Urban Aquaculture Center

Perch Return

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:24:44 +0000

Perch have largely disappeared from Lake Michigan, but Milwaukee diners soon might be able to order the popular Friday night fish fry species once more from local waters. Just in time for Lent. A new generation of yellow perch is being netted about a mile from Lake Michigan at an urban fish and vegetable farm called Sweet Water Organics, which mimics the Earth’s natural ecosystem in a cavernous industrial building. Harnischfeger Industries once used the Bay View neighborhood building to make mining cranes.

Decades ago, perch were hauled out of Lake Michigan by commercial fishermen. The fish with a sweet, mild flavor ruled fish fries until - for reasons biologists still don’t completely understand - perch fisheries collapsed in the 1990s. Most Wisconsin fish fry perch now hail from Lake Erie and Lake Winnipeg, at a hefty price of $14 to $16 a pound.

FULL ARTICLE

by Karen Herzog

Global Benefits

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:06:16 +0000

“Urban Aquaculture and its Global Benefits” presentation by Jon Bales on March 27 at 1PM in the Marcia Coles Community Room in the Lake Park Pavilion. This program is part of a monthly series given by the Lake Park Friends Nature and History Committees.

Green Living Festival

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:04:23 +0000

Milwaukee County Domes. Saturday Mar 27, 10AM - 3PM. Learn ways to live greener. The Urban Aquaculture Center will be exhibiting a model for aquaponics growing systems using yellow perch and plants in a balanced network. Aquaponics can be an urban farming practice that provides fish protein and nourishing greens for local consumption. Don’t miss this presentation.

Organic Standards

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:52:51 +0000

The need for aquaponically grown fish to be labeled as “Organic” is an important issue. We hope you will consider signing the petition to help make this happen.

We, the undersigned, are a consortium of citizens, growers, vendors and entrepreneurs presenting this petition to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) of the USDA.

We request that the NOSB define “ORGANIC” certification to include plants grown with natural hydroponics and aquaponics, where these systems can show that they meet or exceed established standards that limit the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, growth hormones and the like.

We also request that the NOSB fully disclose by which scientific method or other standard that they make this decision.

LINK

Perch Auction

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:24:32 +0000

Sweet Water Holiday Gatherings and Yellow Perch Auction of First 1,000 7 inch Harvest,

December 23 and 30th, 5 to 9 p.m.

2151 S. Robinson
(one block west of KK, block south of Becher, 3 blocks north of Lincoln)

“Highest quality yellow perch on the planet”

1,000 of our 2,300 Sweet Water raised yellow perch will be auctioned December 23 at 7 p.m..
Yellow Perch for Sale “in the round” by Way of Auction, minimum bid $5 per 7 inch fish
Sweet Water Redemption Coupon Provided for February Fish Pick Up “in the round,” i..e. not alive upon leaving the building.
Suggested Starting Donation to Attend the Event: $5(you are welcome to offer more! Send me a note if you can’t afford the $5.)
A Minimum of 2 Cases of Lakefront Beer Will Be Provided with suggested donation of $3 per bottle
(we’ll buy more from Outpost if we go through the first 2 cases).

Please Consider Bringing Some Finger Food Potluck or Non-alcoholic Liquid Refreshment Offerings(we need all the help you can offer!)
Starting Time for Gathering: 5 p.m.
Starting Time for Auction: 7 p.m.

Climate Effects

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:20:19 +0000

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have looked into how climate change could affect fisheries around the world. There’s no way to be certain what will happen, but using the best data currently available, they tried to model how changes in temperatures could affect these productive marine ecosystems. Some fisheries might become more productive, but most of those are near rich countries. It is mostly poor countries in the tropics that will probably see their local food sources reduced.

The lead author of the study, William Cheung, said: “Our projections show that climate change may lead to a 30 to 70 per cent increase in catch potential in high-latitude regions and a drop of up to 40 per cent in the tropics. Many tropical island residents rely heavily on the oceans for their daily meals. These new findings suggest there’s a good chance this important food source will be greatly diminished due to climate change.”

FULL ARTICLE via Treehugger

Beehaus

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:14:45 +0000

Omlet’s Beehaus kit brings the practice back down to earth for individual consumers. The Beehaus comes as a complete hive ready for colonization, with all the parts necessary including honey jars and a comprehensive beekeeping guide. Priced at GBP 465, the Beehaus is available in a choice of colours, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. An optional starter kit, meanwhile, includes the accessories a first-time beekeeper will need, such as a bee suit, veil, smoker and hive tools. An average, colonized Beehaus will produce 50 jars of honey per year, UK-based Omlet says, with the potential for up to 100kg if things go well.

Will consumers tire of producing their own, hand-cultivated food? Survey says no, particularly during these rough economic times. One to bring to sweet-toothed consumers in your part of the global hive…?

FULL ARTICLE via Springwise

END OF THE LINE?

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:42:09 +0000

The UWM Union is sponsoring a series of earth-friendly events this fall. Of particular interest to us is a documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. It is called END OF THE LINE. The report on the collapse of world fisheries by 2048 is something we talk about at all our presentations, so this topic is apropos. The event is free and open to the public. Wednesday, October 14 at 7PM.
Also check out SEA CHANGE.

Mushroom Tunnels

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:56:28 +0000

A microbiologist by training, Dr. Arrold originally imported his exotic mushroom cultures into Australia from their traditional homes in China, Japan, and Korea. Like a latter-day Tradescant, he regularly travels abroad to keep up with mushroom growing techniques, share his own innovations (such as the black plastic grow-bags shown above), and collect new strains.

He showed us a recent acquisition, which he hunted down after coming across it in his dinner in a café in Fuzhou, and which he is currently trialling as a potential candidate for cultivation in the tunnel. Even though all his mushroom strains were originally imported from overseas (disappointingly, given its ecological uniqueness, Australia has no exciting mushroom types of its own), Dr. Arrold has refined each variety over generations to suit the conditions in this particular tunnel.

FULL ARTICLE - BLDGBLOG

Repurposed Buildings

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:55:35 +0000

“Sometimes I miss living in Seattle. I used to teach at a converted building dedicated to nonprofit orgs and low-income artist housing. There are similar endeavors in many cities, but in Seattle it’s everywhere and at the Good Shepherd Center, located a mile away from my former home, one of the tenants, Seattle Tilth, inspires and educates people to garden organically and consider urban chicken coops and beehives. My neighbors upstairs turned half our yard into a garden. Last week it held a workshop in Herbal Tea Gardening and on the 23rd it gives one on Composting for Apartment Dwellers. Take a look at the tenants inside this one building. Shouldn’t every city have one?”

FULL ARTICLE

STATE FAIR!

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:28:19 +0000

We will once again be presence at the Wisconsin State Fair. We are looking for eager volunteers who had fun last year or want to pitch for the first time. If you are able to lend a hand for an hour while visiting the fair in order to greet people at our booth, please contact us. We’ll be located in our same spot as last year at the East end of the Ag Oasis, next to the coliseum.

CONTACT:
LEON TODD
OR
JON BALES

ON POINT RADIO

admin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:44:34 +0000

It sounds idyllic. Urban farming. Artichoke feathering in the sidewalk cracks; tufts of herbs for every meal, carrots from the White House lawn. But like many rosy dreams, we forget the thorns of hard work. Urban farming is hotter than jalapeño right now, but it will take public support — and lobbying Congress – if it’s going to have an impact on how we eat, and how the poorest among us get fresh food. Our guests today are farmers who have converted city lots for everything from growing fish to heirloom pumpkins. Gurus of the city farm.

GUESTS:

Joining us from Milwaukee is Will Allen, founder and CEO of Growing Power, an urban farm based in northwest Milwaukee. A 2008 MacArthur Fellow, he was recently profiled in The New York Times Magazine.

And from Berkeley, Calif., we’re joined by Novella Carpenter. She started Ghost Town Farm on an abandoned lot next to her home in Oakland. She writes about it in her new book, “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.”

LISTEN

August Board Meeting

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:24:31 +0000

Our next board meeting will be at the Urban Ecology Center on August 25 at 5:00PM. We look forward to seeing the board and any new members who want to be involved. Our Agenda will consist of:

Introductions
Minutes of January meeting (attached)
Approval of Bylaws (attached)
New Corporate status - non-stock corporation, 501(c)(3)
Approval of volunteer form - Mike Hauer
Old Business
logo
State Fair
New Business
aquaponics initiatives around town

Aquaponics: A Locavore’s Fish Farm?

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:26:13 +0000

If we don’t figure out a way to produce seafood sustainably, we may live to see a future when wild fish are too rare to eat. Fish farming has increased as an alternative to ocean fishing (nearly half of all fish eaten worldwide today are, in fact, farmed), but marine farming — raising ocean-caught fish in netted coastal pens — can be extremely problematic for nearby coastal ecosystems.

By Julia Levitt at WORLD CHANGING

FULL ARTICLE

Tour Sweet Water

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:40:32 +0000

Promoting urban aquaculture is a major part our mission, so when a new start up forms, it is a victory for us and for Urban Aquaculture. Sweet Water Organics is converting an old warehouse at 2151 S. Robinson into a fish and plant producing center by cutting raceways in the floor and building racks for plants similar to those at Growing Power. They are offering a tour at 4:30pm this Wednesday, July 22. Look for a sign on the door at their location which is one block West of Kinnickinnic Av and one block N. of Lincoln Ave.

The tour will be followed by a brainstorming session for those interested in forming an aquaponics guild. We hope to see you there.