This course is an important first step if you are...

• A family looking to start a business growing fresh healthy food in your community
• Desiring to change the food system one small farm at a time!
• Changing careers or retiring and want to work in a beautiful greenhouse with fish and plants
• A non-profit organization with a mission to serve a community in need of healthy food
• A for-profit organization looking at aquaponics as an investment opportunity
• Already experienced with aquaponic gardening and want to scale it up
• Simply wanting to learn more and gain valuable experience from people who have been through it
• Interested in developing or running aquaponic farms in other parts of the world

• All About Fish - Creating a healthy, low stress and highly productive fish population to fuel your aquaponic system. Select the right kind of fish, develop your rotation plan, transport, stocking density, feeding, breeding, quarantine, purge and selling fish to customers.
• System Design and Components – The latest technologies in aquaponic system design and equipment built on years of design improvements in filtration, aeration, water flow, energy management, system monitoring, planting and nursery systems. Learn how to layout your farm and optimize for plant and fish production and learn about the benefits of a decoupled system to optimize for each environment independently. 
• Plants and Pests – Understand and optimize crop rotation plans to align with the seasons, nutrient dynamics, the growing environment and your business and personal goals. How to keep your plants healthy, high value, pest free and flourishing. 
• The Growing Environment – Learn about greenhouses or other structures that will work best in your climate. Avoid costly and time consuming mistakes when planning your farm site and building your dream. Learn how to manage heat, cold, light, humidity and other factors, ensure energy efficiency and improve growing indoors. We will review the latest in energy efficient passive solar greenhouse systems. 
• The Business of Aquaponics – The make or break factors in starting and operating a business successfully. Startup and operating capital, personal planning, business planning, financial planning, project development, business structures and much more. Avoid the mistakes that have fallen other businesses to ensure the greatest chance to succeed. Learn how to use our production and financial planning tools to evaluate your business
• Farm Management – Learn the daily, weekly, monthly and annual tasks to create a high functioning aquaponic farm. Startup cycling, seeding, transplanting, harvesting, scouting, pest management, water quality, maintenance, cleaning, food safety and much more.
• Marketing and Sales – Receive the best strategies for selling your product and ensuring financial viability, customer identification, product, price, promotion, placement, packaging, and people. How to create a polyculture of revenue streams and support systems to ensure financial resiliency and long term success

• An Instructor team dedicated to providing you the best experience and training you can receive in aquaponics. We don't withhold any information or make you sign any contracts to attend our workshops
• A 250 + page binder with all of the course powerpoints, planning worksheets, resources for your farm, log files and a glossary of terms, Full color laminated plant disease and pest identification guides for use in the farm
• Lunches feature food from our farms including fish
• A huge and constantly updated electronic resources library
• Personal, business, and market planning worksheets
• A Financial and Production Planning electronic workbook so you can create your own financial pro formas, run scenarios and predict your rate of return so you can understand the overall financial feasibility for your farm.  
• A full review of our farm's Profit and Loss statements for the past two years
• A Chart of Accounts to setup the books, invoice examples
• Insurance information, business structures and tax considerations
• A full list of farm startup supplies
• Farm Standard Operating Procedures

Flourish Farm at the GrowHaus

The Mental Health Center of Denver

January 18-21, 2018

March 22-25, 2018

Classes begin at 8:30am and run until 5pm. Sundays will end a little earlier to help accommodate travel plans

1. Stroll through Downtown - Denver’s downtown blends both a Wild West and urban chic vibe. Hit up the 16th Street Mall to browse decades-old bookshops like Tattered Cover and buy cowboy apparel at Rockmount Ranch Wear.
2. Hike around Red Rocks -  These gorgeous red rocks jutting from the earth have been graced by thousands of musicians from the Beatles to The Grateful Dead to Depeche Mode. You name it,  they've been there or desperately want to be.
3. Browse the Denver Botanic Gardens - Whether you’re a nature lover or just like to escape the concrete jungle without leaving city limits, the Gardens are a must-visit.
4. Dine at Denver Restaurants who serve Flourish Farm Greens - All of our restaurant customers are within 5 miles of the farm. Visit our partner restaurants such as The Populist, Acorn, The Plimoth, Comida, Cholon, Jax Fish House, The Preservery. 
5. Gear up for a game at Coors Field - Watch the Colorado Rockies hit home runs at Coors Field—the park with the highest elevation in Major League Baseball.