It’s been three years since the start of Honolulu Community College’s Ka Māla o Niuhelewai (The garden of Niuhelewai) and the kalo (taro) is ready for harvest. Every April the campus celebrates the māla with the campus’ annual Hoʻolauleʻa, Wednesday, April 16, 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Event participants will enjoy food prepared in an imu, poi pounding activities and live Hawaiian music.
More about Ka Māla o Niuhelewai
Ka Māla o Niuhelewai has received the Scenic Hawaiʻi Betty Crocker Landscape Award for Xeriscape in 2012, and most recently, the Honolulu Community College Sustainability Award at the 2014 Hawaiʻi Sustainability in Higher Education Summit.
Since 2011, 20 Hawaiian varieties of kalo have been planted and the campus received a $25,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to plant Hawaiian varieties of kalo in a dry land māla.
“Ka Māla o Niuhelewai, has been an instrumental hands-on venue for students, faculty, staff and the community in supporting the Hawaiian understanding of sustainable mālama ʻāina application for producing food for Hawaiʻi,” shares Mark Alapaki Luke, a Hawaiian studies instructor.
Read the Honolulu CC news release for more information.
