About The Aquaponic Source

Who we are

The Aquaponic Source was started in Boulder, Colorado in November 2009 by Sylvia and Alan Bernstein.

Sylvia is the author of “Aquaponic Gardening: A Step by Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together”. She also runs the Aquaponic Gardening Community, the largest online community site dedicated to aquaponic gardening in North America, and is a found and current Vice Chairman of the Aquaponics Association.  She teaches and speaks extensively about aquaponics and its exciting potential.

In her recent past life Sylvia was the VP of Marketing and Product Development for AeroGrow International, the makers of the AeroGarden. She was one of the company’s original founders and was instrumental in developing the plant growth technology.

Alan is a former partner with McKinsey & Company and the Information Consulting Group and held senior positions at SystemHouse, Netigy and Andersen Consulting. He thought he was retired, but now he handles all the CFO and COO work for The Aquaponic Source and for generally keeping Sylvia out of trouble.

Joanne

Joanne Bell works part time filling orders, managing the greenhouse, and being a Jane-of-all-trades.  She practically grew up in gardens (the soil kind) in rural Pennsylvania under her mother’s tutelage, a woman with a divine gift for making anything that she touches grow. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in Nutrition, then wrote about health and nutrition for 5 years at Rodale, Inc. where she continued to cultivate her plant knowledge under the guidance of the Organic Gardening editors. Then moved to CO where she ran the plant nursery for AeroGrow International for 5 years with Sylvia before joining her at The Aquaponic Source.

The Mission

The mission of The Aquaponic Source is to be the trusted resource for everything the home or backyard aquaponics gardener needs.

The Vision

• To bring aquaponics gardening to households throughout the US and Canada.
• To truly expand the way people think about gardening so it is no longer strictly tied to the soil during the summer growing season but rather to the activity of growing plants in whatever way nature provides whenever fresh produce is desired.

Core Values

• Customers – It is only through our customers that we can drive toward our vision to spread aquaponics gardening throughout North America. To that end we are deeply committed to our customers’ experiences and will guide them to whatever they need to garden successfully. While we cannot guarantee that every fish will live and every plant will be healthy, we can guarantee that our customers will find us totally committed to their aquaponics experience and that we will provide the products and services to make our customers successful.
• Aquaponics – We are deeply committed to the advancement of aquaponics as a sustainable growing methodology. We believe that it is one of the cornerstones of the future of world agriculture and will work tirelessly to spread that word.
• Planet – We want to make the planet a better place through our products. Aquaponics growing through its very nature is sustainable and water-wise, and we need to be sure that our products reinforce that legacy. To that end we are committed to seeking out earth-friendly products, materials and processes whenever possible. Examples of our successes are:
  • The grow beds and fish tanks are entirely recyclable
  • We are working strictly with U.S. companies
  • We are using recycled newspapers and boxes for packing materials
  • Both our website hosting company and our local warehouse are powered by renewable energy.
  • We are actively supporting responsible aquaculture, and are working to bring attention to the plight of our oceans.
  • We have sought out and partnered with several small, family owned businesses who are focused on creating sustainable, earth-friendly products. These include Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm, Bright AgroTech, Bigelow Brook Farms, and Granger Plastics.

Philosophy

We are big fans of Seth Godin’s blog here at The Aquaponic Source. One of his recent blog posts is hanging on the wall of our shipping room as a perfect encapsulation of our business philosophy. We couldn’t resist sharing it here with you.

Simple Five Step Plan for Just About Anything and Everything

1. Go, make something happen.

2. Do work you’re proud of.

3. Treat people with respect.

4. Make big promises and keep them.

5. Ship it out the door.

When in doubt, see #1.

Affiliations and Memberships

Upcoming Events – click here

Interested in a tour of our greenhouse?

If you are interested in touring our Boulder,  Colorado Aquaponics Greenhouse please click here for more information.

Looking for a speaker or workshop leader?

If you are searching for someone to speak to your organization about aquaponics, or run a hands-on aquaponics workshop look no further! Click here to read more.

Press

If you are interested in finding out more about our company or about aquaponics in general please contact sylvia@theaquaponicsource.com

Retailers

If you are interested in finding out more about our aquaponics retail program please click here to read more and contact sales@theaquaponicsource.com