MILK & HONEY FARM
Hawaiʻi Island
Meet a Seed Grower
Meet Michelle Carrillo & Britton Price
Milk & Honey Farm
Pahoa, Hawaiʻi Island
We are a small, diversified family farm on the East side of Hawai'i Island in the Waiakahiula Ahupua'a at 550’ elevation. We focus on building healthy soil that will support nutrient dense high quality food while using organic and low-input sustainable methods. Our home gardens raise various specialty vegetable and flower crops alongside staple Hawaiian canoe crops. We utilize cover cropping, field rotation, vermicomposting and traditional composting to build well balanced and biologically active soil that promotes disease resistance in our fields. We also practice silviculture and build soil fertility in our fruit and nut orchards with the help of Jersey/Holstein cows.
At Milk and Honey we aim to raising healthy and vibrant crops and consider healthy soil and open pollinated, locally adapted seeds as of the basis of a sustainable farming system.
At Milk and Honey Farm we focus on developing a bio-intensive gardening system compatible with Puna's unique environment of high humidity, high rainfall, with rocky soil that has a very high organic matter content. Over the years we have added a component of holistic grazing for grass management and fertility building. The high rainfall and intensive invasive species pressure on Hawai'i Island requires a disciplined farming approach to gather good results and avoid using pesticides or herbicides.
Digging, composting, picking out rocks and slugs are all part of everyday life on the farm!