I noticed a reference to this
blog on the FUAL website. For those
coming to this blog via that link – welcome.
I went on to the site
today to have a browse.
While snooping, I noticed
that I was not one of the candidates recommended by this site for a “balanced”
council.
That’s fine - all part of
being in an election campaign.
I do find it interesting
that no one from FUAL, or any individual claiming to be affiliated with FUAL,
has asked my perspective on urban agriculture…
While on the site, I
found a section that says “What We Are About”. It states:
- We are Lantzville residents who support growing healthy, local food.
- We invite friends from Lantzville, the Regional District of Nanaimo and elsewhere to join us.
- We believe urban agriculture is an important community value in Lantzville.
I did not find any information/goals/solutions
on how to achieve these objectives.
Since I was thinking
along the urban farming thread, I thought I’d post up some information on
aquaponics, or what I consider urban farming - on steroids.
What is
aquaponics?
It was
invented separately in ancient times by some badass farmers in both China and
the Amazon.
It
combines the raising of fish (aquaculture) with the growing of plants in
nutrient-rich water (hydroponics). The fish fertilize the plants, and the
plants clean the water.
It
doesn’t matter where you live. It works in the desert, it works in the
tropics. You can do it in urban areas, or
rural areas.
An 8’x16′
aquaponics greenhouse, built on a frugal, put-your-own-sweat-into-it over-the-weekend solution would cost around $3,000 to build.
In one
year, a healthy, well operated system can grow the following fish and produce:
150 lbs
of trout/tilapia fillets
75 lbs of
basil leaves
50 lbs of spinach
40 lbs of
fresh unwashed lettuce
If you
were to buy this food at market prices, it’s about $3,500 worth of food produced per
year. Operating/production costs for the system are approximately
$1,000 per year.
And all
in an 8’x16′ area.
No comments:
Post a Comment