Mālami Mokupuni Backyard Chickens for Food Self-Sufficiency

Backyard CHICKENS

for food Self-Sufficiency

By Rachel Laderman

When times get tough, people get chickens. It’s a practical way to gain more food security. A chicken coop in the yard also reduces the environmental footprint created by shipping eggs from the mainland’s large-scale, high-production poultry farms. Islanders interested in food self-sufficiency look to the Polynesian wayfinders who settled in Hawai‘i around 1,000 years ago: what did they bring in their double-hulled canoes? Along with the “canoe plants” of coconuts, taro, sweet potato, and other valuable and versatile plants, the travelers brought dogs, pigs, and chickens (moa in Hawaiian—red jungle fowl). Although today’s domestic chickens are of a different lineage, it shows that chickens are a tried-and-true element of a foodproducing Hawaiian homestead. The number one benefit of backyard chickens is, of course, fresh, amazing eggs. But chickens also provide the services of a good gardener: they provide bug, coqui frog, and weed control, and fertilizer. If contained, the scratching of chickens can help you create or refresh garden areas when you rotate them into and out of the designated space. After years of providing eggs, if desired, chickens can then provide meat and broth. The entire life of a chicken is beneficial to a farm. Hawai‘i is ideal for raising chickens. The warm temperature allows for more outside scavenging for food all year, and they have a shorter winter laying break. The islands host few predators—notably mongoose, rats, dogs, and cats—but this is mild compared to the onslaught of predators on the mainland, where chicken farmers must protect their flocks from foxes, coyotes, raccoons, large birds of prey, and snakes. What is the disadvantage most people would point to in raising chickens (other than loud roosters)? Cleaning out the coop. As valuable as chicken manure is for the garden, it is no one’s favorite chore to muck out the smelly stuff from inside an enclosed roost. The potential to cause a nuisance odor is one of the reasons cited in zoning ordinances that restrict commercial chicken farming. A style of animal-housing called Korean Natural Farming solves this dilemma and is perfect for raising chickens in Hawai‘i. The cornerstone of the design is to have a deep litter base of wood chips that is kept dry, with lots of air flow. Microorganisms living in the wood chips eat the poop and uric acid crystals (chicken’s version of urine, a whitish solid), and create self-cleaning, smell-free bedding for a coop.

Background photo: These chickens have azolla, a protein-rich water fern, in their water tubs, to supplement and reduce the cost of purchased feed. Top left photo: Chicks showing their curious nature; these are six-week old Black Star Sex Link, Rhode Island Red, and a mystery chick. Top center photo: Simba Prevost places albizia logs and wood chips over an earth floor to create the base of a new Korean Natural Farming coop. Top right photo: This coop design is large and airy, with ample nesting boxes.

Chicken Food Crunch

If chickens are so perfectly suited to life in Hawai‘i, why do we import the majority of eggs from the mainland? One big reason lies in the cost of feed. A few chickens can be raised on scraps and fruit to provide eggs, but for a bigger flock, chickens need a high-quality diet that is most economically supplied by grains currently only available from the mainland. Only a handful of farmers on the islands have found the balance needed to raise poultry successfully on a commercial scale. Still, it is possible to reduce reliance on shipped feed. Smallscale chicken farmers have come up with many creative local foods such as utilizing moveable chicken tractors over pasture; sourcing excess coconuts, bananas, papayas, oil seed cake,

and restaurant compost; and growing azolla (a nutritious water fern) and black soldier fly larvae (a non-nuisance fly grub that eats compost).

Extra Eggs?

Another benefit of raising chickens: you can raise your popularity, or a little cash, with your extra eggs. If you have too many eggs to give away, the next step is to sell eggs commercially to a grocery store or restaurant. On Hawai‘i Island, this means getting a permit from the Health Department, which requires washing and packing eggs in a commercial kitchen, having a current food handlers license (online and free), and paying an annual $100 fee. Eggs must be in new containers—none of those used cartons that your friends are so happy to drop off—with Health Department approved labels. No wonder local, especially organic, eggs are pricey in Hawai‘i! But for the small farmer or gardener, it’s not the ton of cash pouring in, it’s the multiple benefits of healthy, tasty eggs; fertilizer, bug, and weed control; and the satisfaction of adding to neighborhood food security—a real consideration on an island.

All photos courtesy of Rachel Laderman

Rachel Laderman, Lynker Sustainable Pacific Program

Magic of Mushrooms

Recipe for Mushroom Toast

By Brittany P. Anderson

A newly fallen tree haphazardly leans against another, joining its fallen brethren to succumb to the weather and rot. The elder tree lays quietly adorned with rounded shelves of golden orange. These brightly colored frills are none other than the chicken of the woods mushroom. Chicken of the woods, Laetiporus surphureus, is one of several edible mushrooms found on Hawai‘i Island. The wide and flat fungi grow along the base of decaying trees. These heavy, meaty mushrooms are easily spotted with their showy orange color against a backdrop of brown and green. On decaying relics of a kukui nut orchard, the forgotten trees grow pepeiao, also known as wood ear mushrooms. Pepeiao, Auricularia cornea, grows in clusters on rotting broadleaf trees. To the touch, these mushrooms are elastic yet jelly-like and look remarkably like an ear, as their name suggests. Hawai‘i Island’s fungophiles troll the island’s forests and trails, looking for delectable wild fungi. Trekking through switchbacks along a densely forested gulch deep in the heart of the Hāmākua coast, a couple works together collecting white wood ear. As leaves dance overhead in the fine rain, the snow-white ruffly white wood ear, Tremella fuciformis, clings to the sides of trees along the path. They gently pry the gelatinous mushrooms, with a seaweed-like texture, from their perches. Many of the world’s cultures have used mushrooms for medicinal and culinary purposes. In Chinese medicine, wood ear is used for treating various ailments, including improving blood circulation. Today, white wood ear is used as an ingredient in cosmetics for its anti-aging properties. Mushrooms are also common ingredients in soups and stir fry, where they offer flavor and texture. There is an inherent risk associated with foraging for wild mushrooms. Hence, proper identification is key to avoiding accidental poisoning, illness, or hallucinations. Instead of foraging, cultivating edible mushrooms has risen in popularity on Hawai‘i Island. While combining mushroom spores and dead wood seems like an easy enough recipe for growing mushrooms, the simplicity is deceiving. Mushroom cultivation is a careful balance of temperature, humidity, and sterility. Mushrooms are grown in sterilized sawdust as a growing medium and kept in a highly controlled environment. Less like a farm and more like a laboratory, commercial mushroom growers must keep bacteria from taking hold. In an unregulated environment, there are millions of bacterial spores, and each one has the potential to compete with the mushroom culture. Growers use extreme caution to disinfect all tools, surfaces, and body parts that may come near their growing mushrooms. Within the laboratory-like setting, it is also essential that those working in this environment wear respirators. An antiaerosol respirator protects against inhaling mushroom spores, which can cause respiratory issues, and introducing bacteria

LocaL Food

into the growing room. Hawai‘i Island home growers can find mushroom kits made locally using a 5-gallon bucket and don’t require stringent climate control. Some have even found success in inoculating logs with their desired mushroom culture. Luckily, you don’t have to forage or grow your mushrooms on Hawai‘i Island. Several local growers offer a variety of beautiful and delicious mushrooms, from the highly medicinal lion’s mane to elegant pink oyster mushrooms. This Mushroom Toast recipe highlights mushrooms’ flavor and can be made with one type or a medley of your favorite fungi.

Mushroom Toast

2 Tbs unsalted butter 8 oz mushrooms, ends trimmed and sliced into even pieces 3 cloves garlic, smashed 3 large sprigs of thyme ½ shallot, finely minced, about 2 Tbs Sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp sherry vinegar 3 Tbs crème fraiche

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and melt butter. Once melted, add mushrooms (do not overcrowd the pan), garlic, and thyme. Occasionally toss until mushrooms are light brown and tender. Add shallots, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 1–2 minutes, until shallots are tender and fragrant. Discard garlic and thyme. Add sherry vinegar and the crème fraiche. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer all together for a moment. Taste and adjust seasoning before removing from heat. Place a few generous spoonfuls of mushrooms and sauce on top of toasted bread.

Serving suggestion: top with arugula leaves and poached egg. KeOlaMagazine.com | November-December 2022

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