Kipahulu Certified Kitchen Work Day

Time for some photos from my weekend.

One of the several hats I wear that I haven't shared much here is working to develop a certified commercial community kitchen and agricultural processing facility in Kipahulu. It has been in development in stages over several years, mostly with county and community funding and volunteer labor. Earlier this year we also got a grant from OHA because processing poi and like products for the local market will be one of the main uses of the kitchen.

Earlier this year, the Kipahulu Community Association retained me as sort of project coordinator to help complete the kitchen, which includes navigating all the regulatory requirements and making sure all the construction folks are talking to each other and everything is moving forward. A commercial kitchen is a challenge to get all the approvals for anyway, with the DoH requirements, but this project has been especially challenging because Kipahulu has no county water and no MECO grid, and it has been done largely with volunteer labor. And I personally have no real background doing this kind of work (construction or contracting), so it has been a real learning opportunity for me.

Anyway, on Saturday we had a community work day, and about 30 people showed up to pitch in. Along with the tasks shown below, we also hung a door on the utility room, scrubbed shiny our stainless sinks and counters, hung the energy control panel and water pump, and various other accomplishments.

Here's the wide view of the facility. The kitchen is the enclosed area on the right, and the rest is a nice big open space for ag processing or various other uses.

Hanging a solar panel. We'll be able to run poi grinders and other equipment. (An electrical engineer who lives in the area is also building a working model of a solar icemaker to test the feasibility of the technology — they do exist, we're just doing something custom for our needs, but if it works it could be a great design for other communities to look at.)

Pouring a slab for the batteries, propane tank...

Rick Rutiz, on the right, has a fantastic program at Hana School called Ma Ka Hana Ka `Ike (through doing one learns) where students learn word working and carpentry skills doing very practical projects in the community. They do repairs on kupuna houses and such, and here's a recent Maui News article about the blessing for a beautiful hale the kids built at the school to serve as a on-campus treatment center managed by another great agency in Hana called 'Ohana Makamae, which does family substance abuse counseling and treatment with Hawaiian cultural values. Rick had several students there working on the kitchen, and these two were hanging plywood and cement board on the kitchen interior.

Ty showed up with a truckload of coconuts to quench everyone's thirst (we also fed everyone lunch).

Here's the inside of the kitchen space, looking each way, with our 8-burner Wolf range. Holes drilled in the outside wall are ready for the plumbers. Then the interior wall will get tiled and the vent hood installed over the range.

Posted: Sun - December 11, 2005 at 09:05 PM

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Kipahulu Certified Kitchen Work Day

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