FFA or Future Farmers of America has been a big part of my life. In high school I participated in Leadership and Career Development Events that taught me amazing life skills for example Job interviewing and problem solving via Chapter Conducting. I also raised goats….silly creatures that made me giggle because every time they sneezed a fart would slip out.
Back to the point of this blog… My husband is a FFA teacher and one of the LDE (Leadership Development Events) is called Skills. This is where 3 students set up and demonstrate an agricultural skill in 20 minutes. He immediately thought of asking my thoughts on what skill the students in his chapter should do and I suggested Aquaponics. I don’t know a ton about Aquaponics but it’s very similar to the gravel bog systems we use to keep ornamental ponds clear. With aquaponics you are growing vegetables using fish waste as your nutrient source. Here at Nelson’s we’ve grown lettuces and tomatoes in our bog filters just for fun and had a great crop. Try a few tomato or lettuce plants in your bog this fall/winter easy way to get some homegrown veggies.
I’ll keep you posted on how the kids do creating this aquaponics skill and share with you what we learn along the way. It’s exciting! Maybe I’ll even get them to do a class for those of you interested in aquaponics. Oh by the way, the best people to talk to about Aquaponic in the area are the wonderful folks out at HCC Katy Campus they have an amazing horticulture staff.