The Best Water Cress Comes From Ancient Spring Water
The Kalauao Spring included two natural springs of percolating water.
In ancient times, the springs irrigated taro loʻi
The story does NOT mention that the farm is located on a KARST spring. Mineralized
water that comes from karst is very special, grows the beat limu, etc. Ewa was called
the "House of Limu" because it had such a unique delicious taste.
This is an important argument we hope and need to make to City and Ledge that
Ewa Plain farmland CANNOT be replaced it is a unique environment due to the
karst spring water that Ewa has. Places like Sumida Farms also happen to enjoy
this special karst spring environment.
Started in 1928 by Moriichi and Makiyo Sumida, this watercress farm has
withstood the scourge of development in the heart of the concrete
jungles of Pearlridge and hungry developers. Their son, Masaru fought
developers of Peralridge Shopping Center to keep the states largest
producer of watercress from turning into phase III of the shopping
complex. Masaru passed away at the age of 84 in 2003 but the farm and
family tradition lives on through his children.
Since 1928, the Sumida family have been growing watercress in a magical spot in the heart of Aiea being fed by a natural spring. Yes, that’s their farm right besides Pearlridge, a reminder of the fact that Aiea and Pearl Harbor were once breadbasket and important fishing grounds.
http://hawaiiindependent.net/
“Wait until you taste the spring water,” one of the Slow Food veterans told us. I was slightly taken aback; I didn’t see any drinking water around.
When Operations Manager and tour guide David Sumida waded into the stream and proceeded to cup a large gulp with his hands, I was shocked to think that water at one’s feet could be clean enough to drink. Granted, I’m a total townie, but to be fair to myself, I was looking at Sears next door!
It turns out the reason the farm is located where it is is due to the abundance of spring water around Pearl Harbor. There are twelve watercress farms in Oahu, each growing a different variety of watercress, but all twelve are in the vicinity of the Pearl Harbor Spring (the rest around Pearl City and Waipahu). Sumida Farm is the furthest east of these farms, and therefore has the highest water quality from the spring.
Sumida Farm
Unique farm borders Pearlridge Shopping Center
If you've ever eaten
watercress in Hawaii, there's a good chance it came from Sumida Farm in
Aiea. You may have noticed the farm if you've ever driven past the
Pearlridge Shopping Center. Some people say the best-tasting watercress
in the world is grown there, perhaps because of its most unusual
location.
"We're harvesting in this area, we just harvested this one," explains David Sumida during a walk through of the farm.
David
and his sister Barbara are the third generation of Sumidas to manage
this land. Their grandparents took over the 10 acres back in 1928 when
much of it was used to grow taro.
"The farm is 85-years-old now," said David.
The
farm took root under their father, who planted only watercress. It was a
decision that's made this farm flourish today, but the payoff didn't
come without a price. As time passed, in came development, and being
pushed out was what the Sumidas were up against.
"The developer
wanted to take away the lease for this plot here to develop, it was
going to become the phase three of the Pearlridge center," said David.
"My dad was fighting for this farm because it was his farm, it was the
family farm, they wanted to keep it."
All of the water used on the land is natural, coming from springs.
"The water has lots of mana; when I realized that,
everything came together," said David.
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