Bell Aquaculture Partners With Bob Tanem's Enterprises To Provide Fish Rich® Organic Fertilizer to the Vegetable Garden at Homeward Bound's New Beginnings Center

REDKEY, Ind. and NOVATO, Calif., April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Bell Aquaculture, the nation's largest yellow perch (Perca flavescens) farm and pioneer in sustainable fish farming operations, is partnering with Bob Tanem's Enterprises to provide Fish Rich Organic® Fertilizer to the Vegetable Garden at Homeward Bound's New Beginnings Center in Novato, CA (Marin County). The announcement is made by Norman McCowan, president of Bell Aquaculture, who suggested the partnership when he and Bell's Regina Dunlavy interviewed with Bob Tanem on the KSFO 560 Radio Show, 'In The Garden,' in February.

Tanem began testing Fish Rich on his own personal garden and at New Beginnings last year after responding to Bell Aquaculture's outreach to gardening writers and program hosts. According to Tanem's on-air remarks, "I have had very nice results with it [Fish Rich], which is the reason both of you are on, and I thank you for the samples that I was able to work with.  And it has done wonders in my feeding and fertilizing the gardens that I have at New Beginnings.  We've had a tremendous tomato crop this year, without any blossom end rot."

Dunlavy explained that it's the calcium in Fish Rich that helps abate blossom end rot in tomatoes, which can be a major problem in California. "The process we use grinds the yellow perch remains after filleting – the head, the tail, the guts, and that includes the bone.  So naturally you're going to find calcium in our product," Dunlavy said.

During the interview, Tanem shared the story his 12-year 'labor of love' in starting and overseeing the vegetable garden at the New Beginnings Center in Novato. As Tanem explained: "I sponsor a 100% organic garden at New Beginnings, which is a homeless organization that helps train people to have a job and support themselves on the outside."

McCowan said: "Bob, I think it's a great thing what you're doing with the New Beginnings…teaching people how to garden and everything else. We want to continue to partner with you as long as you're doing it – just count on Bell to provide the fertilizer for you."

Link to listen to the February 3 'In the Garden' broadcast (the Fish Rich interview begins at 23:00 on the podcast): http://www.publicrelationsnewsroom.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/InTheGarden3Feb2013.mp3  

About New Beginnings Center and Bob Tanem's Enterprises

New Beginnings Center opened in 2000 to provide transitional housing for 80 homeless adults in Novato, Calif., operating as part of a nonprofit called Homeward Bound of Marin. With donated compost, plants, fencing and irrigation supplies, nurseryman Bob Tanem (host of the popular Sunday radio show "Bob Tanem In the Garden" on KSFO Radio 560AM in San Francisco), led the charge to turn a former New Beginnings parking lot into a working garden for training and feeding people transitioning out of homelessness. For more information, please visit http://www.hbofm.org. "In The Garden" airs every Sunday morning from 8-11 a.m. (Pacific) – visit http://www.bobtanem.com.

Bell Aquaculture Operations

The Bell Aquaculture production facility sits on family-owned land in Albany, Indiana, comprising the nation's largest yellow perch farm.  The company headquarters are six miles north in Redkey, Indiana, where the Bell Perch™ Yellow Perch "leftovers" are processed at its fertilizer plant into Fish Rich® Organic 2-2-2 Fertilizer. OMRI Listed, Fish Rich is made from toxin- and mercury-free fish and has a very mild fish odor. For more information, visit: http://www.fishrich.com.  

"We have become a true vertically integrated facility at Bell Aquaculture: nurturing our fish from egg to full-grown fish. And, because we have our own broodstock, the genetic health of the fish can be protected before new fish are born. Plus, our fish are grown indoors in recirculating aquaculture systems, minimizing danger from outside contamination," McCowan explains. Visit http://www.bellaquaculture.com.     

Bell Aquaculture and Fish Rich are found on these social media sites:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BellAquaculture - http://twitter.com/FishRichOrganic
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/BellPerch - http://www.facebook.com/FishRich
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bellaquaculture
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/BellAquaculture
News Feed Blog: http://indianayellowperch.blogspot.com

SOURCE Bell Aquaculture