Grow With The Flow

Official Description: Attendees in this session will experience and learn “everything Aquaponics.” Aquaponics is basically copying the processes that take place in a stream biome - fish in the system produce waste, beneficial bacteria convert that waste into nitrogen, and plants in the system take up the nitrogen. PREST-O CHANG-O! You get to grow plants and fish, using the same water over & over!! The best part is that aquaponic systems can be adapted for anyone to use, and can be operated indoors or outdoors, making this the perfect outside-of-school program/learning opporunity for your students. As a result of participation in this session, attendees will energineer their own aquaponics system and practice sustainable “gardening” processes, highlighting elements of water conservation, electricity conservation, fertilizer elimination, and reducing “Food Miles” (the distance from your home to a viable food source). Attendees will leave this session with a thorough understanding of this closed-loop system and a multitude of high quality applications and resources for their afterschool program.

Layman's Description: In this workshop, we will make small model aquaponic systems that you can replicate in your programs. We will also play lots of aquaponics games to enhance your learning of this amazing process.

DO Conference Hype: Not only does aquaponic-growing teach useful skills and practices for the future, it also is very important to battling food insecurity right now. By exposing young people to aquaponics you can use it as a springboard into a variety of lessons; biology, physics, environmental science, cultural studies, and more. Through aquaponics, your afterschool program students will learn skills that will aid them later in their professional lives. Even more, learning and practicing aquaponics promotes the idea that everyone is entitled to healthy food options, regardless of ability or location; it teaches you to think more about the wider community around you.

Presenter: Nathan Brannon has been a Garden Education Manager for Farm 2 School since June of 2021. He has worked with young people, in different facets, for nearly 2 decades - including programs with the Oregon Zoo, summer camp counselling, and most recently leading gardening classes at Green Park Elementary in Walla Walla, WA. His gardening experience spans 15+ years; he recently received his “Home Horticulture” Certification from Washington State University. Nathan’s focus in gardening has been aquaponics, especially showing others how to use this method to provide food for themselves at little-to-no cost. In the fall of 2021, he founded the first aquaponics educational program in the Walla Walla Valley, located at College Place High School. At the heart of his motivation is the desire to have food production in every community, every household. It is not only necessary for vulnerable communities to have affordable, accessible, healthy food options, it is critical. Aquaponics is a way to make that happen.