Godney Aquaponics


Godney Aquaponics
In the village of Godney, with the beautiful back drop of the Glastonbury Tor, Melv and Sal are embarking on a new venture. Fed up with the poor quality of veg in the shops, they have the ambition to set up an aquaponics system to provide fresh vegetables and salad crops for the village, and with a little help from their hens a supply of fresh free range eggs too.


What is Aquaponics??


What is Aquaponics??
Aquaponics is a sustainable method of producing quality food with minimal external inputs. It is a system that combines conventional aquaculture (e.g. fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. Water from the aquaculture system is fed to the hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down and are utilised by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then re-circulated back to the aquaculture system.


Sunday, 30 September 2018

Beyond all our expectations

Our simple desire to grow fresh salad and vegetables for our local community has been unbelievably well received and has certainly exceeded all our expectations.

Our biggest customer is currently the Sheppey Inn, who has a very creative head chef very keen to use local produce and we are now their sole supplier of salads.



All our salads are growing in seed trays so the user can cut the leaves as they need them, this means that they maintain maximum freshness. For the Sheppey Inn we have made a rack covered with shade netting which provides enough protection from the elements and means they can have fresh salad as they want it.



We also supply them with a range of garnishes and vegetables, such as courgettes and flowers, radish and watercress.

 
 
We have been working on growing unusual stuff and red orach, a kind of spinach was a real hit, both with the pub and the locals!
 
 
 
We also supply the local tearooms, Double Gate with once again salad, but also some of their veg for the Sunday roast. Runner beans were most popular, so the beans on our wall of runners were in demand.
 
 
Another favourite with both establishments is Swiss rainbow chard, the bright coloured stems and fresh green leaves look stunning on the plate and taste delicious.
 
 
We are also providing a selection of vegetables for local people and have a couple of guinea pig households who have a weekly veg box.
 
 
 
As well as aspiring to freshness we aim to reduce food miles and where we can our deliveries are by bicycle...
 
 
Or by wheelbarrow...

 
 
This year we feel as though we have dipped our toe in the water and it has been so important as a learning exercise and my we have learnt so much. It has all happened so much quicker then we anticipated and were ever going to be ready for - but that said although exhausting it has been fantastic and we are loving it...

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