“This blog is way more than a play on words…it’s Aquaponics!”

–Silent Echo

Let’s get our feet wet with Aquaponics.

This is a totally new thing to me, but it seems to be rather interesting. I have really been looking into different options to grow my own food. In my current situation, the weather is not so forgiving this time of year. The more and more I thought about it, it was clear that the idea of free crop growing would be unlikely in my off-grid lifestyle.

There is a good chance that the land I’ll settle on won’t have the acreage to farm enough food for my whole family and still have living space. I plan to raise chickens, a horse or two and possibly cattle. These animals require so much space that I would be limited on what I can grow with the area left over. Who knows, maybe I’ll land a sweet deal and have plenty of room for multiple gardens! Either way, alternative options for growing food is a fun adventure and neat skill.

Hydroponics, a more heard about method, is a skill I already acquire but haven’t used in a long time. The biggest difference I could find when reading up on aquaponics was the FISH FACTOR. 

Both systems are soil-less and use a nutrient infused water flow. Aquaponics uses fish to naturally provide nutrients to plants from the fish waste. When the system is set up correctly, there is nothing wasted! The basics of the process goes something like this:

The science behind this system is much more complex than my little cycle chart, but that is above my pay grade! The idea is that the fish waste serves to feed the plants and the plants serve to filter and recycle water back to fish. This is a very likely scenario for me in my off-grid future.

I originally planned to have a “green house” of some kind to create an environment for upward gardens and specialty systems such as this, that could thrive in most seasons. There are several DIY projects out there and I plan on taking these ideas and making a system designed for my needs.

 

This photo is from a DIY site that gives awesome instruction to creating this system. This is probably my favorite image on the web that comes close to the design I want to try.

 

CLICK HERE to visit Farming 4 Change article on this design. They have a detailed part list and instructions. 

 

This is a project I am tucking away for the very near future. I want to do a little more research and gather YOUR opinion or experience before I start. Follow my blog for updates on this new skill and journey with me!

As I mentioned before, my current climate is very unforgiving this time of year. I have an enclosed back porch that would be a pretty awesome make-shift green house for such a project! Stay tuned 🙂 The skill or project I will be focused on for this coming weekend will be…HOMEMADE WATER FILTRATION. Oh yes, we are skill stacking. Water filtration plays a part in our agricultural adventures, no matter what route we take to get there.