Farm to Table Events
The past couple weeks have been big for our farm with farm-to-table dinners and special events!
On February 28th we were invited to participate in Sam Choy's Ranchers' Dinner. It was a wonderful event benefiting the Kamehameha School system and promoting local farms. Everything served was grown within 70 miles of Kona! Our farm provided the centerpieces for the event which was a small microgreen container sandwiched between two small wheatgrasses.
Even though it was a big crafty undertaking with the burlap containers and cute signs labeling the microgreens, I was so proud of how they turned out!
Our microgreens were showcased on the three pupus (appetizers).
Our radishes (a mix of watermelon and daikon radishes) were on the beef tounge salad course.
Finally, our flower petal mix was on the desert course - a delicious chocolate "cow pie."
It was so fun to see our produce displayed in the front on the restaurant as well!
We also participated by donating 200 bags of sunflower shoots and pea shoots for everyone attending the event to take home in their "ag bags." The ag bags were a wonderful way to showcase locally grown/raised food and we were so excited to take ours home! In addition to our shoots, the bags included a pound of ground beef, a Hamakua mushroom sampler, beef jerkey, chocolate covered coffee beans, locally made jam and a head of lettuce. We were so excited to be part of the event!
The second event we were invited to was the Kona Brewers' Pa'ina Dinner on March 6th. It was part of the weekly festivities for the Kona Brew Fest that was Saturday the 8th. The Pa'ina dinner was partially a showcase of beer pairings and partially a contest between five different chefs. Each course had a beer from Kona Brewing Co that paired with it. There were also 5 guest chefs who, in their course, had to highlight produce from a local farm as well as pair their course with a KBC beer.
Our farm was paired with the Chef Sam who made a delicious Ono dish with our shungiku and a Black Sand Porter cream sauce. He also made a beef course that highlighted our pea shoots!
We donated full grown shungiku, shungiku flowers, pea shoots and sunflower shoots. It was so fun to see our produce showcased in the contest. Unfortunately, our chef did not win, but it was still really delicious!
The next event we were part of was the Kona Brew Fest! Although our farm did not have a booth at the brew fest, two of the restaurants we supply highlighted our produce on their dishes.
Connor, the head Chef at Daylight Mind Coffee Company, made a delicious pork rillette with our microgreens to garnish.
And Peter, the head Chef at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, made an incredibly creative plate of abalone, marlin, guava ice cream and of course our microgreens. I am sure there were some other things on there too, but I could not tell you what! It was great though!
Doug was certainly enjoying all of the different beers at the festival!
The final event we were invited to was incredibly last minute, but super fun! It was the Sam Choy's Poke Contest at the Sheraton Hotel. We were one of the featured farms and were able to display our products at the event.
It was a great opportunity for us because there were so many great chefs and restaurants represented at the contest and this event was great exposure for our farm.
Although we did not sell any produce at the event, we were able to give out tons of samples, coupons for our farmers' market booth, FAQ sheets about our farm and products, and three different recipe cards.
So many people stopped by the booth, including a number of important chefs, and we are really proud of how well our produce was received by the public. It was also a super fun event because of all the poke we ate. The cups below are just my empties... it was all so delicious!
