1.

Project Title

Lo`i Kalo

2.

Project Members

Student(s):

Lauren Lewis

Design

3.

Upload a document that clearly outlines your project parts.

Kalo.docx

4.

The following is a list of project part options. Check the option and then upload your document (You may scan any document and upload it as an image).

• Outline

Interest

5.

Write at least one paragraph covering what you know about your topic. Write at least one paragraph about what you plan on researching/investigating. Include a thesis, hypothesis, or driving question in these paragraphs.

I know that lo`i kalo has been around for many years. Long ago kalo was the primary food of Hawai`i. It is also said that the first kalo grew from the still-born son of Wakea and Ho`oho kui kalani, named Haloa. I also know that kalo was brought to Hawai`i with the earliest Polynesian settlers. There are at least 300 different varieties of kalo. I have learned that some of the local varieties of kalo are Moi, Lehua, Ha`akea, and Chinese.
I would also like to know more about the many types of kalo, especially those that we plant at Waipao, one of our HLC lo`i kalo. I want to find out how many varieties there are and find out what the differences are. Also I would like to learn how to harvest, grow, and how to sustain ourselves to be prepared for various emergencies. Such as if food stopped coming from outside Hawai`i and if there were a natural disaster. I would also like to find out some scientific techniques on growing kalo more effectively.
Essential Question: In what way is kalo important to Hawai`i nei?

6.

List at least three questions you will be able to answer at the end of the project.

1. How can you tell the differences between differnet types of Kalo?
2. What is the key to growing and harvesting good Kalo?
3. How can we sustian ourselves to be prepared for emergencies? (such and a natural Disater of food shortage)
4. What would we have to grow to sustain ourselves?
5. What can Kalo be used for besides food?
6. What are some of the curret events happening?
7. What are the different scientific methods besides organic growing and chemical growing?

7.

List a minimum of three different types of resources you will use. Make sure you include specific websites, books, and people. Also, make sure you have at least one primary source.

1. Internet(http://www.canoeplants.com/kalo.html)
2. Book - Native Planters in old Hawai'i by Handy, et. al
3. Kumu Kala
4. Kumu Calvin
5. Kumu Tommy
6. Book - Taro Varieties in Hawaii - Whitney, et. al
7. Book - Plants in Hawaiian Culture - Beatrice H. Krauss

8.

Select the Content Standards you hope to address in this project.

• Social Studies: SS.11.6.0: Cultural Anthropology
• Social Studies: SS.MHH.3.0: Modern Hawaiian History: History
• Lifelong Learning Skills: Lifelong Learning 1

9.

List the tasks you need to complete, the time they should take, and the dates you plan on finishing them by.

	Task	Estimated Time	Estimated Date
1.	Phase 1- project idea, start project binder, essential questions, scope of project, standards, maoli connection, outcomes of final product, rubrics	18 hours	Sep. 05
2.	Phase 2- pre-evaluation readiness, project foundry, pre-evaluation meeting, reveiw of proposal	5 hours	Sep. 08
3.	Phase 3- interview experts, exploration and research	55 hours	Oct. 17
4.	Pahse 4- written products, created products	45 hours	Oct. 21
5.	Phase 5- finalize project binder, self assess with rubrics, self reflection on project	3 hours	Oct. 22
6.	Phase 6- post-evaluation readiness check,schedule post-evaluation, presentation of evidence learned, evaluation team reveiw	3 hours	Oct. 24
7.	Phase 8- pratice, practice, practice, presentation before community audience, review evaluation rubrics	1 hour	Oct. 31

10.

Either upload a separate calendar or use the interactive calendar to plan out your time. Make sure that the time planned in the calendar supports the time for each task.

August 2008.docx

11.

Estimated hours of work

130 hours

12.

Estimated start/end dates

Aug. 18 - Oct. 24, 2008

13.

Number of Proposed Project Credits

1.3

Connection

14.

Write at least one paragraph explaining how your project incorporates Hawaiian culture and/or malama `aina. Write at least one paragraph explaining how you project will benefit you, your community, and/or the world.

Kalo can also benefit me by providing me food for my family. Kalo can provide me with teaching others how to grow and to make kalo the main starch. Kalo is also healthier than than any other starch. Kalo also grows on dry land and in pots and that is good for some people because they don't have a yard. Hopefully I can grow to support my family and to practice the Hawaiian culture often. Kalo also benefits me if food stops coming from the mainland. Kalo and many other foods like uala and ulu can feed my family and other families if we start to grow food now.
Kalo brings the community together to learn about the Hawaiian crop. Kalo also inspires people to start a garden in there homes. Since kalo is healthy for consumption more native Hawaiians should eat it. However, there are various reasons why native Hawaiians don't eat kalo today. These reasons are fast foods, store starches, and other accessible goods. Accessible goods are okay, but they have a lot of added chemicals, therefore kalo is healthier to eat. Kalo also can give you natural strength and energy for the day.

15.

Pre-evaluation members (List parent, student and teachers)

1. Kumu Feki
2. Kumu Ala
3. Kumu Judy

History

Taro(kalo) was mentioned in chinese books as early as 100(B.C.). Taro has about 1,500 species, but there are only about 300 species or more known today. Taro are tropical or subtropical. They grow better in tropical areas because they get the sun, and subtropical areas you can grow this plant but it is colder and not that much sun. So the taro isn't that big because of the lack of sun. Early European navigators tell of taro in Japan, Tonga, Samoa, and New Zealand. Some of the different names used for kalo are Colocasia esculenta(Latin), Culcas(Egyptian), and Kelady, Tallies or Taloes(Malay). Hawaii has created the most varieties of kalo, it is adaptsble to different locations and soil than anywhere else in the world. It takes about eleven to twelve months before the taro is harvested. Taro is the prized food of the Ali`i. Only the men of the family could plant, harvest, cook, and mash the taro because the women were "unclean". Taro resists drought and loves excessive moisture and can prosper under a variety of conditions. The building of a lo`i is intensive labor. It requires streams, ditches, terraces, embankments, planting, tending, and harvesting.
In Ancient Hawaii, war was forbidden during the planting and hrvesting seasons. Many taro are named for a single character, the leaf or the stem. Some taro anr named for places where they are thought to have originated like punalu`u or kalalau, but it is rare. You can also tell the variety by looking at the piko. Wild taro is common along streams and in damp forest areas of Hawaii. Wild taro is called `Ahe on Kauai and `Aweu on the other islands. Cuttings from `Aweu are the hardiest of all taro, the greens are good when cooked, but the corm is tough and small. On Oahu, there are other wild taro besides the `Aweu, called Ma`auea. Also other domesticated taros the Lehua and Lauloa have gone wild and are found in West Oahu. All wild taro have small corms and long vigorous roots.

TECHNIQUES

Planting taro on dry land originated on the Big Island of Hawaii. Dry land taro was planted in places where streams are not found. Some of the steps to making a dry land patch is to clear the area of trees, roots, and any other shrubs or plants in the way. After clearing and cleaning the patch, the patch is left along for about six days so that the plants and grass can become mulch. After about six days an 'o'o is used to make nine inch holes at least twelve inches apart. When the huli is in the holes the farmers or planters wait until the roots grow vigorously then cover the hole with dirt.

Ha'aheo planting is when a team of men working in unison to plant taro. They start off by selecting an area. They then burn that specific area and leave it for a week. They made holes with an 'o'o and plant the huli. After planting, they spread grass over the dirt and leave it for about a week or two. When hey go back to the patch, the weeds are over grown again. They burn the weeds and the taro leaves. It says that if the leaves are burned off the taro leaves, the taro leaves and corm are good and big.

Rasied beds or the (kipi) method originated from hilo. Rasied beds were made because of the lack of water. Raised beds look like long islands in a marsh with ditches of water in between rows. The kipi method is kind of like dry land taro because they are on land, but the kipi method, the water is circulating around the roots. In Hilo kipi method is popular becasue after a big rain the taro would grow up to six ti nine feet high and the corm, wery big. In Hilo raised beds were made in the marsh by stomping until a heap of dirt and weeds come out of the water.
Lo`i kalo or(flooded terraces) is the most well known technique and the most efficient technique to growing taro. Lo`i kalo is an effective water management technique because not only does the lo`i kalo take water it also returns it to the stream. When it rains hard the taro come big becasue of the amount of water moving around and around. Now days lo`i kalo are still around but from all the hard rains erosion has been a big issue. So at our lo`i kalo we are using a rock stacking technique call drystack. Dry stack uses only rock, the bottom rocks are big and the top rocks are small. All the rocks are placed at a cirtent angle, this angle is faced towards the wall. The reason for this is if and big rain comes, the water will hit the rocks, not the wall, and as the water hits the rocks the rocks lock together not moving and the water does not evffect the dirt wall causing erosion. So at our lo`i kalo we used this technique to stop erosion.

HARVESTING

Question: How to Harvest?
The way you harvest is to wait for the kalo to produce it's corm. The way you can tell it is time to harvest is when the piko leaf starts to shrink or get smaller. When the leaf gets smaller, that means the corm is taking all the nutrition away from the leafs and storing it in the corm and that is how the corm comes out big and delicious.

Question: How to re-plant?

After harvesting the taro the stem or the (huli) is saved to make more taro. The leafs are cut off and the corm is cut just below the pink rim around the stem. The pink rim is where the roots sprout out of. The stems are left out to dry for a day or two and then the stems are planted in the lo`i, raised beds, or dry land.

SUSTAINABILITY

Question: How would we sustain ourselves?
We can sustain ourselves by growing our own food. Some of the food that we can grow are kalo, ulu, uala, mi`a, and ect. If we start growing we can be prepared for emergency or shortage of food. We could live off the land if we start to plant and cultivate. In my house I have been growing kalo. As of right now I have ten kalo, five are mature and five are keki but, i know that there are going to be offspring from the mature kalo. Many people are starting to go organic.

Lo`i Kalo

My project is on Lo`i Kalo. I choose this project because I want to learn the Hawaiian Culture. Some of the topics i am focusing on are History, Techniques, Harvesting, and Sustainability. Some of the History on Kalo is that Kalo was the primary food of Hawaii at one point in time. There are three different Techniques i have found, they are Raised beds, Lo`i Kalo, and Dry Land. I have nit yet found any thing on harvesting. Sustainability is the main idea for this project, because what if food stops coming form the mainland? What would we have to grow? I want to learn how to grow things so that if food does stop coming i will be able to support my family.