Free Resources for Your Garden!

We have free seeds that you can request as either seeds or starts, if you ask for starts we will germinate them in Volcano and bring them as sprouts or small plants. Simply email adventurescoutshawaii@gmail.com with a request for you or your keiki! We seasonally have koa, ohia, and now mamake.

Community Garden Sprouts

Idaho Potato starts avialable.

Milkweed are sprouting now! Some available.

Icecream Bean sprouts. A few available.

Gearing up for a new round of Italian Basil and Dill.

Seed Bank

Arugula seeds available now. 

Red/Yellow/Orange Bellpepper seeds.

Soursop seeds available now.

Tom Tomato seeds from the farmer's market. available now.

Ice Cream beans large and small variety.

Community Event News

Just Approved for SNAP/EBT for our CSA/Farm Stand Produce! 

The Adventure Scouts Office which is the site of Adventure Garden Community Garden is also home to Secret Forest Farm/Direct Farm Stand which is gearing up to run a CSA that harvests in December!

Excited to be able to accept SNAP/EBT for our CSA shares from Secret Forest Farms or produce grown in the Adventure Garden (since we are not on federal land we can sell produce, though still enjoy giving away free plant starts and seeds as possible).

CSA Shares must be payed for at time of receipt of produce if using SNAP/EBT, but for other CSA members paying for the season or ongoing subscription is appreciated because that allows for the community to cover the cost of seeds which supports the farm directly and makes Community Supported Agriculture different than just produce sales. It's a promise for the farm to produce the best quality food possible with ecofriendly processes and for the community to be invested in supporting growers, it's a full circle process from grower to consumer back to grower and that kind of thinking will help this state move towards a sustainable food web, which it currently doesn't have. It can be a strange concept at first, because for those that can we ask you to buy futures of food instead of direct food, but you are buying a share of our farm practices where we are trying to farm in harmony with the land and in ways that safe guard the health of both the consumers and the land so there is a cost to that that won't be feasible large scale if it isn't shared by many people. If CSA isn't for you, no problem at all, but there are some people who believe and value that model so we hope to grow al a cart produce for those that like that and CSA for those who like that, but we are grateful to find that there are people who want to contribute to the agriculture community by supporting the work we do from start to finish. To order the current CSA Session (12-4 +weeks harvest) text 808-747-6611. It will include a huge variety of asian greens, root crops, herbs and some cut flowers/flower starts grown with organic practices at the Go Farm Alae site as well as Secret Forest Farms and Kope Hale  Farm. Spaces are limited, reserve now for the upcoming CSA or to join the wait list for spring.

Adopt a free plant from the USDA People's Community Garden in Volcano! 

11-3774 11th Street Volcano, Hawaii  96785 Open Every other Monday and Sunday. Catch us at the farmer's market on Orchidland Dr and 37th the 2nd/4th Monday 4-7PM and at our farm stand the 1st/3rd Mondays. Open most Sundays, but closed for theatre events, so email adventurescoutshawaii@gmail.com to make sure someone is available to open the gate for you if you want to visit Sunday.

Earthday 2023

Build a Bench/Bokashi

We are going to be building a bench this Earthday! This years theme is Invest in the Plant, so building a bench is a way to get people outside and form a connection with nature. Also building Bokashi bins is a way to lower methane emissions and recycle food into fertilizer, it doesn't produce compost, but ferments scraps into nutrient rich organic fertilizer and also produces precompost. The fertilizer water is pickled in a sense, so very acidic, it is recommended to dilute it 50:1 before applying to the garden plants so they don't get acid burns.

Community Garden News

Adventure Garden - Now a USDA People's Garden!

The Volcano garden is undergoing clean up mode right now, but it is a USDA recognized People's Garden Community Garden available to those interested in starting a designated square foot bed, requesting free seed starts, accessing the community seed bank or harvesting berries during berry season. 

We will rinse and monitor for LFA ants before sending any starts out, but due to the most ants living in Hilo, it is recommended plants move from Volcano to Mountain View/Pahoa and from there to Hilo, but not from Hilo South to Volcano. No offense to those affected, just trying to keep the ants out as long as possible.

We have extra plants that are wild to this area such as bamboo orchid, raspberries, as well as Seascape strawberries, and Mexican Sunflower for cuttings if anyone is interested email adventurescoutshawaii@gmail.com subject: ADVENTURE GARDEN

Plant Requests

Plants Delivered: Rhubarb, Clover, Lavender, Comfrey, Milkweed, Kale, Collard Greens, Beef Steak Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Beets, Cucumbers, Lemon Grass.

Plants Requested: ? Email  adventurescoutshawaii@gmail.com  with your request, most requests can be filled.

Garden Club News

Let's Farm Together - Many Hands Make Light Work!

We had our first garden party, both our Hilo and Mountain View Friends Gardens had some progress today. In the Hilo Friends Garden two planters got prepped with soil, a new garden supply shelf was placed, some ferns were pruned back, a potting area was designated, a new mini square foot garden area was constructed, the strawberries and mulberries are doing well. The compost system needs to be reworked and the strawberry runners could use some citrus-blend sandy soil to top them off. Planning to start more clover, alfalfa and rhubarb soon. In Mountain View Friends Garden a cool tire planter got installed with wonderful smelling lemon balm, mint got planted and some pathways, two shade and one full sun grow beds started to take shape. As this is a larger property it seems ideal to start a sprout exchange here and a community compost bin, but still in the works. In the Volcano Adventure Garden things are still a mess, but teen avocado trees were planted in the ground, making a total of six in the central garden, hopefully, tomatoes will be grafted onto the avocado trees soon, as they are from the same family, they can grow like that! 140 Roma Tomato sprouts are just being started for giveaway, so start prepping your grow beds! It's very exciting to be gardening together now, garden days seem like they will be Sundays, coordinate with Angel about the group garden days to join us or to add your garden to our rotation! I'm going to be starting lavender and morning glories soon. I had my first request for plants, being "clover" so email further requests for plants to our email (see above) and we can post it here, someone in our community may have what you are looking for already!

Watering a plant can teach responsibility or mindfulness, as well as being a scientific exploration of botany, biology, and ecology. Don't worry about killing the plant, learning to fail and keep going is a huge lesson to learn in gardening and in life.

Garden Club Challenges

🍓 Strawberry Challenge 2022 🍓

Non-GMO Earliglow Heirloom Strawberry Bareroot Starts,  were put in citrus blend Kelogs organic soil over steer manure compost on April 8th and distributed on April 14th. The soil was sprayed with light a concentration of dawn dish soap and baking soda to remove any local fungus, the plants will be distributed at the beach this Wednesday. Many people choose to remove flowers the first year to get a larger yield the second year, but this time first berry wins!

In this state slug control is a big issue, the above video's set up would be an easy to protect solution, because the poles only provide two access points to control, but feel free to get creative with what works for you.

2022 Medicinal Herb Garden Challenge

Whoever has the most of these alive in their gardens by the year-end will win the challenge! Quantity above quality right? 

1. Mullien 2. Mugwort 3. Spilanthes 4. Comfrey 5. Lemon Balm 

6. Holy Basil 7. Aloe 8. Turmeric 9. Oregano 10. Thyme 

11. Lavender 12. Spearmint 13. Peppermint 14. Coconut 15. Curry Leaf 

16. Cleavers 17. Italian Basil 18. Raspberry Tea 19. Garlic 20. Neem 

🌼 Narcissus Challenge 2022 🌼

The results are in! 

1st Place Jennifer Bade 2nd Place Angel 3rd Place Teresa

Mahalo nui ~ thank you to all the participants, it's really heartwarming to know that all around the island our flowers are blooming together this spring! Here is some evidence of us "growing in friendship". Flowers have always represented a positive aspect of diversity for me personally, just because one is beautiful the way it is doesn't diminish anything from another, but rather the effect is more enjoyable. Right? - Sakura

Submit your keiki seed sprout pictures to adventurescoutshawaii@gmail.com 

Growing and Composting Guides

Turmeric - Anticarcinogenic

"Turmeric likes compost, free draining soil, it can grow crowded about six inches apart 1-2 inches down, likes animal manure and mulch 2-3 inches to keep weeds off. It can be grown in containers or square foot gardens. It loves sun and heat, with regular/daily watering." 

Thank you to Kim for the turmeric starts! Hoping to send some out of Volcano to those interested.

Compost Challenge 

Worm composting, hot composting, bokashi pre-composting, cold composting, it can be hard to find a method that works well for beginners... I'm going to try this method. Anyone interested in taking kitchen scraps for those with not enough compost space please let us know. Anyone interested in competitive composting just keep an estimated yearly total in volume or weight and we will see who logs the most compost for ribbons/prestige.

Also going to try this since I have a lot of 'Ohi'a lehua leaf litter.

Trouble Shooting Compost

I have struggled to compost on a large scale, sometimes I get a foul odor, this video says I need more air, and thus more bins to be able to rotate the material through as it runs out of air. Another thing is I tried half "greens" scaps/grass/coffee and half "browns" leafs/paper/eggs and this video says 4 parts brown to 1 part green, covered by 4 parts brown. Another thing is I wasn't watering my compost because I thought the rain would, but then it didn't. So hopefully we can find a friend who is composting well to do a workshop sometime! But until then Youtube...

Gaftic Content Below

Tree Art