URBAN AGRICULTURE-AQUAPONICS TOUR

i heard a fascinating talk today on the very current topic of urban gardening and specifically on aquaponics. i was at the 'rethinking soup' program at jane addams hull house where each week, a guest speaker informs and entertains us as we eat free soup and bread. one of today's guests was emmanual pratt, an urban planner, artist, and co-founder of the sweetwater organics in milwaukee. sweetwater organics started when emmanual and friends took an abandoned industrial building and turned it into an aquaponics business. {aquaponics is the integration of hydroponics (growing plants in water) and aquaculture (raising fish in indoor environments)}. the fish provide nutrients for the plants in a circulating system. they sell the fish (tilapia and perch), as well as the fruits, vegetables and herbs. they're doing so well they have expanded the business to outdoor greenhouses, too.

emmanual, who is a professor at chicago state university, started an aquaponics program there as well. their mission extends to educating the surrounding community, all the way down to kindergartners. i'm really interested in learning more about it, so i spoke briefly with emmanual about visiting the facility. this could be a really fascinating tour, maybe as much fun as the tofu factory tour was a few weeks ago. emmanuel is a passionate, articulate speaker and activist and i think this will appeal to other lth'ers, so please reply here if you'd like to go on a weekend tour. i'll talk to him about a date if there is enough interest. thanks, justjoan (check out the links below for photos)
http://www.csu.edu/biologicalsciences/Aquaponics.htm
http://sweetwater-organic.com/

Hi,

I would be interested as the date and time does not conflict with a Culinary Historians or Chicago Foodways Roundtable morning program.

Regards,

Joan-

Not to take anything away from what I'm sure is a fine operation, but are you familiar with Growing Power and The Plant? Both are located in Chicago, and raise aquaponic plants/fish (Growing Power has aquaponics set up for plants at its Iron Street location, although it might not quite have their fish operations going yet). The Plant conducts tours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a suggested donation of $10. Growing Power would probably accommodate requests to arrange tours. In fact, Growing Power regularly hosts open house-type activities (they just had one a couple weeks ago) that was publicized fairly widely, at least it was on Local Beet, Twitter, and I believe Gapers Block as well. So if you're interested in learning more about aquaponics, you could always join one of The Plant's tours or attend one of Growing Powers' fun events where you'll find lots of other people interested in this method of agriculture.

And...

As part of the 2012 FamilyFarmed Good Food Expo, there's a tour of several Chicago facilities including Growing Power and the Plant. The event is March 17. You can get details at their web site: http://goodfoodfestivals.com

I would be interested in going on a LTH group tour to any of these facilities.