The great thing about festivals — and the Sounds Beautiful festival was no exception — is that people come together with a surprising mix of life experiences, knowledge, and professional skills. I was delighted to be approached by Mark Warwick, who I had already seen teaching other festival-goers to carve wooden spoons.
Mark was keen to talk about food security and aquaponics, the latter being a subject with which I had no real knowledge. I did know about hydroponics; however, and this is where Mark’s knowledge was informative and interesting. Wikipedia tells us that “aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to hydroponically grown plants. Plants are grown in hydroponics systems, with their roots immersed in the nutrient-rich effluent water”. Mark stresses that the aquaponics system is cleaner and more productive than the hydroponic system on its own, giving it great potential for those seeking food security for themselves and their families.
In a fascinating discussion, Mark talks about himself and his efforts to kick-start a self-sufficient aquaponics project on his own land. He also adds some lighthearted comments on his hobby of spoon carving.