By Barry Villamil, President, Rotary Club of Pearlridge
I would like to send a special mahalo to Rotary Club of Pearlridge guest speakers Brian Walker and Richele Thornburg who are organizers of the newly developing The Haven Garden – Pearl City High School..
Brian and Richele presented RCOP members and guests an update on plans to redevelop The Haven Garden to a “Farm to Table” style garden that produces and provides fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, etc. through a partnership between, Pearl City High School, Leeward Community Church, community organizations (Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs), community volunteers, and corporate sponsors.
The Haven will also feature green houses, raised beds and a creative farming infrastructure throughout the garden property.
The Haven Garden will also go green, sustainable, and be an environmental champion by incorporating a compost/mulch section on the farm property. Pearl City High School’s daily food scraps from the cafeteria and green waste from the campus grounds will be collected and dumped into the garden and turned into nutrient rich compost/mulch that will be sold to the public with proceeds to support the garden.
The public will also be invited to drop off their green yard waste at the garden to be incorporated in the compost/mulch farm.
The PCHS “The Haven” Garden began at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year and went on, with the help of PCHS students, staff, Leeward Community Church volunteers, community organizations, and corporate sponsors, to grow and provide over two-hundred free pumpkins to the public on Halloween night 2024.
I am truly grateful for the opportunity to represent both the Rotary Club of Pearlridge and the Mana Loa Nimitz Lions Club as a community volunteer beginning at the Haven Garden in August 2024. I am also on the planning committee for the development of the new PCHS Haven Garden.
Pearl City High School led by Student Activities Coordinator Kyle Miyashiro and an amazing group of faculty and agriculture students and other students who are dedicated to the growth and success of the garden.
Richele Thornburg
“We’ve been hopefully blessing Pearl City High School with whatever we can do to help support and service them. Kyle Miyashiro who is the Students Activities Coordinator, has been our main contact there and now we are starting to expand our connections with the faculty.
Brian Walker is the main manager of the garden and has a wealth of experience and knowledge with many years of planting and growing crops on his 40 acre farm in North Carolina. Brian has recently been hired as a part-time teacher at Pearl City High School.
Brian Walker
“It was a very large farm. I grew produce. it was about 40 acres. I had big commercial green houses. I grew everything from pumpkins, melons, corn, and beans. I mostly turned the farm into tomatoes and peppers. I started off actually right after college growing okra, about three acres of okra. I had a blast right after college and was supposed to come back and do some student teaching. I was a secondary Ed teacher and I ended up graduating with a Biology degree and I was supposed to come back and do some student teachingand I got so excited about farming and just continued with that.”
There is so much excitement for the future of The Haven Garden that we can all have an opportunity to be a part of and make an impact while representing the Pearl City community.
Mahalo to my fellow Rotary Club of Pearlridge members, as well as special guests who supported our special guest speakers Brian Walker and Richele Thornburg on Friday.
Videos and Photos by Barry Villamil
