KILAUEA — One of the most relaxing places on the North Shore, Common Ground offers patrons a field to table experience. A farm tour of Common Ground last Thursday included representatives from the Culinary Institute of the Pacific, which was
KILAUEA — One of the most relaxing places on the North Shore, Common Ground offers patrons a field to table experience.
A farm tour of Common Ground last Thursday included representatives from the Culinary Institute of the Pacific, which was the beneficiary of a fundraiser at Kaua‘i Community College that included a full day of French culinary classes from Chef de Cuisine Christopher Kulis of Capische on Maui, Pastry Chef Michelle Karr of Alan Wong Restaurants and Executive Chef Ronnie Nasuti of Tiki’s Restaurant and Bar in Waikiki.
One of the first stops on Kaua‘i, however, was to see the sustainable farming techniques at Common Ground.
Owner Chris Jaeb is committed to expanding the workings at Common Ground, which currently includes a restaurant, a farm and a marketplace. Yoga and wellness classes are also starting to be offered on-site.
To maintain sustainability, Jaeb allows managers to oversee the site to make the best decisions, rather than stepping in.
In the restaurant, Executive Chef Rodman Machado uses his extensive background in high-end restaurants in Oregon and on O‘ahu to create dishes that are healthy and organic, such as the Mighty Greens salad, which features kale, shreds of green papaya, macadamia nuts and a miso vinaigrette.
He also created a “Wellness Shot,” with citrus, tumeric and garlic as a palate cleanser to aid in digestion.
Common Ground is in the middle of working through several ways to make its overall experience better, including an effort to streamline the ordering process to ensure patrons receive their food in a timely fashion.
At the same time, Common Ground recently completed a weeklong remodel of The Market, which offers local organic goodies for purchase.
What drives the operation, though, are the fields outside.
Near the cafe are bountiful gardens that can be used as a backdrop for events or weddings.
Past that, however, are fields where Common Ground operates a sustainable farming operation.
“We feed our microorganisms and soil first,” said Jacque Quirk, co-manager of Harvest Moon Farm. “Then we feed ourselves and our customers.”
She said that while producing food for the cafe is the priority, there is often an abundance of food that is then sold at the Waipa Farmer’s Market or given to family and friends.
Quirk said in order to maintain the fields, farmers grow ground cover crops of different plants, then turn those plants back into the soil so it has a chance to feed on the nutrients.
As a “no till farm,” the lands are plowed once to turn cover crops back into the soil to feed it.
“You feed the plants and the plants feed you,” she said.
She said a compost system is integral in sustainable farming.
At Common Ground, leftover food goes to feed pigs or is added to a compost pile.
Quirk also noted that the farm grows its own pesticides in the form of plants such as wormwood, which they can feed to sheep in order to lower parasite counts and keep slugs and snails away.
A huge section of the farm is dedicated to growing various types of kale, chard and lettuce. Quirk said to fertilize the area, farmers create an “earthworm poop tea,” that makes a very diluted fertilizer and health tonic for the leafy vegetables.
In the various gardens, Quirk said farmers will plant crops of leafy vegetables, then crops of rooted vegetables, followed by crops of beans before growing a cover crop in order to reduce pests and build the soil.
Farmers also grow crops of peppers that are carefully farmed so as to reduce the number of fruit flies.
Quirk encourages anyone farming in a specified area and their neighbors to set up fruit fly traps — the more traps there are, the faster the population reduces.
Common Ground is located at 4900 Kuawa Road in Kilauea, by mile marker 23. For more information call 828-2192 or visit www.cgkauai.net online.
