Talk about the value and importance of local, sustainable food sources has been rampant the past couple years. Movies have been filmed, books have been written and immeasurable oxygen has been sucked from the atmosphere in discussing the subject. But Bruce Edwards, director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma's Urban Harvest program, is doing more than talking; he's putting it into practice to feed the hungry and activate the community into not taking the practices of our ancestors for granted.

"The food bank looks at it this way: If people can help themselves and be able to grow their own food, they're more sustainable, they won't depend upon the system, and they will have less need for the services that we provide,” Edwards said.

Urban Harvest provides free seeds, plants, education and other assistance for more than 40 community gardens across the state.

"The food dollar isn't stretching as far as it used to,” Edwards said. "There's also a new awakening of people wanting more nutritious food, knowing where their food comes from.”

The program began about a decade ago and has grown into a working ecosystem where you'll find an orchard, vegetables, hoop house, compost heaps, organic fertilizer and even a fish farm.

"Our tilapia tank holds up to 800,” Edwards said. "That's not enough to be a major source for a restaurant, but it shows what can be accomplished.

"The majority of tilapia we eat are imported from China. If I can raise this many tilapia here, imagine what a farmer could do.”

And if Oklahoma farmers can raise enough tilapia to keep local restaurants and markets supplied, then our reliance on imported fish is eliminated. Less importing means money stays within the Oklahoma economy and a smaller carbon footprint.

"We saved about $14,000 last year through the Urban Harvest program,” Edwards said. "The Food Bank estimates that for every dollar raised (or saved), we feed seven people. You do the math.”

So, raising fresh and delicious produce made 98,000 meals. Not bad.

Compost is created onsite from food waste. Workers open expired canned goods and spoiled foods and mix them with straw, wood chips and dry leaves. Empty cans are pressed and recycled.

A tilapia tank is part of an aquaponic system in which the fish provide primary nutrients to feed plants growing in the system. The fish grow and mature to about a pound and a half and are suitable to eat in about 10 months. The waste produced by the tilapia funnels into a long, rectangular tank topped with bottomless cups. Seedlings go into the cups to feed on the tilapia-enriched water to develop their roots before being transplanted into the earth. The water, meanwhile, filters back into the tilapia tank from which it came.

Across the walk is a three-tiered tank, the bottom acting as sort of an incubator for newborn tilapia. The water circulates into various other water- and soil-based growing beds, helping the fruit or vegetable of the season get a healthy start.

"We supply microgreens to a lot of the chefs around town,” Edwards said.

During my visit, I was able to sample fresh young strawberries, arugula and sorrel, among other things.

The strawberries were plump, though still a little tart as it's a tad early in the season. I've always been a fan of arugula, but after sampling the arugula right off the plant — which can be done because no chemical pesticides are used — my confidence was shaken. This arugula had a deep, rich flavor. Suddenly, I understood why Peter Cottontail was so willing to put his neck on the line in Mr. McGregor's garden. Biting into the sorrel was like biting into a green apple carpaccio dressed with a splash of lemon.

In a hoop house toward the back of the lot, a single bunny named Harry Hopper has a single job: snack. Nature takes its course from there, and Harry's waste feeds into boxes of soil, where young earthworms await the manna. The worms bask in the bunny waste, feeding and creating their own waste to pass to the soil where they reside. The soil is fed into a device that divides the worms from the soil they've enriched, which is just the stuff one needs to not only grow hearty fruits and vegetables but enrich the soil it joins.

The earthworms go back into the soil boxes to start the process over.

"We sell this soil for folks to use as a natural fertilizer,” Edwards said. "The worms create microbes that replenish the soil. Chemical fertilizers feed the plants but not the soil. If you don't feed the soil, it more or less dies and won't sustain any growth.”

Soil isn't all the program offers. Organic gardening classes are held in the spring and offer help to anyone wanting to start a community garden.

Because it's a nonprofit organization, The Urban Harvest needs support. Most charities have had to resort to offering chances to win prizes to get folks to donate money or volunteer time. The Urban Harvest offers something much more valuable: knowledge.

"There are people who don't know how to plant a vegetable in the ground the way their grandparents did, and that to me is just sad,” Edwards said.