Grow Your Own CRON Diet With Aquaponics

The CRON Diet or lifestyle is a very self-sufficient and environmentally conscious approach to longevity - whether practitioners realize this or not. It was in this same vain of being self sufficient and environmentally friendly that I got excited about Aquaponics. This approach can provide year round fresh fish and green veggies in an ultra fresh and low maintenance manner while being incredibly good for the environment.

Some of the highlights that hooked me were things like this paragraph from Backyard Aquaponics:

According to university studies in Canada, aquaponic plant growth has been
found to exceed normal hydroponic growth rates. And aquaponic fish have been
found to have less health problems than fish grown in intensive aquaculture
systems Aquaponics is the most water efficient method of food production
available today, requiring only about 1/10th of the water used for ground
grown vegetables.

So it was an incredibly neat and highly effective approach to agriculture - and relatively new too. But could it be done at home, easily and cheaply?

Well, here is one of a huge number of Aquaponics related YouTube videos:

So, just seeing this setup my mind started to whir with activity. Indeed, there are folks around the world who are selling home aquaponics kits.

Essentially one feeds the fish and the fish almost entirely feed the nutrients needed for the plants.

There is a huge range of fish species, prawns, crayfish, and more that are being used in these kinds of systems and even more varieties of plants and crops.

Some are suggesting this new "green revolution" may solve many of the Earth's pending problems with faminine due to overpopulation.

Ultimately, I wasn't so selfless in my thoughts about Aquaponics. If I can convince my significant other to let me have one I am going to ensure I have fresh veggies year round. It would also be less likely for the dogs to dig up radishes and carrots from my Aquaponic garden.

Yay - Summer is over!

I know this isn't going to be popular with some people: I don't really like Summer. Yes it is nice to be on vacation and spontaneous in the warm weather but that really makes CRON harder too.

The Summers are rather short here in Edmonton and one feels compelled to make the most of them while they are here by soaking up the sun, maximizing outside activities, and generally being spontaneous. Indeed I'm sure that Canadians as a whole are better defined as making as much as they can out of their Summers than they are by lengthy Winters. It's like we instinctively know that we need to soak up the sun and recharge our batteries while we are able to.

Beginning in August there was a family funeral and the food and visiting that naturally goes along with that. Then there was vacation in small town BC with a strong meat and potatoes side of the family that doesn't understand my catch and release fishing let alone my CRON lifestyle. Many other backyard BBQs and events with friends unseen for months also occured in August. As did a number of marathon festivals like Bluesfest. This Labour Day weekend there is a wedding and all the food that might entail.

Needless to say. I have actually managed to gain weight in August. More than I care to reveal.

Now that September is here I have been getting into more of a regular routine and I am grateful for that. I feel more centred already. Sigh.