He Grows Food In His Backyard Pool

He Grows Food In His Backyard Pool FARM HOME Food Dennis McClung’s urban “farm” in Mesa Arizona began with an old in-ground swimming pool     “When we bought our house we loved the location and knew we wanted to grow food but we had a limited space and budget ” McClung explains A big area of the lot was taken up by a pool that required $10 000 of repairs Instead McClung turned it into a hoop house to create a greenhouse     It quickly grew into much more than that Tilapia fish grow in the deep end which is filled with water That water feeds into aquaponic growing beds and containers in the shallow end     “The nice thing about the pool is the plaster walls They make a wonderful pond and don’t throw off the pH They are really built well with a good inside structure that holds water ” McClung says     Copying nature he added pond plants such as duckweed to filter the water and feed ducks and chickens The pond snails that came with the plants add calcium and help control pond sludge     With only 9 in of annual rain water is precious so the pool is also valuable as a containment system for water that drains off the house roof and carport     “We capture over 10 000 gal of water a year ” McClung says In addition to the vegetables he grows more than 40 fruit trees including bananas on his city lot     Since he started with the hoop house in 2009 McClung has continually added to his miniature self-sufficient ecosystem which includes solar power water conservation and thermal mass protection from the coldest days in winter He grows about 40 percent of the family’s food including sweetener from sugar cane and milk from dairy goats     When others noticed he started sharing his ideas and gradually built up a network of 1 200 people who show up in groups of 40 to 60 to set up growing systems for members         McClung started a nonprofit called Garden Pool with the mission of continuing research and education into home grown food with ponds “The pond is important because that’s where all the nutrients are produced That’s where the rain water is stored ” McClung says     For people interested in setting up their own systems he suggests checking out the resources and viewing videos on the Garden Pool website and YouTube McClung also designs systems for customers and shares many of his ideas in a book “The Garden Pool” available for $40     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Garden Pool Dennis McClung 1605 W 7th Place Mesa Ariz 85201 ph 480 532-5821; www gardenpool org

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