Grow Your Own Vegetables... Aquaponically?

by Startacus Admin

Have more beautiful words ever been spoken in the English language? Probably yes, we hear this fella Shakespeare was quite the wordsmith… but to our ears the words “grow” and “aquaponically” are sweeter than any sonnet.  

So what is Vegua? 

This great little idea, which is coming soon to Kickstarter, is something of a cross between an aquarium and a plant pot in which a mini ecosystem is created right in your own home, allowing you to raise goldfish pets and grow tasty herbs and vegetables in one sleekly designed aquaponic unit.

Aquaponics (aside from being a rather impressive sounding science-y word) is used to describe a type of food production which combines traditional aquaculture (the raising of aquatic animals like fish, snails, shrimp etc) with hydroponics (growing plants enriched in water rather than soil).

As far as our rather non-scientific brains can discern, within an aquaponic system, the waste products from the aquatic animals, which would normally create toxicity in the water, go to feed and nurture the plants. Thus, a lovely little symbiosis is created where the plants clean the water for the fish and the fish provide sustenance for the plants. Fish and plant, living side-by-side in perfect harmony.

Vegua will bring this farming technology to within reach of the average household, allowing you to create your own self-sustaining symbiotic ecosystem, with the potential to grow plants like basil, thyme, parsley and even tomatoes. 

Of course there's a whopping great load of reasons why using an aquaponic system like Vegua is a good thing; it's eco friendly, it's organic, it's homegrown... but we just think it's mighty cool!

As we say, the project will be coming to Kickstarter very soon, and will include the opportunity for you to be one of the first to get your hands on one!

If you find aquaponics as fascinating as we do, then you might like to check out ‘GrowUp’ who are using old shipping containers to create effective and sustainable urban farms.

• #aquaponics
• #kickstarter
• #fish
• #vegetables
• #healthy living
• #eco-system
• #vegua

Published on: 22nd September 2014