Thursday, March 25, 2010

Boojum Tree and Biosphere 2

Here is a photo of a Boojum Tree growing in the desert eco system of Biosphere 2.

The agricultural system produced 83% of the eight person crew's total diet while they lived for two years in this sealed structure.

The crew grew a variety of crops such as papayas, bananas, sweet potatoes, beets, peanuts, rice, and wheat. They could not use any toxic chemicals, as it would impact the crew's health.

During the first year of the two year mission, the crew was hungry and lost weight. During the second year of the mission, the crew grew over a ton more of food and regained some of the weight previously lost.

Check out intriguing travel photos of Uluru, Australia at Viva la Voyage!

6 comments:

brattcat said...

Outstanding post, Julie.

Mirela said...

What a weird tree! Thanks for the explanation too. Even though I've been somewhat interested in biospheres and their possibilities, I've never taken too much time to go into details....

glenda said...

Love the look of the boojum trees. Wish I could get one to grow in my garden. Biosphere 2 sounds like an answer to losing 10 pounds.

Lois said...

That is an interesting name for the tree! Fascinating information again Julie.

irinapictures said...

So very interesting, thank you!

Don and Krise said...

That is really interesting. I wonder if they lost weight from eating their own cooking. I've had the opposite happen. :-(

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