O'o Farm

One of the best things we did in Hawaii was not very typical Hawaiian at all. We toured an organic farm, harvested some of the lunch, had a chef prepare and cook us a meal in an outdoor kitchen and ate right there on the farm! O'o Farm is located in the upcountry of Maui and was about 50 minutes from Wailea, where we were staying. When you live in the Bay Area and constantly drive 30-45 minutes to go to dinner, this wasn't a big deal for us.

 Welcome!

 Coffee beans! It was pretty embarrassing that I didn't recognize all the coffee trees. It really was my first time seeing what they looked like before roasting. We got to eat the red ones! 

Meeting Chef Caroline in her outdoor kitchen. Turns out she used to live in SF for 17 years! Like half the people we met in Maui were from the Bay Area, go figure!

Where we will later eat our lunch. 

Jon in one of the greenhouses. 

Maui is not so great at growing tomatoes and cucumbers, which were growing in here.

Learning about their own coffee roasting, yum. Their beans were so small! The tour guide told us they sold their coffee for close to $25 a pound, yikes! Some girl asked how coffee gets flavored like macadamia nut and mocha and this organic farmer basically played dumb, shunning all the chemically enhanced side of coffee.

O'o Farm grows beneficials on the outskirts of the rows like cilantro that they let flower because it attracts the good bugs that actually eat the farms true pests. It looked a little overgrown around some parts, but everything was there for a reason.

Those are some good lookin' Maui Onions. 

When Richard pulled some of the compost pile aside, we actually saw steam escape! The inside of the heap was around 100 degrees. 

Jon + my plates. Can you say yum? Everything local, sustainable and organic cooked fresh for us. It felt pretty decadent. We were able to bring a bottle of wine to enjoy with our lunch. 

The lunch was capped off with homemade biscotti, chocolate and French Pressed coffee. If you ever find yourself in Maui, I urge you to go on this lunch tour!