Roosevelt School District and Wellness Center

[David Schwinghamer]

Roy Allen of the Artisan Food Guild and myself have been working closely with Jim H. getting something started with gardens and schools. Well it looks like our first project is going to be at the Wellness Center. Below shows a rendering I created in Sketchup of what they want. Basically its three planters that match the slump block that the main building is using. 

I have done some experimenting with the earthbox design using my fish water in the reservoir below. If you dont know about earthboxes they basically are like aquaponics accept it uses real soil to wick up water to the roots. I built two earthboxes out of plastic container and planted two tomato plants from Home Depot that are on a super thrust grow plan! I want to use this same technology with the planters at the Wellness Center. I think I will also have to incorporate some sort of drip irrigation to keep the reservoirs filled.

[Bob Campbell]

Nice Sketchup drawing!

I have yet to try the wicking method, but it looks very promising.  Good luck with your project.

[David Schwinghamer]

Well Bob, all I can say is try it, you may then wonder why you started aquaponics.

[Stephanie Bader]

I have a couple of wicking pots and i love them. This is the design I used for them: http://media.animalnetwork.com/channelmedia/urbanfarmonline/UF1004b...

[David Schwinghamer]

Very interesting Steph, water will travel to soak the whole rag then the soil, ingenious! I have found that coco coir and compost works great.

[Bob Campbell]

@David Schwinghamer - Here's my sketchup link.  What's yours?

[David Schwinghamer]

I only show my wife mine!

[Daniel Budfuloski]

David, do you ever have problems funding these projects?

[Daniel Budfuloski]

David, do you ever have problems funding these projects?

[Daniel Budfuloski]

David, do you ever have problems funding these projects?

[Daniel Budfuloski]

David, do you ever have problems funding these projects?

[David Schwinghamer]

Daniel,

Well this is our first so lack of experience. Do you have some funds we can use in the future?

[Daniel Budfuloski]

Sorry for the four questions... Not sure what happened. I personally don't have funds to donate to this cause, but I believe that Intel (where I work) has grants that can be given to build these projects and as an added bonus, you can get an ample amount of volunteers to help you build this project. If you want me to look more into it, hit me up on here with a inbox message. I'll give you my work email and we can look more into it together.