New Yorkers bring fish farms to urban jungle

AsiaOne.com ^ | Apr 28, 2012 | unknown

[Daffynition]

NEW YORK - So you recycle, drive a small car, and try to eat organic. But what about running an eco-sustainable fish farm combined with a naturally fertilized vegetable patch in your kitchen?

Christopher Toole and Anya Pozdeeva, two former New York bankers who founded the Society for Aquaponic Values and Education (SAVE), are there to help.

"We call it 'beyond organic,'" Pozdeeva, 39, said.

Aquaponics is a technique with ancient roots for breeding tank fish, recycling their effluent-filled water to fertilize vegetation, then allowing this naturally cleaned water to drip back into the tank below.

It's a perfect, miniature eco system that will let you grow healthy food right in a cramped apartment with almost no specialist equipment.

[bigheadfred]

it was scarey

There is that song by Metallica...

"Sleep with one eye open
Grippin' your pillow tight..."
"...Hush little baby don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just a tomato under your bed
In your closet in your head"

"Enter Sandman" by Metallica

[American in Israel]

Our neighbor died in the house, it was 9 weeks before anybody checked, she was a real privacy freak. When the power was going to be shut off she was found.

In her fridge was a few cartons of milk, all were still fresh. I think all the milk in Alaska is ultra pasteurized to survive the shipping. I wonder if the milk is so inert that bacteria and mold cant digest it, how do we digest it?

Is that why Americans who have a higher dairy intake than most all people groups also suffer from calcium deficiency problems. I suspect pasteurizing it locks down the calcium.

[Daffynition]

Mess...disease...desruction. Yes. What a loon!

On the east side off 2nd Ave, there's a funny, tiny little strip of land with a few trees, not sure I'd call it a park, that boasts black squirrels.

[Daffynition]

We have a group of Mennonites here that sell their perfect hydroponic tomatoes at a farmer’s market...their table always has a jump-start on the other vendors promoting their produce. The tomatoes are wonderful! Off-season they sell to local restaurants.

[EDINVA]

Can’t figure out quite why, but the grounds of the National Cathedral in DC also host black squirrels.

[hinckley buzzard]

Cute picture, but black squirrels are quite common in the midwest.

[RegulatorCountry]

I wonder what they’re doing to maintain the flavor? We see perfect, gorgeous tomatoes around here that are hydroponically grown, but they’re very bland tasting. I’ve always thought that growing them in soil out in the weather mattered as far as flavor, as a result.

[Sarajevo]

Though I suspect that’s not the same as growing them in a limited spaced tilapia garbage can in a NYC apartment. Can you imagine the smell in that apartment, ick.

I have 12 tomato plants growing in hydroponic beds watered from a 600 gallon stock tank. It smells like fresh lake water.

[EDINVA]

Reminds me of a friend in NOLA. Had a tree in front of his house; its roots had dug up the sidewalk and were threatening the house foundation itself. Alas, the tree is a “protected” species, and its removal required winning a lottery and special dispensation from the Pope (or a Landrieu).

When Katrina hit it wiped out much of their neighborhood, including one daughter’s home that was fully wrecked, our friend’s that was so damaged they couldn’t move back for two years, and a son’s home that had somewhat acceptable damage. But, the (blanking) tree withstood it all. And stands to this day, “protected.”