Who is Friendly Aquaponics?

Susanne Friend and Tim Mann are the married partners in this wonderful technology called aquaponics. It still seems crazy that we’re doing this, as we have a long, sad history of killing houseplants, and we both come from the business world, so farming is new to us. If we can do this, anyone can! In mid-2007, we became tired of having two businesses tied to the failing construction industry on the Big Island, and decided that we’d grow food. We are thrilled to have taken steps toward our own food security, and are honored to be sharing what we have learned so that you can to.

What started out very simply (the desire to make a good living serving someone other than the very wealthy clients we had as a design firm!) has slowly turned into a crusade. What we are committed to doing is UNDOING THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF OUR FOOD SUPPLY. If you have not read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, and seen the movie “Food, Inc.” (now out on DVD), then you really must do so, to fully understand what has happened to our food supply since the end of World War II. And it has spread to the rest of the world now as well, with McDonald’s , Burger King, and Wendy’s spreading like viruses…

We stand for local, organic, non-processed, REAL FOOD, and that is what we grow here, to feed our family. We hope you join us, as America moves from being known as the “Fast Food Nation” to a world filled with “Slow Food Communities.” We believe if you do not grow it yourself, at least you should know the grower!

“Leonard Nimoy once said that ‘The miracle is this, the more we share, the more we have’ and that’s exactly what’s going on in Friendly Aquaponics; Susanne and Tim not only provide superior organic products for our local community but in addition to that they are enriching the lives of people around them with the gift of their amazing knowledge.” says Christopher Flynt, who partnered with us for five weeks. “Topher” is a brilliant and wonderful man, who blessed us by living with us and helping us out in more ways than we can count.
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The Friendly Aquaponics Tribe

(As written by Tim – the short and sweet one above is by Susanne =)
I’m Tim, the guy who digs the ditches, herds the fish, and fixes things that break. My wife Susanne has the college degrees (she also owns the business). She manages the vegetable production, marketing, personnel, advertising and communications (including this web site!).

World Tribe is our brand name for the organic lettuce mix that we sell at Costco. World Tribe is our vision of a world in which everyone has stopped fighting and killing each other, and instead has started working together on the Quan Yin principle. For those of you who don’t know her, Quan Yin is a Buddhist saint who was offered Nirvana after attaining enlightenment, but refused, saying she wanted to be reincarnated and go back. When asked why, she said, “my work is not over until everyone has attained their own perfection, then I will have earned the right to come with them”. So, put simply, we believe that it is all of us or none of us.

The Friendly Aquaponics Tribe at Costco

We live on the windward coast of the Big Island of Hawaii in a big warm-hearted house that we built with our own hands. Depending on whom you talk to, you will hear the house described as “really amazing”, “weird” or “looks like a sailboat”. It is peach-colored, with turquoise-colored trim, and has a painting that says “T Y S” in the third-floor window facing the road. You’ve seen it if you’ve driven the Hamakua Coast road anytime over the past four or five years. It’s the only three-story house on that road, and it has a really weird roof. That would be Friendly Aquaponics!

We have wonderful children who are the loves of our life: Emily, 17 years old, bluegrass violinist and lover of small animals including scorpions; Victor, video games-master and sound f/x artist at age 14; Joe, skate boy, skateboard builder, and classic cellist at age 13; Jack, Mr. Good Behavior (except when he’s not!), who’s 8-1/2 going on 21, and who takes care of everyone; Lucky, who almost died at birth (but fought hard and didn’t, and that’s why we call him Lucky) at age 7, who has only very recently come out of his shell and is actually loud these days!; and finally Rose, the Queen of Everything at age 4-1/2, who is making up for being the youngest by telling us all what to do.

We have a kupuna (Hawaiian word for “honored elder”) living with us as well: Susanne’s mom Isabelle, (although everyone calls her Mamaia (pronounced “ma MY ah”) because she did a stint as a volunteer in a Romanian orphanage and that’s their word for grandma). She travels a lot of the time, even though she’s 84. During the school year she teaches Jack, Lucky, and Rose, as she is a retired schoolteacher. Mamaia likes gardening and taking walks in the early morning.

I think people usually say what their hobbies are in these things, so here goes: Susanne likes photography (digital and old-school film), Photoshop work on the computer, hand-coloring infrared prints with transparent oils, making leis (Hawaiian flower garlands), and her huge Shire draft horses. She loves our children like her next breath. She dreams about cruising the world on a sailboat big enough for the entire family. I like making swords and knives, jazz drumming, surfing, and sailing, and since I absolutely adore my wife, I am going to build her that big sailboat. Keep in touch, and come sailing with us someday soon!

Click Here to Read Our History