Anybody doing something interesting to celebrate living on this amazing island in the universe?

I’ll be co-hosting an open house at our community sustainability research and demonstration farm, showing folks the greenhouse/aquaculture/hydroponics setup I’ve been building. It has an integrated system that uses a biochar making heat unit for winter and shoulder season warmth - the produced biochar is then used to filter the shrimp tank water after it has passed through an elevated lined bed that has a growing media in it made from a Churro sheep wool “blanket” (carded and felted wool an inch and a half thick).

After the biochar filter is saturated it goes into a compost production operation co-located at the farm to be made into a variety of premium soil amendments - the compost ingredients are a mix of liability biomass (from forest restoration residuals), food waste from local schools (it’s a great way to teach kids about sustainability and green entrepreneurship), Churro sheep manure, and a host of of other “wastes” mindlessly created by humans.

After a crop has been harvested from the hydroponic part of the system, the wool blanket is then used as a mulching product for newly planted trees and various watershed restoration projects.

All of the electricity requirements for running the operation (it’s minimal) are provided by a modest solar PV array that also serves as a shade structure for growing cool weather crops during the summer.

It will be a fun-filled day full of positivity and promise!