36: Community-Supported Aquaponics: Connection, Creation, and Collaboration with Kate Wildrick and Aaaron Imhof of Ingenuity Innovation Center

“What can you do today that’s gonna get you one step closer?” said Kate Wildrick--who used to own and operate a town in Oregon--to Aaron Imhof, a self-taught innovator…This is a truly inspiring story about how these two people met after the nightmare economic crash of 2009, the trials and tribulations of surviving while living frugally, and how this gave birth to an idea to create a center for sustainable solutions and whole systems education--all the while having only limited resources and pushing through the fear of “not knowing." This story isn’t just about aquaponics, it’s about innovations shared with the community, systems thinking, building connections, sourcing community knowledge and applying it in a mutually beneficial way, and finding ways to bring the dream alive for all. Kate and Aaron’s vision for Ingenuity Innovation Center at St. Helens, Oregon, is to be “a community-supported innovation center that is focused on building sustainable solutions using an open-source platform. We are about connection, creation, and collaboration. We believe that together we can solve our world’s most challenging issues by igniting our own inner spark of passion.”

Listen as they talk about what inspired them in this vision and how they got here, from Murray Hallam's CHOP-2 system, getting land they didn't initially have, and finally making a 1,500 sq.ft. greenhouse out of re-purposed materials and resources. Kate and Aaron also reveal how they became partners with Murray Hallam, the "Godfather of Aquaponics," as well as what's in store at the up-coming training classes, revolving around Murray's INDY23 system: a hybrid system with media beds, deep water culture, and wicking beds using the CHOP-2 method. They also share with us Murray Hallam's "legacy plan," a curriculum on aquaponics that is set to revolutionize aquaponics today. Part of that is building a new greenhouse with a bubble wrap-style covering that can last up to 30 years and which will be one of Ingenuity Innovation's two R&D sites. Learn more about the 4-day Living the Dream: Commercial and Small Farm Aquaponic Training Seminar, how they're weaving in B Corps into aquaponics, and how they're bringing in the change-makers together in order to build the connections needed to support other local aquaponic projects. More topics around cool technologies such as spa heaters, solar hot water cells, solar PVs, hydrosonic pumps, automation, and Raspberry Pi (a credit card-sized computer!) as well as community applications such as the Adopt-A-Grow Bed program. We also talk about a disaster that annihilated all their fish instantly, and unique business models that could change the future of aquaponics!