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.

What did the salad say on its honeymoon?

Lettuce alone!

Heh, it was too tempting to share my childhood joke. I thought it was pretty funny back then mostly because I didn't know what it really meant but the adults laughed. Now, it's just lame. This is a pic of my lettuce, just shortly before I harvested the leaves. They were lovely! Very tender and fragile and pure loveliness. It's a variety developed at the University of Hawaii. It was supposed to form a head like Manoa lettuce but it decided to grow a long stalk instead. I think my front porch was a little too shaded for this variety.

At three weeks

The roots are starting to grow into the nutrient water that is being aerated using a small air pump that pumps air through a hose, through an aerating stone at the bottom of this 30 gallon tub. The clips on the side are keeping the lid on, otherwise, the pressure and weight of all that water would bowl out the tub and pop the lid off. At the moment, it is totally dark in there, retarding any algal growth inside the water. This lettuce was developed at the University of Hawaii but the stalk is rather thin and not hearty at all. It may because of the reduced light on my front porch, resulting in a spindly stem. I'm going to try another kind of lettuce next time.

I already clipped some lettuce leaves for a salad. Niiiice!

At two weeks

Hydroponics or bust!

This is hydroponics for dummies. Seriously. It's a deep water culture method and seems to be easy enough for beginner, like moi.  I will have to explain the set up in another post since I'm trying to get a drawing done but essentially, this is a 30 gal tub filled with water and nutrients with air pumped through an airstone to circulate and aerate the water. Theoretically, the roots grow down into the water and grow like mad.  They are supposed to vegetate much quicker than in soil so we shall see. This is the first picture I took a week ago. You will be amazed how fast they've grown since. Stand by for more!