Dine on a Farm and Shop a Celebratory Farmers Market This Week

The annual Parade of Farms in Wai‘anae and Kokua Market’s Celebration provides opportunities to meet farmers and learn the origins of your food.

By Martha Cheng

Photo courtesy of MAO Organic Farms

Parade of Farms

Parade of Farms was inspired by the Parade of Homes concept—instead of touring houses, though, this annual event, which began in 2016, invites participants to farms for a behind-the-scenes look at the business and lifestyle of farming. This year, it offers tours at five Wai‘anae farms: Kahumana Organic Farms, a biodynamic farm that also serves as a training center for youth, people with disabilities, and families transitioning from homelessness; Ka‘ala Farm, which grows kalo and other traditional foods and is a hands-on classroom for schoolchildren; MA‘O Organic Farms, which supplies restaurants around O‘ahu and offers college scholarships for farm interns; Tolentino Farms, which expanded into beekeeping and honey production after noticing a lack of pollinators in the fields; and ‘Ili‘ili Farms, once an abandoned orchid house and now aquaponics farms that supplies restaurants like Fête and MW. You can also sign up for a farm-to-table meal ($30) at Kahumana created with produce that you harvest from the fields yourself. Each farm tour is priced individually, and tickets ($20 for adults, $10 for ages 5 to 17, and free for children under 5) must be bought in advance.

May 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., parade-of-farms.org

Kōkua Market Update and Celebration Weekend

Kōkua Market surpassed its fundraising goals, raising $168,000 earlier this year. It also secured a grant from Ulupono Initiative to help the co-op transition into, hopefully, a more viable model. And so Kōkua is celebrating with a two-day event. On Friday, a mini-farmers market of sorts features Local I‘a’s fish tacos and jackfruit tacos, Makana Ranch House’s barbecue with Kunoa Cattle beef, Ed Kenney’s MA‘O vegetables and Waimānalo polenta, and Ola Brew’s IPA and pineapple cider. Saturday, pick up goat cheese from Sweet Land Farm, pickled baby breadfruit (which tastes remarkably like marinated artichokes) from the Hawai‘i ‘Ulu Co-operative, and Best of HONOLULU-winning ‘ulu hummus from ‘Ulu Mana. Shop for local flower bouquets for Mother’s Day or, for something extra special, a banana plant of the iholena variety, an orange-fleshed version that, in old Hawai‘i times, was once the only banana that women and children were allowed to eat.

May 10, 4 to 8 p.m. and May 11, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., facebook.com