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Now Hiring | Join our Farm Family!

Job Description: Part Time Organic Weed Control Manager & Regenerative Agriculture Project Assistant

Pay is $25 per hour for average fo 16 hrs each week.

Job Description

Ocean Grace Farms is looking for our new team member to Manage Organic Weed Control on our 3.3 Acre Farm and Assist with other Farm Operations.

Tasks include: Weed Whipping, Hand Pulling Weeds, Mulch Moving and Assisting with Regenerative Agriculture Practices: Planting ground cover crops, vegetables and assisting with maintenance of all crops (bananas, lemongrass, citrus, white pineapple, cassava, cacao and more).

Possible future growth in the new hire position would be to join our chocolate making operation: cacao harvesting and processing of chocolate. This includes fermentation and drying.

Watch a video below about our North Kona Cacao Farm Here and meet the farm family and team…

Ocean Grace Farms is located on the flanks of Hualalai Volcano at an altitude of 1800 feet on the leeward side of the Big Island of Hawaii. With special varieties selected by Dan O’Doherty we planted our very first trees in the winter of 2017. In the spring of 2018, with the help of Logan Silsley we transitioned from conventional farming to Korean Natural Farming; a system that completely embraces regenerative agriculture. We are halfway through our path to be certified organic, and so much more.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Gini Choobua for our first ferments and Honoka’a Chocolate Company for our very first batch of chocolate. They all have been extremely generous supporting our dream to translate the offerings of our land into a beautiful experience. We are incredibly proud of the result and are excited to make our very first offering for the chocolate and cacao loving community early 2021.

It is our intention that our chocolate offering be a reflection of the sacred land here on Big Island where we are pouring our love, affection and caring into every single day.

HOW TO APPLY:

Answer the following questions in an email and email to Amanda Hurtado, our Farm Manager at bigislandtlc@yahoo.com

  1. What is your experience with Weed Whipping? How long?
  2. What s your experience with Organic Weed Control and Regenerative Agriculture?
  3. Why are you interested in joining our Farm Team specifically?

Requirements:

  • A US CITIZEN with documents to fill out I-9 Form.
  • Has own transportation
  • Experience operating weed whipper and other farm machines a bonus.
  • Able to lift 50 pounds
  • OGF is a Drug free and Alcohol free work environment
  • Experience with or Interest in learning Regenerative Agriculture and Korean Natural Farming / Natural Farming Practices

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Exploring the KNF Chicken Coop

In April of 2019, Ocean Grace Farms began our transition to natural farming from using conventional farming methods. Watch a video here documenting the first chapter of our educational journey. We have learned how to make Korean Natural Farming Inputs/Solutions on our farm and have began making Compost Tea Brews and implementing foliar sprays on our cacao and fruit orchard. We continue to have the Chinese Rose Beetle eat a significant amount of our Cacao Leaves-primarily the heirloom varieties. We are documenting our transition in hopes to share with other Conventional Cacao Farmers that there are Natural Farming Solutions to the “Chinese Rose Beetle Problem”.

Hawaii Cacao | Protective Hoops

This topic of “Management of the Chinese Rose Beetle (Adoretus sinicus) Adults Feeding on Cacao (Theobroma cacao)” is one that has been on our radar since establishing our Cacao Farm.

This article explains that when the trees are younger- a common practice is to use “protective hoops” or cages to protect the young cacao from: 1) Sun 2) Wind and 3) That Chinese Rose Beetle. As the trees get older we remove the cages.

Could a KNF Chicken Coop help minimize beetle grubs, provide fertilizer, increase spreading IMOs and provide fresh eggs for our family and friends? That is what we think. I wonder what other benefits a KNF Chicken coop would provide? Are there any cons?

These are the questions we are heading out to explore this coming month. Join Us! On our road trip. We will be posting on @oceangracefarms instagram.

We have read that chickens roam and feed on beetle grubs and as a result may minimize beetle infestations naturally and without using poison or pesticides. It is no longer an option for us to consider poison or pesticides because of the choice we have made: to use natural farming methods no matter what. We know the value of IMO (Indigenous Micro Organisms) from making our own IMO pile, as we implemented other KNF methods, such as: Compost Tea / Liquid IMO .

The first step on our exploration of the KNF Chicken Coop is to tour other Big Island Farms that already have a working KNF Chicken Coop on their farm and talk story with them. Update: Please see video below of our tours…

Big Island Farm Tours: KNF Chicken Coop

We have completed 2 of the 3 tours and posted the video above. We look forward to sharing more of our journey with you! If you have questions you would like us to answer in an upcoming video: please submit it here.

Additional Resources: KNF Chickens and Poultry Farming

Chickens
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Conventional VS. Natural Farming

The current mainstream cultural conversation is about organic agriculture vs conventional agriculture. It’s interesting to note that conventional agriculture (the general practices of most farmers) was regenerative/organic farming  for tens of thousands of years. Over time farming through chemical controls became known as conventional. Historically, this transition took place in the last 70 years and during my lifetime.

We are slowly discovering that the real conversation and comparison needs to be about regenerative or sustainable farming vs conventional farming. Organic farming uses most of the conventional mainstream efforts and simply replaces chemical compounds with plant compounds, maybe a step in the right direction of human health and is only a small step in the right direction for planetary health. 

There are those, especially large scale farmers, that say we can’t feed the planet with anything other than conventional farming. They are relaying on the old age “if it ain’t broke (and we are making money) don’t fix it” idea. However, making the connection to our planet’s condition as being a part of the assessment about its brokenness, is a shadow that few will give credence. It’s just too hard to get our arms around doing something about it. It takes the force of money to make most of us pay attention. Even when we are financially wiped out due to planetary forces like the force of an unusual hurricane, it’s still too hard for most to connect the dots.

However, in an answer to the question: What can one farmer do to take care of our planet? It is being answered in this regard every single day- with the proliferation of farmers markets. Even though not all farmers that sell in a farmers market are organic, they are all local and they are all small, which are two very important components of the shift. The badly needed shift will happen as local, small, organic, regenerative and sustainable farming become more a part of our conversations and most importantly the way we spend our money. As the big guys loose business to these other channels AND their bottom line is impacted they will look at meeting the markets demands. 

Of course, the question du jour is: Will this transition give the planet the time to recover and our grandchildren a planetary home to survive? We don’t have to wait for the big guys to suddenly make planetary health a priority in their business plan. Each individual votes with our dollars. As more and more insist on organic and as more and more of the organic buyers insist on sustainable, and as documentaries come out that explain how mono cultures effect the planet and there is education about all of it, one farm at a time, one person at a time, we can do this!

This is a note written from Martin Mazzanti, founder of Ocean Grace Farms.

Join us in our educational journey! Follow us on instagram: @oceangracefarms

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Raw Cacao- Another Hawaiian Superfood!

‘Ulu (Breadfruit), Poi, Noni, Spirulina and ‘Olena are local favorites that are known as Hawaiian Superfoods. Cacao farming in Hawaii and the demand for Hawaiian Chocolate is on the rise! In 2017, Manoa Chocolate & CTHAR put Hawaiian Chocolate on the map- as one of the best in the world by placing at the International Chocolate Awards (read more). We are happy to announce that Raw Cacao is an unexpected Hawaiian Superfood!

Ocean Grace Farms is excited to share the outstanding health and medicinal benefits of Raw Hawaiian Cacao. While deciding which products to make from our Hawaii Island Grown Estate Cacao Trees we simply must include one that retains the superfood qualities of raw cacao.

Benefits of Raw Hawaiian Cacao

Eating Cacao nibs help maintain muscle and nerve function, lose weight and keep you regular, prevent anemia, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, treat diarrhea, and enhance mood. (Dr. Axe)

Cacao is the highest plant-based source of iron known to man, at a whopping 7.3mg per 100g.  This compares to beef and lamb at 2.5mg, and spinach at 3.6mg.  Note the iron in cacao is non-heme (as is all plant-based iron), so to get the maximum benefits you’ll want to combine it with some vitamin C.  (Be Good Organics)

Raw cacao powder contains more than 300 different chemical compounds and nearly four times the antioxidant power of your average dark chocolate – more than 20 times than that of blueberries. Protein, calcium, carotene, thiamin, riboflavin, magnesium, sulfur, flavonoids, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids are also present. The precise blend of all these elements combined serve to kick in naturally occurring phytochemicals that have incredible benefits throughout the body, such as lowered LDL cholesterol, improved heart function, and reduced cancer risk. (Mercola)

1 Cup of Cacao Nutritional Info Chart

Cacao vs Cocoa

Cacao and cocoa are essentially the same thing. The biggest difference is cocoa is heated at a higher temperature during process, thus loses some of the beneficial nutrition cacao contains. Cocoa also typically has more additives, while cacao is typically raw and a bit healthier. (Source: Dr. Axe)

References & Sources

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Protecting our Cacao from the Chinese Rose Beetle

Quicklinks to Organic Field Tests

Are you trying to fend off the Chinese Rose Beetles that are eating your precious Cacao trees or even worse-destroying a new orchard that you are working hard to establish? 

If yes, we have something in common. Ocean Grace Farms, LLC. is in its transition to 100% organic. As a Hawaiian Cacao Farm one of our biggest obstacles, in this mission, is the Chinese Rose Beetle. This pest is more of a problem when you are establishing a new orchard and have younger trees; which we are and do. If you are learning about the Rose Beetle, here is a great resource that we found via CTAHR: Chinese Rose Beetle: Problem, Description and Information.

Cacao Tree in Protective Cage For one stage of protection making and installing protective ‘hoops’ or ‘cages’ is helpful. However, as a well-intentioned farmer I am disappointed to see that the easier and more affordable solution overall is using pesticides.

With our end-goal being a farm to bar production of Organic Hawaiian Heirloom Chocolate we have begun our test of organic solutions to the Rose Beetle dilemma. Like most of you, I started my research on Google.

The HOT PEPPER SPRAY Recipe

The first organic pest solution we tried was The Hot Pepper Spray (HPS).  We found via Hawaii Organic Farming Association – whom referred us to this online pdf: Home Recipes for Pest Control via CTAHR.

This recipe didn’t answer all of our questions, so I contacted Daniel O’Doherty of Cacao Services Hawai’i.  

We decided on the following recipe and field application for our test.

 Hot Pepper Spray Ingredients 

  • 1/2 Cup Cayenne Pepper, Other Fresh Peppers (Habanero or Serrano)

  • 1 Gallon Water

  • 5-6 Drops of Dish Soap

Preparation Directions: Grind up all the peppers with water and dish soap using a blender, let it stand overnight, and strain it out with a cheesecloth or old piece of pantyhose. Wear gloves at all times while preparing.

Field Application Directions:

Test section pictured
Our Test Rows of Heirloom Cacao Trees are pictured here: the far two right rows of this ZONE of our orchard. (photo taken August 16, 2018 last day of test)

For use in the field, you’ll want to spray both the upper and lower sides of the leaves thoroughly. Make sure you’ve strained out all the small bits of pepper, or it may clog your sprayer. You’ll have to spray this regularly – at least 1-2x a week and after every rain because it is not an insecticide, but rather an insect deterrent/repellent. As with the preparation of the mixture, you will need to be careful during application. Definitely gloves, and likely a mask and goggles depending on the wind conditions.

Conclusion of HOT PEPPER SPRAY Field Test

HPS Spray Test Pau!

We sprayed 2 test sections 2-3x a week (our nursery with 50 seedlings and 2 rows of 1.5 yr old heirloom cacao trees  for a  period of 4 weeks.
We decided to stop the test because for our farm HPS is not a cost-effective solution to the Chinese Rose Beetle problem. We would love to hear from you if you have a different experience with HPS. Please contact us.

The Cons that we found for using HPS to repel Chinese Rose Beetles from Cacao:

  1. Our sprayer clogged continually and interrupted work hours. 
  2. Too much time spent straining the HPS with cheesecloth for the sprayer to not clog. We made batches of 3 gallons and considering our orchard needs 24-28 gallons per spray- this is not a good longterm solution. I could see it working for someone that has only a handful of trees and the time to make a DIY solution.
  3. Not effective solution for other pests: aphids and mealy bugs- as a result we switched from HPS repellent to an insecticide soap in the nursery. We began a new test with the brand SAFER. We are also considering hanging a light on a timer in our nursery for a CRB deterrent. However, lighting our entire orchard is not yet an option we are seriously considering.

Rose Beetle Damage on Cacao Leaf

Chinese Rose Beetle Damage

This is a picture from our spray test of new Chinese Rose Beetle damage while spraying HPS 2-3x per week. However, this was after rainfall event and there was minimal damage.

Hand Picking The Chinese Rose Beetle

Even though, this would not be our first choice. I have to wonder if the time and money we wold save in buying and spraying product would be worth it. We started to hand pick at the of August 2018.  We hand pick two hours after sunset and in some cases tap them into a jar of soapy water.

Organic Chinese Rose Beetle Control
Actual picture of our collection in one night (2 pickers over 2 hours)

This current field test- we will spray two rows with organic mix’ and leave the remainder with no spray. We will then observe to see if the CRB avoid either row of the sprayed trees.

Row 1: Neem Oil Peppermint Mix

Row 2: SAFER concentrate

Row 3: Hand Picking with no spray.

Whats Next on our Organic Field Test?

More resources:

An evaluation of several commercially available products for their effectiveness in reducing adult CRBs feeding and longevity: Management of Chinese Rose Beetle (Adoretus sinicus) Adults Feeding on Cacao (Theobroma cacao) Using Insecticides

Consulting of Daniel O’Doherty of Cacao Services Hawai’i phone: (808) 777-0548 email: info@cacaoservices.com  

Other Names: Chinese Rose Beetle, Adoretus Sinicus, Coleoptera Scarabaeidae – Chinese Beetle