122: Loretta Messinger on Aquaponics on the Homestead
Expanding a small homestead into a thriving full meal resource.
Loretta lives with her husband and two children in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of north central Texas. Having been gardening most of her adult life, she became intrigued with the urban homestead movement and is now on a mission to transform her little piece of the busy city into a thriving homestead. Her passion was fueled even more when she discovered aquaponics and learned that she could combine her love of gardening with one of her other favorite things, fish! Raising delicious tilapia in her aquaponics system only fed the fire and now their little homestead includes a small flock of laying hens with plans to add meat rabbits this fall.
In this Podcast:
Greg and Loretta have a great time sharing their love and appreciation of truly home prepared meals. Loretta tells Greg all about how she has established her own aquaponics system on her homestead and now enjoys the health benefits of the love and care she has put into her organically based homestead. Together they share some tips and advice on how to have success with aquaponics.
Listen in and Learn About:
- What motivated her to try new things in her garden and research aquaponics
- How her success has encouraged her to expand further
- What she has on her property
- Her current and future list of livestock and fowl on her homestead
- Her green house and yard set up
- The adjustments she made to help her plants grow in the Texas heat
- How she has set up her extensive aquaponics systems and what she has growing in the different sections
- How she can make an entire meal from her yard
- What it felt like to enjoy a meal that she knew the entire life cycle for
- How she created her systems from the information she garnered from the internet
- How prolific her gardens are through the combination of soil and aquarium systems
- The different types of fish she has raised from goldfish and Tilapia and even Bluegill
- The different types of crops including cucumbers, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and more
As well as:
- What she learned from a couple of failures including when she forgot to turn the water off when refilling the sump tank and when she fostered a dog near her new chicken flock and left the coop door unlocked
- How she considers her biggest success the fact that she just “gave it a shot” and tried something new that excited her
- And, how the desire to help her family be healthy and self-sufficient drives her to be resourceful and get stuff done
- And her advice to podcast listeners to go ahead and try it!
Book Recommendations by Loretta:
The Bible
Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition
Producer’s note: Click here to listen to Toby’s Hemenway’s Podcast.
How to Reach Loretta:
Email: loretta.messinger@att.net
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