Image by Andwar via Flickr
Aug 20, 2012 by yardboidoroony
You don’t need to eat fish to set up a backyard aquaponics system! Ducks are a great alternative and produce a huge amount of nutrient for growing veggies (not to mention eggs, meat and snail & slug control!) and they’re generally good friends to have around. At the Farm of Fluff, Chris and James set up this “quaquaponics” system with a few bits and pieces we’d collected from the side of the road and so far it’s doing brilliantly! You need a strong pump and good filtration to cope with the large particles coming through, though! (We found a whole tomato blocking the drain one day, so check and clean regularly!)
http://www.wethetrees.com/projects/15-permaculture-ukulele-musical-project
Updated: June 30, 2014
Backyard aeroponics: self-sustaining farm for Wisconsin cold
Kirsten Dirksen on Jun 29, 2014
Benjamin Staffeldt grew up on a farm and works in a garden center so when he and his wife Sara moved into a rental home (a duplex), it was only natural he’d want to start farming his (shared) backyard. They began with containers and then bought a kit greenhouse to extend the growing season and were selling to local supermarkets and restaurants, but the heating bills to farm during Wisconsin winters (with temperatures as low as -70°F) was cutting sharply into their profits.
They knew they had to maximize greenhouse space so they decided to grow vertical and to grow differently. They experimented with hydroponics and finally settled on aeroponics. “So aeroponics is similar to hydroponics using water rather than soil, but it’s mist,” explains Benjamin. “It’s a mist that comes on inside the growing chamber, and it comes on every 3 minutes for 10 seconds, it’s a really high oxygen water that’s hitting that root. The method was actually developed and is being used by NASA because it uses so much less water and the speed of growth is much faster.”
To fully customize the growing experience, they added a thermal wrap to their aeroponics towers which helps refract light to help keep the temperature stable within the grow chambers. They’re now growing enough in their 10′ by 12′ greenhouse for farming to be Sara’s full-time job.
They’re hoping to commercialize their hybrid system- what they call Art Garden- and have posted to kickstarter for funding. It’s geared toward those looking to grow in a cold climate and in a small space (one unit fits into 4 square feet). This is all part of an increasingly customized growing world that Ben hopes might make farmers out of more of us.
Their kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2004898989/art-garden-revolutionary-vertical-gardening-system
Art Garden: http://artgardenllc.wix.com/artgarden
Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/backyard-aeroponics-self-sustaining-farm-for-wisconsin-cold/
From the archives:
Detroit: Urban Farming Revolution
Portland’s Backyard Fruit – From Waste to Feast
Tim A. Wise: The Drought and the Coming Food Price Bubble
Pam Warhurst: How We Can Eat Our Landscapes + Stephen Ritz: Green Walls Feeding the Bronx
Internet of food: Arduino-based, urban aquaponics in Oakland
Dandelion Salad 
Updated: added video on aeroponics.
That’s really rad. I remember reading about somebody who allowed chicken feces to fall into the water to feed tilapia, but then there was the concern about salmonella. How do you guys address this risk?
Thanks, DragonPie. Good question. Please post it on the actual Youtube video, if you’d like to have their response.