Petersons’ Upland Farm
141 Dole Rd.
Wahiawa, HI 96786
Egg Room: 808-621-6619
Mon-Sat 7:00am-4:00pm
Closed Sun
View Map
Petersons' Upland Farm has been supplying our community with fresh eggs for nearly a century.
Sharon Peterson Cheape, who now runs the farms with her father James and Uncle Alan, likes to say that Petersons' Upland Farm is located “in the heart of Oahu, in a little town named Wahiawa.”
The heart of the Peterson family's love for Wahiawa, and the love of Wahiawa town for the Petersons' farm is revealed in the continuous flow of visitors to the farm's charming Egg Room, an old-style workhouse with a counter built into a half door, covered with postings about community events. While standing at the counter, you can feel the chill coming from the actual Egg Room and watch them sorting through the eggs freshly washed and weighed individually. An assortment of crisp vegetables grown by the Wahiawa High School's agriculture program, is also for sale at the Egg Room, all proceeds going back to the school. Just one more way of helping out.
It is a farm full of history in a place overflowing with warmth, and its story begins in 1887.
This is the year that its founder, James Hopper Peterson Sr., was born in Honolulu. In 1909, when he was just twenty-two, he purchased 18 acres of land in Wahiawa Heights from James Dole. But before he could begin farming he had to clear the scrub land of guava and lantana. By day he cleared the brush one square yard at a time and at night slept in a tent he pitched.
By 1910, James had purchased some purebred Jerseys milk cows along with some chickens. There were few families living in Wahiawa at that time, however, Schofield Barracks was growing with families of officers being stationed at the post. James sold milk, cream, and butter door-to-door in Schofield by means of horse and buggy.
In 1917, following the American involvement in World War I, James volunteered to serve. He was sent to Texas to attend flight school training and then became a flight instructor. After the war, he returned home to his farm in Wahiawa, and it was then that he met Adeline Monck who served as a nurse to his grandmother. The two grew fond of each other and were wed in 1928, had two sons, James Jr. and Alan.
As time went on, the chicken rearing - which included breeding, incubating, and hatching - started to dominate the farm until there were just a small herd of cattle kept to keep the grass down in between the chicken houses. In 1953, James and Alan took over the business from their father.
One of the family's most famous stories takes place in the early morning light of December 7, 1941 and involves possibly the first victums of an event that changed millions of lives and the course of the world. Here is Sharon relaying the story as confirmed by her father, James:
“....a number of planes circled the farm as they made their turn to go back and attack Schofield and Wheeler Air Force Base. From the air, the chicken houses must have appeared as soldier's barracks, for some of the planes strafed them during their turn-around, leaving several bullet holes in the roof. Surprisingly, there were only two casualities, one (breeding) rooster and a week-old chick.”
Over the years, the family's third generation, James' three children and Alan's four, grew up working on the farm, helping with their daily chores after school and on the weekends. They have been active in the community of Wahiawa as well as the farming community in the state of Hawaii. Suzanne, Sharon's mother, served as Chair of Hawaii's Department of Agriculture, at the time she was the first female Department Chair in the history of the nation. Sharon, her siblings and many of her cousins went on to achieve degrees in Poultry Husbandry and Agriculture.
As with many farming families, the farm is the home of so many memories. Sharon Peterson Cheape recalls, “My earliest memories of our farm is walking from our house with my mom down to the egg room where we washed and packed our eggs when I was four years old. My brother and sister were in school, so it was just me and my mom. I remember walking down the dirt road with her amongst all the trees. When we started down the farm road, we would have to walk past a small group of cows and bulls. I immediately became an ‘opihi’ on my mom as I clung to her out of fright from these huge animals. Once in the egg room, my mom took her position on the egg processing machine and I proudly sat at one end on a stool equipped with a block of wood which had a band of sandpaper wrapped around it. It was my important job, so I thought, to get the stubborn pieces of dried egg yolk and kukai off the eggs. I really loved this daily ritual and finally outgrew my fear of the cows.”
When asked about the future, Sharon is quick to share a long-held vision she would like to see for their family farm. “I would love to be able to fix up our existing hen house and then re-model and up-grade our egg room and cooler facilities to allow for some expansion while holding on to the old plantation style. Another dream is to incorporate Ag tourism where an area on the farm would have old-fashioned nesting boxes that would house different breeds of chickens where visitors could come and experience them, and maybe even hand-collect their own dozen of eggs.”
It's been nearly a century, and three generations, and Petersons' Upland Farm continues to bless Wahiawa with fresh white and brown eggs. They are the official egg supplier of Alan Wong's Pineapple Room restaurant and Dot's in Wahiawa.