Ohana’s Dream Comes True For Weekend Country Store
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.us
|
The sweet corn, watermelons and bananas once sold from the Matsuda-Fukuyama Farms roadside stand along Kamehameha Highway are now available in a bright-green store, which officially opened Oct. 15 at Kahuku Farms Country Store.
The pet project of Kylie Matsuda, daughter of Matsuda-Fukuyama co-owner Melvin and his wife Momi, Kahuku Farms is a 5-acre agri-tourism business that includes showing visitors just where their freshly bought food comes from.
“There has been a whole lot of interest from people wanting to come to the farm and see what we do here,” said Matsuda, 31. “There’s something about being on a farm - you know, when they step foot on this earth and this raw soil - that people just love.”
For sale are paninis, salads, smoothies and sorbets made on-site by Chef Kele Smith, as well as jams and jellies, lilikoi butter, salad dressing, dehydrated banana, trail mix, scone mix, honey, teas, soaps and body butters - created from products grown just outside the door.
Lessons in island farming history are a good fit, too, she added: “My dad is a third-generation farmer, and his grandfather came to Hawaii from Japan and he was a pineapple farmer, so we tie all of that in.
“We have a long history of agriculture here on the North Shore.”
Matsuda’s parents, younger sister Kalyn, uncle Clyde Fukuyama and his ohana also are involved. The shop’s reusable shopping bags are decorated in photos of both clans.
“Everyone’s been very supportive in getting me up and running,” she said.
Kahuku Farms is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, but check their website, kahukufarms.com, for updates or changes. Guided farm tours and wagon rides are slated to begin some time next year.
“We’ll add on different activities as we go along, and of course through all of that we’re always going to be promoting local agriculture and buying local.”
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
