In 2022, a team of University of Hawaii CTAHR extension agents and one specialist received a two-year, $350,000 grant to expand a virtual cooking and gardening program for intergenerational families in Hawai‘i.
In 2022, a team of University of Hawaii CTAHR extension agents and one specialist received a two-year, $350,000 grant to expand a virtual cooking and gardening program for intergenerational families in Hawai‘i.
The money, which came from a USDA/NIFA Rural Health and Safety Education Grant, helped expand the ‘Ohana Garden &Grindz extension program.
The program offers youths a chance to work with their parents, grandparents, aunties, or uncles to develop their skills in the kitchen, garden and household food security. The project was initially developed in 2018 to support Department of Hawaiian Home Lands homestead families on Moloka‘i to work as a team to increase agriculture production on their properties.
Participating families receive gardening and cooking kits, participate in weekly online education sessions to learn how to grow plants and cook healthy meals at home, and complete at-home assignments in their garden and kitchen.
Keiki and their ‘ohana plant beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetables and use their harvest to prepare local recipes, such as Aunty Jennifer’s Famous Somen Salad, that have been modified to include more garden-fresh vegetables and decreased sodium and fat content.
Families on Kaua‘i with keiki between the ages of 9 and 12 are eligible for the free program. The next session begins Saturday. It is a four-week program that runs through Feb. 16. Space is limited.
For more information call 808-274-3473 (leave a message) or email: halliec@hawaii.edu.
