Homegarden agroforestry catches on in Hawaii

Several initiatives have sprung up in Hawaii encouraging citizens to grow their own foods. One of these is the Farm to Fork initiative. Inaugurated by a Chef called Daniel Theibaut, the Farm to Fork initiative seeks to offer educative dinner parties where all dishes are made from 100% locally grown products sourced from 1 acre agroforestry homegardens.

During these dinners, talks concerning the origin of the ingredients and the cooking method for each dish are presented to guests. The focus of the talks are on food sustainability in Hawaii.

Helping the locals grow quality crops with the least amount of land and inputs is an agroforester called Craig Elevitch. He is reported to have developed a 0.33-acre plot that focuses on perennial tropical food plants.

His main goal is to show that small perennial home gardens can produce more than a family's need. Utilising the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network, he hopes to produce a manual by the end of 2012 detailing many different perennial plants that can be grown in a homegarden in such a way that they provide plenty of food in a 1 acre plot.

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