I would like to know what desire or need brought you to Aquaponic Gardening

[Chris Downs]

I would like to know what desire or need brought you to Aquaponic Gardening?

1. Greater freedom and independence
2. Greater wealth
3. Better health
4. More choice
5. Help more people
6. Grow organic food for yourself, family and friends

I appreciate your help,  I am interested in finding out the different reasons we are all here, growing organic food.

[Chris Downs]

Thank Jim, 

I have seen some springs that I was told were artesian that barely bubbled out of the ground.  Thank you for your information!

Jim Fisk said:

An artesian well is as far from being a spring as you can get. Our well is 300 feet deep all steel cased and comes out of the well with such pressure that I had to weld bolts on the casing to keep the top from blowing off. No pollution there.

Chris Downs said:

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your reply!  I have heard of the "Extra long Contrails and some of the additives in jet fuel for a while now.  I am an A&P aviation licensed mechanic.  I am also a pilot with a single engine land rating.  I will do some more research, as I have not spent much time on it. 

We are also looking for a new property in a warmer more predictable environment with a spring.  Have you spoken to some of the others regarding your water?  I have done extensive raw water characteristic studies of some lakes in washington state for Seattle Pacific University in 1993.  It was a long haul, but it shows how much life there is in water that is relatively clean and protected. 

Thanks again for reminded me that the sky is a great source of pollution and who knows what else.  What precautions do you take to keep your spring safe?

Jim Fisk said:

Hi Chris and all. Here's a new reason that I have not seen here yet.

Am I the only one here that has been following Chemtrails for the last few years? (I know some people that have been studying them for more than 10 years) I have always grown an organic dirt garden and raised sheep and pigs and chickens for the family but I have become very concerned with all the ct information on the net so I wanted to start growing food organically under glass (well poly for now) in order to avoid the alarming amounts of aluminum and barium that the "elites" are dumping on us daily in an effort to control our weather. (Hello Sandy). Until proven otherwise I am thrilled to have a method of growing lots of food, both veg. and fish, without having to wonder what is in it. For this reason I also never use rain water, just artesian well water from 300 ft down. A major reason we purchased our Smoky Mtn homestead was that awesome well. No pump needed and very well filtered due to the 300' of well casing.

For those uninformed about chemtrails: go ahead and laugh, and then start getting educated. Google it for a real eye-opener. You too may end up wanting to cover your system. Mine is now covered. Just raked 7" of snow off of the 4 mil poly roof. No easy accomplishment

[Debra Colvin]

My reasons? I forget to water, and I kill fish any other way. The organic food is a bonus!

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Fun discussion, Chris!  Thank you for starting it.  The reason why I got in was the notion of organic hydroponics (I had been involved in hydroponics professionally for several years and was not happy about the nutrients) combined with growing your own fish - how cool is that!  Plus, as I get older I'm less and less enthusiastic about crawling around my veg gardens to pull weeds so I love the waist-high grow beds.  An then you have the environmental benefits of dramatically less water use and the re-use of waste.  I became obsessed with this almost four years ago and haven't looked back. 

[Bob Campbell]

I'm definitely a tech oriented man.  I have done hydroponics, but mixing all that nutrient stuff was a bummer.  I saw this thing about a vertical window gardening, and started goggling.   My life took a dramatic shift ever since.  I love watching the fish and keeping logs of water quality is not a chore at all. 

Up till now I have been experimenting, but I have finally figured out what I believe to be the "Perfect System"  It's taken about 10 months of trial and error, but that taught me enough to recognize what Murray was saying when he came to the USA to teach a class was absolutely the way to go.

I have since redesigned my outdoor cool water system, and have plans to rebuild my warm water system.

It's definitely the technology that I love, but it's also the way we recreate nature.  It's not about providing food for my table, but I get a special appreciation for the meal when I do harvest a crop and make a meal.

[Jon Parr]

Gophers!

I'm sitting on 9 acres of greedy gophers. They are the spawn of Satan and all things vile. Gophers led me to raised beds, which led me to a substantial investment and the discovery that my local gophers are willing to go on hikes and climb beds, chew through wire, even lobby politicians for equal treatment, paid holidays and 401K plans. "Failed" raised beds led me to hydroponics. The search for natural, local, sustainable organic nutrients for hydro led me to aquaponics.