For years, a dedicated group of volunteers called the Fruit Hui has maintained the research orchard at CTAHR’s Urban Garden Center in Pearl City. Harvesting over 200 pounds of fresh tropical fruit a week, the volunteers donate all excess fruit to the Hawaii Foodbank. The group of certified Master Gardener volunteers plans to continue to harvest weekly now that access to fresh food has become even more critical during the COVID-19 crisis.

Want to be a Master Gardener volunteer or know someone who does? The East Hawai‘i Master Gardeners are now accepting applications for the 2019 Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program. The course begins January 23 and runs through April, from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday morning at the Komohana Research Center.

CTAHR faculty and Master Gardeners helped Jefferson Elementary students with Project Lemon Tree, which established CO₂-reducing trees, an arbor, and student gardens on a campus site vandalized in 2016.

Volunteers from the East Hawaiʻi Island Master Gardener program will be at the Hilo Orchid Society Annual Show and Sale to answer questions and assist home gardeners with horticultural and gardening information on Friday, July 13, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Saturday, July 14, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

More than 300 visitors learned about insects that pollinate home gardens and Hawai‘i ecosystems at the Urban Garden Center’s recent Second Saturday event.