Thank God, I’m Not the Only One Who Believes in Permaculture
Yesterday evening, I was walking the dog around the block when I ran into a neighbor, Adam, who was pushing his daughter Ada in a stroller. We got to talking about a bush on the side of the road that had recently flowered but only for a couple days. All its purple petals lay on the ground, their color rapidly fading, as we spoke.
Adam made his keen interest in horticulture immediately apparent. He pointed out a plant at the edge of the dry creek bed (taro, I think it was) and informed me that it was edible. Which got me talking about the pond I hope to create in my backyard someday and the plants I hope to grow in it. Which made him think of Tony, who lived just down the road from where we were standing and who I just had to meet.
Like Adam, Tony was my kind of guy. He spoke the same language I do, peppering his sentences with references to “synergy” and “feedback loops” and “aquaculture.” He seemed especially well versed on the last, and I made it known that I wanted to hear more. He promptly led me to his backyard where he showed me his aquaculture system (some of which can be seen in the picture above). In its heyday vegetables—mostly salad greens—grew in the three bins, which held gravel and nutrient-rich water that came from an aquarium full of fish. After the vegetables purified the water, it returned to the fish tank. It was a perfect closed-loop system that grew both veggies and fish… until it got so ridiculously hot and shut down. The same thing happened to the aquaculture project at the Rhizome Collective.
The whole explanation of how it works only took a couple minutes, but it was enough to get me hooked. I now know what Project #91 is.
Tags: aquaculture, horticulture, synergy
July 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Your insane productivity of late has been acknowledged and appreciated.
So what happens when an aquafier gets too hot? I need a visual…
JG
thinkingstoner.com
July 18th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Correction: While Tony’s system does contain an aquaculture (the aquarium) the entire system is more precisely referred to as “aquaponics,” the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment.
When the water in the system gets too hot, the fish die. For example, tilapia, a fish commonly raised using this method, do best when the water temperature is between 84 and 88 degrees F. When it gets any higher, which is entirely likely when your pond is sitting directly in the sun and it’s 101 degrees outside, they tend to go belly up. Think Exxon Valdez, only with the cause being high temperatures instead of oil. Graphic enough for you?