Description
The latest micro offering from Fort Orchard Aquaponics (Gold Beach) is Borage Micro Mix; an herb with thick, crunchy leaves, similar to those of sunflower shoots but with a distinct cucumber taste. Each bag is about 2.66 oz., but is sold by volume, not weight.
Micro Mixes are grown using aquaponic organic practices. This mix has been fully washed and dried, so feel free to store it as is in your crisper, but do use it quickly, as it’s very delicate and only keeps for a little while.
So what is Aquaponics? Simply put, it is a system whereby plants grow in water instead of soil, using the waste that fish produce to create the nutrients that the plants need.
An aquaponics system works by creating a nitrogen cycle. In this cycle, the three main elements, the fish, the plants, and the bacteria, share the water. In the fish tank, fish produce high ammonia wastes. The pump carries this waste into the growing tubs, where the bacteria convert these wastes into nitrites and then into nitrates. Those nutrients then flow under the “rafts” to be taken up by the roots on the plants.
These nitrates become food for the plants to grow, and in return, the plant roots clean the water in the growing tubs before it returns to the fish tank for the fish to live. It’s a continuous cycle, where the bacteria convert fish wastes into food for the plants, and the plants clean the water for the fish.
