Not sure how to make the link work. Please help!

Turning the old brewery into an aquaponic farm. Lets hope the fish and lettuce produced won't taste as horrible as, "the beer refreshing." Curious if anybody on here is part of this venture. I hope this type of set up proves to be cost effective.

I am finishing up the design and construction of a very small scale setup at my place this year. More of a science project at this point. Only like 40 some days before ice off and installation.

http://www.kare11.com/news/article/10109...ws%7Cbc%7Clarge

From the land of sky blue waters, comes the fish refreshing.

Thanks Essup for fixing the link

I've been following this since it was first announced. I think it is a great project, and I really hope it succeeds. It has so many positives for tourists, training, consistent supply of good fish, and consistent supply of decent leafy green veggies. I just wish they were starting with local types of fish instead of tilapia -- but, you gotta start somewhere.

It think it will be a real boon to the local scene, and good for everyone. For anyone who has visited 2-3 hours north, at the Duluth, MN Bayfront in recent years, it is incredible what they've done. It is not that many years ago when it was a scary industrial area where I would only go with someone else, and straight to and from my destination. Today, you can get some incredible food there. The hotels, where we once had strip clubs, offer fantastic views and access to the beautiful port. Even the old Fitgers brewery has been brought back as a craft brewery.

For you MN/WI/Yooper dudes, think about what you could do if you turned your ice houses into greenhouse aquaponics facilities. Perch and NP helping grow the side dishes for the meals you are enjoying while watching the Vikings and Packers on your 190-inch TVs in your ice houses when it is -20 degrees!

Now, I just wonder if all my old Hamms "memorabilia" (crap in my old tool boxes and tackle boxes) is worth anything! Are they going to re-employ the wonderful Hamms bear to do promotions? I sure hope so!

Them are fight'n words to the stick who is advocate of the Hamms brew.

At least IMHO, Hamms was a decent beer. It certainly was better than some of the other local beers, like Brunigs, Northern, and Lienenkugles. Fitgers was OK. Heilman's Old Style was reasonable. Grainbelt wasn't bad. Blatz and Schmitd's was real cheap. I'm sure there were many more that my brain has forgotten or fogged over from those days.

All of these beers sponsored the local 10:00 PM TV news in the 1950s and early 1960s -- on the two stations covering northern MN, WI, and the Michigan UP.

Did I type, Hamms, a bad beer? What I meant to convey was, a slightly overly bold after taste that my very poorly trained pallet has observed. I'm pretty sure I don't want the stick upset with me!

Turning our ice houses into green houses. Now that is just down right silly Catmandoo....

Sitting in a 8'x8'x6' box on a frozen lake drinking mass quanities of adult beverages, telling lots of fish stories, complaining about our jobs or the economy, talk of fancy women. That sounds a lot more productive to me than a green house. Let's not disturb the perfect design of what an ice house should be.

They just started selling Hamms at a convenience store a block away. A couple months ago they had a center display. Now it is stocked in the cooler right next to the Steele Reserve and the Milwaukee's Best.

When the display was up, a gal walked in and inquired about the "NEW" brand. Said she never heard of it. Told her it's been around and was the source of my first hangover! She bought a case!

Aquaponics is not new at all. Even renovating old factories for such purposes is not new. New to the locals, but it is all about making it happen, then it needs to turn a buck with a consistent portion in the black.

There are corporate Aquaponic and Aquaculture facilities in the USA that you won't get any info. from/about/whats up?

I think it is a good deal tho, and would like to see more people active in making something like this work.

I am trying to come up with something profound to say, but failing that, try a Hamms if available in your area. Ice cold. Perhaps "back" with your favorite bloody mary. I promise you won't spit it out on the ground and curse the day I was born.

Stick,
Nothing wrong with Hamms, just haven't seen it in stores around this area. Might just pick some up this weekend.

What? 8x8x6? How do you get the 120-inch TV, multiple Barcaloungers, heated-seat composting toilet, and fireplace in there? The ones they always show on the news, usually on Minnetonka, have heated garages for the snowmobiles. Some may even have basements.

I only know of 1 larger scale aquaponic producers that are turning a profit when having to heat the water...and that one is much further south. Once the USDA grants and other taxpayer supports are gone, most close the dooors and turn off the water.

Rex,
Do you know all of the Aquaponics facilities in the USA?

Just curious.

Not even close JKB. What I have seen is many will get USDA grants and as soon as the taxpayer funded support is gone, so is the business. Paying to heat water and provide electric sunlight costs some big bucks.

I somehow just ran across this old thread when I was looking for something else this evening.

About three weeks ago, just before my wife and I headed into Labatt and Molson country, our Lutheran church Pastor/fishing partner (who grew up just a few miles west of Dwight, but on the SD side, and who got his bachelors degree in agriculture from SDSU) brought a 6-pack of Hamms Beer to enjoy after he put his wife on an airplane for a one week vacation with her non-midwest family.



He thought it was a reel hoot to bring a 6-pack of Hamms beer to enjoy -- and it was. It is currently $2.95 a 6-pack here in WV. A 12-pack is $3.95. It is now made in Milwaukee by Millers. No Hamms Bear on the label. It just says that it is made under the traditions of the family of sky blue waters, or something like that.

The really crazy thing is, that a few days later at the airport in northwest Canada, we were destined to share two fun weeks with some wonderful other former-Minnesota crazies, the same age as Lynda and me, with whom we shared more than just a lot in common. It was ridiculous how much we had in common. We were like mirror images to each other.

To make it even crazier, I found out that our new-found friend's mother's family were Hamms, of the Hamm's beer family. He told me that all his rich relatives died poor by the 1960s, when the Hamm family was no longer involved with the brewery in the Swede Hollow section of St. Paul, MN.

My cousins still have a number of Hamms neon signs at their cabins in northern Wisconsin that came out of our family taverns. I still have a number of Hamms openers and other memorabilia.

I'm on a medicine that blocks the taste of anything with carbonation, so I can't tell if the new Hamms is anything like the old Hamms. All I remember is that 50 years ago it was about the same as Grain Belt, Fitgers, and better than Northern, Lienenkugles, Breunigs, etc.

Have fun fishing,
Ken

P.S. I'll be flying into Minneapolis later this week on my way to the South Shore of Lake Superior later this week for several fun-filled days with my crazy friends and relatives. Anybody want to meet at Toby's on Thursday afternoon about 5:00 PM?

Lutherans + Beer == Catholic Light.
We have a beer brewing club at our church. Always raises a few eyebrows when we talk to folks that are not familiar with Lutherans, or the fact that Luther's wife apparently brewed some excellent craft.

I'm thinking that after 12-14 they all taste the same.
Catman, ya should get out and go somewhere once in awhile before you're too old ta enjoy it. When your up there ask if anyone is familiar with Isle Royal, 54 yrs ago it was so cool.

Us old Lootrans also have an old saying: Where you find four Lutherans you usually find a fifth.

It seems like I'm always going somewhere. Just got back from two weeks in ther Canadian Rockies. Been to Isle Royal a number of times. I grew up on the south shore of Lake Superior.

When was the last time you were there? I was there in 74 and they were begining to require reservations for the little lean-to/cabins along the Greenstone Ridge trail. I'd probably be surprised at how much it has changed. I spent the summer of 63 up there and at that time it was pristine. Rock harbor was somewhat modern(for those days) I can't remember the name of the other port, was it Winona?
I'm happy for you that you can get around so much. Think we're both envious of the rich Texans that just skip to Africa to hunt with their grandkids.