Day 12 – SHAADE HYDROPONIC FARM by Jerleena King

Today 13th July, the interns assisted by cleaning, organizing and also removed weeds. The Shaade Hydroponic farm takes food security very seriously starting at six o’clock a.m. by delivering to different places like Deli, Epicurean and other businesses.

Why water and not soil?

Hydroponic, water is essentially the most important part since they mostly grow lettuce and other water based plants that grow and feed off of water but by skipping soil the plants can skip the energy-intensive process and grow much faster.

What are the different types of products?

Besides lettuce, herbs and teas, there are different types of products being made at the Hydroponic farm. These value-added items include Tea bags, Lotions, Body scrubs, chest rubs and other organic products. They also make honey based products like soap, oils and candles.

The Bee Farm!

Another component of SHAADE is Beekeeping.

The bees there can make up to twenty to fifty pounds of honey in a week. The interns learned that most bee hives have an upstairs and a downstairs called A and B. A is where they mostly collect the honey and also where the honey is mostly made while B is mostly where their babies are kept. The queen of the hive is usually used to mate and produce babies. After the queen dies the strongest baby from the bunch, feeding on royal honey can grow up to be the new queen in sixteen days.

The day was well spent with interns assigned to several tasks and lots of information shared with them by Mrs. Sherrie-Ann Brazier, co-owner