Ka`u News Briefs May 14, 2011

Japanese hula dancers celebrate with Ka`u Coffee Festival goers.  Photo by Julia Neal

Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo seeks public comment
at Honu`apo Park tomorrow afternoon.

A DRAFT OF THE HONU‘APO Wetlands Habitat Restoration Plan will be presented for public review at the park Sunday. Ka ‘Ohana O Honu`apo and the county Department of Parks and Recreation invite comments from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. The plan is the next step in implementing Honu`apo’s Resources Management Plan. It will also be available for comment at the Ka`u Coffee Festival ho`olaule`a today. For more information, call Ka `Ohana’s executive director Lehua Lopez-Mau at 929-9819.

HOTEL OCCUPANCY WAS FLAT across the state in the first week of May, Pacific Business News reported. Big Island hotels saw a 4.3 percent drop from the same time last year. O`ahu was the only island that saw an increase in occupancy, rising only one percent from last year.
     While the other islands’ room rates increased, the average rate on the Big Island dropped by more than 13 percent compared to last year. 

Kumu Hula Debbie Ryder from Lana`i brought a halau and dances,
backed up by Cyril Pahinui and Big D.  Photo by Julia Neal

THE KA`U COFFEE FESTIVAL is going on all day until almost sunset with coffee tasting, a coffee recipe contest, and entertainment. The lineup includes Cyril Pahinui, the award winning One Journey band from Ka`u High School, Bolo, Lorna and Maryann Lim, Debbie Ryder from Lana`i with her halau, some of them all the way from Japan, Brittany Paiva, Moses, George and Keoki Kahumoku, the Ka`u `Ukulele Kids, Hands of Time, Tony Salvage, Lori Lei’s Hula Studio, Gene Akamu, Bobby Koanoi, and emcee Skylark, assisted by Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya. 

     The Ka`u Coffee Court will ride through Pahala on a colorful float they made last night and reign over the festival. Coffee tasting is at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Ka`u Coffee Recipe Contest takes place at noon. Farm Tours are all day.

Moses, Keoki and George Kahumoku, Jr. played at the
Ka`u Coffee Festival.  Photo by Julia Neal

     Tomorrow, learn about coffee production, quality and marketing at the Ka`u Coffee College from 9 a.m. to noon at the Pahala Community Center. There will also be farm tours.

CRYSTAL MCINTOSH IS THE OVERALL WINNER of the Ka`u Coffee Recipe and Taste of Ka`u Contest at Pahala Community Center. Here is her recipe for strawberry mocha trifle:

     Brownies: 1 cup butter, melted; 2 c. sugar; 4 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla, 2/3 c. cocoa, 1 1/3 c. flour, 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 c. white chocolate chips, Ka`u macadamia nuts chopped, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp. salt, 1 c. Ka`u coffee, Hershey’s syrup, 1 pint whipping cream, 6 Tbs. sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 5 c. strawberries soaked in 2 c. melted strawberry jam.
     Garnishes: 1 Ka`u strawberry, 2 chocolate leaves (1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips melted + 2 Ka`u lemon leaves, clean) 

Crystal McIntosh is the overall winner
of the Ka`u Coffee Recipe and
Taste of Ka`u Contest.

     Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 13X9 pan. Stir butter and sugar until blended. Beat in eggs, then vanilla, until well blended. Stir in cocoa, mixing well. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into small bowls; stir together. Add flour mixture to chocolate batter, mixing until smooth. Stir in semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake 25-30 minutes or until firm. Cool, then cut into 1-inch cubes. Place half of brownie cubes on bottom of large glass bowl. Brush with coffee, then drizzle with Hershey’s syrup. Layer ½ of strawberries using slotted spoon, then ½ of whipped cream. Repeat layers, garnish with strawberry and chocolate leaves. 

     Whipped Cream – beat whipping cream and sugar in chilled bowl until stiff. Add vanilla in last minute of beating.
     Chocolate leaves – brush melted chocolate onto 1 side of clean leaves until covered. Freeze overnight or until firm. Peel off lemon leaves.

COMPETITORS AGES 13 AND OVER can participate in a surf meet this weekend at Kawa. The event includes surfing and body surfing competitions for males and females.

KILAUEA DRAMA & ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK is holding auditions for their July presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Patience. They are looking for five women, five men, a chorus of maidens and dragoons of all ages. Auditions take place at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Monday and Tuesday starting at 6:30 p.m. Contact Suzi Bond at 982-7344 or kden73@aol.com.

Ka`u News Briefs May 13, 2011

The Miss Ka`u Coffee Court will be on hand at the Ka`u Coffee Festival tomorrow at Pahala Community Center
after they parade through the town.  Photo by Anna Kailiawa

PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS is reporting this morning on the new law that will allow the cost of developing the refinery and the biofuel farm planned for lands around Pahala to be distributed across Hawai`i Electric Industries’ customers in Maui and O`ahu counties. The new law, Senate Bill 1347, will allow the rate hikes in other counties even though the customers will not initially receive the benefits of the biofuel. The legislation was inserted into Senate Bill 1347 late in the legislative session after the Public Utilities Commission turned down approval of a contract between `Aina Koa Pono and the electric company that would raise rates across the customer base. The new bill was awaiting Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s signature as PBN went to press. PBN’s Sophie Cocke reported: “With companies investing millions of dollars in the research and development of local biofuels in recent years, the lack of a cost-sharing mechanism created a level of insecurity in the market that stood to jeopardize existing investments.”

Napier grass is being considered as
  feedstock by `Aina Koa Pono.

`AINA KOA PONO could spend up to $350 million to build its refinery and biofuel farm in Ka`u, PBN reported this morning. The story says that “the company has raised $4 to $6 million in seed money and has financing lined up for the rest of the project, according to co-founder Melvin Chiogioji.” The PBN article says that `Aina Koa Pono is exploring a range of feedstocks, including sweet sorghum on 12,900 acres of former C. Brewer sugar land it is leasing from several landowners. Michael Thieman, of `Aina Koa Pono, has been on the island this week meeting with ranchers and community members and looking at the land. He said that the preferred feedstock to be grown is a sterile cross of pearl millet crossed with napier grass that would produce no seed or pollen. He said the cross is non-GMO. 

Pearl millet would be cross-bred with
napier grass to create a non-invasive
grass for biofuel, with no seeds and
no pollen, say representatives of
`Aina Koa Pono.

`AINA KOA PONO will soon have an information packet with a detailed description of the their biofuel project, operations and estimated costs, said County Council member Brittany Smart, who met with the hui yesterday. When the information is available it will be distributed, and a public meeting and presentation to the County Council will take place, she said. 

     Representatives of the hui went to the Czech Republic to visit the microwave manufacturer and reported to Smart that they plan to have a model microwave built and tested in the Czech Republic. It is expected to be complete by February 2012.

COMPETITORS AGES 13 AND OVER can participate in a surf meet today through Sunday at Kawa. The event includes surfing and body surfing competitions for males and females.

THE THIRD ANNUAL Ka`u Coffee Festival ho`olaule`a happens tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. A fun-filled day of music and dance, Ka`u Coffee tasting, a Ka`u Coffee recipe contest and more is planned. Members of the Miss Ka`u Coffee Court will be on hand after they parade through the town. The festival continues on Sunday with coffee education and farm tours.

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK are sponsoring a Forest Restoration Project tomorrow. Volunteers help remove invasive, non-native faya plants in the Keanakakoi Special Ecological Area. Pre-register at 985-7373 or forest@fhvnp.org. 

Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya with Mayor
Billy Kenoi at the Big Island Film Festival.

THE BIG ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL held at the Mauna Lani this week was opened with the assistance of Miss Ka`u Coffee Brandy Shibuya and Mayor Billy Kenoi. Kenoi gave a great speech about keeping the film festival here, “not Maui, not Kaua`i, but here in the Big Island of Hawai`i.” said the mayor. “It was an honor to meet the mayor; he is so humble and very humorous,” reported Miss Ka`u Coffee. She also met the mayor’s staff, including Desiree Cruz. “She is a very gifted and talented singer, also a former Miss Hawai`i 1988,” said Shibuya. The film festival wraps up on Sunday.

A DRAFT OF THE HONU`APO Wetlands Habitat Restoration Plan will be presented for public review on Sunday. Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo and the county Department of Parks and Recreation invite comments from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the park. The plan is the next step in implementing Honu`apo’s Resources Management Plan. It will also be available for comment at the Ka`u Coffee Festival ho`olaule`a tomorrow. For more information, call Ka `Ohana’s executive director Lehua Lopez-Mau at 929-9819.

Ka`u News Briefs May 12, 2011

The coffee berry borer gets into the berry and lays up to 300 eggs.  Photo by Peggy Greb, USDA Ag Research Service

THE COFFEE BERRY BORER was the subject of a press release by the state Department of Agriculture yesterday making statewide news. The ag department announced the detection of the coffee berry borer at one farm above Pahala. Farmers have joined with the grower at the affected farm to take out all the coffee cherries and beans and clean the trees and land earlier this week. The Department of Ag is conducting more surveys to determine the extent of the infestation.
     The coffee borer was first confirmed on farms in Kona in September 2010 and is widely established on the west side of the island. This is the first detection of an infestation on an active Ka`u farm, though one unattended farm was found to have the borer in Wai`ohinu earlier.

     Staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and the University of Hawai`i at Manoa - College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources are also working with Kona coffee farmers to try to control infestations with the use of an insect-killing fungus and field sanitation practices. 

     The borer is a small beetle and is native to Central Africa. It affects many coffee-growing regions of the world, including Central and South America. The beetle bores into the coffee berry to lay its eggs. The larvae feed on the coffee bean, reducing the yield and quality of the bean. Because the larvae live inside the bean, it makes it difficult to control with pesticides. Coffee growers in Ka`u are asked to inspect their fields and report any coffee borers as soon as possible to the state Department of Ag Hilo office at 974-4146. Inspectors from the Hilo U.S. Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection & Quarantine are also assisting in surveying for the coffee borer in Ka`u.
     Hawai`i coffee growers in non-infested areas are also encouraged to be vigilant and report any suspected infestations to the state ag department’s Plant Pest Control Branch on O`ahu at (808) 973-9522 or e-mail: hdoa.ppc@hawaii.gov.

EDUCATION will be part of the Ka`u Coffee Festival this weekend, with classes on Sunday at Pahala Community Center. The education and farm tour day follows the full day of entertainment, coffee tasting and recipe contest at the community center this Saturday, when there will be more farm tours.

The average cost of a three-bedroom affordable rental in
rural places, like this house in Pahala, would be $1,195
per month, unfurnished, without utilities.
Photo by Julia Neal

AN ANALYSIS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING on this island has been published by Stephens Media. The story by writer Chelsea Jensen says that renting a two-bedroom apartment on the Big Island, with other money left over for food, health care and other normal expenses would require a job paying at least $22 an hour. “Many renters here make less than half that, according to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition,” Jensen points out. 

     The study, Out of Reach 2011, notes that 34 percent of the 63,209 households on the Big Island are renters, nearly the same as the national average. The state average is 42 percent, indicating higher home ownership on the Big Island.
     Kapaau, Waimea, Kailua-Kona, Holualoa and Waikoloa affordable rent is $614 for studios; $810 for one-bedroom units; $909 for two-bedroom units; $1,282 for four-bedroom units and $1,469 for five or more bedrooms, the West Hawai`i Today article reports.
     There is more affordability outside of Kona and Kohala. The Hilo and rural areas, including Ka`u average $574 for a studio; $735 for a one-bedroom; $900 for a two-bedroom; $1,090 for a three-bedroom; $1,195 for a four-bedroom and $1,373 for five or more bedrooms, according to West Hawai`i Today.
     The cost of a rental is considered affordable if it does not require more than 30 percent of a renter’s income, according to the study.
     The median renter in Hawai`i County makes $12.08 an hour, or $23,184 a year, while the median rental household earns about $42,996, according to the study. An “extremely low-income family” of renters earns about $20,502 a year, according to the study.

Photo by J. Stephen Conn

STUDENTS AT VOLCANO SCHOOL of the Arts and Sciences present their ninth season of an Evening of Theater tonight. Curtain time is 6 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater.

HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND sponsors a cleanup of the Manuka Natural Area Reserve on Saturday. Interested volunteers can contact Megan Lamson at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com. 

ALSO ON SATURDAY, Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park have a Volunteer Forest Restoration Project in the Keanakakoi Special Ecological Area. Pre-register at 985-7373 or forest@fhvnp.org.