Our philosophy for organic farming is to implement the United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) national organic standards through permaculture farm practices which integrate poly-culture of multiple plant and animal species and contribute to an overall natural, harmonious and healthy growing environment.  We now have a flourishing micro-environment imitating nature with the use of natural systems to manage soil, control insects, and conserve precious natural resources.

The integration of animals is an essential aspect of our micro-environment. Our dogs keep away wild pigs and strangers while our cats are responsible for controlling the field mice population. We have several beehives for the primary purpose of pollinating the many fruit tree varieties.   In return, we benefit from the delicious and flavorful honey they produce.   Our free-range chickens are tasked with controlling the ant and centipede population, while the ducks go after the snails and slugs.  They also provide us with invaluable fertilizer and of course fresh eggs!  In addition to these jobs, our chickens and ducks also contribute by assuming the position of field sanitation workers as they forage on fallen fruit which helps to reduce insect populations (their wages paid in mangoes and other tropical fruit).

Pest management is a process in which we attempt to create a natural balance of harmful and helpful insects.  One example is the use of ladybugs to control the aphid population.  Aphids can be quite destructive to citrus trees and spread viruses like Banana Bunchy Top Virus.  Ladybugs feed on these aphids and keep the populations under control.  Theoretically, we’d have a perfect 50% balance of each, but we have to let nature control that to a large extent.  We use pheromone lures and natural bacterial solutions as an organic method to control fruit flies.

Nutrient management refers to promoting healthy soil, and thus healthy tree growth and fruit production.  We believe that healthy trees are the primary defense against insect damage.  Only in the instance of noticeable fruit or plant damage, do we take proactive action.  At such times, we use a homemade spray solution of organically approved natural substances, such as Neem from our own trees. We have also planted a ground cover as a green manure/cover crop.  This ground cover, “Golden Glory” (Arachis pintoi), is a perennial related to the peanut and is nitrogen fixing, thereby contributing its nitrogen to the soil. 

We harvest our fruit just at the point where it begins to ripen without the use of ripening agents. This allows the flavors and sugars to develop naturally on the tree, which ensures the freshest and tastiest fruit for our customers. We hope you will enjoy the best tropical organic fruit you can buy in Hawai’i.  We encourage you to look for our produce sticker so that you can sample our delicious fruits and vegetables for yourself!