Building the farm, day 3

We are trying to fit 8 grow beds and a 40 gallon fishtank in our small bedroom in a one-bedroom Bronx apartment. The plants in our aquaponics system will be fertilized by 8 lbs of life fish, all systems are interconnected. After 3 days of re-arranging the bins for plant, shelves and tubes we are finally found the best fit with will take the least space with most growing surface.

The urbam farming is a new form of art, and every little step takes a desiosion making: where to drill the holes for pipes, how the water levels and draining will work between the fertilizer fish tank and plant bins. Another important issue is a protection against possible leac, which can be devastating to us living on 14th floor and everyone around. We are planning to use tarp, wrapping it around the 2nd shelve right under the grow beds. Another separate peace of tarp wraps around the fish tank.

In fact, the second shelve, which will have very little light, will be used for growing mashrooms. A separate misting systmem will have to be installed, and it's different trip ;) The light is another separate issue, which we haven't touched yet.
In fact, keeping all parts of the system in a head at once is a little overwhelming at times, but we know, this is just in the begginning. After installing another system inside the greenhouse, which we will assemble on our terrace overlooking Hudson river, we will be adepts of hydroponics.

 Because we are growing food in out apartment, the looks of our farm is very important. Our design is simple, and doesn't destroy the comfort of the living space.
Filled with the variety of lettuce, edible flowers and cherry tomatoes, the garden will be a beautiful addition to our interior. The design of the farm can be up scaled to the level of exquisite, and we  (especially I, Chris more focused on bringing it to a larger scale) are looking forward to work on this some more.

We involve our 5 y.o. boys in the building process, a much better option to watching TV! It is especially important for them to be educated in environmental purposes of this, because they are who might be faced with ecological pitfalls of human race in a much bigger scale then we are. Early education in vertically integrated farming, understanding how food grow and what makes it truly organic is increasingly important for these urban children.
Our 2 months old is sleeping in his crib right now and doesn't have to worry about the quality of his food, since he is breast fed. But soon, and for the rest of his life, God bless him with everything organic.