Adventures in Eco-Living

The Future of Sustainable Agriculture: Aquaponics

Aquaponics. The wonderfully sustainable combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in a soil-less water medium). What a brilliant idea! We are looking into this as our next sustainable agriculture adventure in the upcoming year.

Check out this cool video:

But why hydroponics? We haven't had a lot of experience with this type of growing, but from what I have learned recently, there is a big future in hydroponics. For one, it uses 10% of the water that conventional (soil-based) agriculture does, so that right there is a huge savings, particularly as we progress into an era when water conservation is going to become a top priority. Also, conventional, and especially big corporate-based, agriculture is costing us to lose precious top soil at an alarming rate. A soil-less growing method that requires no top soil is going to be so important as many of the world's growing regions become depleted and others become arid. Finally, hydroponically-raised plants grow faster, because you can so directly control the nutrients being fed to the plant, and because the plants have constant, direct access to those nutrients.

And aquaculture? Well, think about. Raising fish creates an inevitable byproduct: fish poop. That fish poop just happens to be an excellent, perfect, organic plant fertilizer. In a properly balance aquaponics system, the hydroponic plants would require NO other fertilizers other than the fish poop being siphoned from the fish tank to the plants. Amazing!

Some of the more common aquaponics systems use goldfish, which are incredibly hardy and can survive the extremes of temperature that are inherent in northern climates, even within a sheltered greenhouse. We are most interested in a system that would raise tilapia, which you could then eat!! We are talking a whole-survival system here, providing protein (fish) and all of your veggie needs. In fact, many developing countries are implementing these systems because of the incredible results and the small amount of input needed. The most expensive part would actually just be the start-up.

Aquaponics is catching on around the country. Though it certainly is not new, this national spotlight is. It's the perfect melding of time and opportunity: people are interested in sustainability because it presents a chance at self-sufficiency and affordability in uncertain times. What is sustainable is often not only healthier, but also cheaper. And aquaponics, excluding the initial start-up costs, is a cost-effective way to grow your own healthy, organic food.

The NY Times just recently ran an article on aquaponics:

"The Spotless Garden"

Check out this cool website about how to build a basic backyard aquaponics system within a small greenhouse:

"Aquaponics, An Ecocircle in Action"

And here are some links to more articles and blogs to learn more about aquaponics:

The Aquaponics Gardening Blog

"Aquaponics: The Urban Food Revolution"

"Aquaponics Raises Fish & Vegetables Sustainably"

"NY City's First Hydroonic Rootop Garden to Produce 30 Tons of Food Annually"

Finally, if you search "aquaponics" on YouTube.com, you will find all sorts of great how-to videos. Good luck!

Words to Live By

My friend Angie shared these famous words by Max Ehrmann with me recently, and I thought they were inspiring enough to post. This is his Desiderata, written c. 1920. Enjoy.

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."

-Max Ehrmann c.1920