Driving up Rabbit Hill along the uneven rumble strip road, climbing higher into old avocado trees and rock walls with agave cactus stationed like barnacles in its tiny crevices, I’m lost. I have asked directions twice and still I continue on, blindly, wondering if I should turn back. Then, suddenly, the hillside opens up to slopes of long green rows of coffee.
Hugo Guerrero Alberica, a young man in his 20s, is working in the distance. He has a bandana around his neck like the gauchos of Patagonia. I’m the one lost, though I live only a few miles away. He looks perfectly at home, yet he has traveled 6,000 miles to be here.
Alberica is Peruvian, and perhaps coffee is in his blood because it has propelled him all this way to be a part of Chuck Gallison and Nina Garcia’s Keei Mauka Estate Coffee Farm in South Kona.
Here at the 1,500-foot elevation in Honaunau, Gallison and Garcia have been farming for nearly 30 years.
In 2007, they expanded their endeavors by cultivating international relationships through the MESA project. MESA, Multinational Education for Sustainable Agriculture, is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to connecting farmers worldwide to share knowledge, and combine that knowledge with modern techniques to support local food systems.
Since, the duo has hosted for one year each six coffee farmers — some more than once — from South America. Together, they have created a productive farm that can boast Kona Estate Coffee, which they handle and market themselves in nearly every capacity, with the exception of roasting. In addition, they have a thriving mobile restaurant supplied by their own organic produce and poultry.
International perspectives
Walking around the 6 acres of coffee, Garcia takes me past the chicken coop, where a pile of manure is ready to be placed on coffee and garden beds. Gallison and Garcia collect the eggs to use in the quiche they serve at their restaurant.
“These stewards are not like a workforce,” Garcia explains about the MESA workers, “but dedicated to making this farm work, nurturing it, rather than going to the store and buying everything. It’s not like we have a list of things for them to do. We come up with ideas together.”
Gallison grabs a handful of the cured manure and shows it, as if it were magic beans.
“This stuff works wonders on our crops,” he says. “We use the chipper to chop cane and feed it to the chickens. And banana leaves for potassium. They process it, and then it’s like gold.”
We then walk past vegetable beds filled with deep green kales and dark red mustard greens, in addition to the terracing built by the last MESA worker.
As we leave the vegetable beds, Alberica arrives from the coffee fields with a sprayer on his back. There is a bit of a language barrier, but some things are clear.
“My father and mother tend 2 acres of coffee,” Alberica explains. “But the trees there are much older, one hundred years old. They grow in the jungle and are giant. It makes harvesting difficult. And my parents are getting older.”
“They go home,” Garcia says, “and initiate community projects like creating their own processing plant so they can keep their product within their community and not just sell the beans.”
When asked if he is enjoying his stay in Hawaii, Alberica smiles warmly and says, “Hawaii is beautiful, but it’s the people.”
He puts his hand on Gallison’s shoulder. They share the laugh of two men who have worked together toward a common goal.
“Being a part of this project is kind of like rent-a-son for me,” Gallison says. “These guys become like family.”
Farm to table
At the Sunday Farmer’s Market in Captain Cook, Garcia and Gallison’s restaurant, the One Day Cafe, is gathering a following. Garcia stands behind the counter with her gluten-free mango cake. She is beaming. It is a beautiful cake.
Alberica is scrambling eggs collected that morning and Gallison pours refills of his coffee. The table is filled with eggplants, pineapples, baskets of eggs, heads of lettuce, bulbs of turmeric and herbs.
A customer walks up to the counter and says, “I just want you to know that was the best quiche I have ever tasted.”
Garcia smiles.
“That’s what makes getting up before dawn and making all this happen worth it.”
Nina’s Quiche
Recipe courtesy of Nina Garcia and Chuck Gallison of the One Day Cafe. Makes one quiche.
Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 1 percent, Nina hasn’t tried almond or soy milk, yet)
1/2 teaspoon salt (this can be omitted)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon parsley
1 cup cheese (such as mozzarella or mozzarella mixed with another cheese such as feta, cheddar or Monterey Jack)
Selected filling flavors/ingredients (see below).
Prepare filling ingredients for Nina’s quiche in advance. Some ingredients Nina suggests using are broccoli (blanched, peeled and diced); purple sweet potato (parboiled and diced); greens like kale, chard, collards and spinach (chopped finely); artichoke bottoms (diced); zucchini or yellow squash (grated); beets (raw shredded or parboiled diced); or any other veggies that you have on-hand that sound good together. Nina even suggests adding a few heaping teaspoons of pesto.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix ingredients with a wire whisk until thoroughly combined. Spray quiche pan with cooking spray. Pour 1 cup of quiche mixture into pan. Sprinkle cheese mix evenly on top. Add vegetables and other flavors to the quiche (about two or three per quiche), and then pour remaining egg mixture evenly over the top.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The quiche should be firm to the touch in the middle. Serve.
Note: Nina’s Quiche makes for great leftovers. Reheat the quiche in a small, covered fry pan with a little water over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Nina advises against using a microwave to reheat the quiche because it may become rubbery.