The meeting we have been waiting for is finally here! In order to prepare for it this week I spend 14+ hours on Tuesday and Wednesday drawing and painting a large scale poster sized logo concept for the Food Hub. Making a visual brand will make people excited to see the potential future of this project. The logo that I came up with details a volcano erupting with a rainbow of Hawaiian grown fruits, vegetables, and other foods. Jenny suggested that I add the floral crown of Pele to honor the original creation goddess while using the image of a volcano. I found fingerpaints from the Wisdom Center below Jenny’s office to add the color and depth it needed. After this Phillip took pictures and digitized the logo, where we spent a few hours organizing the fruits to really look as though they were exploding into life. Phil then put the logo on a mock-up distribution truck, building, and on the welcome pamphlets and direction signs for guests. We stayed after hours to clean up the Wisdom Center, cut veggies, and prepare websites links and Jenny’s slideshow for the projector.
During the meeting Jenny spoke to guests on the necessity of creating a Maui Food Hub where too much of the goods are imported. She touched on food sovereignty, production, branding, and all the opportunities it would provide for young farmers and community integration. By the end of the meeting, people were talking amongst themselves on ways to motivate the community to support Jenny in her work and all the potential of building a Maui Food Hub and Permanent Farmer’s Market. A woman and I spoke about getting together an informational booth at the weekly Saturday Farmer’s Market to get people interested and to open up communication for connections and ideas for funding. Even weeks later, this meeting has kickstarted the community to hold their own meetings and provide more possible locations, allies, and support to really make this project a reality.
This week was short for me because I put in 24 hours within two days, so Jenny told me to take the rest of the week off and I spent it resting up from a very busy month and a half.