• Home
• About
• Tools
• Experiments
• Systems
• Contact

Farmpark offers variety of activities

Perhaps it’s the long brick walkway or the outside cafe that makes Lake Metroparks Farmpark welcoming for new visitors and a familiar sight for those returning.
Located on land that was once an Arabian horse farm, this Kirtland treasure has been serving Northeast Ohio since 1990, greeting more than 200,000 visitors annually.
The Visitor Center houses the dairy parlor, where daily demonstrations show how cow milk is used for local cheese making. The center also has an indoor educational play center that has games, including “From Farm to Table,” which teaches children how food from the field ends up in your kitchen. Weekends are spent with homemade ice cream sessions, satisfying sweet tooths.
The goal of the farmpark is to provide hands-on examples about how agriculture affects our daily life,while maintaining the “going green” philosophy. Their mission translates into exhibits, including 1995′s The Great Tomato Works.

Located in a greenhouse, this creation yielded plants 24 times their original size, allowing an in-depth look at hydroponics and the growing of plants, like tomatoes. A new display is the featured Energy Race, an interactive energy scale that allows each user to see how much energy one can produce.
Learning tools in the greenhouses also incorporate the different types of energy, such as solar, biomass, wind and hydropower.

Another eye opener is the aquaponics, a combination of hydroponics and fish farming, that is used to feed plants.

MORE>>

Growing quickly with hydroponics

In Penfield, New York, just about all the veggies you could ever want are grown at Freshwise farms. Using hydroponics they are able to grow much faster than a traditional farmer. Some plants can completely finish their growing cycle in as little as 10 days, such as the cucumber.
Freshwise farms can produce a fresh crop every month in their hydroponic setup, using 1/10th of the land, and 35% less time.

Freshwise farms has even opened its doors to local school children, to give them a first hand look at hydroponic growing and equipment. With growth in the works for the company, Freshwise is working to educate the future hydroponic gardeners.

Freshwise produce can also be found at these establishments:

* Wegmans
* Lori’s Natural Food
* The Ravioli Shop
* Rochester Public Market

source

Anthony Soave’s Companies Bring Holiday Spirit to Needy Families

Soave Enterprises’ employees “adopt” low income households through charitable programs.

Detroit, MI (eMediaWorld) July 6, 2008 — Founded by Anthony Soave, the Soave family of companies announced the success of playing Santa’s helper to families in need during the 2007 holiday season. From both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border, Soave employees generously contributed to charitable programs “adopting” low income households.

Ontario, Canada-based Great Northern Hydroponics and Masco Farms sponsored two families to ensure their children would have a merry and bountiful celebration. Coordinated through the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Foundation, 2007 marks the third consecutive year Great Northern has participated in the sponsorship of underprivileged area families.

“So many of our generous employees participated in this charitable giving that we raised a great sum through voluntary donations. With this money, we were able to completely fulfill our two sponsored families’ ‘wish lists,’” explained Darrin Didychuk, president of Great Northern Hydroponics. “Together we gave deserving children a beautiful holiday.”

Source

Water Gardens at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

On Tuesday, July 8th when the Hampton court palace water show opens, the conceptual water gardens will be opened for all to see. Stainless steel “trees” with foliage branches are fed through a hydroponic drip system which keeps the plants fed and watered, in this garden.

The Thai Tourist Board has brought in 15 authentic boats, filled with Thai goods such as spices, herbs, hats and silks, which will be paddled around the Long Water for the duration of the show. An atmospheric Thai house façade sets the scene and along the bank will be traditional Thai music and activities. Small takeaway boxes of soup ingredients will on sale, but health and safety regulations have ruled out hot noodles or drinks. However, the head chef from the Thai Square restaurant in Islington will demonstrate native dishes in the new cookery theatre.
If you are able to attend we definitely recommend it!

Source

Fresh Produce Close to Home

Kevin Irick’s plants, acreage, financial returns, and customer base are all growing, and he’s doing it locally.   Kevin has slowly but surely worked his way up from a small produce garden lass than an acre in size, to a 10 acre produce farm, a five-acre orchard with several hundred fruit trees and two hydroponic greenhouses for producing tomatoes and flowers year-round.

With demand ever increasing for his locally grown produce Kevin is going to continue to expand, “That’s what I like,” Irick said. “It’s an adventure to me.”

Click through for the full story

How to Maintain a Reservoir using Organic Nutrients

By: Michael Straumietis of Advanced Nutrients

In some ways, growing a hydroponics garden requires less work than a traditional soil garden because there is no dirt to contend with. In other ways, it actually requires more care and more work because you have to very carefully create and monitor the organic nutrients you use. If things go too out of whack in your reservoir, it could spell disaster for you entire crop. Here are few things to consider while maintaining your hydroponic reservoir:

Avoid Using Untreated Tap Water – Most hydroponics growers use tap water to blend their organic nutrients. And that is fine, so long as you stay aware of the condition of tap water before you use it. The pH of tap water can vary wildly depending upon part of the country you live in, so you may need to use a pharmaceutical grade pH adjuster to get your pH to the optimal level of 5.6. In addition, tap water can often have chemicals such as chlorine, and though they may be completely harmless for humans in small amounts, they may seriously hurt your plants’ health and eventual yield. Read more

5 Tips for Hydroponics Gardening

5 Tips for Hydroponics Gardening
By Susan Slobac

Hydroponic gardening can be an excellent way to grow a large amount of fruits and vegetables in a limited area. However, it’s much more than just growing plants in a water-nutrient system without soil. There are many variables, all of which depend on the space available, your budget and how much time is available to spend on maintenance. There then are some tips that will help to make your hydroponic experience pleasant and productive.

Number 1: Get Your Plants Off to a Good Start

When seeds first sprout, they are said to be germinating. In hydroponic gardening, this happens within a growing medium, which can be any number of things. The best choices are composted bark, expanded clay, gravel, peat moss or sand. Rockwool, oasis and perlite are less desirable; vermiculite should be avoided at all costs, as it is often contaminated with asbestos fibers that can have grave consequences for one’s respiratory health. Read more

Gardeners Find Secrets to Success at Local Hydroponics Stores

Gardening enthusiasts are turning to local hydroponics stores for secrets to growing prize-winning flowers, fruits and vegetables, according to hydroponics industry leaders Michael Straumietis, Robert C. Higgins and Gino Yordanov.

Straumietis, Higgins and Yordanov are the founders of Advanced Nutrients. This Seattle-based plant products company manufactures and distributes professional hydroponics products worldwide.

“It used to be that home gardeners could count on nurseries and garden centers to give good advice about growing flowers, fruits and vegetables,” Straumietis explains. “But the most savvy gardeners know the best place to get good gardening information and the latest plant growth formulas is at the local hydroponics stores.”

According to Advanced Nutrients co-founder Robert C. Higgins, local hydroponics stores provide home gardeners with professional assistance they can’t get anywhere else. Read more

Advice On Hydroponics

By Anne Harvester

Grow lights and grow light reflectors are important components of hydroponics systems and success in growing indoors. You’ll find many different kinds of grow lights available; grow light reflectors are used in order to maximize and optimize light output of your grow lights.

Choosing the Right Grow Light Reflectors

Many different types of grow light reflectors are available from online and brick-and-mortar purveyors of indoor gardening supplies. Your choice of light reflectors will depend on: Read more

« Previous Page

Copyright © 2008 Hydroponics Dictionary. All Rights Reserved - Website Design by Audiobloc. Site search engine optimisation by search engine optimisation Sitemap