https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/ The Watercress Queen OpenACS 5.0 Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:59:59 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=55384229 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=55384229   The Waterside Food Project has been going for over 3 years, and is run by New Forest Aquaponics CIC.  In 2018 we wrote out our vision for our non profit community interest company (CIC) with our aquaponic farm at the centre, it included everything we wanted to see in our local community and accessible to all.  We were aiming for a demonstrable vision for living modern lives that are kind to our earth and all who live with it.  The fish in the aquaponics farm need to be fe... Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:59:59 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=53896274 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=53896274 This is an account of what went wrong the other  week, I truly hope this never happens again, but your  help is needed to ensure that.    Swimming pools for fish farming?  We use second hand swimming pools for the fish and on the whole they work really well. They are a super cheap option, and having no money, being able to pick one up for as little as £50 is a real bonus.  We have a duty to keep our fish in the best way possible and a 15 foot swimming pool a... Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:12:20 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=53054306 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=53054306 During the last 3 months of 2023 I took part in the My Food Community course run by the Soil Association. The aim of the course is to bring together people who are involved with food systems in the UK to look at how things can be changed to make the landscape of food more sustainable and fair in the UK.  I was really privileged to take part, I felt the course was  very much above my pay grade ( I don't get paid for my work with the waterside food project) and the other participants a... Fri, 26 Jul 2024 14:48:44 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=52076096 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=52076096 Waterside Clothes swaps has been running swaps in the Waterside area for the last two years. And very sucessful they have been at helping our local community swap clothing and reduce the amount of money they need to spend on new clothing, as well as raising money for local charities. All but the first swap have been in the Hythe sea scout hut whic works really well as a venue. But sadly the hall got flooded this spring, and the floor is not going to be in a fit state to cope with the heavey u... Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:27:32 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=52013733 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=52013733 Earth Day. 22nd April 2024   I do love the idea we have a day to celebrate the earth, and it brings joy to my heart to see how many people are engaging with it.    The theme this year is earth vs plastic,  and when you look around at just how much more plastic there is it is a good theme to have chosen.  We need to get the conversation around plastic going again. Little things have changed. It is now easy to buy paper stick cotton buds in high street shops, and takeawa... Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:49:53 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51966704 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51966704 Getting stuck physically is what is going on in this picture. I was trying to load as many crates as possible in our van of hot cross buns, just some of the hundreds and hundreds of packets the Waterside Food Project and Waste not Want Not ( the other local food project we work alongside) had to deal with over the Easter period.  My mistake here was reaching over one crate to push the others to the end of the seat, whilst being a short person! There was no way I was ever going to reach, a... Wed, 17 Apr 2024 19:22:11 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51884835 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51884835 Building community around a church hall. Late 2023 we discovered the local church hall was finally going up for sale after being sat empty for sometime. Several worried neighbours of the hall came and asked if we knew how to save it.  I shared my research on community buying that I had done over the past 2 years, and a meeting was called. From there an enthusastic group met each Tuesday at the Langley Taven, our local pub.  I put up a page on this website to get information out the... Mon, 08 Apr 2024 15:22:23 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51435172 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51435172 The simple answer is they are pretty awesome creatures!  They have been around for millions of years and carry the past within them. I see our sturgeon on a daily basis, and have done so for the past 16 years and they still bring me a sense of awe when they swim past.  Sometimes eyeing me up from beneath the water.  I don't think I bring the same sense of awe to them.      https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/news/first-ever-sturgeon-to-be-found-in-africa... Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:53:51 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51418299 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51418299 It has been a long long 6 years since we set up New Forest Aquaponics CIC. We have been at the greenhouse that we have been renting since  November 2007, it was set up as a quarantine unit for the coldwater fish,  pond fish and specialist koi.  Because of this it wasn’t really set up for growing food with aquaponics. For a while we had hoped we could stay there and adapt, but it soon  became clear that the site no longer worked for us.    That set us on a jo... Sun, 18 Feb 2024 13:29:37 GMT https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51030138 https://e-voice.org.uk/newforestaquaponics/watercressqueen/one-entry?entry_id=51030138 The 2nd week of January 2024 saw me give my first talk on Regenerative Culture. I was so pleased to be asked by the local climate group https://e-voice.org.uk/watercan/. This talk is is about New Forest Aquaponics CIC,  how we see regenerative culture, and all the projects we run and how they fit in to regenerative culture. I think everyone enjoyed it, one comment was "Lots of food for thought. It's very interesting to be exposed to folk who think  so differently" If you would like t... Wed, 10 Jan 2024 13:28:47 GMT