Days 6 - 7 Growing Power's Competition

It seems like Growing Power has some up and coming competition. The company's name is Sweet Water Organics. They are a recent startup that focuses on aquaponics, even more so than Growing Power. They don't use any soil whatsoever…because all of what they grow (fish and plants) don't need soil. Sweet Water is much smaller than GP but they are very ambitious… their headquarters is an old warehouse that was originally used for fixing traincars. Apparently have a lot of influential people as board members, have a lot of money invested and are already creating contracts with local businesses, schools, etc. (supplying them fish and fresh greens.)

Today was a crazy day. There was a lot of shoveling (it snowed and currently still is), we did re-mulching of paths (outside and in greenhouses), wheel-barreling compost to the sides of hoop houses (it acts as insulation and a heat source!), and lots and lots of cleaning. Tomorrow the weekend workshop begins – the commercial urban agriculture session is once a month for 5 months while the individual breakout sessions (compost, vermicompost, aquaponics, hoop houses, etc.) are just on Saturday and Sunday (but they get repeated once a month for whoever is interested.

Blogging is becoming harder and harder with the limited time that I have. I won't have a chance to write again until probably Monday, but please keep checking in! I hope all is well back home – things are great here and I will talk more about what I said – that Growing Power is going through some growing-pains – in a later entry!

Cheers,

Ryan