Earth Week Part 3: Futuristic Farming 🌎 (2)
Ryan Willard 10:27
And, so where do you get the food that you feed this fly larva with?
Garrison Harward 10:31
So, I get all of the food for these larvae from the same restaurant where I give the lettuce. So, they're giving me their food waste, everything that comes off of people's plates at the end of a meal. You know, if you don't finish your spaghetti, you got a little bit of lettuce left from your salad, all of that goes into a bin and it comes to me and I use that to feed the larvae. And so then what do you do with larvae we want to keep the food waste from the restaurant from going to a landfill because normally if you are throwing away your food waste into the landfill, you're creating a lot of carbon, you're creating a lot of co2 and a lot of methane The next thing that the larvae are for so now we've prevented bad greenhouse gases from being produced. And we have created a bunch of really nutritious grubs. And these go to some chickens on Governors Island. As a part of their composting efforts there, they've got a flock of chickens. So we help to feed them and they produce eggs. They go to local food pantries. And then these are also the food for our tilapia. So the tilapia that we are growing and the lettuce that we are growing have essentially no negative impact on the environment.
Ryan Willard 11:42
I think this has been one of the coolest things, exploring this aquaponic farm. Thank you so much Garrison for showing us around. And can we have some of the lettuce right after this?
Garrison Harward 11:55
Absolutely. Let's make a salad.
Ryan Willard 11:56
This is Ryan and Tessa on the Ten News team. And we are going to go eat some salad right now. Anything else you want to add Tessa? No, I'm just so hungry for salad. Let's crunch away. All right, back to you, Bethany.
Bethany Van Delft 12:09
Thanks, Ryan and Garrison. Do you know a mover and shaker making change? We want to hear about it. Visit thetennews.com/contact to tell us about someone making a difference in your community. And we might have you and your friend on the show. Aquaponics means growing food in water that's got added nutrients. But does that mean aquaponics use way more water than regular farming? Fun fact. aquaponic farms actually use 80 to 95% less water than traditional farming. Because the water that the plants grow in is cycled back into the system. Very little water is lost. Up next. It's time for...
Various Voices 12:55
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 12:58
Trivia on the Ten. Bugs are a necessary part of growing food. But do you know which part of a bug's life is the shortest? Is it a) egg b) larva or c) adulthood? Did you guess it? The answer is C. Even though we rarely see baby bugs, most insects spend most of their lives being babies. Adult bugs are often only around for a few days. Before that, there are eggs and larva and in some species, young adults. Once bugs are mature they meet and then die sometimes All In One short day. That's hectic. Well, that's our show. We hope you've had an awesome Earth Week and enjoyed our field trip. And before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a coproduction of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is growing lettuce in their bathtubs and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Ryan Willard, Logan Deyoung, and Tessa Flannery. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Well, I was gonna go take a nice long bath, and now that the tub is filled with lettuce and bugs.
