Georgian Bay Aquaponics

10/26/2024

No Synthetic Fertilizers: Our spinach thrives on natural nutrients from fish waste, eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers and making it truly organic

10/24/2024

Fresh food in cold climates isn’t a dream - it’s aquaponics reality! We are growing indoors with grow lights and keeping the cycle going, no matter the season.

07/06/2024

Seeing this being built really makes me smile Murray 😃 It has been 10 years since I learned your design and in my opinion it is still the best design for a large home system, or even for small commercial use.💚

INDY 23 Aquaponics system construction pix. Two being built side by side. We call this a "TWINDY"
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08/24/2023

07/26/2023

microgreens planting 101 - crash course
see original post below for more details

10/25/2022

AGE BETTER BY EATING FISH! 🧓👦
Fish is a superfood when it comes to protecting your body as it ages. Here are six good reasons to make fish tonight for dinner:

1. ❤️ The omegas in salmon, trout and char help keep your heart strong. Many large observational studies show that people who eat fish regularly have a lower risk of heart attacks, strokes, and death from heart disease. One study of 40,000 people in the US showed even one serving a week lowers the risk by 15%!

2. 🧠 Many studies show that people who eat more fish have slower rates of mental decline. One of 260 people used MRIs to show that people who eat fish every week have more gray matter (your brain’s major functional tissue) in the parts of the brain that regulate emotion and memory.

3. 👀 Two studies out of the UK showed that regularly consuming fish lowered your risks of age-related macular degeneration by half!

4. 💅 The rich astaxanthin content in trout and salmon (which is what makes the fillets orange) may help maintain skin elasticity, reduce the signs of aging and protect the skin against UV damage according to researchers in Korea.

5. 🦴💪 The high-quality protein in fish help maintain bone health, prevent muscle loss and help the body heal and repair. The omegas are also anti-inflammatory, so they'll help with the pain and stiffness of arthritis.

6. 😴 We all know sleeping can be difficult as you age. In a 6-month study in 95 middle-aged men, a meal with salmon 3 times per week led to improvements in both sleep and daily functioning. Researchers speculate it's all that vitamin D in fish!

Plus our dad always told our mom that fish slime on her face would make her look ten years younger, but the science is fishy on that one!

GET LOCAL FISH DELIVERED without paying premium prices. CAST A LINE to our website to get HOOKED: https://buff.ly/3Sqwlyc

Sources: https://buff.ly/3Sgq0W8

10/19/2022

"But your farm could have an impact on the environment" 🌳

Our farm DOES have an impact, but why do we assume that's a bad thing?

All the waters from our farms eventually make their way into Lake Huron — a lake that scientists recently called a "biological desert" (citations at link in comments).

It's a desert because there's been such a decline in nutrients over the last 50 years owing to invasive species and human impact. The lake doesn't have enough food for all the critters at the bottom of the food chain, which means declines in those at the top like lake whitefish and trout. 😢

The crystal clear waters may look good for photos, but if you can see 50 feet down to the bottom, that means there is very little living in that water.

At our farms we do our best to catch stray nutrients before they leave the farm, but a small part heading downstream is unavoidable.

But scientists now say those nutrients could be an important tool in bringing back the wild fish in Lake Huron. 🎣

A 10-year study from Lakehead University and Fisheries and Oceans Canada showed that lake trout populations doubled after five years of a farm operating in an experimental lake similar to Lake Huron. With additional nutrients, first the macroinvertebrates and zooplankton thrived, then eventually the smaller and bigger fish too.

In the last two years scientists at the University of Guelph have analyzed stable isotope and fatty acid signatures (referred to as biotracers) in the wild fish to look for evidence that these fish ultimately benefit from aquaculture inputs around farms in Lake Huron. They came to similar conclusions that fish farms could have a positive effect on local fish communities. 🌱

That doesn't mean we should put fish farms everywhere, or put as much nutrients as we can into the lake. It's very important that we don't overload nutrients in one place that can cause nuisance algae, like a bay with very little water exchange. That's why we do such rigorous water testing and river studies, and also why regulators ensure we do plenty of environmental testing before a new farm goes in (and why it took our parents 9 years to site their first farm)!

And what about viruses or sea lice transferring to wild fish? Well we are very fortunate in the Great Lakes that we don't have many of these things to worry about, in part because they don't live in fresh water and also because it gets so cold nothing survives anyways! (Though we do full viral and bacteria screening on our fish before transferring them between farms, just to be sure.)

Sometimes we see products or companies use clever marketing to persuade us that we can consume without an environmental impact. They use green labels, carbon offsets, or a promise to recycle. But often those promises look at one thing (like zero water discharge) and ignore everything else (high carbon emissions).

Everything we do has an environmental impact. It's not about believing we can have no impact, but rather about having as little impact as possible.

Or in the case of fish farming, having a POSITIVE impact.

On your next Springhills dinner, you can feel confident you're eating fish that is:
🌎 humanely raised
🌎 very low carbon emissions (thanks to gravity flowed water & high feed conversion!)
🌎 environmentally regulated
🌎 eco-certified (which involves even more water testing)
🌎 and is linked to regenerating Lake Huron to bring the wild fish back!

08/04/2022

One of the amazing things about aquaponics is that is can bring the opportunity to produce their own food to people living in urban environments without access to soil to garden in. It's exciting to see projects like this one in the Bronx popping up to use aquaponics to help the people who need it! https://buff.ly/3JBnw1X

04/24/2021

Now that college is finally over for me, I am able to turn my attention back to more important things 😉🌱
I had time today to put my grow shelf back up. This shelf setup is for microgreens and seed starting... we will get started on the aquaponics system very soon!

04/10/2021

👨‍🌾👩‍🌾

Open this morning! 8-12:30. Essential food.

03/25/2021

"That’s where the fun of actively being involved in growing their own food comes in. Not only will they be able to grow the food, but also they’ll learn about how the ecosystems in the forests and waterways work."

Community partnerships between agriculturalists and schools create opportunities to engage students with STEM subjects, to impact poverty gaps and to promote good nutrition.

"Taylor said there will be four components, or four different farming practices, involved — aquaponics, hydroponics, traditional soil gardening and a permaculture food forest."

https://www.orangeobserver.com/article/community-partnership-cultivates-farm-at-ocoee-charter-schools?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=e320347a13c8fc958082a1edcd5d563f3801f939-1616666898-0-AV4f-9BCufdbuAkGpc0cASr1FQd9XjyiEGEfaRwiCXASwLIklDUQf04c38ry734BRz8khWFRPyfI-XK1FSpgqhoSSMP0lyjjowfau6Znff5kL4AsJqdIgMEsdcZ0lOFgLxP67uzMpYI5v9cl3cfUQCjem4acLk81m0U_RW5qD6l3NygWrITuYCiCBa6uAi516grk_D2Dhk6Khh5q1kp_0oH8o4B5qLmN9S2UqIXy2YyzWlMwU2JpX3sN_T9MkPFDfcLefQABo0HzGSMRFMJLTBGc64f8kbYbNMclxhGhZump2vMmEV1wCGsnyOvlfWFWrRkuUGNMBSNzI3Za3bz4b8OGR37-_BWNG0T99tX5Qtb9mopfAftM4esSkq6fL1xfxy5yTpRyLKPaOhMf_oQaxP24PTXzzKLRL9_72u-11fvVisgwzFmw2OEtD-5F9jRjOS1qmL1LBG-N-hBrffhRnmnFUqG2q27P1G2C4bpwrAL_NDDsiIVi2Th5RkuP-w4Gf6iCBoKY3Ndhdhqxaqf1RjWRFKFIjtKbI_6jHLJ8qyq2ENVWT8pMAtyR0IFlPsOs4taJ8E06UkBlf5N4Q8UyRL4d1hkdh6PGHZBuyuaWuOTmwRXxBq2PZPNQB3lJ382n1A

02/25/2021

Mmmm Mmmm Maple Syrup! Coming soon to a market near you! 🥞👨‍🌾

Tapping frenzy underway! Ontario maple syrup producers are working flat out this week to tap sugar bushes

https://www.ontariofarmer.com/news/farm-news/maple-weekend-cancelled-for-2021/wcm/b8b38577-bfd2-4d41-af55-a7c130dd51d3

02/24/2021

The Owen Sound Farmers' Market is open every Saturday, from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Covid protocols remain in place: masks required, hand sanitizing, social distancing and one way traffic flow. If you prefer, our online store remains open for shopping Sunday - Thursday at noon, with convenient curbside pickup at the market Saturday from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. https://www.localline.ca/owensoundfarmersmarket

02/19/2021

have a great weekend!

02/18/2021

We grew some of these herbs last year, transplanted into our old aquaponics system. Great quality, great flavour! We will be picking some more up soon from Westside... you should too!

Inside the greenhouse the organic herbs have been growing so fast ... they got a haircut today ✂️

Available herbs:
4.5" pot -> Basil, basil thai, coriander, curled parsley, spearmint, wheatgrass - $6.99
5" pot -> Rosemary - $10.99

Stop in and grab a pot of fresh herbs for a continuous supply. Cut what you need and let the plant continue to grow for the next recipe. No more waste, no more packaging, readily available in your own kitchen.

02/16/2021

Something new we are going to try while we wait out the winter...

02/12/2021

“If we achieve this, the technology produced will be an incredible step for space travel, but also, groundbreaking for earth aquaponics systems as well,” says Fanara.

Fish can be taken into space as fertilized eggs and then grown to full size on board