Fall Semester 2026

In the fall, we shift our food growing to colder crops, while still enjoying the bounty planted in the summer.  This course introduces students to all aspects of growing food- from seed to harvest- providing hands on-experience growing seedlings under artificial lights, hydroponic lettuce farming, planting in-ground gardens, growing food in raised garden beds, aerobic and anaerobic composting, managing manure, planting and harvest schedules, and harvesting seeds for storage. This introduction to natural farming, permaculture, organic farming, soil cultivation, and many other sustainable farming concepts will support students abilities to establish and maintain food systems. Our students will be responsible for every aspect of food production on campus. 

This course builds our students confidence in the kitchen, empowering them to pick up a chef's knife and prepare a quality, fresh,  home cooked meal. We cover food safety, basic and some advanced culinary techniques.  Students will pickle whatever is in abundance, dehydrate foods for long life, can fresh produce using an open bath method, bake fresh bread, and learn to prepare full meals from vegetables and animals they raise.  We will learn to BBQ propane and charcoal and cook on an open fire. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a butchery day, seeing the humane process we employ to dispatch and harvest our meat.   

Small Kine is Hawaiian pidgin for “not very big”. This semester students will be adding an extension on to an existing shed to begin a  tiny house for one of our live-in instructors.  Students will learn basic post and pier foundation construction, build walls, add windows, and create a doorway connecting the structures.  Students will also learn how to build a roof, re-inforced with hurricane straps, and install corrigated iron roofing material and tie-in to existing structure.   

The fall semester is when the chickens really start to ramp up their egg production, with some of the babies hatched in the spring beginning to lay their first eggs. We will cover responsible flock management, incubation, animal health and safety, and biosecurity measures to mitigate animal agriculture related risks. With the holidays just around the corner we start talking about feeding strategies to fatten up turkeys and ducks. Our spring rabbits will be full-sized and needing care, we'll discuss responsible breeding programs and raise our last fluffles of baby bunnies. before winter.

NOTE: Students will have the opportunity to learn the humane process we employ to dispatch our meat animals, process the meat and cook it. Students who do not wish to participate in this portion of the program can opt out at anytime. On the day of processing, students who do not with to participate will have an off-campus activity scheduled. 

With a full semester to learn about tools, students will feel confident in their knowledge and abilities to use basic household construction tools to perform every day tasks like installing a set of shelves, chiseling a door frame for a deadbolt, or assembling Ikea furniture! Just kidding, we don't have an Ikea. But all joking aside, each student receives their own tool kit, with power tools to help them build self-reliance! In connection with our Small Kine Construction Course, students get hands-on experience using these tools.  Students will also learn how to safely operate saws and other construction tools. Tool kit includes:  safety glasses, gloves, drill, screw driver set, plyers, hammer, grinding disk, chisel, square, tape measure, level, pencil, flash light, zip ties, scissors, trowel, knife, apron. 

This semester our electives will include things like Bee keeping, Saws and other Blades, Advanced animal Butchery,  Fresh Catch Processing Fish, Alternative Waste Systems, Solar Power Trouble shooting, Advanced Automotive Operation, Hitches and trailer, Farmer's Market vending, Chicken Ledger and several more.  Once students are on campus, we will choose the electives for the semester during orientation week.