LIMA — Eating in a healthy and sustainable fashion is not an impossible dream for Lima residents, no matter where they live.
That was the message Lima-Allen County Neighborhoods in Partnership tried to communicate during a food and gardening informational event held Saturday at the LACNIP Resource Center. The agency brought representatives together from the Lima Senior High School culinary arts program, Allen County Soil and Water Conservation and Activate Allen County, all of whom offered tips on methods and equipment to grow healthy produce at home and create a healthier diet without breaking the bank.
“Soil and Water is talking about rain barrels and soil testing,” resource center Coordinator Rob Cotrell said. “We’ve also been talking about community gardens.”
The center also used the event to show off its new aquaponics greenhouse, which allows plants to grow in water, not soil, with nutrients provided by the waste of healthy fish, such as tilapia, raised in the greenhouse. The plants would then filter the water, absorbing the nutrients and allowing clean water to filter back to the fish.
“This is our effort to learn the science of it,” Cotrell said. “At some point, we’ll probably bring some classrooms out here. This is supposed to put out 110 pounds of fresh fish a year and 4,000 pounds of fresh produce a year. The turnaround for fresh produce is about 40 days, since you always have ideal growing conditions.”
Cotrell is hoping to eventually expand this model, should it prove successful, to other neighborhoods in the city, offering commercial-size greenhouses that can sell discounted produce and fish to the neighborhoods.
“This could be the future of gardening,” Cotrell said.
In the meantime, Cotrell also said that the community gardens will be expanded, thanks to new equipment purchased through grant money. He said he hopes to complete the greenhouse setup within the next month, with planting to begin soon thereafter.
Kayla Monfort of Activate Allen County was glad to have the chance to inform families about proper food portions, saying that every plate should be filled at least halfway with vegetables and fruits.
“We had a lot of families out,” she said. “It’s great to get hands on.”
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