Haleiwa Market Tours Sprouting On North Shore
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Del.icio.usKnown for bringing the best in local produce to the North Shore since opening last year, Haleiwa Farmers’ Market is now bringing people to the food source with educational Farm Tours.
In partnership with E Noa Tours, the bi-weekly tours show folks where their food comes from, what goes into growing it and how it all goes from pasture to plate.
Visits are available every Wednesday and Friday for up to 30 passengers at a time. Fee is $132. To learn more, call the E Noa reservations desk at 591-2534 and ask for Tour No. 17.
“It’s only natural that we support these farmers,” said HFM manager Pamela Boyar.“We are able to grow so much food here in Hawaii - if we bought local and ate local, we would be able to have a more diversified diet.”
Boyar’s market ran two tours of four local farms last fall for residents, which was the forerunner for the current tour. “We filled up and had to start a waiting list, so we decided to make these tours a regular thing. We also found that four farms are just too many and decided to narrow it down to two (per trip).”
Stops include Poamoho Organic Produce, Oahu’s largest certified organic orchard; Waialua Sugar Mill and North Shore Cattle Co. Owners will give tours on site and explain their day-to-day operations. Tours end with a complimentary meal of burgers (made of grass-fed beef, of course), Kahuku corn, salad with May’s Hydroponic Lettuce and Hawaii’s Special Salad dressings, Dole Pineapple wedges and Hawaiian Sun juices served family-style.
Coming later this spring are tours of Dole Hawaii Diversified Agricultural Program’s Waialua Estate Cacao Orchard (with complimentary coffee and chocolate tasting, and samples to go) and North Shore Farms with a five-course tasting of homemade mozzarella, pasta and tomatoes. A third set of sites is also in the works.
Boyar said she would like to include the sugar mill site and all of its businesses as a permanent fixture on all future tours. “A lot of people overlook Waialua Sugar Mill, but it is relevant to what’s going on today and to the history of the North Shore. I also think it is just so fun to go to.
“Everybody’s welcome to come on these tours. (We) try to promote local farmers and local agriculture, which is why they also go hand in hand.
“Hawaii needs to get back to mono-diversified agriculture, and the farm tours bring added income to these farmers and help keep diversified ag in business, which is so important to us.”
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