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   Farm Fresh News from Hawaiian Gourmet Kava Farm
Fresh Harvest Newsletter
April 18, 2017 
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                                                          The History of GHK


How I Started with Kava
What is the story behind GHK? I have been exposed to kava since I was a small kid growing up here in Hawaii. I remember my grandmother telling me about how she would chew the kava root for her dad to make his kava drink. I started drinking kava around 1982 and from there I started to look for 'Awa plants that I could grow myself for my own personal collection. I quickly found there were not many people selling kava plants. I did manage to get a few different varieties but I knew there were other varieties out there in the remote Hawaiian Valleys that had yet to be found. This was exciting to me because I loved to go hiking. So I started hiking in the remote valleys and finding 'Awa plants. It was like a Treasure Hunt. It was amazing to see acres of 'Awa in the Waimanu gap of Waipio Valley or a Hiwa plant that was larger than a full sized truck in the forest of Ophikao. As time went on, I compiled a collection of ‘Awas which I call 
the 13 ‘Awas of Hawaii. Actually, we are analyzing a 14th one as we speak so stay tuned for that development.

I started planting kava as a farm back in 1990 and was thinking about starting an online kava business. One day, a good friend and I started talking about kava and the business possibilities . He told me he was going to start an online kava business. Since he was my good friend, I decided to hold off on starting my own Kava business. I wanted to give him time to do his business and I still had my logging business (more on that later). So for the time being, I was happy planting my kava and letting it grow. Just biding my time and knowing that sometime in the future, I would start my own kava business. For many years I continued to grow the kava plants that I had found on my treasure hunts. I had plenty of land and plenty of kava and my future on line business was put on hold. Each time I would harvest a plant, I would take all the stalks and make hundreds of cuttings, plant them, and watch them grow. I had so much kava that I sold kava wholesale to some herb companies and including one named "East Earth Herbs". My largest sale was 150 tons of kava and you can see the terms of the sale here.   This was for the first delivery of kava and you can see by the terms that they were very demanding.

In 1999, my friend started his online kava business and I helped him with growing his kava and ideas for new products. He had a line of great kava juices. I actually supplied him with a lot of his kava over the years of his business. It was recently stated by another kava enthusiast that he has been shaping the kava industry for 6 years now by selling kava and kava drinks. It was quite an accomplishment because he brought a lot of people to kava. However, he finally got out of the business and is now happily retired with his wife.

I am proud to say that I have been in the kava industry for well over 25 years. During these years I grew lots of kava and sold huge amounts of kava to many different companies. During this time, I grew Kava, sought out and collected different kava cultivars, and taught about Hawaiian 'Awa. From a cultural prospective, ‘Awa soon became a state treasure that must be protected. In 1999, I became a senior member of a task force that was created to protect ancient Hawaiian 'Awa plants from illegal harvesting of wild ‘Awa plants. You might call them Kava Rustlers. Kava was my full time hobby and I created new ways to process kava. In 1988, I was the first to create instant kava and I sold the process to another kava processor. I pride myself on my growing and processing techniques because I want to make insure that my customers get the freshest, strongest, and the most professionally grown Hawaiian 'Awa in the world.

My Logging Business
I started my logging business in 1983 and I loved logging and making cool things out of local Hawaiian hardwoods. The business was doing very well so it was easy allowing my friend do start his kava business before I did. While he brought kava to the outside world, I would just continue growing my Kava Farm and grow my logging and woodworking business. Eventually, I had the largest website in the world dealing with Hawaiian hardwoods. I had a great reputation because of the training I got from famous woodworkers. Everything was going great for me. I loved logging, I loved being in the forest, and I loved making things out of wood.

Going On Line
Things changed though, just over 3 years ago my Dad passed away and I decided to sell my logging business and the website that went with it. I wanted to be there for my mom if she needed me and my logging business required that I would stay on the mountain for a few weeks at a time. I felt it was time for a change and I started my online kava business. I had been dealing with kava for a very long time so it was very easy to start my online kava business. While doing some research, I found this great site on Kava. It was The Kava Forums and I immediately joined and I read all the posts. I could see that there was a desperate need for high quality Noble Kava and I knew that I had the answer. I had freshly harvested, potent, Noble Hawaiian ‘Awa grown right here in the USA. I decided to start harvesting my many acres of kava (largest kava farm in Hawaii and still growing) and go into business. 

So I started my online kava business around 3 years ago and I started to make my instant again. I also created a new process to remove the makas and create a high grade Micronized kava. So now my product line includes maka-less Micronized, potent instant kava, and the regular medium grind. By selling only online, it gives me a chance to offer my kava to a great people on the world wide web. Kava direct from the farmer to customers all over the world.

Farm Fresh from Me to You
I have been growing Kava for close to 26 years now and I have acres and acres of Hawaiian ‘Awa ready to harvest and sell. Though there is a worldwide shortage of good Noble Kava, there is no shortage of kava at GHK. Every month I can decide which one of the 13 ‘Awas of Hawaii to harvest and make available to you. This month, I have harvested Kumakua. It is a little more rare than some of my Kavas and you won’t see it posted that often but I can assure you that it is Farm Fresh and ready for you to enjoy. So I invite you to my Web Site and please feel free to “Shop Till you Drop”. :)
Aloha nui loa.



Summary:

This newsletter has two things  that may interest you:
  • Chris writes on how GHK was Created
  • Promotion on a Rare Hawaiian 'Awa Kumakua has expired.