HealthSprout
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Rss
  • Home
  • Black Friday Deals!
  • Recommended Products
  • WIN MASSAGE WITH HEALTHSPROUT
  • Daily Sprout
  • Services
    • Be RICH 2014 – HealthSprout Style
    • Chiropractic
    • Decompression Therapy
    • Massage Club
    • TOXIC Body Detoxification
  • About
    • Testimonials
      • Abigail Estevez
      • Aiden LaBrecque
      • Gerry Kehler
      • Heather Arnold
      • Joan Carlton
      • Laura Battista
      • Les White
      • Matt Godfrey
      • Michael Borgia
      • The Goodwin’s
  • Events
    • Body By God Challenge
    • Calendar
    • Max T3 Exercise Classes
    • Supercharge Your Health
    • Total Food Makeover
  • Contact & Hours
    • Hours
    • New Patient Information
  • Dr. Marks Blog – On the 60 Day Path
Home» Daily Sprout » Why you should grow your own food – Aquaponics

Why you should grow your own food – Aquaponics

Posted on August 31, 2011 by DrEric in Daily Sprout No Comments

So you might have been around long enough to have heard me speak about Aquaponics from the “I really don’t have a clue what this is” perspective.  To the “I think maybe, if we could just perfectly, make this to kind of…” perspective.  And now, I am in the understanding and hopeful place, which will lead to the “I am tweaking the output to insure that” phase.

Basically, it is a simple concept.  Fish poop.  That poop is incredible fertilizer, in that all of the minerals necessary for food growth are present when that poop is broken down in the nitrogen cycle.  So basically, if you were to stick the roots of your favorite veges in the water of a fish pond, and if you were to pull them out just often enough that they could absorb nutrients and water, and oxygen, then they would become bountiful plants.

Aquaponics does just that.  So when you watch this video, you should ask the question – “Is it worth the hassle”?

So the answer is, yes!  Now, my system is a lot more effort to create than what we will be teaching you how to create, but the hassle and extra expense do two things that you might want.

  1. Improve your cleanliness of your food, allowing organic to be truly achievable at every level.
  2. Give you permanence to your system, so that you can produce a garden full of plants all year round (winter too), as long as you like, with minimal maintenance to your system.
But still, what is the value of this thing?  Well, my system could be valued at $4-6,000 simply because of the time that we put into design, re-design, and build.  But that is a pricey system for those reasons.  Let’s assume we knew what we were doing from the beginning.  I think we could have produced this for a cost of close to $3k.  And that is an aesthetically pleasing fish pond, with the ability to produce an amazing amount of food.
The grow bed surface area is a total of 80 square feet.  This interesting study took some time to digest, but it has me estimating that with the right number of fish in my pond (oh, and I might be trying the tilapia… we’ll see), I could yield the same number of crops from my 80 square feet, as I could from a dirt garden of about 1000 square feet.  Now I will be the first to say, I am not a green thumb, so this might not work out as planned.  But let me break this down.
If I were to spend $100 a week in organic produce, I could easily replace that during a four month period with the draw from my gardens.  So that works out to $1600 that I could save.  In addition, I have an additional four months where I will replace about $30 a week in vegetables. Another $480.  I figured that I could also plant some annual plants and train them out side of the grow bed area, and improve that over time (blueberries are my first thought).

My next generation backyard!!

So in a decent growth rate, I should be able to cove most of my cost in about one year.  But this is the piece that I need you to understand.  We are in a food crisis, with escalating costs of all food, not to mention organic food.   I do not want to be making healthier and healthier decisions, that continually cost more and more money.  I expect that my health, and the health of my family, will always be the number one expense in my life… I choose that.  But I do not expect to see those costs continually escalate.  This is why I am eager to grow my own!
A dirt garden is a great place to start if you have no garden, but by next spring, we’ll be ready to teach you exactly how to get your own system going if that is what you want to do!  Be well, be organic!  Dr. E

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Recent Posts

  • Be Inspired to WIN at Health
  • Today we start the #Straight60 (Clean KETO)
  • Healthcare decisions for young teens without parental consent??
  • New Years = New You!
  • The Christmas Post

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • December 2007

Keep Up With Office News

  • Be Inspired to WIN at Health February 13, 2019
  • Today we start the #Straight60 (Clean KETO) February 4, 2019
  • Healthcare decisions for young teens without parental consent?? January 23, 2019
  • New Years = New You! January 1, 2019
  • The Christmas Post December 21, 2018

Order Today!

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

(c) 2013 HealthSprout