So in the second week of our school we got to take a class field trip :)
On this base they have what is called "The Food Machine" - Natural Farming
If you are like me, you will find this very interesting, smart and beautiful!
If you're not into "green" issues you might not be as enthused, but give it a whirl and read how amazing God's creation is!
Here is a slight summary:
(quoted from the UofN Website)
"With over 800 million lives affected by malnourishment, our goal for sustainable agriculture projects at UofN Kona is to be part of the effort to tackle the increasing food shortage crisis and to help give hope to the hungry people of the world. We are developing prototypes of natural farming approaches that can be used to train students who are willing to go and help people meet their needs for food.
"The Natural Farming Team is implementing several expressions of sustainable agriculture on the campus... Building healthy soils with natural processes and using natural ways of addressing pest issues; no tilling, no chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers... One method is called Korean Natural Farming - advocates for the use of local nutrient resources, such as making calcium from eggshells or pork or beef bones, to enhance the vitality and quality of agricultural projects. This is a system that uses naturally occurring enzymes, microorganisms, and fermented-plant materials to create a culture where plants can thrive.
"Another natural farming method is Keyhole gardening; these organic methods demonstrate expensive fertilizers of herbicides (which many people around the world cannot afford) do not need to be used to grow excellent food products.
"Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water). In aquaponics, the nutrient rich water that results from raising fish provides a natural, organic fertilizer for the growing plants. As the plants use the nutrients in the water, they help to clean the water that the fish live in. It's a natural microbial process that keeps both the fish and plants healthy. This creates an ecosystem where both plants and fish can thrive.
"Our commercial-sized aquaponics system at UofN, Kona is part of the Food Machine Foundation Network, who YWAM partners with at various locations around the world. We are also experimenting with different, typically smaller units that might be applicable in some places where the larger, power driven units would not be feasible. Aquaponics can produce relatively large amounts of vegetables and fish in a small area, and this technology has the potential to provide both food and small business opportunities for people in many parts of the world."
-Aquaponic's uses 90% less water a day than an average farm
-Another fun resource we have on campus are pigs and sheep, they serve as reserve food if anything should happen on the island (i.e. natural disaster.. we are very very far away from anybody)
-Our campus is the biggest purchaser of food on the entire island; takes 3 weeks for any ship to get here
-$100,000 a year on food waste; we now cut down costs by giving our waste to pigs! Which fattens 'em up too :)
How awesome is that? I love it. So resourceful.
If you would like to help or get more information e-mail naturalfarmingkona@gmail.com
To help or learn more about aquaponics you can e-mail uofnaquaponics@gmail.com
If you'd like to keep up with weekly projects, visions and prayer requests check out sciencetechkona.blog.com
**Upon our fun-filled-field-trip it was brought to our attention how much makeup Miss Tashina actually wears.. Apparently when she gave her dear friend Reggie a hug, heaps of makeup rubbed off onto Reggie's white-t. This was a pretty funny moment :)
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