• So many wild birds. Not sure if they’re passing through or if they’re here to stay throughout winter.
• Vern
• Smoked tilapia on the treager. So good!
• Farm Kid2 added tires in the field for the goats to play on.
• Last week our dog got in a scuffle with a porcupine. On Sunday, the kids saw the porcupine in our yard. Such a cute little fella, but he didn’t do our dog any favors.
• Farmer John used a net to catch a couple tilapia. In the net were fish eggs! This is a first for us. Now that he disturbed them, I’m not sure they’ll make it. But, now we now it’s possible and to keep an eye out for them.
• I’ve been collecting the goat’s milk and leaving it in the fridge. I made something with it for the first time – Cheddar Broccoli Soup. It didn’t turn out perfect, but it tastes fine.
• We were supposed to get a crazy storm this last weekend. Thankfully, it didn’t end up being as crazy as predicted. We had a bunch of things blown around and a lot of rain. Not too bad.
• There is drama in the barnyard. Sven, who has always thought he was top goat ’round here, has been put in his place by Willow. Sven, Willow, and Vern are all scared of the ornery rooster that lives with them. When its feeding time, he pecks them all on the nose. Apparently he is not good at sharing. I haven’t decided the best plan of action to remedy the situation, but we should fix it soon before a goat gets hurt.

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• No new news in the aquaponics system. Same ol’ same ol’ goin’ on in there. Which, I’m perfectly fine with. The tomatoes continue to produce, the Mexican sour gherkins continue to grow like crazy and the tilapia are eating, swimming and pooping as they should be.
• The olive egger from early September’s hatch is growing well and making friends with his hatch mate, the cream legbar.
• The deer have no problem coming into the yard munching on leaves and apples we haven’t picked yet.
• We got a blue eyed buckling! My hope is that he will be our herdsire and we will begin a small Nigerian Dwarf Goat breeding program.

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Happenings this week in the hot days of summer:

• Have I mentioned lately how much I love our goats? Well, I do. They’re fun & cute & awesome.
• Fish taco’s made with homegrown tilapia. One of my dinner fav’s!
• Wild blackberries are ripe.
• The little’s have been moved to an outside brooder.
• The taco garden is growing nicely.
• We have harvested a bunch of yellow squash. Once they get even slightly medium sized, though, they are seedy and pithy. So, the majority have been going to the chickens.
• Awhile back Farmer John brought home 2 Delaware chicks from the feed store. Of course, they were both supposed to be pullets. However, I have my suspicions that one will eventually start crowing. I don’t really mind. I think he’s handsome.

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It has been a few months since I last posted about our aquaponics system. I am happy to report there haven’t been any major problems with the system in general. The fish are swimming, the plants are growing.

Grow Bed #1

Back in April we planted bush beans, romaine, and kale in this grow bed. They all grew well and we enjoyed them for a couple months.

The other day, though, I ripped nearly everything out of this grow bed. With a clean slate, I will replant soon.

Grow Bed #2

This bed is primarily out of control tomatoes.

Tomatoes don’t love lots of water, so I don’t recommend growing them in an aquaponics setup. They tend to be mushier than tomatoes grown in good ol’ dirt. We do pick ’em and eat them, though. One day I even picked enough to make a nice batch of marinara.

Eventually we’ll take them out. But they grow well, which is good for the ecology of our set up, so they stay.

Grow Bed #3

This bed has 2 different items growing in it. One of them is an Asian eggplant. It is actually the same plant Farmer John planted last year. It is doing very well. I adore the purple flowers. Many of the eggplant are ripe and ready to be picked.

The other thing in this grow bed are Mexican sour gherkins. They continue to grow like crazy. I’m sure the vines would be happy to take over the entire greenhouse if we let them.

Aquaponics + Mexican sour gherkins = a good combination.

Clean Up

The harvesting is fun. The clean up – not so much.

Having out of control tomato vines next to even more out of control gherkin vines has resulted in a tangled mess. I gave them both a good trim the other day. But, it should be done more often.

This is a root mass growing around the pipes. Not a good situation and a bit difficult to clean up.

Wild Things

Snakes. An entire colony of snakes have decided to make their home in the greenhouse.

I am not a snake enthusiast, but we have an unspoken agreement. They leave me alone, I leave them alone.

They are rude guests who don’t clean up after themselves.

One snake thought it would be fun to explore the pipes. Not a wise decision. He got caught in the pump.

Tilapia

We primarily feed our tilapia pelleted fish food. Sometimes they get duck weed, and occasionally other greens.

Sitting on the bottom of the tank are sections of pvc pipe. The tilapia like to hide in them.

In the next few months we’re talking about changing some things in the system. The ecology seems to be in good productive order, so I don’t want to mess with it too much. But, there are a few things that could be done differently. We will iron out all the details and get to work…

The post Aquaponics Update – August 2016 appeared first on .

It’s officially the busy season. The hens are laying eggs like crazy. The garden beds are taking off and we’re beginning to enjoy the harvest. The weeds are growing like mad, which means there is a lot of weed pulling these days.

• I collected calendula flowers. They are set out dry and eventually I will make calendula oil.

• The grow beds in the aquaponics system are going crazy. I had to give them a trim. I probably should have trimmed them even more.

• While trimming the grow beds, I harvested a bunch of tomatoes, Mexican sour gherkins, Thai eggplant, and okra.

• In the regular garden beds the squash are ready. We’ve picked a bunch already and will continue picking.

• A couple months ago, Farmer John planted half of the goat’s field with a grass mix. It’s finally established enough that we’re letting the goats graze on it.

• Last week 15 chicks hatched. When they aren’t eating, drinking, or pooping, they are napping (bottom left). So dang cute!

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• I moved some herbs from the greenhouse outside. The basil especially wasn’t thrilled with the move.

• The sage in the garden is flowering beautifully.

• Bees are loving our pink escallonia.

• I completed a hodge podge of items to create a cement area in front of our coops. So excited! Hopefully this will cut down on the mud during the rainy season and icy, slippery mud in the winter.

• I’m not a huge rhododendron fan, but I love the purple color of a small plant we have.

• The bottom left photo is an attempt by birds to make a mud nest. They also tried in a couple similar locations with no luck. They finally moved on and found a flat spot to build their home.

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Nothing has changed in the aquaponics system. The only new additions are a bunch of plants enjoying the greenhouse conditions.

Outside

Grow Bed #1

The first grow bed has left over swiss chard and one pepper plant. They are there mainly because we needed plants growing over the winter and they are doing alright, so they stayed to help out the aquaponics ecosystem.

Bush beans, kale and romaine seedlings are newly planted right in the grow bed.

A few herbs and tomato seedlings in pots are placed on the grow bed simply because I want them in the greenhouse and we don’t have much shelf space. So, they are sitting in the grow bed for a short time.

Grow Bed #2

This grow bed also has leftover plants from last year – kale and tomato.

I’m also using this bed as a shelf to hold herbs and tomato starts in pots.

Grow Bed #3

Bed number 3 only has plants from last year – sour gherkins and eggplant. Both are producing new goodies for us to eat.

Growing in the Greenhouse

Scattered throughout the greenhouse are even more herbs, veggies, tomato, and flower starts.

Tilapia

The tilapia are doing their daily routine of swimmin’, eatin’, and poopin’.

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The weather was crummy this week, so we didn’t do much outside other than necessities. I’m still focused on getting seedlings started and experimenting with fodder. The wild life news this week is that there is a duck-nabbing critter roaming about.

• Many seeds germinated and were moved to the garage under the metal halide light.

• A few seedlings (bush beans, kale & romaine) were moved into a grow bed in the aquaponics system.

• A few seedlings were potted up.

• And, some we are still waiting to germinate.

• The fodder experiment hasn’t been going as well as I had hoped. The ryegrass is doing ok, but only a handful of the buckwheat seeds sprouted. And, we’re still waiting on the barley.

• The crocus and daffodils are blooming! But, the rain has proven to be too much for some of them.

• Our Welsh Harlequin duck is sitting on eggs. However, they aren’t fertile, so we should put a stop to this behavior.

• Unfortunately 6 of our ducks have gone missing. I also saw a coyote in the yard this morning. Coincidence? I think not.

• We moved the game camera to where the ducks hang out with hopes of catching a peek at what is lurking around and when.

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The months of January and February have been slow in the greenhouse. It’s not really a bad thing. It’s nice to have some down time. This also means we haven’t had any problems, which is great.

Outside the Greenhouse

We did get a hole in the greenhouse plastic. But a quick patch job fixed it, for now. When Farmer John built the greenhouse he knew this plastic wouldn’t last forever, but it’s what we had so it’s what he used. Soon it will be time to do something more permanent.

In the Grow Beds

Most of the plants in the grow beds are past their prime, so the last couple months we haven’t harvested much.

The kale is coming back nicely, though.

We planted seeds of a few items that will eventually end up in the grow beds.

Tilapia

The tilapia appear to be doing well.

The post Aquaponics Update – February 2016 appeared first on .

• Farmer John made me a couple hundred soil blocks to start herb seeds. I have a project coming up in April I’m hoping to use the herbs in. We got a little later start on them than I was wanting, so my fingers are crossed that they germinate efficiently and grow to my desired size by then.

• There is a camellia blooming! Just one. But, that’s a good enough sign that spring is on its way.

• A couple weeks ago our car got stuck in the mud while trying to move Oliver and Lois. Unfortunately, that left two long horrible ruts. Fixing them is now on our to do list. Until then, though, the ducks get to enjoy the water that fills the ruts. They love it.

• After Olaf passed I knew we would need a new companion for Sven. An odd circumstance came about and brought us Vern, a 2 year old Nigerian Dwarf wether. Perfect! Sven is also a 2 year old wether. And, funny enough, Vern and Sven have the same coloring. Their markings are different, of course. But, they look very similar. In a week or two we should also be getting Vern’s mom, Pearl.

• We picked up our pork from the butcher. The bacon is amazing! The ham is good, too – probably would have been even better had I not slightly over cooked it.

• In April, I’m running a half marathon. I’m hoping to knock over 8 minutes off my best half time. I don’t know if it’s actually doable, but I’m going to go for it. I’ve upped my training schedule. I would also like to lose 12 pounds by then. Maybe if there isn’t quite so much of me to haul around, I will move quicker. I tend to lose weight very slowly, so 12 pounds may be a little optimistic. Even a 7 or 8 pound loss would be great. To lose the weight I’m trying to eat better. No crazy diet scheme. Just eat better. Less chips & salsa. Less fast food. Less soda. But… I want to eat food that is more exciting than a salad. I like salads, but I need a change. I tried two new recipes this week. They were both flops. I made California rolls. The first ones had crab, cucumber and cream cheese wrapped in nori and rice. Blech. I thought maybe it was the crab I didn’t like, so the next day I made the roll with tuna. Still, blech. Now, I think it is the nori. This was the first time I had bought it. I think I need to try a different brand. I also made hummus. I’ve been on a carrot and hummus kick. I get a garlic and oil flavor from the store that I love. I was hoping to recreate it. Nope. Mine was horrible. So horrible there’s no way I would eat it. I don’t even think Farmer John’s been eating it and he’s not too picky. My adventures in cooking this week didn’t work out. Darn it.

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