A student excursion of the Martin-LutherUniversity Halle – Wittenberg to Spain – project Aquaponic – familia feliz (written by Nils Schlechtweg)
09.03. – 16.03.2019

This excursion had the aim to build an aquaponic system, we have already planned and realized it in smaller dimensions at University. Furthermore, our motivation was to learn something about life in the shared community of Casa del Dragon, the way of living and the culture in Spain. All these things were only possible due to the familia feliz, especially Juan Petry. He provided us a temporary home, a garden to realize our project and extend our research approach. Moreover, he showed us what it means to live together in a community and how to think sustainably.
For our stay and for all we were able to learn there we say thank you!

What did we do this week?
Day1: We arrived in Spain and moved in our accommodation.

Day2: We explored Cervera del Maestre, the garden of familia feliz and we made a plan for the next days. This included the building of teams, who were responsible for cooking and doing the dishes. In the afternoon we made a little trip to the beach of Benicarló.

Day3: The whole day we worked on our aquaponic system in the garden. The majority prepared and modified the tank and the water pipes. A small team of students went to a facility store and bought all supplies we needed for our project.

Day4: After breakfast we visited an ancient oil mill. There was a guided tour, which gave us general information about the press and the preservation of olives. Then we went on with the work in the garden. After lunch we visited the castle, the historical city-centre and the beach of Peníscola.

Day5: Before lunch we took care of the power supply, the tank positioning and the swimming platform and we began with the planning of the breeding station. Then we made a trip to Sierra d’Irta, where we had a great view of its special landscape.

Day6: On this day we worked intensively on our system, the breeding station and the electricity based on solar cells. Furthermore, some student groups helped Juan with the realization of a stone oven, the building of a historical line wall and tree cutting.
Cervera del Maestre

Day7: On our last day, we finished our prototype system, got ready for the departure and said goodbye.
We finished every day with a summary in which we discussed the daily achievements and results. Moreover, optional workshops about living in a shared community or “why does a man with wife and children go to Spain to become a farmer” were offered in the evenings.

How did the trip change our perspective?

Apart from that, we learned about the difficult realization of an aquaponic system.

This stay caused a change of mind on a psycho-emotional level.

So, some people changed their nutrition, thought about an environmental friendly life style or decided to learn Spanish.

We look forward to the next stay at familia feliz!