Aeroponics Outreach – MIT City Farm

SONY DSC    In our on going search for awesome projects and leading technologies in aeroponics, we found MIT City Farm.  Their goal is to bring aeroponics to the forefront of agriculture and change the way food is grown on a large scale.  Caleb Harper, the Founder and Lead Researcher showed us the systems they use and the technology they are creating to improve and analyze it. They also believe that open source is the most efficient and most effective way to achieve the optimal solution for farming.  Tribe Awesome agrees. Continue Reading →

Aeroponics Outreach – Chapala Gardens

To meet other people working in the world of aeroponics, we looked at other systems that being used on a commercial scale.  During our search, we came across Chapala Gardens, a group of green thumb innovators committed to creating a healthier community through gardening.

Recently, we visited their headquarters in Santa Barbara.  Jake, one of the three partners gave us a tour and showed us the systems they sell.

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Aeroponic Tomatoes- Update

_DSC3179We have an aeroponic tomato plant update!  We have been harvesting our very own aeroponic tomatoes.  They taste really good!  Maintenance of the tomato plants has been manageable.  We have had to keep their water levels up and making sure they have had enough nutrients.   While we were on a trip for 10 days, we encountered a small problem.  The water in our system was replenished every few days but  we decided to have our plant caretakers not add new nutrients while we were away.   This caused a lack of calcium and resulted in blossom end rot in a couple of the tomatoes that were growing at the time.  The tomatoes still tasted good, but there was a part that had to be cut off.   After replenishing the nutrients, the new tomatoes looked much better.

Happy tomato eating!
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Aeroponic Beans

aero-bean3Yesterday, we harvested a bunch of aeroponic beans.  They looked and tasted great!
If you are looking for another set of plants to put in your aeroponic garden, beans have worked very well for us.
We are growing bush beans, not pole beans.  Pole beans grow like vines and would spread on the ground in the Awesome Aeroponics system, which is not ideal.

Happy bean growing!

Hot Weather Care

SunThe weather is getting warmer! That means you need to be more aware of how your aeroponic system.

Heat can hurt your plants.  If your plant looks wilty or if it is a warm day, you may want to move your plant into the shade.
To give your plants a treat, put a couple ice cubes in the root chamber. The plants will appreciate it!
The fogger in the system adds heat to the root chamber. The roots that are normally in cold ground are receiving extra heat. This makes your plants extra susceptible to hot weather.

Good luck!

Featured Awesomeness

Our featured awesomeness of the month is Raul Lozano from Valley Verde.  He works hard every day to bring low maintenance home gardens to low income families. He believes that in order to have a healthy life, you have to start with healthy food. For every garden someone purchases, he brings one to a less privileged family in the Santa Clara community. Please check out the awesome work he’s doing at http://valleyverde.org/.

TribeAandRaul

LeonaHoldingBucket

Camp Awesome

During the week of June 17 to June 21, we held an Awesome camp for the four members.  Every day we worked hard to bring the inner awesomeness out of everyone. We accomplished many tasks, including starting the process of creating a non-profit organization, setting up a bank account, preparing for workshop weekend, and creating this wonderful website. We also visited an aquaponics enthusiast and teacher, Rick Frey, of Oakland. He showed us his extensive aquaponics system and explained how it works.