How did we choose our aquaponic training?

   During tours or general conversation with my customers, I am often asked how I learned to grow aquaponically and what brought us to this point. In 2013 when we were contemplating the purchase of this land, I knew I wanted to get more experience with organic vegetable growing so I signed up for a 6 month internship at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, which is an organic farm in Indiana owned by Catholic nuns.  At that point I think I knew very little about aquaponics or why someone would even consider growing food that way. As part of our internship we were required to do a project before we left the program. Since I had spent 30+ years in  food service management, with the last 18 of those years being in institutional food service management, I decided to do an analysis to see if the land that White Violet owned could supply most of the food that the sisters needed for their facilities. In doing my research I came across information on aquaponics and the high density level of growing that you could do in a small footprint of land. Aquaponics seemed to be very well suited to what we wanted to do with our farm, since most of our land is comprised of a steep slope. We needed a way to grow efficiently and since we are on a well, we needed to be able to grow food without the need for lots of irrigation. I also knew that I would be the main person to take care of the crops and I wasn't really fond of spending my days weeding.
   In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm the type of person who researches any large investment extensively before pulling the trigger. And that is exactly how I viewed going to aquaponic training...as an investment. An investment in the future food supply for me and my family and an investment in something that I could build upon for the future. Sure there are lots of videos out there on You Tube that will teach you how to build different types of aquaponic systems but what would happen when I have a question down the road?..."Will there be a video that addresses my specific question?" I chose Friendly Aquaponics training classes because of the experience of the instructors. They have real world experience and have grown large amounts of produce for close to 10 years. They don't sell expensive equipment packages, like some of the other companies I researched, but would teach me how to build a system myself and they would be there to answer any questions I would have for as long as I have my system.
 One of my favorite sayings is something that one of my college professors used to say, "You don't have to know everything...you just have to know where to find it." I "found it" when we went to the training that Friendly Aquaponics held in Tennessee. I didn't have to know everything but I knew that if I went to the people who could show me how to build a system and give me step-by-step manuals that would help me design and run a system that I would have peace of mind in knowing I could do it. And if I get really stuck and need help, they have been there to answer my e-mails and help me out.
 It seemed like a lot of money when we signed up for the training because we had to take a week off of work, plus pay for a hotel and gas to drive to Tennessee. But it's been worth every penny to know that we are able to grow our own food supply and have chemical-free food throughout the year. I've spent my life in the food service business and I don't know about you but when I see the decline in food quality on the supply side of the industry, it scares me to death and makes me proud to be a primary food producer.
   It makes us really proud to be able to "pay it forward", by being a training center here in the Northeast. By working with Tim & Susanne, from Friendly Aquaponics, we want to share with people the step by step process of creating a system, whether it's a small table-top size system or a huge, commercial one) so you can return home and become primary food producers too. To sign up for training, just like what we went through, go to http://www.friendlyaquaponics.com/pennsylvania-training/

Almost There

Final Stages of Greenhouse Construction VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The builder and his crew worked yesterday. The good news is they got the last of the steel on and the solar fans installed. One screen door has been hung (two more to go) and downspout for one side of the roof has been completed. The bad news is that they still have two more screen doors to put on, one more downspout and the double poly for the roof. They will wait till we have a “calm” morning with very little to no wind to come back and finish. A warmish day would be nice but last night we slipped into the icy abyss of another polar vortex that is going to last through the weekend. The wind chills today are in the –25 range, which is dang cold. The kind of cold that makes your nose hairs tingle when you go outside. Thank goodness for the alpaca ski mask and gloves I bought at White Violet Center, during my internship last year, that got me through Indiana’s polar vortex. Nothing like alpaca fleece to keep you warm and dry, without the bulk.
The inside of the barn looks like a construction zone, due to the builders using it for material prep and a place to go to get warm. Anxious to get the greenhouse painting done so that I can build the troughs, etc. but nothing can happen till the plastic goes on and the space warms up. So we wait…