permaculture

[Barbara Meyer <brbhums@gmail.com>]

*Westover Farm* in Maple Valley, WA might be helpful.  Below is a partial of
an Issaquah newspaper article:

The juxtaposition at Westover Farm in Maple Valley feels part Epcot, part
“Little House on the Prairie.”

The family farm turns out tomatoes and strawberries for markets across King
and Pierce counties — including the Issaquah Farmers Market — all without a
single shovelful of soil. Instead, farmer Darrell Westover, 79, grows the
plants hydroponically in fibrous coconut husk. The system uses a network of
tubes to send a nutrient-rich solution to the plants.

The greenhouse holds almost 1,000 plants in a balmy, climate-controlled
environment shielded from the June chill outside. Westover keeps a bumblebee
hive in the greenhouse to pollinate the tomato plants.

Ripe bananas hang in mesh bags above the plants. The ripening fruit releases
ethylene gas and, the thinking goes, provides a chemical reminder for the
tomatoes to ripen, too. Westover Farm should produce about 12,000 pounds of
tomatoes by late October.

Outside the greenhouse, rusting farm equipment and acre upon acre of
evergreens grown for Christmas trees add rustic touches to the futuristic
setting.

Westover Farm also hosts international farmers through the Multinational
Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture, or MESA, a California nonprofit
organization set up to promote sustainable agriculture and help farmers in
the United States and elsewhere trade techniques.

Though Westover started dabbling in hydroponics seven years ago, and started
selling at local farmers markets not long after, this season marks the first
time he set up a booth at the Issaquah market.

“I love that little market already,” he said during a walk through the
greenhouse in early June.

*Westover Farm*

*24030 S.E. 192nd St., Maple Valley*

*432-1597*
Barbara

On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I have a friend who wants to get into aquaponics in a big way. He wants to
> do it very intensively, but as sustainably as possible, a circular system
> with few inputs and little or no pollution. Who out there has such a system,
> in the US, preferably the SE area (anywhere worldwide is of interest, tho,
> if it's a large and really workable system)?  Aquaponics is not an area I've
> done much with yet.
> Cory
>
>
>
>
>
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