Kailua Farmer's Market

It is so important for people to wake up to the fact that Hawaii imports over 80% of its food, a number that is outrageous and completely unnecessary. We have all the tools, resources and space to grow 100% of our own food, granted, certain foods, such as apples and rice, would disappear from our menus. Anyway, there is no reason why we can't work to reduce that number to 25%. Even 50% would be better. Eating locally, supporting small farmers and growing your own is the best way to go.

Farmer's markets aren't just sustainable, they can be super fun. Go with some friends, take a camera and a good sense of humor and you'll have a blast. There are usually free samples of all kinds of goodies and there's always the chance of making new connections with cool new people.

I went to the Kailua Farmer's market yesterday, with my photography teacher from high school. It was so great. We perused the isles and alleys between various booths, chatting, marveling at the incredible carrots and other produce oddities, sampling bizarre seaweed concoctions, laughing lots and taking photos.

I ended up buying some beautiful strawberries from Kula, Maui and the hugest beet I've ever seen!