News and Events


«January 2025»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
303112345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
272829303112
3456789

Compost That

Compost That 9 August 2017

Compost That

Cooperative Extension faculty addressed green and brown farm waste at a Hands-On Composting Workshop they organized with Organic Matters Hawai‘i in Kona.

Pine-ing Away

Pine-ing Away 9 August 2017

Pine-ing Away

Brent Sipes, PEPS, recently trained a group of ethnic-minority Garo people on environmentally sound and safe pineapple cultivation in rural Bangladesh.

Funded on Maui

Funded on Maui 3 August 2017

Funded on Maui

Maui County has funded eight CTAHR projects for FY18, from control of Axis deer and fruit flies to evaluation of taro varieties and expansion of turmeric to youth bee-keeping workshops.

A Waimanalo Welcome

A Waimanalo Welcome 3 August 2017

A Waimanalo Welcome

8/3/2017 - The Waimanalo Research Station hosted UH President/UH Manoa Chancellor David Lassner on July 28.  He was greeted with chants by Malama Honua Charter School students, who use the site, and with a welcome from from Interim Dean Rachel Novotny and Malama Honua Executive Director Herb Lee.

KIDS COUNT

KIDS COUNT 15 June 2017

KIDS COUNT

June - 2017

Center on the Family announces release of Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book for Hawai‘i, which uses 16 indicators to rank the state on what children need to thrive.

4-H for Hawai‘i

4-H for Hawai‘i 8 June 2017

4-H for Hawai‘i

It's not just livestock

Beyond livestock, 4-H promotes youth well-being, leadership skills, community engagement, and STEM activities, says state coordinator Jeff Goodwin.

The Bee’s Knees

The Bee’s Knees 7 June 2017

The Bee’s Knees

Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences’s Scott Nikaido explains the importance of pollinators to Hawai‘i crops and how people can support pollinator health by using fewer insecticides and more pollinator-friendly plants.

Prepared Youth

Prepared Youth 17 May 2017

Prepared Youth

Hawai‘i is the second state that trained adults to instruct kids in a youth preparedness national pilot project. 3 4-H agents were certified through the Hawai‘i Youth Preparedness Initiative.

A Web Winner

A Web Winner 11 May 2017

A Web Winner

Hawai‘i Association of County Agricultural Agents nominated Andrea Kawabata for their national organization’s Communications Award for her coffee berry borer beetle website.

GoFarm Grows

4 May 2017

GoFarm Grows

The GoFarm Hawai‘i beginning farmer training program received new grants from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture, Hawai‘i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and Kamehameha Schools.

Prevent the Parasite

4 May 2017

Prevent the Parasite

With new cases of rat lungworm reported in the Islands, Extension Agent Jari Sugano was featured on Hawaii News Now offering some tips on reducing the risk of the disease.

Gut Feeling

Gut Feeling 4 May 2017

Gut Feeling

GoFarm and Ag Incubator alumnus and entrepreneur Rob Barreca and graduate student Surely Wallace promoted fermented foods in a recent Honolulu Star-Advertiser article.

RSS
First171819202122232426
3 March 2021

The Show Must GROW On

Extensionʻs Master Gardener program is adjusting well to the new normal

The Show Must GROW On

by Russell Galanti

Teaching practical horticulture during COVID is no walk in the garden … or is it?

Across our state, coordinators of CTAHR’s Master Gardener program are addressing the issue of developing an MG training curricula and schedule for 2021 – specifically for these unprecedented times when travel and in-person meetings are still difficult.

The Master Gardener coordinators, which include Extension’s Dr. James Keach, Kalani Matsumura, Ty McDonald, Eric Demaria, and me, decided it was time to work together across the state to develop a unified training program, a historical achievement for the Hawaiʻi Master Gardeners. We’re confident we can make it work, because this same teamwork and coordination has already solved multiple problems this year related to developing the training program.

Lecturer travel was the first obstacle to overcome. By offering the class online, guest lecturers do not need to travel to every island individually to present. Offering the course as a statewide class also reduces the need for lecturers to present multiple times on the same subject.

Developing a synchronous program has allowed the Master Gardener coordinators to maximize their resources and offer an improved program through collaborative decision making. The statewide class allows all of the master gardener associations to interact with each other and create a sense of unity.

Most of the class remains online, with all participants meeting for online lectures, and splitting off into individual groups for hand-on activities. Some coordinators have decided to keep larger class sizes and remain completely socially distanced. This is the case for Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi. Hawaiʻi island is experimenting with reduced class size and the ability to still hold hands-on activities.

The details may differ, but one thing is for sure: statewide coordinators agree this has been an excellent team-building effort, and everyone appreciates working together to meet our goals. The training program began on February 12th – and so far, all participants are very happy with the statewide online format.

For more information on each master gardener program, you can visit the Master Gardener webpage. Each page contains contact information for the individual coordinators.

Photo Caption: A class limited to 10 students sits in the conference room of Komohana Research and Extension Center, ready to connect online with 85 other Master Gardener students from across the state.