultural and indigenous practices from his lineage and life experience.
Ella Edwards Bigno completed a degree in Naturopathic Health Sciences in Australia and integrates the practice of La’au Lapa’au, traditional Hawaiian healing. As a passionate holistic health practitioner, nutritionist, and herbalist, Ella’s mission is to guide people to optimal well-being while supporting the environment through conscious living. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram: wildnaturopath
3:00-4:30
Cultivating and Propagating Beneficial Indigenous Micro-organisms with David Forsythe
David will dive deep into the esoteric realm of indigenous micro organisms. We learn how to cultivate these beneficial microbes to establish fungal networks in our gardens, farms, or food forests. We will be doing a hands on learning activity on how to make an indigenous micro organism pile to melt the rock into soil and awaken the ancient intelligence that is living on Mauna Kea. Learn more about making Korean natural farming solutions, philosophies, and practices.
David Forsythe is a local natural farmer and educator. He has traveled to South Korea to study directly with the primary source of Korean natural farming knowledge ~ Master Han Kyu Cho. David’s mission is to share this natural farming knowledge with the community to empower local farmers and growers to build soil and make their own medicinal “fertilizers.” By partnering with the unseen world below we can reawaken the microbial intelligence in the soil to create food security, food sovereignty, and generational wealth for the future generations.
SUNDAY
1:00-2:30
Aquaponics On Water Catchment with Jeremai Cann
Grow healthy fish and plants on your water catchment. Learn how to care for your systems and ensure long life.
Jeremai Cann “Dr. Sustainability” is a Jamaican-born islander whose first teachings on food and water, the keys to healthy physical life came from his parents on their family land. A graduate of the University of Florida, Jeremai entered the environmental field professionally in 1996 as an Environmental Compliance Inspector with the Miami-Dade County of Florida. During this time he gained an avid interest in alternative energy systems and organic agriculture. Today, Jeremai kindles his passion for environment education as a consultant and teacher of renewable energy and sustainability here on Hawai’i Island. Residing in Orchidland in the Puna District, Dr. Sustainability tends to his orchard, builds and sells tiny homes and continues to offer his environmental consultation and educational services to island neighbors near and far.
2:00-3:30
Plant Propagation Workshop (grafting & air-layering) with Anthony and Sami of Grow Paradise
This class will explain how and when to collect scions for grafting, and what tools and techniques to use to achieve a higher success rate. For those interested, scions will be available to practice with, such as Durian, Avocado, and Mango. Seedlings, healthy treats, and more, will be available to attendees with the permaculture prize wheel -giving out lots of goodies!
Anthony Anderson, founder of Grow Paradise, became passionate about gardening and permaculture while living in a small NYC apartment. Since 2004, he has been traveling the world to document permaculture gardens and food forests with the hope of inspiring others to start growing paradise. Originally from Minnesota, he has designed and maintained cold weather food forests along with desert and tropical gardens in Hawaii, Arizona, Cape Town, and California. Now, with his partner Sami, they are designing paradise landscapes for clients and teaching workshops around the islands. http://www.growparadise.com
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Speakers for HFUU Ag Workshops @ ThriveFest 2020!