“Over 30 households took home a dozen food plants that day to start growing or add to existing gardens, and a community-wide survey was administered to aid fundraising for program expansion,” said Maura Herlihy, THIS Organization’s executive director.
On a mission to alleviate social and economic stress with sustainable practices, the Hawaii Island Sustainability Organization has done it again. Five months into the program, Free Food for Life participants recently began harvesting fresh organic food from their home gardens daily, reducing family grocery bills and improving diets.
And “it’s fun, too,” said participant Sheila Darsey, speaking of the backyard food system she and her son, Kirk, have established in the Black Sands Beach Subdivision in Kalapana.
The program began in July with the installation of small aquaponic systems at participating households to establish a renewable organic fertilizer source, eliminating one significant expense of organic gardening, and provide a protein food source, tilapia fish. Aquaponics is the science of establishing a symbiotic relationship between fish and plants for food production.
With systems up and running, organizers provided plants, seeds and sprouting trays to help households gear up for the next phase of the program, organic gardening. As their seeds began to sprout a week later, project leader Ranell Banks returned, this time with Black Sands’ neighborhood volunteers to haul truck loads of soil to participant households.
Shortly after, gardens began to flourish and within a month households began harvesting fresh tomatoes, salad greens, collard greens, assorted herbs, spinach, and more. Over the next couple of months, Banks returned for regular progress reports to administer surveys and review participant log books for program assessment of quantity of plants installed, which crops prove most viable during which season, harvest quantities and meals served.
In November, organizers and Black Sands residents gave away more than 400 plants to neighbors during the first THIS Organization Plant Bomb.
“Over 30 households took home a dozen food plants that day to start growing or add to existing gardens, and a community-wide survey was administered to aid fundraising for program expansion,” said Maura Herlihy, THIS Organization’s executive director.