Category Archives: Our Employees

The Wheres & Whyfors of Hamakua Springs

By Leslie Lang

The other day Richard gave some of us a tour of Hamakua Springs Country Farms in Pepe‘ekeo, and its new hydroelectric plant, and wow. I hadn’t been out to the farm for awhile, and it was so interesting to ride around the 600 acres with Richard and see all that’s going on there these days.

Most of what I realized (again) that afternoon fell into two
broad categories: That Richard really is a master of seeing the big picture, and that everything he does is related to that big picture.

Hamakua Springs, which started out growing bananas and then expanded into growing the deliciously sweet hydroponic tomatoes we all know the farm for, has other crops as well.

tomatoes.jpgThese days there are farmers leasing small plots where they are growing taro, corn, ginger and sweet potato. These farmers’ products go to the Hamakua Springs packing house and Hamakua Springs distributes them, which speaks to Richard’s goal of providing a place for local farmers to farm, wherethere is water and packing and distribution already in place.

As we drove, we saw a lot of the water that passes through his farm. There are three streams and three springs. It’s an enormous amount of water, and it’s because of all this water that he was able to develop his brand new hydroelectric system, where they are getting ready to throw the switch.

The water wasn’t running through there the day we were there because they’d had to temporarily “turn it off” – divert the water – in order to fix something, but we could see how the water from an old plantation flume now runs through the headworks and through a pipe and into the turbine, which is housed in a blue shipping container.

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This is where the electricity is generated, and I was interested to see a lone electric pole standing there next to the system. End of the line! Or start of the line, really, as that’s where the electricity from the turbine is carried to. And from there, it works its way across the electric lines stretched between new poles reaching across the land.

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He asked the children who were along with us for their ideas
about how to landscape around the hydroelectric area, and also where the water leaves the turbine to run out and rejoin the stream.

Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 11.17.00 PM

“We could do anything here,” he said, asking for thoughts, and
we all came up with numerous ideas, some fanciful. Trees and grass? A taro lo‘i? Maybe a picnic area, or a water flume ride or a demonstration garden or fishponds?

There are interesting plans for once the hydro system is operating, including a certified kitchen where local area producers can bring their products and create value-added goods.

Other plans include having some sort of demo of sustainable
farming, and perhaps ag-tourism ativities like walking trails going through the farm, and maybe even a B&B. “The basis of all tourism,” he said, “is sustainability.”

Hamakua Springs is also experimenting with growing mushrooms
now, and looking into several other possibilities for using its free
electricity.

As we stopped and looked at the streams we kept coming
across, which ran under the old plantation roads we drove upon, Richard made an observation that I found interesting. In the Hawaiian way, the land is thought of as following the streams down from mountain to sea. In traditional ways, paths generally ran up-and-down the hill, following the shape of the ahupua‘a.

“But look at the plantation roads,” he said, and he pointed
out how they run across the land, from stream to stream. The plantation way was the opposite. Not “wrong” – just different.

Richard has plans to plant bamboo on the south sides of the
streams, which will keep the water cool and keep out invasive species.

At the farm, they continue to experiment with raising
tilapia
, which are in four blue pools next to the reservoir.

June & Tilapia.jpgJune with a full net

The pools are at different heights because they are using gravity to flow the water from one pool to the next, rather than a pump. Besides it being free, this oxygenates the water as it falls into the next pool. They are not raising the fish commercially at present, but give them to their workers.

Everything that Richard does is geared toward achieving the same goal, and that is to keep his farm economically viable and sustainable.

If farmers make money, farmers will farm.

Continuing to farm means continuing to provide food for the local community, employing people locally and making it possible for local people to stay in Hawai‘i: This as opposed to people having to leave the islands, or their children having to leave the islands, in order to make a decent life for themselves.

The hydroelectric system means saving thousands per month in
electric bills, and being able to expand into other products and activities. It means the farm stays in business and provides for the surrounding community. It means people have jobs.

This is the same reason why, on a bigger scale, Richard is working to bring more geothermal into the mix on the Big Island: to decrease the stranglehold that high electricity costs have over us, so the rubbah slippah folk have breathing room, so that we all have more disposable income – which will, in turn, drive our local economy and make our islands more competitive with the rest of the world, and our standard of living higher, comparably.

When he says “rubbah slippah folk,” Richard told me, he’s always thinking first about the farm’s workers.

This, by the way, is really a great overview of how Richard describes the “big picture.” It’s a TEDx talk he did awhile back (17 minutes). Really worth a look.

It was so interesting to see firsthand what is going on at the farm right now, and hear about the plans and the wheres and whyfors. Thank you, Richard, for a really interesting and insightful afternoon.

The Women of Hamakua Springs, & Tilapia

Last week we gave our workers fish from our first tilapia harvest.

PlanningFarm Manager and Son-In-Law Kimo, Grandma (my mom), my daughter Tracy, and my wife June

We are convinced that oil prices will keep rising, and that it will cost more and more to bring fish to Hawai‘i from all over the world.

GrandmaGrandma, in the middle of the action

We are trying to fit tilapia production into a zero waste program. Since tilapia is a vegetarian fish, we will be experimenting with how to utilize our waste bananas as well as vegetables. We want to be prepared for when it might be profitable to produce tilapia commercially.

Full netJune has a full net

For those who have not tried locally grown tilapia, I can tell you that I was so surprised myself to find out how good this fish is. Chef Alan Wong serves it in his restaurant. That is how good it is.

Heavy net kimo and juneAnd it’s heavy!

One of my favorite ways to prepare it is to get a smaller sized fish, deep fry it very crispy and eat the whole thing.

AurellioGrandma giving some fish to Aurellio

Farming is a tough business. We’d like to raise our workers’ pay but are finding it very difficult to do so right now. June is the one who made sure we are growing fish for our employees. We are committed to doing this from now on.

Women of hamakua springsThe women of Hamakua Springs

What We’re Doing

Oil went over $119 per barrel yesterday. Everyone knows that this is not good. We have to take action now.

Here’s what we’re doing at the farm: I have written before about the hydroelectric project that we will soon start construction on. This will stabilize our electricity costs, which are now more than $13,000 per month. In addition, we have talked about making biodiesel from french fry grease.  In two years we will be energy self-sufficient!

We plan to let our workers charge their plug-in hybrids as a benefit of working for us.

And we will continue to offer our workers fruits and vegetables to supplement their diet. Because of rising oil costs and their effect on food prices, we feel a heightened urgency to provide our people with food to supplement their families’ diet.

I mentioned here before that I was very concerned because a couple of our workers were asking to borrow money from me for gas to come to work. When we announced that we were winding down our banana operations, I told the people about to lose their jobs that they were still welcome to come to the farm every Thursday and pick up fruits and vegetables with the rest of our workers.

Only two of the original workers did not come back to see about available work. But I am very happy to see that one of those two still comes by to pick up fruits and vegetables.

When Chef Alan Wong came by recently to do a kalua pig cookout on our farm, and we could not bring all of our workers to the cookout, Kimo made sure that we made a container of kalua pig for every one of our workers who could not attend. 

Kimo and I talk about the effects of rising gas, electricity, water and food prices on our workers. If we could, we would raise our prices so we could give all our workers raises. But in this day and age, retailers do not want to raise prices at all. So we are caught between high farming costs and sales prices that are not keeping up.

We have decided to raise pigs on the farm so we can make smoke meat and kalua pig to help supplement our workers’ diets. We will use our banana and tomato waste as pig feed.

Soon enough, we will also be raising fish and shrimp.

In addition to the banana, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, bell peppers and other odds and ends, we will be able to give our workers fish and shrimp within the year.

It is definitely not business as usual and it is important that we take care of each other.

The basic idea is that as oil prices rise by “x” percent, we need to figure out how to lower our cost of living by “x” percent. Sometimes it takes a bit of innovation, but it’s what we have to do. I think our workers hope that we can figure out a solution. We don’t want to let them down. 

Farm-Raised

Richard and June’s daughter Tracy Pa, now 36, told me she grew up on the family farm.

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“When we had our banana farm in Kapoho, when I was 11 or 12, we would go to work on the farm in the summer,” she says. “We used to pack bananas, or pluck the flowers off of each banana. It was fun.”

When she was 13 the family started its farm in Kea‘au, where they planted each banana tree by hand. “On the weekends the whole family would carry five-gallon buckets and fertilize each plant by hand,” she says. “We used to ride dirt bikes then, and Dad made us a track around Kea‘au Farm. That was a lot of fun.”

In her senior year of high school she started working in the farm’s office, and she has worked at the farm ever since. Besides working in the office, she has packed bananas, loaded containers with a forklift and worked in the tissue culture lab.

“We’re all-around people,” she says. “We do what we have to do. Wherever we are needed, that’s where we go.”

These days, she works in the office doing promotions and marketing, making displays and doing some of the accounting. She is in charge of the farm’s extensive food safety program. She gives visitors tours of the farm. Just Wednesday she gave a tour to Chef Alan Wong and his staff from the Hualalai Grille on the Kohala coast.

Tracy_with_hualalai_staff_003_2

“Alan likes his staff to know where things come from,” she says, “so it was an educational thing for them. The focus was on the quality we produce in our product, and our food safety certification.”

She likes taking elementary school students around the farm. “They get all excited when they get here. The boys, in general, when they see the four-wheelers, they say, ‘I want to work at the banana farm.’ It’s a lot of fun. Being that young, some of them don’t realize where bananas come from. They are so amazed to see the bunches hanging from the line.”

[Editor’s note: How can children growing up in Hilo not know where bananas come from? There are bananas growing from practically every tree! Parents of young children, turn off that television!]

What’s it like to work with your parents? “It’s good,” she said. “We understand. We know what has to be done, and we will work together to get there.”

Richard says Tracy is versatile, and can do many things at the same time. “She is very aggressive and energetic, and everything she does she does well,” he says. “I rely on her a lot.”

He says she’s been very determined, and very sure of what she wants, since she was a teenager.

“In 1993,” he says, “we were scheduled to be presented the ECO-O.K. award at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, by Kate Heaton, an executive of the Rainforest Alliance from New York City. It was the biggest thing that had happened to our farm to date, so June and I wanted to make sure our farm displays were done just so. And we were going to do it ourselves.

“But it was apparent to us that Tracy had everything planned out in her mind and was determined to get it done her way. So we decided to let her do it and we went to find a cup of coffee. It turned out just perfect. That day she earned the title of “Person-in-Charge of Special Projects.”

I asked Tracy if she thinks her son Kapono, 17 years old, or daughter Kimberly, 14, will be generation number four of the family to work at the farm.

“It would be nice. I’m not sure. Kapono is still thinking about college right now, and is looking to go into business. Kimberly likes cooking.”

Speaking of cooking, just Monday, Roland Torres from the television program Kama‘aina Backroads came out and videotaped Tracy cooking with tomatoes for the show.

“I made three different kinds of pupus,” she says. “Lomilomi salmon stuffed in cocktail tomatoes. I mixed tuna and mayonnaise and Tabasco, and stuffed that in cocktail tomatoes. Kimo said that was the best. Then I took little cubes of mozzarella cheese, stuffed it in a cocktail and put that in the microwave to melt the cheese a little and put in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.”

Just imagine—In the same week, Tracy’s job had her cooking for a television program and giving a tour to a highly-acclaimed chef. What a job! —posted by Leslie Lang

Next in Line

The first time I called Farm Manager Kimo Pa, in order to try and interview him, he was standing in a river fixing a water pump. When I tried him again later, he was driving a load of bananas and tomatoes to the airport.

Kimo_orange_tree
“My job is to make sure the operations are running smoothly,” he told me. “Anything and everything that comes up, I jump in there and make sure I accomplish whatever it is that needs to be accomplished.”

It’s why, he told me, they wear t-shirts to work instead of aloha shirts. “We’d just get them dirty,” he said. “You never know what will come up on the farm. There are a lot of moving parts to this operation.”

Thirty-nine-year-old Kimo first worked for the company, then called Kea‘au Banana, back in 1988 when he married Richard and June’s daughter Tracy. Then he went into the construction industry for awhile. When construction slowed down in the early 90s, he came back to do construction work with Richard.

“I was building things at the farm on the weekends,” he said, “and then it was full time. Then he had some plans to do new packing houses and I did all those, and then I got back involved with the farm.”

Kimo said he always wanted to get into business. “I thought I was going to become a building contractor. But then I ended up doing this, and I enjoy it. There’s never a dull moment. It’s always a challenge to figure out an answer; not the way everybody else is doing it, but trying to do it better and different in methods of growing, processing. We’re always trying to improve the wheel.”

With Kimo as farm manager and Tracy working in the farm’s office, the couple is “the next generation” and will take over when this generation retires.

“Kimo will take over after me,” said Richard, “and I’m fortunate to have such a strong transition plan in place. It has nothing to do with the fact that Kimo is my son-in-law. He’s been the farm manager for several years now and has done an excellent job.”

“And more important to me was knowing how he would treat the employees,” he said. “I’ve watched him in action for many years and he treats all the employees fairly.

“Beyond that,” said Richard, “he embraces change. He’s always looking at least five years in the future and he believes, like I do, that if you’re not moving forward you’re going backwards.”

Kimo_and_bananas_1
I asked Kimo about working with his father-in-law and he talked about how much he’s learned from Richard over the years. “He’s really an inspiration in guiding us in the right direction,” he said. “I really enjoy working with him and the challenges he comes up with. He’s not the type to sit back and relax and watch the world go by, and I’m not either. I want to be proactive, accomplish things, improve things. We get along perfectly. We kind of think alike.”

Kimo told me he is at the farm seven days a week. “Whatever time I don’t spend on the farm, I spend with my family,” he said. “I guess you could say that family time is my hobby.”

He has three children, ages 23, 17 and 14, and even two grandchildren, who are 3 years old and 9 months.

“I like working the way we have the farm set up, with family (working there),” he said. “It’s good because I’m a family type of person. It gives you more drive to work even harder.”

And then I just had one last question: Does he eat a lot of vegetables?

He does now, he said. “Until we started growing tomatoes, I never ate them because I never knew what a good tomato tasted like. I’d eat a tomato in a hamburger or salad, but just because it was there; because when I was growing up my parents told me, Don’t waste food.

“Now when I eat one of our tomatoes, or our cucumbers or whatever, I really appreciate it because I know what went into it to produce the food. But also because it has a distinct, good flavor I never had before.” —posted by Leslie Lang

Watch Us Harvest Bananas

Richard Ha writes:

Several years ago, the owner of a large, organic produce distributor visited us from Tokyo to explore whether we could supply bananas to Japan. He was soft-spoken and reserved. We had dinner with him and his interpreter, and he was so formal that I felt a little uncomfortable wearing my shorts at dinner. We arranged to show him our banana farming operation the following day.

As we showed him the banana packing operation, we explained about our sustainable farming methods as well as our food safety procedures, but we couldn’t tell whether we made a favorable impression or not.

Then we demonstrated how we harvest bananas. We stood at the road alongside our rows of bananas and watched as our harvester Albert notched the banana tree so it would bend over just right, placing most of the banana bunch weight on his shoulder. Then he cut the bunch off and carried it to the trailer. Up to that point, it was a routine demonstration.

But then Albert went back to cut the tree down and move its pieces so they’d be out of the way of the fertilizer tractor.

Our banana trees are very healthy and their trunks are as thick as a man’s torso. The standard tool used to harvest bananas is a razor-sharp machete with a two-foot blade.

Albert swung his machete once and cut the tree completely off, and then on the back swing he chopped it in two more pieces before it hit the ground.

Unexpectedly, our quiet, reserved guest yelled, raised his arms and leapt completely off the ground. Glancing at him, I instantly guessed what he saw–a samurai warrior swinging his sword cleanly through the enemy.

That’s what banana harvesters are like: Samurai warriors.

Only certain people can be banana harvesters. It’s not necessarily the biggest, strongest or baddest person who will become a successful banana harvester. It’s the person who has the most determination and mental toughness. I’ve seen lots of big, strong and mean guys over the years who just could not handle the job. A successful banana harvester doesn’t give up just because the job is hard. He has much more pride than that.

Watch our Harvest Superviser Radley Victorino harvest a bunch of bananas in this video (above), and notice how he positions the bunch on his shoulder. When he swings and cuts the bunch off the tree, he doesn’t flinch at the weight of that bunch dropping onto him—though that bunch probably weighs more than a hundred pounds.

Banana harvesting is by far the most physically demanding job on the farm. Good harvesters, like Radley, make it look easy. It’s not easy at all.

To help, we’ve invented a system where our banana harvesters walk only an average of seven steps with a bunch on his back. In Central America, it’s common for banana harvesters to carry the heavy bunches 100 feet or more. We’ve also designed our trailers so the harvesters don’t have to bend forward too much to put the bunch down. And we use a winch system to lift the bunches off the trailer.

The deal with the Japanese importer didn’t come to fruition, but it gave me a great new way of thinking about our harvesters–as Samurai.

No matter how you cut it, so to speak, you have to be tough to be a banana harvester. I’m proud to have been the original banana harvester more than 25 years ago. That’s how come I know what a difficult job it is, and it’s why I have such enormous respect for our banana harvesters.

Not “Just a Banana Farm”

Richard Ha writes:

When Leslie was putting together that post about our employee Susie White, she asked me whether she should include Susie’s quote—“I thought, ‘I don’t want to work on a banana farm’”—or whether it wasn’t what we wanted to portray.

I told her that it was very honest and to include it.

I told her that I tell politicians and business people, and everybody, the same thing—that we know our workers don’t want their kids to be banana farm workers. They want more for their kids.

I understand that and that’s why I try to do whatever I can to help the situation so their kids might have more opportunities. That’s why I push for economic development opportunities. Like when the brand new College of Pharmacy (at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo) came up and they were accepting testimony, I went and spoke in favor of it. I kept it light and humorous—I told them I wasn’t there to support the school of pharmacy because we were going to sell more bananas. I was there because it meant more opportunities for our banana workers’ kids.

Another example is the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) proposed for Mauna Kea. It gives economic opportunity; some of the kids might want to become astronomers. That’s my agenda, really. When I support something like the TMT, it’s with the thought of how this will help our workers.

What it really comes down to is if the kids can get good jobs, maybe they can buy their own piece of property. We can help them help themselves, without their having to leave Hawai‘i, or having to go get subsidies from the state.

I’m glad Susie made that comment about thinking we were just a banana farm, but soon realizing that we are much more than that. I don’t often get the opportunity to talk about this important subject.

Employee Spotlight: Susie White

Richard told me a story about something that happened several months ago, when the hydroponic lettuces were new and he asked Susie White—at the time, she was the Hamakua Springs tomato packing house supervisor—to come see what they were doing with lettuce.

Susie_first1_1“I could tell that she really wanted to get her hands on the lettuces,” he said. “The clincher was when I handed her one. She held it really gently, like it was a baby bird, and I thought to myself, ‘She’s the one.’”

He asked her if she was interested in taking on the lettuce project and she said she couldn’t wait. Susie is now Lettuce Production Supervisor at Hamakua Springs Country Farms.

Susie says that she used to drive by the farm and see the greenhouses. She wondered what was growing in there, and when she saw a job opening she applied.

“I really needed full-time and benefits, and that’s what they were offering. I thought, I don’t want to work on a banana farm. But it turned out to be so much more than I expected. I just love it.”

She was hired to work in the greenhouse, pruning tomatoes. Less than two weeks later she was put in charge of the packing house, becoming the first tomato packing house supervisor. Together, says Richard, they developed the processes they use today.

She says it’s great fun learning about hydroponics and greenhouses. “Plus it’s all new—his greenhouse operation is new and he’s cutting edge. We’re learning as we go. I’ve never been bored since I worked here. Plus it’s close to my house; I live just up the road. And I get to use all my experience.”

Her experience is extensive and fitting. She studied at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo’s Department of Agriculture, and also used to grow vegetables at home—lettuce, herbs, corn, asparagus and watercress—for restaurants (Rosie’s Boathouse, Harrington’s) where she worked as a bartender.

Before coming to work at Hamakua Springs in early 2004, the self-described “aggie” worked for the Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center, and for the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i, doing forestry research for both.

“I use all that research in the job now. For instance, with the tomato yield it was a lot of data collection, and out here in the lettuce it was how to set up little trials, spacing, how many seeds. We were doing a lot of Alan Wong research, trying to get all the lettuces the right size and shape for him, and how long it takes to the time of harvest, different times of year….”

She says Richard’s fun to work for because he “tries things that people don’t think can be done, mostly because they just haven’t been done before.”

“And he’s always trying new things and is open to new ideas,” she says. “He asks all of us, wherever we’re working. He’s always looking for feedback.”

She speaks highly of both Richard and June, who she says “approach things very business-like, but are very down to earth. For instance, all Richard cared about working with tomatoes is how they tasted, not the yields. And Kimo and Tracy, too. They are making very thought-out decisions, plans, and everything they do they have a reason for. You might not know what it is at first but after awhile you see it.”

“I like working for all of them,” she says. “I trust them.” Susie2_1

Richard speaks equally highly of Susie. “The thing that first got my attention,” he says, “was how Susie cared for her fellow workers, especially the ones who could possibly get overlooked because of not understanding the language as well as others. She was like a mother hen to all those workers and we appreciated that very much.”

He says he saw that she noticed if somebody—especially someone new, who didn’t know the routine yet—didn’t know it was break time.

“Or if there’s a meeting,” he says, “some of the new people might not feel comfortable and they’ll hang back. She’ll bring them to the middle and make them feel welcome. That’s what we want to do here at Hamakua Springs—take care of the most defenseless. And that’s what she does.”

Susie says her job has kept her “challenged beyond belief”—in a good way. “We went from six greenhouses of tomatoes to over 100,” she says. “Now I’m challenging my way back up over here in the lettuce. It’s kept me on my toes a hundred percent. This job just turned out to be the dream job I never knew it would be.”

“I love it,” she says. “I’m having a ball.” — posted by Leslie Lang

Employee Spotlight: Ida Castillo

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Tomato packing house supervisor Ida Castillo has always been so good at her job, Richard says, that it was almost hard to promote her.

“She’s one of those workers who you think you can’t afford to take out of her present position,” he says, “because she’s so good. But in our company we try to make sure we give people opportunities as they arise, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel in the short run.”

Ida came to the company 13 years ago, when she was hired as a banana packer at what was then Kea‘au Bananas.

“Ida was always the fastest and most efficient banana packer, and it always seemed effortless to her,” says Richard. “When we started raising hydroponic tomatoes we asked if she would consider packing tomatoes, and she immediately became the most efficient tomato packer.”

Ida2_1

Now, he says, she’s doing a great job as the tomato packing house supervisor, her position since the beginning of the year. “Ida has the little things under control and that takes care of the big things,” he says. “She is a quiet person but she is efficient and she definitely gets the job done very well. I’m extremely proud of her.”

Outside of work, there’s her family. She is married with three children. Her sons are 24 and 19, both in the army. Her daughter, 22, recently gave Ida and her husband their first grandchild, Shayla, who is 18 months old. “That’s the first (grandchild), and we love her so much.”

She laughs when she admits she likes to watch her soap operas. “The Young and the Restless, and some Filipino soap operas,” she says. “I go to church when I’m not working. I love to go shopping.”

And how does she feel about tomatoes after years of packing 15 pounds of them into 60 boxes a day?
Ida4
“I love to pack tomatoes,” she says. “I just love holding them, and the color. And I still like eating them. These are good tomatoes.”

She says she likes her job. “I always loved to work agriculture. Before I worked bananas, I worked papayas, flowers. I love it.

“Plus the management, they’re good,” she says. “They treat us like family, not a worker. They’re nice people.”

The 45-year-old says she hopes to work there for awhile. “Until I retire,” she says. “Then they going kick me out.” — posted by Leslie Lang

Going with Flo

Employee Spotlight: Florence Lovell

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Thirty-nine-year-old Florence Lovell—supervisor of the farm’s banana-packing house, tomato-packing house and of its vegetable growing operation—tells us she was a tomboy as a kid.

“I have two brothers,” she says. “I was the only girl, and I had no girls to play with. So I used to run around playing with my brothers and their friends, and it was kind of like I had to define myself, because I was the only girl in that crowd. That helped me be the person I am. I’m glad things turns out that way.”

Her job at Hamakua Springs entails a lot of physical work. That’s one of the things she likes about it, probably because of that outdoor, tomboy upbringing.

Flo_picture

“I can do the stacking of the bananas, carrying heavy things,” she says. “I enjoy doing those things.” She has 18 or 19 people under her supervision now, other supervisors as well as employees.

When she’s not working, her focus is often on her new grandson. Kaimana, 5 months old, is her only grandchild so far. “I take him riding, play with him in the swimming pool,” she says. “I watch him for two or three nights, to have that time with him.”

“I enjoy time with my grandson, my husband, my brothers. I drink a little beer now and then,” she laughs. “I have those enjoyments.”

Flo started at Hamakua Springs five years ago when she was hired to pack bananas. After about a year, her employers asked if she’d be assistant supervisor in the banana-packing house. That evolved into her position as supervisor of the banana-packing house, then also of the tomato-packing house and of the vegetable growing operation.

She said it was a little overwhelming at first. “It happened so fast,” she says. “It was a chain reaction thing. I was never expecting to move that fast. But I enjoy it. I get up early, I’m here early. I enjoy doing my job, being able to do all the different things in the different areas.”

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Richard Ha, the big boss, describes her position as tough and demanding. “But she took the responsibility and didn’t shy away at all,” he says. “She was game and accepted the job and has been doing a good job since. Kimo Pa, who is our farm manager, recommended Flo for her most recent promotion a little more than a month ago. I was aware from early on that he had a lot of confidence in her.”

June Ha recalls when she and daughter Tracy Pa were developing a system for packing their apple bananas into Harry and David gift boxes. “There was a real spark in the way Flo approached helping to organize the project,” says June. “She would always focus on how things could get done, rather than on why things couldn’t get done.”

“She’s a good example of someone working her way up through the ranks,” says Richard. “We’re really happy for her.”

It sounds like Flo knows that. She speaks equally well of her employers.

“They became not only my boss but they’re like a part of my family,” she says. “They made me feel welcome from the first time I started working here. Their personalities—they were nice. They appreciate what I do. That’s something you don’t see too much of.”

“I enjoy working here,” she says. “I plan to stay as long as I can.” — posted by Leslie Lang