By C.J. Sinner
On an overcast September afternoon, Joseph
Ferdinand took a walk with friends Juan Antigua and Miguel Hamond, to a
community garden in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx. The trio
walked slowly around the exterior of the half-acre vacant lot, peering
between gaps in the fence and commenting on the garden’s state of
disrepair: fading toys littered the space, a few raised planting beds
with the remnants of tomato and pepper plants needed care, rusting
garden tools sat propped against tree stumps.
Still, the group saw potential – plenty of space
and sunlight for a greenhouse. Back at Ferdinand’s studio apartment,
flipping through pages of research, they could see the progress of his
project. There, in two 55-gallon tanks along the wall
opposite his bed, were 25 young tilapia that Ferdinand had begun raising
in the summer. In September, each fish measured a few inches long.
Antigua and Hamond watched Ferdinand sprinkle
food into the tanks. Then, questions started circulating. How much
funding do we need? Whom do we need to meet with to take over the
community garden? What about equipment?
Ferdinand and his volunteer friends want to take
over management of the city-owned 176th Street Community Garden they’d
visited and transform it into an aquaponics hub. Aquaponics, a growing
sector of sustainable farming, combines the principles of aquaculture
and hydroponics – raising fish while growing plants. Though operations vary in complexity, they
generally use fish wastewater to irrigate and fertilize plants. The
plant roots, along with naturally-occurring bacteria, filter the water,
which is cycled back to the fish, so that the two become interdependent.
Ferdinand envisions a center where workers, maybe
student interns, raise fresh fish and crisp garden produce, like
tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, as neighbors learn about gardening. The
produce and fish would be sold directly to community members or to
local restaurants.
“I see myself trying to bring something that
would benefit the community in the form of growing fish and herbs that I
know would be healthy,” Ferdinand said. “All we get here is, like, the
leftovers – that’s all we get. It’s fat and salt and whatever garbage it
is.”
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