Ka`u News Briefs June 9, 2013

Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Xochitl Amador Aznar, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, treats dental patients in Pahala at no charge as team member of Tropic Care. Photo by Julia Neal

An optometrist from Auburn, California checks Auntie Kaiwi Perkins. Photo by Julia Neal

TROPIC CARE is encouraging Ka`u residents to take advantage of free hearing, eye, dental and physical checkups today until 4 p.m., Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesday until noon. The Air Force, Army and Navy reserve units are comprised of health care professionals and administrator and logistics professionals who live all over the country, including Puerto Rico, and have come to Ka`u to practice delivering medical care the field. They have set up camp in the Pahala Gymnasium and Ocean View Community Center. Classrooms have become clinics at Pahala and the Community Center in Ocean View is a second health care delivery site.
       Tropic Care uses sophisticated medical equipment for testing and is offering dental procedures from filling cavities to extractions. Free glasses are offered to those who need them after an eye check.
     Also on hand are representatives of the Hawai`i Health Connector, which helps residents obtain health insurance.

SCIENCE CAMPS OF AMERICA is offering scholarships for Ka`u students for a Land & Sea Camp from June 22 through July 1 and an Air & Space Camp from July 1 through July 10. Science Camps, founded by O`ahu resident Mike Richards, is for boys and girls who are in their teens. The Science Camps website advises teens on the camp culture. “How You’ll Learn – Field Trips, Field Exercises, Lab Exercises, Multimedia Resources… How You Won’t – Sit in a Classroom and Homework.”
      Each ten-day session will feature six or seven travel days. Some trips will take all day while some will take a few hours. Time is set aside each day for creative activities including drawing, photography, videography and music. Students will stay at Pahala Plantation Cottages with counselors and food is provided. To download the scholarship form see http://sciencecampsofamerica.com

Green Sand Community Park & Garden plans a pavillion. Photo by Bobby Tucker

THE CULTIVATING COMMUNITY event at Green Sand Community Park & Garden on Saturday drew nearly 100 people to learn about bees, composting and worms as well as how to grow many food and ornamental plants in Ka`u.
      The community organization, which is building an ornamental and edible garden at the park, hosted a seed exchange and plant sale.
Boardmember Bob Martin said the organization plans fundraising to erect a pavilion at the park.
      Jendaiyi Miller ran a keiki corner with children learning how to plant vegetables and flowers. An art corner encouraged keiki to paint their own wooden flowerpots and make planters from newspapers and recycled containers. The Hawaiian Roots Band with Kai McGuire and friends entertained the crowd.
      A composting and worm workshop by Piper Selben drew about 50 participants. See www.hawaiirainbowworms.com.  Recycle Hawai`i gave out certificates for free bakyard composters for those who took the composting workshop. See www.earthmachine.com and www.recyclehawaii.org.

Jendayi Miller at the Keiki Corner  at Green Sand Community Park & Garden. Photo by Bobby Tucker

   Artemis Smiles Honey Bee Sanctuary offered a tour of the education center, attended by a group from Pacific Quest farm and area residents. Alison Yahna, director of the bee sanctuary, said she encourages Ka`u residents to keep backyard beehives as bees in the wild and hives in small gardens have been declining quickly in Ka`u. She said more hives near homes, where residents can care for bees and watch for pests and disease could help the overall bee population come through a time of many hives dying off. The culprits include hive beetles, which lay their eggs inside the beehive, the beetle larva fouling the honey and taking over the hive. Another culprit is the varroa mite and another is a parasitic protozoa called nosena that reduces the life of the bee by about a third.
      Yahna said that a wild bee population building resistance through natural selection is important to the overall survival of bees worldwide. As with much of agriculture, the diversity of bee populations has diminished as factory produced queen bees are shipped all over the world without the immune system and genetics for each niche environment where be hives are established. Yahna, who has cared for bees in Ka`u since 2001, said, "There is a movement nationwide to return to small-scale, backyard beekeeping." A number of people came by the Green Sands Park yesterday and said they are missing the wild and domestic bees in their backyard orchards and gardens Yahna said “wild bees in Ka`u are pretty much wiped out.” To reach her and learn about backyard beekeeping, see www.artemissmiles.com.
      Boardmembers of Green Sand Community Association are Bob Martin, Donna Ambrose and Margaret McGuire.

Alison Yahna at her bee sanctuary in the Green Sand community. Photo from www.artemissmiles.com

BOOK SPEED DATING is on for this Wednesday, June 12 at Na`alehu Public Library starting at 3:30 p.m. Patrons are asked to bring a favorite book, regardless of genre, fiction or non-fiction, or a short summary to share with others. The event is intended for young adult and adult readers.
     Library assistant Jennifer Losalio said that with Book Speed Dating each person has three minutes to share his or her favorite book with a listeners before changing chairs. The purpose is to highlight details of the story, without giving too much away. The goal is to interest people in reading a variety of books and to bring together readers who could start a book club hosted at the library once a month.
     Space is limited. Sign up in advance at the library’s circulation desk or RSVP at 929-2442. Depending on its success, the event may be hosted again.

PORK IN THE PARK, Ka `Ohana O Honu`apo’s Father’s Day event on Sunday, June 16 is looking for contestants for its barbeque pork contest. First prize is $100. The afternoon, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., includes musicians on stage, samples of pork for the voting for a Fan Favorite, shave ice on sale and a shady tent to enjoy Honu`apo Park on Father’s Day. For more on the contest and the celebration, call Lehua Lopez-Mau at 929-9891.