I have always said that I spend most of my time either attempting to prove my innocence or preparing myself for when I do finally go home. Among the ways I work to prepare myself is to try to create new programs for the entire inmate population. You see, ODRC does not always have the educational opportunities I would need to ready myself. So, I try to create those programs just so I can take them myself. Unfortunately, there are staff members that throw roadblocks at every turn. Such as the situation I mentioned in my last post.
I have been called tenacious when it comes to things like this. Nevertheless, I am calling on many of you to help me with a program I am trying to get started. It is “Recirculating Aquaculture” (fish farming). My family and I had been discussing starting a fish farm at home that would eventually incorporate “Aquaponics”, which is a combination of a fish farm and a hydroponic crop productions system. I have recently read an article that said the National Sea Grant is supplying grants to start fish farms in the Great Lakes Region. We would like to apply for these grants. Among the reasons we want to do this is that it will not only provide a job for me upon my release, it will also provide my entire family with an income. Additionally, by the time I do get out of prison, I will be too old to work long enough to earn a decent retirement. A business like this would enable me to provide my family and I with some necessities into my old age, and past the point where I can work.
It took my family and I a couple of months to obtain a Cornell University textbook “Recirculating Aquaculture” 4th Ed. 2018. One of the Authors, and a Professor at Cornell University (Professor Michael B. Timmons) not only helped ensure I received this book, but he even sent it to me free of charge. A textbook does not beat hands on experience. So, I have been trying to inquire with Professor Timmons as to both any grants available for my family and the institution to use to start fish farms, and if any of his colleagues in the area would be willing to come in this prison to teach it?
Information I have gleaned from the textbook gave me some contacts, and I have sent letters, but I have not heard anything back from them.
Exactly what I need is this:
1) any available grants my family can use to start a fish farm.
2)any available grants the institution can use to start a fish farm.
3) to find someone who can come into this institution and teach a recirculating aquaculture class here.
The contact information I gathered is:
Professor Michael B. Timmons
Cornell University
Biological & Environmental Engineering Department
302 Riley Rob Hall
Ithica, N.Y. 14853
mbt@cornell.edu
Cornell University
Attn: John Osborn
Ken Post Labs-#190 C
512 Tower Road
Ithica, N.Y. 14853
Brian Vinci
The Conservation Fund
Freshwater Institute
1098 Turner Rd.
Shepherdstown, W.V. 25443
bvinci@conservationfund.org
Dr. James Rekocy: Principle
The Aquaponics Doctors
4604 49th St. N.
P.M.B. 155
St. Petersburg, Fl. 44709
tadcontacts@theaquaponicsdoctors.com
I truly appreciate any help any of you can provide.
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