Why Organic?

I wanted to quickly touch on the point of being organic.

“Organic” seems to be all the rage at the moment, but so it should be! As we become more and more aware of how our food is produced and what goes into our drinking water, etc. we all have the same notion to try to move away from this type of system, and back to something natural, fresh and...well....organic. It's not always that simple, nor cost effective to do so however. My wife and I made a commitment when we ventured down the aquaponics path that even though setting up a large scale (3000 litres +) aquaponics system would be costly, the health benefits for ourselves, our family, our future children and friends far outweighs the cost.

But being organic is not so simple, if you stay true to the term. Fish feed, fertilizer, water salts, water testing, even the water (fluoride in tap water is NOT organic!) used need to be organic, or free from contaminants of any shape or form. This is a huge challenge in itself. As an example we need to use rain water to fill the tanks, not tap water.

Originally we had ambitions of registering the domain name organicaquaponics.com.au, and selling my excess produce to make a dollar out of it. I had an epiphany at this stage that rather than selling the excess produce, why not just give it away, in an attempt to help others understand how this all works, and how they can benefit from home grown, organic produce.

A great idea is the welcoming of gold coin donations as this will help replenish seedlings at the start of each season, and also restock fish supplies and feed should we decide to eat them and give them away (undecided at this stage). My thoughts were to have a money jar in the greenhouse on a pedestal. If this was taken on by many people, we will then launch a fund raiser jar to help pay for a solar system to power the aquaponics greenhouse, so that it is completely carbon neutral. I also hope to encourage trading of produce with neighbours for things I do not grow at home.

Combining an organic method of food production and aquaponics makes for a very healthy, sustainable food production system that’s both environmentally friendly, and extraordinarily good for one’s self. If you are thinking about getting into aquaponics, go organic. It's going to be a little harder and more challenging, but I am sure the results will speak for themselves.