Farm Market Update

We will unfortunately miss the last two weekends of the West Bend Farm Market due to other commitments. But fret not, our hungry friends: we will still have on-farm hours each Tuesday! And as always, give us a holler if youd like to stop out another day of the week.

And dont forget, we continue to grow all 12 months of the year so you dont need to go back to the tasteless greens at the grocery store just because the farm market ends.

Hope to see you soon!

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Aquafarm Review Day 4

I recently received the AquaFarm that I had ordered from Back To the Roots.  It took quite a long time for this to be shipped out, but it finally arrived.  I set it up almost immediately, and then remembered that I wanted to do a "how to" video for setting it up.  I was too eager, and forgot!

Anyway, heres a quick review.  Ive had it set up for 4 days.  The first beta fish that I put in the tank died after 2 days, so I got a second beta for the tank.  I cant say whether the first beta fish died because of the AquaFarm design, or if it was just an unhealthy fish.  Well see how this fishy does.

AquaFarm Review

AquaFarm Packaging

Sorry about the dark photo, but heres the AquaFarm!

You can see where the airline tubing for the air lift goes down into the fish tank.

It came with Lettuce, Basil, and Wheat Grass

It also came with de-chlorinating chemicals, beneficial bacteria, a fish-cleaning solution, and a tank cleaning supplement called Tidy Tank.

Overall, I think this is a pretty cool system, and I cant wait to see what it grows!

AquaFarms are available from Back To The Roots for $60.

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Aqua Farm Update 7 Jan 2014 Dead Pump

The Aqua Farm hasnt been doing very well.  The air pump seems to have died.  For a while it was not making very good bubbles, and the water was not reaching the upper tray.  The water wouldnt circulate, and the system was not functioning properly.  I tried cutting the airline tube at different lengths to make better bubbles, and it seemed to work, but eventually the pump stopped making any bubbles at all.  Im going to ask Back to the Roots if theyll send me a new air pump.  I may also try using an aquarium air pump next to the fish tank to supply the bubbles for the air lift.  Either way, Im not happy with the system right now.  Im hoping that I can tinker with it and make it work better.  On the bright side, I regrew some green onions in one of the grow pots, and ate them in a tasty turkey soup (Thanksgiving leftovers!).

Edit 10 Jan 2014 - Back to the Roots is going to send me a replacement air pump.  They recommended placing it outside the system, sitting vertically next to the tank.  Theyre also sending me new seed packets, and suggested that for the basil and lettuce I may need more light.  Great customer service!

I apologize profusely for the vertical video.  :(

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ZipGrow Towers are Awesome!

Since Ive started learning about aquaponics, one of the coolest technologies that Ive seen is the ZipGrow towers, made by Bright Agrotech.  Theyre a way to grow vertically, with hydroponics or aquaponics.  The idea looks very simple.  Its one of those, "Why didnt I think of that," kind of ideas.

The ZipGrow tower looks like a square fence post with a 2-inch slit cut down one face long-ways.  A long strip of polymer foam with very large pores is folded in half, and inserted into the post.  The plants roots grow in between the folded foam, and water drips from the top of the post down the foam, watering all the plants roots.  They have some amazing results with these things on their farms in Wisconsin.  Good for these guys!

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Home and Garden Projects update 6 22

I recently fenced in my garden area to keep the neighborhood cats out. I ran out of straw, but luckily a local tree removal device is going to drop off 2 cubic yards of wood chips this week for free. I have some Stropharia (aka Wine Cap, aka Garden Giant, aka Portabello) mushroom spawn to mix into the wood chips. Im also getting 2 bales of straw next weekend for a couple straw bale gardens I want to play with.

Hey, put me down, Im not done eating!

Exploding with life!

So far Ive harvested:

Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Lambs Quarter, Radishes, and Beets

Some yard mushrooms.

Burdock in the yard.

Orange spots on the backyard apple tree. My landlord hasnt taken good care of it, so Im hoping to do some trimming and try to bring it back to health. Branches crossing, its a mess. Already, there are lots of apples forming, though!

Heres a short video showing the IBC Tote Aquaponic System that Im contructing at my parents house in Delaware.  Its finally just about ready for fish and plants.

While at work, I realized that the trees outside the cafeteria are Juneberries! They were ripe and delicious.

I got about 3.5 cups of Juneberries (aka Service berry, aka Shadbush, aka Shadberry.

My girlfriend baked them into a Juneberry crisp dessert for my family reunion.

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Windowfarm Update 3

The Basil doesnt seem to be doing too well.

The Parsley is thriving!

Ive cut the rosemary a few times for tasty recipes.  Its still growing strong.

The strawberries are coming along, and we even have a few small berries.

Berries!

However, Im afraid that I may be overwatering the strawberry plant.  The leaves are turning yellow and brown, which may be a sign of overwatering.  Im planning on getting a timer to stagger the water flow.

I planted some spare garlic that I didnt use for dinner!  Its sprouted and is doing well.

Our Venus Fly traps are open.

Parsley is doing well, lavender is not.

Meow!

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Brief Video Update

We have green life!  The system is cycled and growing small plants.  Zeus, our tilapia, is doing fine.  Were probably going to eat him soon, and put in some ornamental fish.  Id like to have a bit more plant growth before making the switch.

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Low pH in the apartment system but growth is good

I checked out the system this week, and it seems to be doing well.  The brown algae in the water is slowly disappearing.  The veggies are growing well, though the strawberry seeds that I scattered in one pot don’t seem to be growing too quickly.  My friend hadn’t checked the chemicals recently, so I did while I was there.  The pH was very low (<6), but everything else looked ok.  The ammonia was 0.5ppm.  Nitrite was zero, and Nitrate was 160+ ppm.

I added 6 capfuls of API’s pH up.  I decided that I didn’t want to rely on my friend checking the pH and adjusting, so I added enough pH up to bump up the pH to around 7.  Normally I wouldn’t want to raise it more than 0.2 per day, but I didn’t want to risk losing the bacteria and have to re-cycle the system.  My friend added a little water the next day, and checked the pH.  It was about 7 – 7.2, which is ideal.  Hopefully this weekend I can visit for a few hours to clean the canister filter, and plan out new fish that we want to put in the fish tank.  We’d also like to mount some small lights that we have onto chains above the grow bed.  Another issue is that the water draining is somewhat loud, so I want to figure out a way to muffle the draining water.  Here’s some pictures and a video from my visit to the system.

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IBC Aquaponics Update

The IBC Aquaponic system in Delaware is still cycling.  Its had some pH swings, too high, then too low.  When it was high, I added some HCl to lower it a bit.  When it was low, I drained about 1/4 tank and added hose water which is high pH.  Green algae still a problem.  I cleaned algae from grow bed by waiting until the Bell siphon kicked on, shutting off the pump, and waiting until the water all drained from the grow bed.  Then I just wiped out the algae.  No sign of the two Koi fish added before cycling.  :(  Im sure theyre dead.  Well, now that Ive killed some fish, I guess Im a real aquapon.  :-/

When I last checked on the system on September 1st, the nutrients looked like this:

Seedlings are growing, and Im planning on adding them when they get a little bigger.

My dad has started constructing a PVC frame for a small greenhouse.  Were going to try to use insulation, water heaters, and maybe a small space heater to keep the system running through the winter.  Well see how it works out!

The bell siphon had stopped working for a few days.  It seemed like the grow bed wasnt filling up quick enough to kick on the siphon.  We took apart the pump and cleaned the filter, and it pumped water much faster, fixing the siphon issue.

Below are a couple sketches of my plans for the system.  I was originally thinking of adding a solids filter that would sit above both grow beds, but now Im thinking that if I add a sump tank to grow duckweed, I can add a radial flow solids filter, and a solids lifting overflow to the sytem, which might help keep the system clean, especially the pump.

Old Plan

New Plan

Were deciding between a 90 degree roof, or a rounded roof.  I think the 90 degree roof will help keep snow off the top of the greenhouse, which is my major concern.

We just have to get the greenhouse up before it gets cold.  My dads having almost as much fun with this project as I am!

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Building a Muffler for a Drain Pipe

This system is in my friends bedroom, and he asked me to make the drain quieter.  Heres what I did, and it worked really well.  After building this muffler, you cant even tell when the water is draining unless youre watching the water level in the fish tank.

This was the sketch of my idea.  The drain pipe would point down into the fish tank, but would not be submerged in the water.  A larger diameter pipe would sit around the drain pipe, with the bottom end submerged.  The larger pipe would be held onto the drain pipe with a wooden dowel through both pipes.  The larger pipe will muffle the sound of the splashing water.  To reduce the noise further, you could plug the top of the larger diameter pipe with cloth, foam, saran wrap, etc.

 I ended up using saran wrap, and the larger diameter pvc pipe wanted to float, so it started leaning to the side.  This may help the muffler, because the water runs down the side of the pvc pipe rather than splashing into the tank.  Im planning on replacing the saran wrap with something better looking, but I want to test some options.

Our tilapia Zeus seems to miss the splashing water, though.  He used to like being splashed with the draining water.  Oh well, it needed to be quieter.

And the garden is looking good.  The growth has been slow, because the water was pretty dirty.  I did a partial water change, and cleaned the filter and plumbing.  I hope that helps the plants a bit.  After the water change, the nitrates are still high, and the pH is about 7.5.  I added a little pH down to get the pH closer to 6.8.

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Windowfarm update

Hey everyone!  Its been a while since my last update, and Ive been seeing some great growth in my windowfarm recently, so heres an update.

The Basil is growing pretty slowly.  Its on the top shelf of the windowfarm, so maybe its not getting as much light as the rest of the plants.

The parsley is jumping out, stretching towards the window!

The Rosemary plant is growing strong.  This one was bought from Home Depot a few weeks ago, so it was already growing.  Ive been using it in some recipes too.  I threw some sprigs into the slow cooker with some pulled pork that I cooked last night.  It turned out incredible.

The Strawberry plant is growing well, too.  The leaves are getting bigger, and Ive seen a bunch of flowers bloom.  The white flower petals fall off, and it looks like a baby strawberry.  Ive never grown strawberries before, so Im not sure if these will get bigger and turn into strawberries or not.

I used the green onions this morning on pulled pork grilled cheese sandwiches (might be my new favorite grilled cheese variation).  I had started them from some green onions that I got at the supermarket.  I cut them a few times, so they werent growing back very big anymore, so I pulled them to make room for something else.

The lavender doesnt seem to be doing too well.  These guys shot up pretty quickly, and then kind of stagnated.  Im not sure if theyre getting too much light next to the window, or not enough because theyre down in the solo cup.

The parsley on the window sill is doing awesome too!

Lana got a Venus Fly Trap that is starting to open up!

I also switched out the airline tubing and the one-way check valve for my airlift.  The thin airline tubing was getting clogged with the solid waste from the fish tank.  Also, the check valve was clogged, and barely working, so not very much water was getting to the plants.  Im not so sure that the airlift is capable of filtering the solids in the tank, so Im considering adding a water filter as well.

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