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Wanted Aquaponics Farmer $30 per Hour
CEREs in Melbourne Australia are looking for a super motivated and entrepreneurial urban farmer to run their small commercial Aquaponic Food Hub system as part of their Food Hub urban farming research project. Do you have what it takes to run a small hi-tec urban farm as a professional farmer growing high value crops and selling them direct to niche markets and through a veggie box system? This is a contract position – they are looking for a farmer who will run an established system of around 75 square metres that produces 400-700 vegetable...
read moreHow a $2 Pocket Knife is ReGreening Africa
How can barren fields, degraded forests and grazing lands be reforested without planting a single tree? Is it possible? Well yes, according to Tony Rinaudo and his work with World Vision in regenerating over 30,000 acres in West Africa all with the aid of just a simple pocket knife and a clever idea. In the Niger it is estimated 60 million trees were planted from nurseries over 20 year period with less than a 25% survival rate. Tony Rinaudo wondered what to do to help give trees a chance of surviving in this desolate location. “I felt...
read moreVertical Gardens
Making use of vertical wall space located in a sunny spot is a great way to grow your garden. In fact you don’t need pumps or complicated equipment to start growing your own vegetable garden. As long as you have a consistent amount of sunshine of around 6 hours per day and a collection of plastic drink containers and some ingenuity you can create a mini vegetable garden and have it self-water the system. Consider this novel approach to harnessing gravity to feed your garden. Easy Vertical Bottle Garden All you need is a small amount of...
read moreAquaponics as Art
Here’s an interesting art exhibition held last year using a variation of aquaponics or worm tea as the nutrient to feed the plants. Some people call it Vermi-aquaponics and its a simpler way to feed your plants without fish. The worms in a conventional compost heap create a worm tea, a type liquid nutrient concentrate that plants love. Its a much easier method to grow your fresh lettuce and herbs without the problems of supplying enough oxygen and aeration to keep the fish happy. This art piece created from a rainbow of plastic...
read moreAquaponics: The Power of Kale
Australian Television gardening guru Peter Cundall was well into his eighties when he was once asked why he looked so fit and healthy? His answer was, “The last time I went to a doctor because I was sick was in 1951.” “The reason why I’m so healthy is because I actually do a lot of hard, physical work in the garden, and I also eat the food that I grow myself, but there’s one particular thing that I grow that is extraordinarily good for you. It’s called kale!” What is Kale? Kale is a form of cabbage of...
read moreAquaponics Brewery powered by fish waste?
Is it a brewery or a tea shop or an aquaponics system or even a bit of a mixture of Permaculture design? It’s so crazy, it might just work? Wouldn’t it be great to have an aquaponics system running like a perpetual motion machine where you just add a few fish and some plants and the system grows food and beer as well? Heck, why stop there, add a bio-digester and power the whole thing off the waste of the spent grain from the brewery? This is the brainchild idea of Chicago entrepreneur John Edel who plans on turning a 93,000 square...
read moreHarvesting Barramundi in Aquaponics
There’s nothing finer than to grow your own fish in your own backyard – except perhaps catching them and eating them! Sometime ago we decided to grow a few Barramundi in our aquaponics system. We were told that they were a specialized fish and unsuitable to grow-out for the beginner. The Warm Water Fish Now Barramundi do have some specific requirements. They are a warm water loving fish and thrive in water temperatures over 26 degrees Celsius where they tend to pile on the weight. So if you live in the tropics then...
read moreEdible School Gardens Instructional DVD
Coming out towards the end of May 2012 is a DVD title we’ve been working on for well over a year. Leonie Shanahan’s Edible School Gardens DVD follows the design, implementation and construction of a working school garden from start to finish. Author and Educator Leonie Shanahan has built dozens of edible school gardens over the years and has been a positive influence on children and their new healthy eating habits. Leonie’s years of study in the fields of Horticulture, Permaculture and Organic Gardening is translated into a...
read moreToxic Plants around your Aquaponics System
Keeping an aquaponics system in the backyard is a lot of fun but do keep a careful eye on the trees and shrubs your have growing around your system as they could be toxic. Most plants are safe and toxic free but some species of flowering plants can be dangerous once the breeze catches them and they flutter down and land on your fish tank. Here’s a first hand example. We have a concrete block fence with a border of Australian Lilypilly’s surrounding the outside fence for added privacy. Lilypillys are a dense green shrub and not...
read moreDr Wilson Lennard on Commercial Aquaponics Design
Recently Ecofilms Jane Gapinski caught up with biologist and aquaponics consultant Dr Wilson Lennard who was running a little experimental commercial aquaponics system located at CERES a community farm and education center located in Melbourne, Australia. This community aquaponics system was not designed by Lennard but he was invited to take it over in an attempt to make it work profitably. The produce that is harvested is sold to the local cafe located at the site. Dr Lennard in the video points out a few design flaws and shares some tips...
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