i think my smart garden based dinner was my most creative moment of the day:

• salad spring mix from smart aquaponics garden at office
• baked potato + ketchup (5lb bag for $1.98)
• can of tuna + paparika   ($0.60)
• dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, toasted sesame seed oil, black pepper)  (these in office)

guns to garden – g2g is (was)  one of our secret projects where we are converting a jrotc rifle shooting range into a commercial smart aquaponics indoor farm. this is as an entrepreneurial component to our ‘one school one garden’ osog program we have been piloting at castlemont high school in east oakland ca. east oakland is a tough place to be a youth: guns, gangs, drugs, prostitution. living is tough frisking, curfews. i have been chased at least twice by monstrous pit bulls while cycling.

so what’s fun. watching the kids we work with in an after school program grow – the transformation right before our eyes is amazing. once you earning their respect, they are a joy to work with. we started by modeling the aquaponic gardens and indoor greenhouse in 3d using sketchup. we are now preparing the room by pulling down the sound proofing and stray bullet deflectors. we already did an environmental assessment of the room for weapon residue and came out clean. still we are about to seal all surfaces to keep anything away while protecting against potential moisture related issues problems. soon we will be building.

the large room we will turn into a classroom/workshop – kids can earn more money building and installing gardens for the immediate community.

some sneak preview images …  ohh, we are in need of funding (still such things don’t stop us)

 by Ronye’ Cooper

Aquaponic systems are an environmental biomimicry and a salvation to starvation. Aquaponic systems consist of three environmental resources, fish, water and plants. Each element relies on the other in order to survive, function, and produce. Fish provide natural food resources for the plants, likewise plants provide a filtered water system and a great habitat for the fish. Aquaponics are a piece of the environment converted into man made designs. which are beneficial to the environment and humanity because aquaponics are a sustainable and healthy. Aquaponics provide free healthy organic food produce. Aquaponics are great !

Our growbed has recently produced a lot radish plants, while the carrots are barely growing. The radishes look to be in the end of their life cycle, the carrot plants are barely producing carrots that are about an inch tall. I observed a radish plant and made these observations:

-the total height is 37cm
-the leaves are light green
-the stems are a lighter green
-there is a big root with smaller ones attached to it, all are white
-The root fruit is bright red and is hard with a circumference of about 8 cm
-stem width is ⅜ cm
-Foliage width is 15 ½  cm
- was planted on 12-20-12 to 1-29-12
- has been growing for 1 month and about 9-12 days

Romeo Calmo

Aquaponics are sophisticated, smart gardens that are very sustainable and provide really healthy food. According to Sylvia Bernstein (from the Aquaponic Source) fish produce waste that microbes and worms convert into fertilizer for the plants, and the plants filter the water that eventually returns back to the fish. This is really eco-friendly because the same water is being used over and over again. No soil is used because the plants roots go straight to the water(source of nutrients). All of this is repeated in a cycle decreasing the amount of resources needed. According to Eric Maundu from Kijanni Grows, The food that comes from the aquaponics gardens are really healthy because with the gardens they are basically mimicking nature. This is true because for example the lights are mimicking the sun. Nothing that is harmful like pesticides are used because they are not needed because certain plants repel harmful pests and bugs. When a one of these gardens are built and ready they don’t require anything. This can be useful for people that don’t have access to healthy food because they can work anywhere(even in very polluted areas) and can sustain any type of plants. In conclusion these gardens don’t require a lot of resources and provide healthy food that make the gardens sustainable and healthy.
Romeo Calmo

In class we were making a description on a plant that we picked from our Aquaponic garden

My observation was a radish

Stem is hard

Leaves not fully grown

Some leaves are soft

Some leaves are hard

Some leaves are prickly

Radish is not grown yet

Some leaves are smooth

Roots are long

Roots still had gravel

Some leaves were yellowish- brown

Stem length 38cm

Leaf length 7cm

Root length 16cm

By Tamara Marie Crittenden

Student from Castlemont High School

An aquaponic is a process that grows food faster and allows plants to grow closer together also uses fish as a way for the plants to get fertilizer all of this and also saves a lot of water. Aquaponics help people that are tired of all the industrialized food that we eat today. This way people can grow there own food at home and not worry if the food has chemicals or not. Now you don’t have to buy food that you already have at home and that is much more better for you that the one at the store. According to film about kijani grow a man with an idea to plant better food and use less water. His system use sensor that help you know if there is anything wrong with the water or if the water is spilling on your floor. His system was designed to use way less water than a normal house garden and produce way more food. This shows that by using gravel than dirt the roots can grow down which lets you plant more plant in a small area. In a normal dirt garden you follow the step by step directions on the back of the seed packet. That way in a small area you will have a few plants with kijani Grow you can plant about three times the amount of plants you planted in a dirt garden. Another reason that kijani is the way to go is the water it uses. Water is really valuable and this earth was a very small amount. All it uses is a fish tank filled with fish when it waters the plants the water that the plants don’t use goes to the fish and then does it over and over. Kijani owner was born in Africa in a place where there is a little amount of water and a system that can grow a lot of food and that uses a small amount of water is a really good thing to have. So when you are thinking about a garden in your home go with the better choice go kijani Grow you will see the differences.

By Jose Meza
Castlemont high school