It all started out back behind the building that housed our low voltage wiring company. We worked (and still do) the modest sized greenhouse we built back there for about two years. Realizing the need for expansion we purchased a ranch property in Gilbert a few months ago and have been working on it ever since. The ranch is the home of our chickens and also the site of our new design in aquaponics. The ranch features a very diverse crop that ranges from citrus trees to artichokes.

Our aquaponics system at the ranch works on the same principals as our current system but implemented in a few different ways. The new system is larger in scale, instead of a tank for the fish, we have dug a full pond. The fish we are using in this system are native Blue Gill and Catfish. We are also introducing soil into the mix. Here is how it works: we have several storage tanks placed near our garden areas. Water from the pond flows to the tanks via pipe and once the water reaches a certain level in the tank, it flows back to the pond. This allows us to have constant moving water. The gardens are watered from the tanks and the pond is replenished from our irrigation ditch every couple of weeks. There are some more elements to this system and we will talk about those in a future blog post, once this system has had time to mature.

Aquaponics isn’t the only game we are playing at the ranch. We also have a handful of gardens off of the aquaponics system and various fruit producing trees. Everything grown naturally! The chickens at the ranch are helping out in the gardens too, with their composted waste.

The ranch represents our evolution as a farm and provider of good naturally grown food. Our goal is to serve the Phoenix area with more good food. We hope that you will soon be tasting the literal fruits of our labor from our new projects.

Check out our gallery of photos from the Frye ranch.