Urban agriculture takes root at Aqua Terra Gardens

The produce is cropping up at Aqua Terra Gardens LLC, and owner Frank McNeely hopes to open for business by the end of June.

That's not as soon as he'd originally planned, after starting the venture in late 2001 at the old Hawkins Mill at the corner of Kansas Expressway and College Street.

"We've had a couple slowdowns working with the city, trying to maintain codes it's such an old building things of that nature," McNeely said.

When the doors do open, though, McNeely's produce grown without the use of soil will be ready.

McNeely uses two soil-free growing methods in his business, aquaponics and hydroponics. With aquaponics, McNeely uses the effluent waste from talapia fish in four 1,100-gallon tanks to grow tomatoes and cucumbers.

McNeely's tomatoes and cucumbers are grown aquaponically the nutrient-rich fish effluent is circulated through the creek-bed gravel in which those plants are rooted.

Fruit-bearing plants, such as tomatoes, must be rooted in solid matter for support. Cucumbers also require solid matter for anchoring.

"It's pumping effluent from the bottom of the tank to the grow beds. It comes out the pipe, a very simple technique, and filters down through the gravel," McNeely said. "The plants up-take the nutrients. There's a beneficial bacteria that lives in the gravel, (which) eats the rest of the effluent, then it travels back to the fish tank (and is) 97 percent pure."

McNeely added that the aquaponic system "is actually a Third World water treatment plant. That's all it is. It's very simple."

McNeely already has harvested more than 200 cucumbers, he said, and that crop is doing much better than he'd anticipated.

On the other hand, McNeely said, "Hydroponics is soil-less growth of any vegetation, where you just suspend the roots in a fluid with nutrients in it. You have to add the nutrients in."

At Aqua Terra Gardens, several varieties of lettuce, including cilantro, are grown hydroponically the plants float in nutrient-rich water aboard Styrofoam. For the lettuce, McNeely said, nutrients come from chicken and rabbit waste, which is broken down with a bio-digester and added to the water that feeds the plants.

"I grow my own feed for the rabbits and the chickens. I take their manure and add it to the seven-stage bio-digester, which takes organic matter and decomposes it the same way the Earth does and so I get my own nutrient solution," McNeely said.

The nutrients are mixed with raw water, he added.

Aqua Terra Garden uses a raft, or floating, system of hydroponics, but McNeely said there are about seven different types of hydroponics.

Benefits

Growing without soil enhances the taste of the fruits and vegetables, McNeely said.

"You're giving a plant everything that it needs, and nothing else. It doesn't have to fight with other plants for nutrients, it doesn't have to fight the soil," McNeely said.

Aquaponic and hydroponic growing also helps the environment, because it recycles.

"You're re-using the water, so you're not wasting any product whatsoever," McNeely said. "And if you use the fish that you can eat, like talapia, you basically can create your own source of good protein, your own vegetables, and a source of drinking water."

McNeely also said that he doesn't use any insecticides, antibiotics or other chemicals to grow his produce, but said he does use organic growth hormones.

McNeely said his produce grows at a quicker pace than produce grown in the soil. It takes him 90 days to grow tomatoes, he said, compared to 130 days when they're grown in soil.

Moving forward

McNeely is working to develop a co-op with other growers, he said. He's also lined up vendors for the indoor farmers' market that will be housed at Aqua Terra Gardens. The vendors that have signed up so far include Ozark Belgian Beef, Madewell Meats, Memory Lane Dairy and Nonna's Bakery.

Madewell Meats LLC offers free-range pork, according to owner Steve Madewell.

"It's all-natural. None of our animals have ever had any kind of antibiotics, hormones or chemicals," Madewell said. "Everything is raised outdoors. We have no confinement at all."

Madewell's farm is between Aurora and Mt.Vernon, and he operates a retail store for his meat in Mt. Vernon. He also sells his pork online at www. madewellmeats.com.

Some of Madewell's customers live in Springfield, he said, so being a vendor at Aqua Terra Gardens provides another outlet. But beyond that, Madewell said he supports what McNeely is doing.

"I think it's a great deal. If people knew what was in their food that they're eating, chemical-wise it would scare them do death," Madewell said. He said his bacon is nitrite-free and his sausage doesn't contain MSG. Madewell, who's been in the hog business for about 30 years and selling meat for five years, said he began raising free-range, chemical-free pigs because his wife is allergic to MSG and nitrites.

A new Web site about Aqua Terra Gardens is now available online at www.aqua-terragardens.com, and a grand opening celebration for Aqua Terra Gardens is being planned for July.