Visit to Bluegrass Aquaponics

Ive been working on my own aquaponics project for a while now.  Still working on the greenhouse so the smaller proof of concept system I put up is still in the garage.  But I was fortunate enough to get a personal tour at Bluegrass Aquaponics in Versailles, Kentucky.

I was meet by Lora Ginter (her husband and co-owner Ed was not available) and shown back to the greenhouse.  

The have a terrific setup with media beds, raft beds, seed starting and of course lots and lots of fish tanks.  It was obvious that Lora knew a lot about aquaponics and walked me through their extensive setup.   My backyard setup is going to be a lot simpler.  

I learned a lot about media beds (check out growrock as an alternative to expanded clay and/or gravel), filtering and how to handle the solid wastes.  They have several extra filtering tanks that arent mentioned in most of the documentation that Ive read.  I was very impressed.  Also got some great ideas about planting.  Things l would not have thought about planting Lora and Ed are having success with.  

They are growing lots of lettuce, tomatoes, kale, other greens and even brussel sprouts and cabbage.  I love brussel sprout and have never been able to grow cabbage that tthose pesky cabbage worms didnt get to first.  Cant wait to try both.

And soon they will be offering live tilapia.  You should have seen the size of these fish.  I plan on going back when they do and getting a few.  I not only love tilapia it will give me some practice on filleting them.  Cant get much fresher than that. 

Lora and Ed (met Ed as we were wrapping up the tour) are enthusiastic about aquaponics, sustainability and providing the best possible product to their customers.  I purchased some of the lettuce they are growing (they were delicious).

Visit their Bluegrass Aquaponics Facebook page for more information.  Be sure to follow their progress as their business grows.

Hope my own project works out as well.  Thanks again Lora and Ed for letting me take a look at your system.  I enjoyed it immensely.

Know where your food comes from, know how it gets from farm to table.

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