A new movement is growing in our backyards and onto our plates. Cultivating one’s own food is becoming a more common practice and has lead to a handful of small businesses sprouting up around the ‘Burg. We at iLovetheBurg.com reached out to a few locals including business owner Jeff Keller of Avid Brewing and Growing Supplies and Mathew Clockel and Alexandra Santos who showed us the blossoming greenhouse of the yet-to-open Aquaponics Cafe.

First we have to get a few definitions out of the way. Aquaculture is defined as the rearing of aquatic animals and/or plants for food. Think raising fish to eat in a tank. Hydroponics refers to the cultivation of plants in a nutrient solution rather than soil. Aquaponics is the ultimate marriage of the two, where one raises both fish and plants in a recirculating system that nourishes the two.

Matthew and Alexandra are a young, ambitious duo of physical trainers/therapists who are masterminding the business venture Aquaponics Cafe. The vision includes a restaurant that grows its own hormone free tilapia and fresh, organic produce to serve in their restaurant. We walk into the greenhouse and amongst the rows of plants and bubbling tanks.

“I just started doing detailed sketches and it all just sort of came together,” Matthew says of his custom design. “This here is Colombian coffee,” he picks up a small but healthy plant out of the water and the tangle of roots hang low. 

Alexandra plays with the young tilapia that flock to her fingers in one of the holding tanks. We chew on a leaf of romaine lettuce and listen to the couple excitedly point out the additions they are installing, the praying mantis eggs ready to hatch for pest control and more. The passionate pair started the greenhouse in March of 2013 and hopes are high to sell their first wave of food at the Saturday Morning Market in the near future. The Aquaponics Cafe still has a way to go before opening and has yet to nail down a location, but they are certainly on track and have reason to be optimistic with every new sprout.

What about if one wants to grow privately? Jeff Keller owns Avid Brewing and Growing Supplies that has been open on 1745 1st Ave. S. for less than a year. This gentle-mannered, bearded gent tours us past his plastic containers of freshly milled grains and hops that are shelved against the wall. The back room is for his Beer School, open to all, where stacks of pepsi kegs are ready to be filled with hopefully tasty homebrew. But Avid has another side and Jeff shows off his hydroponics setup.

“8 inch basil leaves… amazing,” he says and holds one. The tub-like container holds tomato and herb plants in a medium of “hydroponic balls” suspended in the water under a grow light. A pump quietly whirrs, for a healthy system must have well circulated water. The fresh aroma follows us into the next room that is entirely devoted to hydroponics. Bottles of nutrients, varieties of growing mediums, lights and even a grow tent are packed into the space and it is hard to imagine needing anything more to get started.

Whether cultivated out of concern about the modern food industry or for the gratification of the harvest, private “ponics” operations are quietly taking root across the country and the ‘Burg. “Living herb walls” are already fashionable in established restaurants, will similar practices someday become standard fare?

Article by Norris Comer, Writer/Editor for iLovetheburg.com

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