US (AK): Elementary school students show off aquaponics system
“There’s another broccoli plant here. There’s zucchini, there’s basil growing here… tomatoes,” says Fawn Mountain Elementary School principal Alonso Escalante, pointing to some plants as he gives a little background on the school’s aquaponics room.
The kids are mostly growing lettuce now, but there are a few other plants in the mix.
“It’s a work in progress and once we get it dialed in, it’ll be really interesting to see how much food we can actually grow,” Escalante said. “The ultimate goal is to see if we can actually produce food for our own cafeteria. See if we can get some lettuce into our salad bar, those sorts of things.
Escalante didn’t get into too much detail. Because he wants the school’s young gardeners to show off how the system works.
Soon, two sixth-graders arrive: Bree Johnson and Everr Kistler.
Everr points to a tank of water next to a large table covered with plants. Swimming inside the tank are fish.
“The fish poop in the water and it does this thing to the water and it makes the plants grow,” he said.
Read more at KRBD (Leila Kheiry)