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Hydroponics and Aquaponics

Hydroponics is a way of cultivating plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil. Aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics with aquaculture( raising fish and other aquatic animals). These create self-sustainable and symbiotic systems which are capable of producing a wide variety of crops from lettuce, herbs, melons, berries, beans, peas, and much more.

This graph briefly explains the symbiotic and self sustaining aquaponics system.

Farmer Frog in Woodinville has a great aquaponics system. There are lots of kinds of fish used such as trout but the main fish are koi. To learn more about Farmer Frog and their aquaponics system, visit their website: https://farmerfrog.org/

To learn more about hydroponics and aquaponics check out these resources: https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/hydroponics and https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/aquaponics. Also make sure to check out the Everett Clippers Aquaponics article by Crystin Clouser: https://everettclipper.com/13156/showcase/aquaponics-a-solution-for-self-sustainability/

Peppers growing in the Farmer Frog Aquaponics System
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Eat Local First and WA Farm Finder

Visit the WA Farm Finder on https://eatlocalfirst.org/. This is a great application that can be used to find local farms, growers, and producers in Washington State to support. They have online portals for other kinds of farms as well, such as CSA’s. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a style of farming where customers can buy a plot of farmland or shares of a farm’s harvest in advance.

The Snohomish Beet Field during a Food Bank Farm volunteer beet harvest

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Green Cleaning Resources

Included in the PDF file and PowerPoint slides are many recipes for great sustainable cleaning products that can be made at home with simple ingredients such as baking soda and olive oil. The products include toilet bowl cleaner, glass cleaner, lemon disinfectant, and many more. Thanks to Washington State University and Snohomish County for crafting the green cleaner booklet and Nancy Vandenberg for the PowerPoint slides.

Green Cleaning It’s in Your Cupboard!Download
Green Cleaner Recipe SlidesDownload
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Sustainable Gardening Classes

On Saturday, February 6th from 10:30-11:30 am PST, Snohomish Conservation District and King County Waste Treatment Division will be hosting a free webinar about easy ways to start a sustainable food garden. Learn the benefits of sustainable gardening and discover a wide variety of resources to help get started in the spring. To learn more about this event and register visit this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-gardening-growing-food-with-ease-and-minimal-impact-tickets-134430550395. Stay tuned for more sustainable landscaping and gardening classes from the Sustainable Yard Care series. You can find the course list on the King County Events Page: https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/environment/wastewater/education/events.aspx

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ORCA Sensors and Student Green Fee

The EvCC ORCA (Ocean Research Academy) program uses a variety of sensors and equipment to monitor ocean temperatures, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and more. This important data is not only used in the ORCA program, but is also shared with other classes, the scientific community, and the general public. To view live data from the sensors visit this link: http://www.wqdatalive.com/public/609

Mount Baker Terminal Sensor data is represented in this graph.

ORCA recently purchased two new Seabird CTD 16 plus sensors that monitor dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and pH. ORCA was able to purchase these through the Student Green Fee. The Green Fee is an exciting opportunity for students to propose and fund sustainable ideas on campus through college funding. Students can submit proposals but keep in mind that proposals will stop being accepted after January 31st. More information can be found at this link: https://www.everettcc.edu/administration/college-services/facilities/sustainability/evcc-green-fee

A seal next to a sensor
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SEA Club Green Cleaning Class

On January 26th at 1:30, the Students for Environmental Action (SEA) club will be hosting an event about creating homemade sustainable cleaning products. Demonstrations in this event will showcase how to make toilet bowl cleaner, a bleach alternative, and tile/grout cleaning solution. The zoom meeting ID is 859 0333 8413

To follow along with the making of these products during the event, have these ingredients available:

Toilet Bowl Cleaner: baking soda, spray bottle, Castile or other concentrated liquid soap

Bleach Alternative: lemon juice, citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, old bleach bottle or 2 liter pop bottle

Tile/Grout Cleaner: baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, Castile or other concentrated liquid soap, jar with screw top lid

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EvCC Greenhouse

The campus may be closed but the Greenhouse at Everett Community College is still alive and well! Grounds Lead, John Syson, and his crew, have been taking good care of these plants.

John Syson standing next to tall dieffenbachia plants
John Syson standing next to dieffenbachia plants.

The Greenhouse is used to propagate plants and grow annual flowers used by the Grounds department to beautify the campus. In the last 11 years that John Syson has worked for EvCC, he has transformed the college grounds from a lifeless and bland college environment to bursting with life and beauty everywhere you look. In speaking with John, it is clear that he has a true passion for what he does. He says, “Plants are as honest as they can be, as long as you speak their language they tell you what they need. You just have to listen.”

When the campus is open, the Greenhouse is also used to grow vegetables for Laura Wild’s nutrition class and extra vegetables are donated the the Early Learning Center.

Photo of plants intended for plant swap
These are all plants we were planning on using for the Earth Week 2020 plant swap.

Another use of the Greenhouse is to grow plants for EvCC’s annual Earth Week plant swap. (Although last years plant swap was cancelled due to covid, we are hoping to be able to figure out a way to continue the plant swap this year. Come back for updates on this years plant swap)

tiny bananas growing
Bananas are starting grow!
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Trail Work At Little Mountain

Little Mountain Park is located in Mt. Vernon. This park has many wonderful trails to bike and hike. With help from organizations like Evergreen Bike Alliance and Mount Vernon Parks Foundation, the Mt. Vernon Trail Corps have been working on a new mountain bike skills park at Little Mountain while continuing maintenance work on existing trails. Mt. Vernon Trail Corps is committed to crafting and maintaining a sustainable multi-use trail system that’s built to last. To learn more about Little Mountain Park and how to help out visit this link: https://www.mvpf.org/mount-vernon-trail-corps. Sign up for the mailing list to keep up to date with opportunities to volunteer.

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NatS103 Sustainability and Systems Library Guide

This library guide for the Sustainability and Systems class is a great resource for research and learning about the library system. There’s a wide variety of studies and databases in this guide as well as the EvCC AASHE (The Association for the Advancement of Higher Learning) sustainability presentation. Visit this link to access the library guide: https://everettcc.libguides.com/naturalscience103/Welcome