Get a Taste of the Best Farms on the North Shore

Red Barn Farmstand, a new food shop and market in Hale‘iwa, offers a full breakfast and lunch menu made with fresh produce from local farms.

December 13, 2016

Jennifer Fiedler,

Photos: Courtesy of Red Barn Farmstand

Hale‘iwa gets plenty of attention for shave ice stands and surf shops, so it’s easy to forget the town has deep roots in agriculture. But Red Barn Farmstand, a new food shop and market from the founders of Holoholo General Store, is hoping to change that.

Owner Jill Nordby founded Holoholo in 2012 as a CSA (community supported agriculture) subscription, in which she and her partner, Jamie Sexton, bundled offerings from local farms into weekly shares.

The chicken wrap.

Holoholo partners won Kamehameha Schools’ first Mahi‘ai Match-Up contest in 2013 with a plan to begin growing their own produce, which earned them prize money and a lease on five acres of land in Hale‘iwa.

Three years later, with the opening of Red Barn Farmstead, which sits on their farm kitty-corner to the North Shore Marketplace, Nordby sees an opportunity to branch out further with cooking demos and farm tours that emphasize sustainability.

The farmstand, a collaboration with Twin Bridge Farms, works primarily as an extension of Holoholo’s CSA, selling offerings from their own farm and other O‘ahu partners. A recent spread, packed into rustic crates, included fresh avocados, sweet potatoes, citrus, papayas, kabocha squash and shishito peppers. A dry-goods section featuring locally made jams, jellies and vinaigrettes is a solid spot to pick up gifts for off-island folks.

An onsite kitchen helps convert surplus produce into picnic-ready goods, including ‘uala (sweet potato) hummus, pickled veggies and tzatziki dip made with local cucumbers (all $4.50 each). The kitchen also offers a full breakfast and lunch menu—including a killer breakfast burrito—which you can eat at one of the picnic benches there, or grab-and-go for the beach.

Quinoa salad.

Nordby says to stay tuned for more community events and classes as the farmstand gets into a regular rhythm. First up: a meet-and-greet with Santa on Dec. 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., plus the opportunity to check out the farm’s sunflower patch in full bloom.

Red Barn Farmstand, 66-320 Kamehameha Highway, Hale‘iwa, redbarnfarmstand.com, 445-4375, Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.