Lipoa Street Farmers Market. Courtesy photo.

As October wraps up, it marks Hawaiʻi’s first statewide Farm-to-School Month, designated by the office of Governor Ige, and community groups are coming together to celebrate.

Volunteers with local school garden organizations, Grow Some Good and Maui School Garden Network, will host a special event at the Lipoa Street Farmer’s Market in Kihei on Saturday, Oct. 31.

During the event, volunteers will distribute ʻulu (breadfruit) trees to the community. The trees are part of the “Plant a Tree of Life – Grow ʻUlu” project sponsored by the Breadfruit Institute, National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hana. The trees have been nurtured for several months by students at Kihei Elementary and Lokelani Intermediate schools and are now ready for transplanting in home gardens and other community locations.

In addition, attendees can adopt a variety of vegetable plant starts through “Plant It Maui,” a school garden program that provides support and materials for community members interested in starting or expanding their home gardens.

The farmer’s market runs from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at 95 E. Lipoa Street in Kihei. At 9 a.m., a representative from Governor Ige’s office will read the statewide Farm-to-School proclamation, which you can read here.

Grow Some Good is a nonprofit community program dedicated to creating hands-on, outdoor learning experiences that cultivate curiosity about natural life cycles, connect students and their families to their food sources, and inspire better nutrition choices. The organization currently provides school garden support to 12 schools and more than 2,800 students on Maui. For more information, click here  or check out Maui Now’s recent video on a local event involving the program.

Maui School Garden Network’s mission is to move Maui County’s children towards taking up their kuleana (responsibility) to develop a greater sense of food security as well as understanding of nutrition in Maui County by teaching our children how to grow their own food in sustainable school gardens and by promoting a direct connection between local food producers and our school food service providers for all K-12 schools, independent and public. For details, visit here.