OH NO! THEY DI'INT !!!

*Sigh* The chickens DID ... and ate every single morsel of my kale. It was fine yesterday and bare today. One more reason to keep chickens and gardens separate. Well, their eggs better be good now that they've had an extra dose of leafy greens!

Aquaponics Update - April 7, 2011

Powdery mildew

Eeek! powdery mildew on my potted kale!

Milk treatment of powdery mildew on kale in my aquaponics bed

Powdery mildew ... powdery mildew ... powdery mildew. It's a funny word combination, isn't it? Anyhoo, this fungus ended up on my redbor and regular kale in my aquaponics grow beds (It also infested my long beans in my garden but I'm so tired of eating long beans, I'll let them have it). I found out diluted whole milk (1 part milk to 4 parts water) is an effective treatment so I tried it ... and it is working! For a soy milk kind of gal, I had to buy a half quart of the stuff! It looks like I will need to treat again because there are spots that I missed but I am pleasantly surprised by the results and there is apparently no harm to my fish. I mean, milk?! Really? Yeah, really! :D

Waste and growing my own food

I used to waste a lot of store-bought vegetables! Know what I mean? I'm sure we all have that browning head of lettuce in our fridge and are watching 3/4 of our parsley or basil bunch turning right before our eyes. Such waste!

Wanna eat fresh veggies, reduce waste, learn about the circle of life, work outdoors, be more self-sustainable, live a healthier lifestyle? Consider growing your own food! No matter what the kind of garden, as Martha Steward says, "It's a good thing." I have an aquaponics setup but I also have fruit trees (tangerines, papapya, star fruit, pomelo, etc.) and traditional garden beds and I'm able to pick only what I need, when I need it. Of course, I have to eat more seasonably, but that's part of the circle of life and takes some getting used to. Okay, I know I'm spoiled because I have to constantly fight the urge to demand what I want when I want it ... but that immediacy is just an artifact of the un-sustainable nature of our food system. I have to remind myself of that.

Compost recruits

Fanciful mushrooms have shown up in my compost bed, including a forest of little strawberry papaya plants. Anyone need seedlings?

1000 Awesome Things Blog

Need a reminder about what is so awesome about your life? Check out the 1000 Awesome Things blog. For me? My cayenne chillies are awesome! When morning sunlight hits them at just the right angle, they glow! That makes me giggle.

Vapur, the anti-bottle

I found these really great BPA-free, freezable reusable bottles at Ben Franklin tonight, for $7.99 (0n sale, $9.99 regular price). They're only 0.5 L so they are easy to carry around. Yeah, it's plastic but I figure that it's a great thing to carry on my off-island jaunts because they fold flat. I've been taking my Sigg aluminum bottles with me but they can be bulky, especially when space is a serious consideration on flights. They stand on their own and are made in the US and seem pretty durable.

Aquaponics Update - 12/29/10

I never would have believed it if I hadn't taken before and after shots. The picture on the left was taken on Nov. 27, 2010 and the one on the right was taken today, Dec. 29, 2010, just one month later.

A Christmas story of kindness

I believe how we treat the planet is just a symptom of how we treat the people and things around us. I hope you'll find inspiration in this story like I have and vow to treat everything on this planet with respect and gratitude. Click link below.

Help Others.org: Compassion in Action at a Nursing Home -- A Kindness Story

Long beans

I also have some crops growing around the house, including this long bean, setup next to my compost bed. The soil around the heap is really rich and full of fat earthworms so I knew it would be good for beans. I started the beans from a pod from a bunch of long beans that I got at the farmer's market but had gone to seed before I could eat it! It's nice to know the 4 seeds have turned into large vines that have produced enough beans for several meals already. I saute the beans in garlic, oyster sauce, and hot peppers and is a delish combo with a hot bowl of rice.

Layla and Murk

Layla loves her Murk!

Aquaponics Update - 12/18/10

It has been 7 days since my last update and O-M-G! I am thinking the claims that veggies grow much faster in aquaponics systems than in soil medium are possibly true. I only wish I had my raised garden bed prepared to test this hypothesis. Maybe next time.

I shoulda known the ants were up to no good! Where there are ants, there are aphids. I found the source ... hidden amongst my mint leaves was a healthy colony of fat aphids that eventually invaded my fennel. One nice thing about the floating rafts is I can pull the plant out, spray with soapy water, wash it off, and return it to its spot. :) Aphids are HISTORY!
I had some problems with what I think is iron deficiency so treated with some foliar Fe/Zn spray and added some Maxicrop with iron for insurance a couple days ago. I'm still waiting to see the results but chucked one struggling chlorotic mizuna. No space for the weak in this system! LOL
I've started a new rotation of lettuce in the hopes this system will provide lettuce year round.

Nature happens

The pleasure of gardening is finding signs of renewal like this ... :)

Rabbit cage using storage cubes

I found these indoor cages really easy to make, especially in a pinch. I used 5/8" plywood with 12" square tiles and pretty much zip tied the thing together and put 5 casters on the bottom so I can wheel it around. It doesn't keep "debris" from *rolling* out (if you're a rabbit owner, you know what I mean) but a quick sweep usually does the job. It's nice cuz the rabbits have 3 levels to explore and get some exercise in. Oh, I should mention I'm not quite done and in true form, I would like to expand it a bit.

If you're interested in owning angora rabbits so you too can spin their wool and have hours of entertainment, check out this video that describes how to build a spiffy rabbit condo.

Okay, it's not very "green" but it is excellent in a pinch. I am finding that going green requires a lot of storage space to keep things you might need at a future date (get what you can when you can) and time to search for the things you need. In this day and age, we often have neither. Hmmm ... what to do ... what to do ... Any ideas?