Michael Sidaway
Michael Sidaway is a firefighter who has been looking for ways to provide his family with healthier and more sustainable organic foods. His interest in gardening started at the young age of four, having planted his first seed to grow watermelon. That first watermelon seed sprouted his desire to learn more and eventually develop a passion for growing his own fruits and vegetables. Over the years, Michael has attempted to grow just about every type of plant that has been of interest to him, which led him to develop his own home-based farm. As he grew his family, so did his desire to grow his own food as organically as possible.
While aquaponics was a new science to him several years ago, he became a self-taught expert in the method, having attended botany and plant propagation classes and run a multitude of his own experiments. Through his studies and experiments, Michael was eventually able to fine-tune his skills and efforts in gardening and aquaponics. He started with a 1,000 gallon tank that he found online to raise tilapia and utilized floating beds to grow lettuce; in a short time, he had successful growth but the tank sustained damage and was rendered useless. After going through a variety of store-bought and premade kits, Michael continued to feed his interest and was able to dabble in aquaponics but has been looking for more. In his search for a solid and sustainable solution that would offer high production and little waste, Michael found the Aquagrove. Michael will be working with the Aquagrove to grow lettuce and will be sharing his progress throughout the coming months.
“My dream is to one day have a farm, but for now, high density gardening and aquaponics is a great way for the urban dweller to bring the farm to the city!” – Michael Sidaway