- Their main job in life is to just poop.
That's their only goal.
(groovy music)
My name is Kelleah.
I am really interested in ecosystems,
microorganisms, and I
think that aquaponics
really brings that together
with sustainability.
It's a system that can
really help the world
and it's a way that I can help the world.
An aquaponics system is
a recirculating system
that uses waste from
fish to fertilize plants.
And then the plants use that nutrients
and the waste, which cleans
the water for the fish.
I'm really excited to go to the farm
and learn about how all the little parts
work together into a bigger whole
and how that can be sustainable.
- Being a farmer is quite possibly
the most emotionally fulfilling thing
that I've ever done in my entire life.
Being able to learn something new
every single day and teach somebody else
something new every single day,
there couldn't be much more joy than that.
So whenever you look
at someone like Kelleah
who's just starting out, it's just amazing
when you see someone so young
with such a strong passion.
Hey, good morning!
- I'm Kelleah.
- Kelleah, it's a pleasure to meet you.
Welcome on out to the farm.
- [Kelleah] Thanks!
- This is kind of like our
little slice of heaven.
Every single day there are
several tasks that we do.
We harvest, we weed,
we clean up everything,
and then we're always building something.
Well we're gonna learn about all this
as we're walking around.
Sound good?
- Okay, yeah,
that sounds great!
- Cool, let's do this.
This is kind of our herb corner.
We have mint, quarters,
perilla, edible flowers.
- [Kelleah] This is a big herb corner.
- [David] Yeah!
- What kind of nutrients
do those plants need?
I read that plants need
a lot more nutrients,
so I haven't tried any of that
with my aquaponics system yet.
- So, plants need carbon, nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium.
These are the four main ingredients.
And then we are constantly making sure
that our plants have those nutrients.
- I learned so much from
building an aquaponics system.
My goal is to be more
sustainable and self-sufficient.
- What is sustainability to you?
- Being able to sustain what you have
for an indefinite period of time.
We can really build off of nature
because nature is already
super sustainable,
it's the perfect system
and I think that we can just add to that.
- You're right.
A sustainable system
is a closed loop thing
that can recycle itself
with proper management.
One of the things that's
great about farming
is that you're constantly
solving problems,
finding solutions, and
learning something new
every single day.
- So that was a really cool experience
getting to see everything working
and it's a really nice feeling
to be around the plants
and it just made me wanna
stay there even more.
- So for someone like Kelleah,
one of the best things that she can do
is just to go out there
and get her hands dirty.
And one of the things that
I wanted to stress to her
is find your mentors.
And it's extremely important.
- I learned a lot!
He comes full circle with all his farming
and I think it's really great
that he's created such
a great atmosphere here
for people to learn too.
