Andrea Dean’s Blog

Pictured at right: Kenneth Sheeks- Hawaii Skylights & Solar Fans, Michael Kramer- Natural Investments LLC & Kuleana Green Business Program founder, Andrea Dean.


On Wednesday night at the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce after hours, my company was recognized as a participant in the Kuleana Green Business Program.


The Kuleana Green Business Program recognizes businesses that promotes ethical and socially responsible business practices and environmental stewardship. Chamber businesses apply to the program and are evaluated based upon the following criteria:


• Product/Service Quality
-Unique products / services that deliver benefits to consumers, society and the environment.
• Community Relations & Benefits
-Activities that help the community to flourish socially, culturally, and economically.
• Customer Relations
-Strategies to provide outstanding service and attain customer loyalty.
• Employee Relations
-Policies for hiring and retaining employees, and for promoting accountability
• Environmental Stewardship
-Actions to minimize the business’ impact on the land, and efforts to conserve and regenerate resources.
(Source: Kuleana Green Business Program website)


Some of us think all businesses should integrate social and environmental strategies into their operations. Just the application process to Kuleana is a learning experience. Apply today! The committee has people to help you with your application.

Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting Yosh Kanematsu from Greenz.jp.  Greenz.jp is a Media Activism & Global Network based in Tokyo. Greenz is a news provider for treehugger.com, yahoo! Japan and others, they also organize Earth Day Tokyo and Green Drinks Tokyo.

Yosh heard about my green business ideas and we met in Waimea where he interviewed me. Yosh was probably the first person that I have met that instantly understood the value of coaching in moving green businesses forward towards achieving their goals. What a great affirmation of this part of my approach.

On Saturday, October 18th, I attended a great workshop organized by agroforestry advocate, author and photographer Craig Elevitch. Craig’s latest endeavor is the Hawaii Homegrown Food Abundance project. Craig and a number of other people (myself included) will eat entirely from their own property for one year to demonstrate that we can provide an abundance of food to support ourselves on a typical family homestead.


The subject of food self-sufficiency is very much of interest to Big Island residents. Craig is the rock star of food self-sufficiency, at presentations island-wide about the Hawaii Homegrown Food Abundance project often 100+ people show up to hear him speak. Saturday’s event, entitled Hawaii Island Homegrown: Food Self Reliance Workshop was focused on very practical how-to information about growing an abundance of your own food. Presenters included Nancy Redfeather, owner of Kawanui Farms and Program Director of the Hawaii Island School Gardens Network, Tom Baldwin, Uluwehi Farm, Ben Discoe, Ahualoa Egg Farm, Bonnie Perata, organic farmer, Melani Bondera, Kanalani Ohana Farm, and Ken Love, Hawaii Fruit Growers Association.


Dirt First! was the theme of Nancy Redfeather’s presentation on increasing soil fertility. Tom Baldwin taught us about plants with “staying power” and Craig gave us some “Leaves to Live By,” in his presentation about perennial leaf vegetables. As a person who has been known to kill even the heartiest garden plants- I am all for perennial left vegetables and have edible hibiscus, chaya, manioc and Okinawan spinach growing in my yard. Although not enough, I learned at the workshop. In order to really eat from my yard, I need to plant a lot more of all of those things- like 75 more of each plant! While I am a bit plant challenged, I do have a good time with chickens.


Ben Discoe and Bonnie Perata both gave great presentations about chickens. Bonnie shared her hard won experience with chicken tractors and Ben focused on non-imported food sources for chickens. At lunch we broke into interest groups and I was very happy to have a seat at the chicken table. All of my chicken questions were answered by Ben & Deb Discoe and my fellow participants. And we couldn’t help sharing some funny chicken stories. I must admit I get more pleasure out of watching the chickens (because they make me feel really smart) than I do out of eating the eggs. As Nancy Redfeather says, “Grow what you love to eat first.” I love to watch chickens, not eat them, but close enough. Ken Love is known as the “tropical fruit guy” and presented on Fast and Furious Fruits. The variety of fruits that you can plant for home use or market in Hawaii is really astounding and Ken has done all the research for you! Melanie & Colehour Bondera are like a modern version of the American pioneers (only the hearty, survival qualities we admire!) They grow and make their own jams, meads, chocolate and organic Kona coffee. Growing food or buying local food is one thing, learning what to do with it is another. Melanie reviewed some food processing methodologies with us such as- canning, drying and freezing.

Craig Elevitch is currently in the fund raising phase for The Hawaii Homegrown Food Abundance project. The demonstration sites will serve to generate data for community education about food self-reliance. We all know that about 85% of our food is imported and there is only about a weeks worth on food inventory in our stores at any given time. While government can play a key role with incentives and legislation to reduce our dependence on imported food, we can also solve the problem at the individual and community level.


The goals of the Hawaii Homegrown Food Abundance project as stated on the website are to:

1. educate community and school groups about our food security, local agricultural production, diversifying farm and garden markets, and nutrition and what we can do to improve them;
2. research and demonstrate the feasibility of providing most of a family’s nutritional needs and partial or full income without reliance on imported fertilizer, chemicals, or other inputs; and
3. produce a manual for import-free homegrown food abundance for consumption and sale in Hawai’i.


I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a vibrant sustainability oriented community. My own community in North Kohala is also very pro-active, the Sustainable Kohala coalition keeps local self-reliance on everyone’s agenda.

I was thrilled to have been one of 80 women chosen from over 3,000 applicants nationwide to attend the WomenRule! O’s White House Leadership Project training in New York this past June. The training was conducted by The White House Project. The White House Project is a national organization with a goal of advancing women’s leadership in all communities and sectors.


I began my professional career 20 years ago in green business consulting and I was ready to come full circle. Throughout the last year, I have been the Business & Sustainability Manager at Volcano Island Honey Company, a great example of a green business in Hawaii, and I was feeling ready to take some of what I have learned combined with my ideas to a wider client base. My winning business vision is to green business and government in Hawaii through coaching, consulting and education. (As you can see from my website!) The WomenRule! O’s White House Leadership Project training gave me the confidence boost that I needed, a deadline to work towards (the magazine release), and some practical tools to jump start my business. This is a series of articles on what I learned from all of the amazing woman presenters at WomenRule!, beginning with Susan Sobbot, President & General Manager of OPEN from American Express.


What I learned from Susan Sobbot


Focus on what only you could do and let others do the rest.
Know yourself: do what you do best and hire others to do the rest.


This is excellent advice. This really helped me to focus in on what my strengths are and to partner with other people to provide a wider range of services. My strengths are as a strategist and communicator- as a coach, trainer, strategy facilitator. I am also a good consultant, but this aspect of my business was strengthened by partnering with Tracy Solomon. Tracy is the Sustainability Coordinator at Kona Brewing Company and has brought green business practices in Hawaii to a new height. She dives deep into all of your kilowatt hours and gallons of water used- driving towards concrete environmental results. My other strategic partnership is with Mary Traynor of Akamai Promotions. Mary has been a huge help in designing and implementing my online and print publicity strategies and will bring those skills to the table for my clients as well. There is designing and implementing your green business strategy and then there is communicating it to your customers- that is where Mary comes in.


I am Super Woman and I know you are too (or you may be a SuperMan), but we really don’t have to do it all!


Ask yourself these questions:

My self-imposed Sustainability Chronicles project dictates that I undertake a new eco-action each week. Well… I have been a little behind, but here is my eco-action for the month: Organize a Seed Exchange! The Big Island community was out in full force for the Kohala Country Fair on Saturday, October 4th. The morning started with a light rain, which opened up to a beautiful sunny day- the perfect planting environment. Deep inside the Green Zone was the Seed Exchange.


With help from Eddie, Jessica, Jim, Krista, Isaiah, Mike, Connie, Ajaxx, Bill, Evan, Neil, Tim, Jim and Daz, North Kohala’s first seed exchange was a great success. Krista wrote a great article in the Kohala Mountain News which resulted in numerous requests for the Mighty Moringa! Moringa was the tree that took the day. Jessica and Jim brought kalo, sugar cane (which was a huge hit with the keiki) and GMO free strawberry papayas. Jessica was spreading the gospel of seed exchange all day- letting people know that they could take freely, and come back next year with some of their abundance to share. Neil brought ipu gourd seeds, milo, kou and coco’s. Evan was the man with the hot peppers and all the answers. Anyone with a gardening question was sent over to Evan.


Mike was an enthusiastic and energetic presence all day, talking story and sharing his veggie and herb seeds. Ajaxx and Connie, who are starting a seed bank in Hawi, gave away lots of veggie starts and sold their seed packets to support the seed bank. Bill was the man with the purple asparagus and shiso. Only the truly blessed got some of that! So many other people dropped off seeds and plants- Richard, Natalie, Tim, Richard, Susan, Nelson, Jim, Peter, and many others. Daz found a shady table and held down the seed space while visiting with friends and neighbors. Allison joined us later in the day and helped fold up all the tables and chairs.


Nancy Redfeather, the Big Island’s earth mother of seed exchanges organizes the Hawaii island Seed Exchange, which happens annually at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. They had over 1,000 attendees this past summer. I attended my first seed exchange a few years back at Laakea Garden in Pahoa. The Fourth Annual Eastside Seed Exchange is October 11, 2008. I was blown away by how great an event the seed exchange was. Talk about kick starting your food production! You come home with so much-everything from kalo to corn- all without paying a cent. Everything is traded or given away. Perfect.


This year’s Kohala Country Fair organizers wanted the fair to be as sustainable as possible. Compostable containers were used (and are now being composted), all recyclables were collected at recycling stations, sorted and bagged, people were encouraged to bring their own water bottles to fill at filling stations, rain water was used, local foods were eaten, and many of the vendors displayed their green wares. The whole day just had a great feeling. Happy people, happy plants.