Tawnya looks forward to growing food and minds with family, friends, community and many others. She is a passionate teacher, because she is a life long learner. Tawnya's motto - "The more you know, the more you grow" Tawnya Sawyer is a Colorado native who grew up in the mountains raising plants and animals for food. As a child she often felt irritated with the farm chores, but now realizes the invaluable knowledge she gained through that experience. Aquaponics quickly became a passion in the process of learning how our family could live a more sustainable lifestyle. In planning an urban homestead with chickens, gardens, composting, water management, energy conservation, solar heat, recycling and various other green concepts, she stumbled upon aquaponics after joking “…and we can raise fish in the kiddy pool!” Although, we didn’t use the pool, aquaponics soon took on a life of its own growing fish and plants in the basement and sunroom. It then grew out into the community through a relationship with the GrowHaus, several local green businesses, partnerships, schools and ultimately into a business. Tawnya is energized by the way people light up when they see the fish or they hear about the concept of aquaponics for the first time. That energy is driving her to develop the education program for CA by finding new ways to spread awareness and teach everyone how to take charge of their own food production. Over the past 20 years Tawnya has worked as a systems engineer, instructor, curriculum developer, author, consultant and analyst. She has written several books in the field of network systems administration and engineering and has developed curriculum for business analyst training workshops that are used by analysts worldwide. She continues to facilitate business analysis and requirements mastering classes for companies such as Sony, T-Mobile, JP Morgan Chase, Wellpoint, and Warner Bros Studios. She was among the first people in the world to be certified by the International Institute of Business Analysts in 2007. Tawnya is intrigued with information, exploring new ideas and creating efficient productive systems. She has spent countless hours researching aquaponics principles, system designs, alternative materials, and various community applications. She feels that aquaponics can be a significant part of the solution for changing the current food industry, for becoming more self-reliant, and for taking care of the planet. She is passionate about changing both the quality of the food available and the demands placed on natural resources for food production. |
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