ʻĀINA In Schools off to a Great Start!​

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ʻĀINA In Schools is off to a great start! Volunteer docents have been trained and are ready to teach garden-based learning, compost, and nutrition lessons in 16 participating ʻĀINA schools.

August was a month full of ʻĀINA Garden Parties where community members, families and teachers prepared their school gardens for garden lessons, built new garden beds, compost bins, and other improvements. Kainalu Elementary repurposed their garden beds with lumber donated from Kailua High Schoolʻs woodshop and assembled with the help of a squadron of Kāneʻohe Marines. Natural farming inputs were applied on garden beds at Waialua, Kahala, Waialae, Waikiki, Kainalu and Laie Elementary Schools. These inputs were added to enhance the existing garden beds. Soil test and analysis were conducted over the summer through the University of Hawaiiʻs Agricultural Diagnostic Service Center. Tests revealed the beds were high or very high with nutrients. The goal of adding inputs is to maintain the right amount of nutrients to enable the plants to continue to thrive as the beds are used to enhance the learning experience.

Mahalo to the volunteer groups who came out to support ʻĀINA Schools with their garden parties: Hands in Helping Out, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Green Team, Mohala Farms, Kāneʻohe Marines, and Rotary E-Club of Hawaiʻi.