Weekend Garden happenings

We had a great weekend out here and really accomplished a lot! All of our Strawberries have been transplanted into the Rose beds in front of our house. Thanks to my daughter Rose! Between the 2 of us and a little help from hubby we moved over 100 Strawberry plants.

Corey, the kids and myself started working on the walkways in front of the house. Our goal eventually is to put in more brick walks with Irish Moss growing in between them. Right now though we had to do something because the Lawn Mower can't get between the boxes and beds and all of our hand me down Weed whackers are having issues and at a friends house for possible repair?

So Corey tilled up the soil, we laid a heavy layer of Newspaper (Thanks mom and dad!) and then a layer of Wood Chips! All the kids helped and we had a lot of fun, including rides in the wagon of course!

We were also able to get 2 more of the front beds filled ( I can't believe Rose filled this cart up all by herself!!)

And planted one of the beds with Leaf Lettuce, Carrots and Leeks.

I hope to plant the other bed here in a few days.

Check out some of the cool start ups around the Garden

This Asparagus was planted 2 years ago at the original edge of the garden.. we never had even a hint of growth on these until now??

Potatoes  I guess we missed a few again. oops!
We really have a blast doing this as a family! The time flys by so fast!

Jean repair

Patching Jeans... Not something I love to do, but I do have to have something to do while watching TV I can't keep my hands still. So with the weather my head has been so crazy I can't do my Counted Cross Stitch, they all blur together and my crocheting does the same. So during our movie night tonight I figured it was time to save my husbands overalls.

Corey is a Truck Driver and it never seems to fail that all the keys in his pocket wear through on the leg of his jeans. When he sits and drives they rub back and forth creating a week spot that eventually turns into a nice hole. With Jeans costing $50 a pop and them being okay every where but one spot it's time I stated patching them. I wish we could buy his at a cheaper place and every once in a while we can.. but it takes an hour of digging before we can find even 1 pair of 30X36 in all the racks. :)

He told me he didn't care what it looked like as long as I patched it. I can say I didn't do the prettiest patch but it will hold. I did a double patch, one from the inside and another on the outside covering the hole. This and the fact that he is now carying his biggest set of keys on his belt loop should help keep this pair around a while longer.

The Hole

Getting Ready to patch

The Under Patch and the start of the Top Patch

Patching the top

All Done

Not the prettiest patch I've done but the most functional.

I do recommend keeping old Jeans around, there is so much you can do, from patching things to a quick quilt to emergency pair of Jeans for a naked Ken doll :)

Where have all the socks gone??

Okay I don't do many posts about the dogs but here's one I just have to share.

About 6 months ago we installed a screen door with a doggy door on it. Our Yorkie Teddy just couldn't seem to figure out how to ring the hanging bell on the front door like our other dog thus creating messes in the house. Teddy (fondly nicknamed Igit by my husband) loves the doggy door and uses it very frequently sometimes just to poke his head outside and see what's going on.

I should also mention like the rest of the family each of our dogs has an issue or two. We adopted both fully knowing this and willing to work with them.

Teddy likes to pick up anything the kids throw on the floor or random things out of laundry baskets/ around the house and give it to you when he sees you. I remember the first time a friend of Corey's came over and Teddy was so happy to give him a pair of my underwear... Big red face here.

But this is about socks. We've always had an issue with non matching socks and though we have embraced this and the girls purposely have mismatched socks, I noticed the other day my sock basket had really dwindled.. I mean it was about half the normal amount full. Rose and Corey were outside cleaning the dog run when I heard laughter... it seems that when Teddy goes outside he takes one of his presents with him... there were a bunch of socks, a towel, a few dog toys and a roll of toilet paper and my missing pot holder. I now know if somethings missing check the dog run.. I can just see the next time mom asks Rose why she's not wearing any socks... the dog stole them and left them outside... oh boy!

Our life is never boring around here!

(I've been trying for a week now to get a pic of Teddy with a sock.. This week though he's been attacked to a dish sponge go figure!)

Attack of the Fungas Gnats!!!

Ugh.. I don't know what it is but EVERY year I get these darn gnats. This is the first year I was able to find out more information about them though. These little buggers can kill a seedling off in 2 days and an almost ready to transplant plant in about a week.

Normally when they started flying around I was able to spray and get them killed before I lost all of my plants. This year it's a little bit harder. They have invaded my aquaponics systems. I have all my seedlings and almost ready to transplant plants in my grow beds. I can't use any of the normal pesticides (and Corey and I agreed starting this year everything as close to organic as we can get) Yet I also can't afford to loose all 150 plus seedlings!

So I'm doing a 4 step approach. 1st thing I did was get the mosquito dunks. They are safe for plants and fish. These went into the fish tanks. I researched them ad the BT is commonly sold in jugs for Aquaponics.

Then tank by tank I am taking all the plants out, pumping almost all the water out into the fish tanks (the fish love bug larva) and then adding enough rock to get rid of any standing water spots. The Fungus gnats lay eggs where it's wet and the larva live and grow in the moist environment where they eat plant roots and fungus.

Then I am replanting the seedlings. Please note a few things. First make sure you get the roots into water. Second if your seedlings are really small, immediately transplant into another box, they can't take the 30 mins out side of their watery environment and will litteraly melt in front of your eyes.

I have also hung up one of the sticky flying bug traps over the beds to help catch the adult gnats. I realize this could take up to 6 weeks to get them all gone.. but hopefully I'll have saved my plants. So far the beds I've fixed are doing really good.

So if you see little white things that move like crazy when you blow gently on the surface of your dirt or other growing medium strike fast or you could loose your seedlings

More info and picture of fungus gnats
http://www.umass.edu/umext/floriculture/fact_sheets/pest_management/fungnat.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungus_gnat

Spring has sprung around the house!

I am running a bit behind on my Spring things to do list. We really didn't get to start on much of my list until this month so I'm a bit behind.

I have finally reached Blog Spring cleaning, mainly because it's so wet outside and continues to rain that I'm skipping ahead on my list.

One of my big Blog cleaning things to do was to fix the name/title on the top...  So now you can see my "Spring Title" I hope to have pic's with my title in them for every season we go through :)  Remember I said "I Hope" :)

My other 2 goals, organize the Tags and put up more pictures. It's all well and good that I describe everything but  I need to get pictures up so you can see what I"m describing.  Last year we didn't have a usable camera for much of the year, but we do now.  So please bear with me if something seems out of whack over this next week. I hope to have everything Spring Cleaned... but if there's a break in the weather... you know where I'll be :)

Excitement

Okay I'm dancing up and down over here. I'm just that excited. After much talk Corey and I are putting up Laundry lines :) I know probably not what any one was thinking.. but for me I just can't wait to use it. My mom is probably reading thins and rolling her eyes :)

I know I complained a lot growing up about having to cart the wet laundry to the line (had to haul it up steep stairs and hope we missed any landmines :)  But I am looking forward to the smell and feel of line dried clothes. That and what can I say.. if I had to do it, why shouldn't my kids? He he

After talking with Corey the argument went something like this... It will smell better, won't heat up the house, will save money on electricity, will be outside work.. will be physical work... all sounded good in his book.  So this week our laundry lines go up. With trees every where and garden every where else we did have to get creative to find our spot.. so if you drive by our house yes those are the holey jeans I patched waving in the wind in our side yard, next to the swing set, where the whole world can see them :)

Can't wait to let my laundry wave in the wind :)

It's that time of year again.

Yes! The weather is getting warmer and we can stand to be outside with our overalls and sweatshirts on! This means it's garden time again. After reading from a lot of sources about the prospect of a global food crisis it's really starting to hit home. Thanks to a blog I read our new motto is to "Garden like you can't go to the store."  

Really the way we are looking at things, are we going to be able to afford an extra trip in to town for groceries with the way gas prices are?  Are we going to be able to afford veggies with the gas prices going up and shortages added to that we could really see some things go through the roof price wise? How safe are the foods that we will be getting? Will they use more pesticides and hormones so that they don't run the risk of loosing more vegetables?  

And then again everything could be just fine... but do I want to find out the hard way or be prepared?

This year to help us prepare for what could happen and save money and eat healthier either way we are adding at least another  100 square feet of garden space. There will be at least 3\4 raised beds added to the front yard. The side yard will be done in raised beds and we are expanding to part of the back yard.

We now have 7 Aquaponics beds, 4 of which are in full swing and growing like crazy. After the plant starts get put out in the big garden we will reseed with more that will be left to grow in the house to supply us over the winter.

Simple Changes BIG Budget Impact

As a stay at home mom I can say honestly I miss working outside the home. No I don't miss the crazy boss or the why is your kid sick again. But I miss the feeling of accomplishment and the time spent away from my kids and husband and house.

But I'm very practical and have looked at the math up and down and backwords and forwards. If I were to go back to work even making the $13 dollars an hour I was making as an admin assistant when I left my last job I would be loosing money...

After you add up the Daycare, Gas, Second Car, Higher Insurance, Lunches, Dress Clothes, Shoes ect.. we would loose an extra 5 to 8 hundred dollars... instead of bringing home that amount. Then you also have to think about your employment record. Saying I was unemployed because I was a stay at home mom is better then saying I was fired from my last 4 jobs because of my kids. With everyone in this family having a medical issue I always felt disjointed and missed more work then I ever wanted.

So I'm a stay at home mom. This year I am making it a point to not only educate myself more about Green/Zero Waste/Urban Homesteading.  I am also trying to implement simple changes that will have a big impact on our Budget.

This has really opened my eyes.. Some of it was a real shocker to both Corey and myself.

Take Laundry Soap. We use the cheapest stuff running us about $7.00 a month for soap and $4.00 a month for Softener.. So a year is $84 to $100 for Laundry Soap and $48 for Softener

I can make a 10lb Loaf of plain Cold Process Soap for around $15 depending on the price of oils. (averaging on the high side)  After curing time I have enough soap to grate and then dry for powder to get us through at least 6 months of Laundry. Add a box of washing soda at $2.50 every 3 to 6 months and there's our detergent. $40 at the most for a full year. Softener I've been told you can use white vinegar which I already use as a cleaner around the house and for pickling so we ALWAYS have this on hand. I just saved at least $84 or more a year in laundry supplies, not to mention all the bottles and dryer sheets that won't be thrown into the landfill.

Yes grating soap takes time but come on, grab a grater, a bowl and throw in your favorite movie or TV show and you can get at least half if not all 10 lbs grated. Leave it in a couple of trays to dry out and it didn't take any time away from you.. you just used the time you were already wasting... for something productive :)


My next big realization in the last 2 weeks.. we buy tons of ready mixes.. more then I thought, from Pizza dough, to muffins, to pancakes , to waffles.  I can make all these things with my sour dough starter that's already sitting on my counter, the flour, sugar, powdered milk, oil and eggs we already buy in bulk and have on hand.. so why am I spending so much on packaging and preservatives when I could be making it myself?

My husbands newest realization has been in the form of cheese. We always bought the big bag of co jack shredded cheese from Wally World. for about $8.00. This month we spent $14 on a huge block of Co jack that had weight that was 3 1/2 times the weight of the bagged cheese. I put it in a container and have been shredding it as we go. Corey realized his stomach is not bothering him anymore. We are also using less cheese because it really melts and gets all gooey and tastes like cheese.  So for the extra 3 min it takes to grate cheese were saving money, packaging, and not getting a ton of preservatives. (I use the tiny grating part so it spreads out easily)

Snack/Cookies  I bet you have some in your pantry right now. You know like a bag of Chex mix and some yummy cookies... We don't. Do you know for the price you pay for the big bag of Chex mix you can make 2 Gal sized Canisters of it? And make it as spicy or as sweet as you want?  We make a batch of Chex mix, a batch of Puppy Cow/Muddy Buddies, 2 batches of Cookies and a big batch of Garlic Cheerios (generic of course). We have a canister or tub for each and can see when were getting low. Most all of these take some of the same ingredients, like butter, garlic salt, season salt ect.

Bread  another way to save money. It sounds like it would take a bunch of time but it really doesn't if you plan it out right. One evening you mix your dough and kneed it really well. Leave to rise over night. In the morning kneed again and separate into rolls or loafs. Bake before or after lunch or dinner if you don't get home till late. Once again you save packaging, and preservatives going into your family and you save money. We make rolls instead of loafs, they seem to take up less room in the freezer and they are a grab and go snack for the kids. One day a month we make enough for the whole month then freeze. Another day we make breakfast rolls for the month. The have Cinnamon, sugar and sometimes nuts in them.

It sounds like a lot of work but honestly I enjoy it and the whole family helps. Its another way we spend time together as a family

Wow so much to do!

Wednesday was such a wonderful day! Corey and I and Colty were able to get the Right side of our front Rose beds cleared out.

This side has been much neglected the last 2 years since it didn't have anything except 3 Store bought Rose's and a few flowers in it. I can say that it would get fully covered in weeds and stay that way because nothing of great importance was growing in it. Well, this year that's changing. Last fall I managed to clean out a small area to plant Strawberries in, but the Violets came back with a vengeance and are suffocating out my Strawberries. Never fear though. Corey and his trusty shovel have been out working hard and almost all the Violets are out :) Not to mention thanks to the girls and Colty half of it already has wood Chips down :)

After working out there for a while Wednesday when Corey got up, we enjoyed a picnic lunch in front of the house. This was such a nice treat. Colty and Corey cleaned up the table we were given last year, while I made sandwiches on our fresh Sourdough Rolls. While enjoying our break we saw a few Finches enjoying the new swing set and sigh... the first Wasp of the season. 

After lunch we watched Colty play on the swing set while we continued working in the front beds. Then when the girls got home Corey went back in for his nap and Rose and I started deep cleaning the kitchen...

It's been a wonderful week and so beautiful outside. The Rose's are blooming, the Onions and Garlic from last Fall are in full growth and the flowers the previous owners planted are all smelling wonderful. I'm really looking forward to the Poppies this year, they have multiplied again :) I also enjoyed finding that the bulbs I planted last year had babies :)

I plan on trying to get pictures up this weekend as long as the Snow/rain stay away.  Happy Gardening and hope everyone else is enjoying Spring :)

Big thanks to Friends and Family!

I just wanted to take a second to thank our friends and family who have been a wonderful help to us. Most people wouldn't be thankful for a ton of used buckets, windows, doors, wood and mop handles... but we are! 

I can't thank everyone enough for embracing this part of us and thinking of use when you come across these things! You have saved us a lot of Money and Time and this make our lives easier.  We appreciate it so much and don't know what we would do with out your support.. even when we seem nuts :)

Things we have been given    and what we've done with them so far

• Privacy Fence Pieces:  Made a 5X3 Foot Compost bin, Built our 5 New Raised "Kitchen Beds"
• Concrete Border: Put a border around the Front Rose beds to help keep the weeds and lawnmower out
• Mop Handles: Trellis system for Peas
• Fencing: Fenced around the garden and around the roof of the Garage to keep the birds out
• Blue Barrel: Installed a Rain Barrel that we use to water the Roses
• Buckets: Potato Garden
• Newspapers: Varies, Lasagna mulched the front Kitchen Beds and feed the worms
• Bi Fold Doors: Made a Craft Counter Top for my beading
• Misc Wood:  Soap Mold, Shelves, Raised Beds and more to come.
• Misc Cabinets: Craft room Organization
• Old Tractor Tire: Pumpkin Planter
• Old Tea Bags (Unused) : Worm Food
• Windows: Cold Frames to be completed this year

I know there's more but that's all I could think of right off hand.
Thank you all for supporting us in our adventure!

The Year of the Potato Buckets!

I am looking forward to this weekend and praying it rains only a little. We are planting our first trial of Potato Buckets. I have really severe Carple Tunnel that I try and work around, so digging up trenches for Potato's every Fall is really painful. Corey's a great help, but a lot of them have to be dug out by hand so you don't accidently cut them. Not only does this take FOREVER... (we've dug for 4 hours before and only harvested 1/4 of our Potaotes) it also takes a lot of room.

So thanks to my father in law, we have about 20 5Gal buckets that were originally used for Pickles :)  This weekend our goal is to get these fully cleaned drill some drainage holes, fill with woodchips, soil and worm compost and plant our Potatoes in them. I've read were other people have had wonderful harvests doing it this way. I'm just praying for a decent harvest and easier harvest then usual!

This also makes more room in the garden for the PopCorn and Sweat Corn to be planted. :)

Cucumber Fence

I talked with Corey today and after much debate we figured out where to plant the cucumbers. With over 200 seeds and wanting to can our own pickles/relish for the year, along with saving seed for next year we need a large amount of room.  (any one who knows us knows that Rose and I are pickle nuts, not to mention our family fav dinner Rueladin has pickles in it, so does our meatloaf and loaded hamburgers)

So the idea is that we try growing them in the front Rose beds over the rough sawn cedar fence. My only worry is the new neighborhood kids walking down the side walk and grabing them or ripping out the plant. I had an issue last year where they were stealing Great Grandma's Rose's off the bush...  We'll still grow some in the actual garden to (just in case) but our main supply will be up front.

If anyone knows of a cheap and easy trellis system that we could make or reuse items to make please feel free to let us know. We have many more plants that have to be trellised this year. (my fav on so far was using the metal mop handles and string) :) It worked great last year and we should be able to use them again this year..

I'm so excited and can't wait to see things grow!!!

I LOVE April!

April.. what an important month for us. Until recently I never really realized how important this month was for our family. This is the month we prepare for our gardens, finish projects inside that need done before nice weather, and figure out what all needs to be done outside.

I also get to play in dirt again (huge smile). I can't explain how good the feeling of dirt on my hands makes me feel. It reminds me that I'm still alive, that I have something to give, and that God's miracles are all around. I till or dig in this dirt, plant something and take care of it and in turn it takes care of my family. :) What a wonderful blessing to have this opportunity!

If your looking for seeds please check out this seller on ebay they help provide free vegetable plants to residents near them that have been hit hard by the economy. Wow! If every nursery and seed place would do this we could really combat hunger in the US. So far everything I've ordered from them have out preformed the name brand stuff that I normally buy and a whole lot cheaper!

Today we finished the 2 towers of the swing set. so the only part left is to build the frame for and hang the swings. Monkey bars and slides are all up. I'm glad we went with this unit, a friend had her newly built one from Lowes blow over this week. And neither of our towers so much as rocked in the 50 mph gusts :)

Colty keeps running up and hugging me. He's so happy :) It really makes the work and sometimes frustration worth it :)

I also managed to plant our first of 5 "Kitchen" Garden beds. The Egyptian walking onions are planted along with some red onions, the borage was transplanted, the Cinnamon basil transplanted and a few herbs and a LOT of Onion seeds were planted. It was so nice to get dirty and get thing sin the ground today.

I even spent the time this evening to organize our seeds. In an effort to make things easier I bought little zip lock bags and opened all the seed packages and put them in their own bags. This was no small task! With 38 envelopes of green onion seeds, 10 of carrots and so on.. this took a lot of time, but I'm hoping it will save time while planting and create less mess outside. Not to mention less seed waste since I'll be able to SEE any left in the bag. It was amazing how one big box of seeds now fits in a tiny box :)

It is supposed to rain all the rest of the week, so we'll probably keep painting in the house and get some minor things done, then next week finish the swing set and get more boxes filled.

Things to do this month:
Fill all garden boxes
Till back of garden
Replace Garden Fence
De weed and prepare front beds for Strawberries and Cucumbers
Move Strawberries
Transfer Rose to Gma's house
Turn Compost
Plant, Plant, Plant

I'm looking forward to a very productive Garden Year!

Garden Planning #2

Update on Garden 2011...

I'm doing an update on the garden and our planning not only as a normal update in my blog but because there is an event on a blog I read that is giving away gardening things if you update your blog about what your doing to reach a sustainable life style. You can check it out more here : http://thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/2011/03/gardeners-sustainable-living-2011-win.html

This is one of the blogs I read and enjoy!

So basically so far this year we have all 7 Aquaponics beds going strong, Tomato's and Peppers are about ready to transfer, eggplant and luffa are close behind.  (did you know you could start Pepper seeds in a aquaponics bed?? Even when everyone says they don't like that much water??  who knew!)

 We have a flat of walking onions growing and hope to transplant that into our newly filled "Kitchen garden bed" out front by the end of the week. Since it's raining the other 4 of the "Kitchen Garden" raised beds won't be filled until at least next week.  Were moving Strawberries out of the garden beds and putting them up in with the Rose's.  The only inedible flowering things that we will grow any more are: Rose's, Daisies and the flowers Harper had already planted around the house.  All other growing space will be used for edible plants only.

We have 4 raised beds put into our Large Garden area. This area will now be used as a "Canning" Garden. Most everything is this garden will be canned this fall. We ae also trying to grow Pop Corn again. This is such a yummy treat and tastes so much better home grown then store bought!

So this is where we are at.  More raised beds to go in to make things easier on me and the strawberries moving to the front of the house and the new "Kitchen Garden" that will be used as an every day grab for the kitchen and the spices that I hope to grow and dry myself in the Dehydrator.

I love this time of year the weather frustrates but I can see my Gardens take place and grow in my mind :)

Well, Check out the other blog for great info and your chance to receive an item and work towards self sustainability!!

Life's Small Blessings are everywhere!

Animal Update

This is the first time that I can really say our Christmas presants are still going strong 2 months after Christmas. The tank and the animals in it have brought us and our guests great joy. The kids have learned a lot about Tree Frogs, Fire Bellied Toads, Salamanders and Anoles. We have had 2 fatalities. 2 Tree frogs literally bloated up and died. They belive this was just caused by age of the animal,( they don’t always know the age of the frogs they get in.) 

We about lost 1 Anole. Snowman was our first anole and it seems that he was a solitary animal. He decided if the crickets didn’t come to him that he was not going to go and find them. We found him shrinking and barely moving at the bottom of the tank on our weekly check.  This was very scary for all of us. Corey and I took him in the next day, the store was really great and gave us a refund… not that we cared.. there was an animal we loved fading fast. 

One of the guys  (we’ll call him C) who we talk to every time we go in and has helped us get our big tank set up took Snowman home, kept him safe and eventually he plumped back up.  C put him back in a tank and sold him to a family with a little boy who knew they were only going to have one Anole. He told the family that he was named Snowman and the little boy loved the name. So Snowman is in a good place and is still Snowman :)

It’s wonderful that they allowed us to follow up on Snowman, not just left him to die or wouldn’t tell us what happend they kept us in the loop the whole time. It’s wonderful working with a local non chain store pet shop!

So here is updated picture of our critters.

For all the other Iced Coffeeaholic's out there.

Late in my teens I was introduced to "Iced Coffee" by my grandparents.  Over the years I can admit I have become a Starbucks Junkie.  I used to pick up a cup on my way to work and even get up 15 minutes earlier so I could run through and pick one up.  Well, after a major financial crisis for us we had to do some huge belt tightening. That meant for me, no more Iced Soy Venti Extra Caramel Drizzle Caramel Macchiato's.

Until I did some thinking. I now have a daily supply of Iced Coffee that I can drink at any time, with less calories and at way less cost! 

What you need (there's always a start up cost)

• Carafe with sealed lid (if you have one without a lid the Coffee will not last as long and it will take on funky flavors)
•   12 cup Coffee maker 
• Coffee
• Filter's
• Milk or Soy Milk (I'm allergic to milk so I use Soy)
• Your fav. Coffee Syrup (Walmart has started selling these, and even the sugar free one's )
• Ice
• Caramel Sauce (if you want)

1. Basically I make a full 12 cups of my favorite cheap Coffee.
2. Let is cool to a point where there's not a lot of steam coming out.
3. Pour some Syrup and/or sugar into craft (you can omit this if you don't like it sweet)
4. Pour in warm Coffee
5. Place craft in refrigerator
6. You can use it now over ice if you want or wait till it's cool.
7. In large glass pour 1 cup of milk
8. A few ice cubes
9. Pour in Coffee 
10. Top with your Favorite Toppings 

And your done. When you break down the cost one week of Homemade Coffee's cost less then one Large chain brand Iced Coffee.

The trick is when you get low make more :) 



.

Seedling Watch

So far so good on the seed starting this year. I'm crossing my fingers that everything stays kosher and there are no little bugs flying around to kill them all off.  We've put them in a room upstairs that stays very warm with Grow lights set up. It's wonderful to watch the tiny plants emerge and grow. My 4 year old gets very excited when he sees a seed turn into a plant.

We have over 30 Peppercini Plants, about 10 to 20 each of our diffrent Bell Pepper Plants that we are trying this year. And a ton of Tomato's. I am dissapointed in the Siberia only 2 have Germinated. I was hoping to see if they really did produce Tomatoes till it was 38 degrees outside.

The 1st Aquaponic system has produced a ton of Leaf lettuce and Green Onion Seedlings that have been growing like crazy. I'm amazed at the root system I can see developing in the grow bed.




Pepper Seedling. I use plastic wrap over the top instead of plastic domes.

I am a littl worried about the Tomatoes being to spindly. They have their own grow light but it is about 6 inches above them. I am planning on raising the tray closer to the light today to try and get them so that they plump out and not up.

I still need to start the Loofah and some other Tomatoes. But so far so good.

Aquaponics this should be interesting...

My husband was looking around on his Facebook the other day and saw something really neat. A friend of his had pepper plants with full sized peppers hanging off them; he called them "Winter Peppers"

After asking his friend more about them he found out that he was doing small scale Aquaponics.

(Aquaponics is basically using fish to feed plants, plants to filter the water for the fish and even feed the worms to feed the fish. )  A type of self contained cycle that needs just a little humane input.

When Corey came up and started talking about it I was curiouse.. but not excited.
Then I did research into it... for those that know me that normally means somethings going to happen.
I looked at my husband the next day and said "are you really sure your interested in this because we have an empty room..."

The next thing I knew he was setting up a day for his friend Matt to come out and help us get one set up. I kinda had an idea how to do one, but the mechanics of it I had not grasped fully yet (plus all the ones I saw online were huge scale) He kept telling Corey it's really easy.  He was right.

After looking at what we had, he and Corey and another friend ran into town and were able to get the rest of what we needed. And then the set up.  This took all of a half hour and that's with us talking and joking around.

Basically there is a 3foot long tub (called the grow bed) This has a layer of Pea gravel up and over a pipe with holes in it.

Grow bed with pea gravel over the drain

You can see on the upper right hand corner the water gets carried into the grow bed by a cheap $9 fountain pump with neb tubing attached (we have a ton of nebulizer tubing around the house, just cut off the ends and it's the same size as aquarium tubing.

LOL I just realized the camera put a date on the pic and it's wrong I just took these today ... oops
As you can see there are to fitings to make it water tight for the drain pipe. The pipe fits in and is not glued in so we can take it out and clean it if it gets full of roots.

It drains directly into the tub we are pulling water out of. Right now we have 2 dozen gold fish. I have heard that you can have an inch of fish for every gal of water.

There is an air hose on the side running from a $5 air pump (asthma tubing again)

And the black pump in the corner is the fountain pump that puts the water into the top tank.

That's all it is. 2 tubs, 2 pumps, Pea Gravel, water pipe and fish.. plain water.

(a note about the water. You can use plain water however let the system run 24 hours to evaporate the chlorine. The uckys in the water are okay but the chlorine can kill the fish)

Now your fish create a nitrogen rich enviroment that is then filtered through the plant roots. This cleans the water for the fish and feeds the plants.

The kids are really enjoying watching the fish and before the bed was planted helping wash the gravel.

We are planning on making another one and seeing the diffrence between the goldfish and minows. They both cost the same but do the plants grow better with one type or not? Not to mention if the minnows reproduce then we'd be growing fishing bait.

Yesterday we planted lettuce, spinach, onion, basil and sage seeds in our grow bed.

The lettuce seed is already Germinating ( I need a better camera in order to see them)

So it's exciting and we'll see how it goes if all works out well you'll be seeing a few of these in the room up stairs.