Editor’s note: This article was written by one of our readers, Ornela Freimane. The title of the article is How To Make A Year-Round Self-Sustaining Garden because it talks about the Aquaponic system and how this is a great way to grow hundreds of pounds of fish and fresh vegetables that your family needs without pesticides, herbicides or antibiotics, no weeds, no water wastage. Feed the fish daily and enjoy harvesting your own food.
Let me introduce you to aquaponic farming where fish and plants live in a combined ecosystem – mutually beneficial cycle, providing fresh local food that is free from pesticides and chemicals all year round.
It can be built in your back yard or indoors, hot or cold climate, even in the desert. Furthermore, with aquaponic farming, you can grow way more food with far less water wastage, less land, and less physical work as all job will be done by your fish.
But the most important thing is that you can build the aquaponics system yourself without spending a fortune as the system is easily replicated with whatever materials you have, and it will work just as well as any other.
First, let’s look around and decide where we can build it:
As I have a garden, I decided to dedicate a larger part of it to the aquaponic system.
The weather is not ideal for crops to grow all year round in London (UK) so I had to build the system inside the greenhouse (8×20 feet) – the most convenient place for the necessary daylight and perfect place to control the temperature. You won’t need it if you live in Florida or you want to shut down the system for the winter in a cold climate area.
The system set up requires very careful planning so it could be for the long-term purpose. Choose the style you want but remember – the beds are heavy due to water and gravel.
Make sure they are sturdy and withstands the weight, waterproof and deep enough for the roots (30 cm in depth is enough).
There are many types of aquaponic systems, but I chose to build two: flood and drain; and deep-water system.
Related: How to Supplement Your Potable Water Supplies by Cheaply Harvesting Rainwater
It’s enough to have only those two systems to feed a family of 4 all year round. For this I needed:
- Fish tank – I used a 1000 liter IBC container as it’s cheap and easy to maintain (it cost approx. $20 on eBay)
- Swirl filter and mineralization tanks. 200-liter barrels are ideal for it. ($10 each on eBay)
- Raft bed – for the deep-water culture. This is probably the easiest bed to plant and harvest as it consists of polystyrene with holes cut into it.
This bed requires additional aeration for plant roots. (We used timber to build the beds as we had so many leftovers from the previous projects)
This bed requires additional aeration for plant roots. (We used timber to build the beds as we had so many leftovers from the previous projects)
- Flood and Drain bed also called Media bed. It’s a perfect place for bacteria to convert nitrites to nitrates. This bed requires syphon and limestone free gravels.
- Pump (it’s always placed in the sump tank); Good pump will cost you approx. $150
- Sump tanks for the water to drain from the media beds;( IBC containers can be used as sump tanks; just cut them in half)
- Aeration stones for fish, roots, and mineralization tank; (those are cheap: $2-$5)
- Air pump. The stronger the pump, the better. (I paid $65)
- Plumbing to connect all the parts. Just make sure that every part is connected well to prevent any leakage. Various size and shape pipes, tubes, valves, and threads needed for the system (I spent around $200 for all new parts). When connecting parts, remember to create a cycle: fish tank – swirl filter – mineralization tank – sump tank – media and raft beds- fish tank. The US Department of Agriculture has a massive link that covers lots of aspects of aquaponic farming and design ideas. It will help you to understand the whole plumbing if you are new to it.
- Siphon – can be made using slip caps, PVC pipes, and tubes. Or you can buy on eBay for $20 each
- Water – The system circulates the same water so there is no wastage. Rainwater is ideal for your aquaponic.
- Fish – I grow tilapia in summertime and trout in winter. Koi, perch, carp and catfish are also easy to grow in the system. Choose fish native to your area. (We have 30-40 tilapias in a 1000 liter tank)
- Plants – All crop above ground grow well in the system: salads, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, grapes, strawberries, even tropical fruit trees. Plants grow way faster in aquaponics as they get nutrients from the fish waste.
We chose to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, a different type of lettuce, spring onions, kale, Romanesco broccoli, rocket salads, even the watermelon.
All beds and even the fish tank can be made from concrete, IBC containers, Fiberglass, wood or PVC. All components are common around the World and can be easily found at your local hardware or gardening stores. You can also buy them cheaper on eBay, Gumtree or any second-hand shop.
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Thank you. I plan to set-up a human-waste swamp, and while I am doing so, I want to set-up some sort of pond, too.
Sounds good, but if you look into it, you can turn it into biogas pretty easily. There’s a lot of 3rd world site that teach how using outhouses or tanks, and on YouTube, somewhere, there’s a man in Australia who took water carboys in a series to make the gas. End result is a clean fertilizer for the garden. niio
Hi,
I saw someone was wanting to set up a greenhouse. I had wanted a greenhouse, for years, and finally, I stumbled on my solution.
A contractor was working on putting in, a gas line, along the road. Actually, it was a cable line, that they were laying, in a gas line, for protection. But, they had quite a bit of scrap 2″ plastic gas line. Most of these were in 18′ pieces. They were happy to have someone haul the scrap pieces away. These 18′ pieces, will create a 14′ wide bow. I had scrounged some reinforced plastic sheeting. So, with a few more repurposed items, I had a greenhouse.
https://youtu.be/01ecbyRku7g
Yo, cool! niio
Claude, I wish my husband and I were just starting off be-
cause I have learned a lot from you and I would have built a place for a garden like yours. What a great thing that would have been fun to do. But time is short now and my
body keeps telling me I am getting older, but I can always dream. thanks for all the memories
Start reading what Clergylady is doing. You’re never too old to live a dream. Age means less energy, but knowledge and ability. walk in beauty.
Thank you and congratulations on a job well done. This is a favorite subject in Arizona. I’d like to hear more how it’s working for you. I live in Zone 9A and still want a greenhouse! niio
Lol. Red you need either a lathhouse( wood strips create shade) or cloth shaded area for summer garden. Then a green house perhaps.
My experiment with transplanted corn has been fine. Didn’t loose a plant and it’s made ears almost ready to pick. Our crazy late planting season this year made normal planting impossible. I’m finally picking green beans and Cherokee wax beans are just starting to set. It may be a very short picking season unless we cover on cold nights. Normal frost is late this month and snow by the end of October. A greenhouse of some sort is imperative. Watermelons are set and some nearing ripe– from transplants. Lots of green tomatoes set. I’ll have to cover things for a while. A simple greenhouse for long season things and early spring transplants would make all the difference in the world.
I just cleaned up and pack up all the pots, trays, seed et and moved then to a little shed outside. This injured knee has really slowed my down this year.
Next project is sorting tools by where I’ll put them away. The painting supplies are in a plastic tote. Paint trays and more roller handles stacked on top. They will go on a top shelf in the shed being set up as a woodshop.
Mechanical tools will go in my empty tool cabinet the stepson left here. Shovels, rakes, et. will be in two places as I now have doubles of much of it. Part by the door of the barn/shop and part where I just put my gardening supplies and canning supplies. Just getting started sorting a lot of things after moving here and working on several buildings. Much is still not unpacked. Setting up office in a bedroom corner with just enough sewing stuff in there for simple mending or gift making. The rest is going to a big shed for sewing and crafts together. Ill use the treadle machine in the room here. A smaller shed by the driveway will be set up for sales. Display cases and shelving needs to go there and junk in it needs to get out. No wonder I hate moving. Never again if staying is possible.
Things were just put here and there as I needed to repair so much before settling in.
Finally almost ready to move in a full size refrigerator. Friends have been working on an 8’x8′ porch with steps that are done. The 34 foot ramp will be built Saturday if their plans work out. Then the fridge can be set inside.
The solar array is rebuilt and added to. Power ready to turn back on. Just need the hook up from the frame to a grounding rod completed. The man had a family emergency. So I told him to come back later and finish up. I figure it will get done this week. I’ve lived without power most of the last year. A few more days is no big deal.
How are you doing since the recent surgery?
This is an interesting article with links to more. I like that.
I’m surviving. Caught a nasty cold or pneumonia, but nothing works to kill it. It’s fading, and just in time. I need to take a run to Hatch, then stop at Apple Annie’s on the way back for apples and 2nds on peaches.. Donno from there. Maybe up Cascabel rd and home, or thru Tucson to stock up. The freezer is getting lonely 🙂
Melons are coming on strong, but dwarf maize mosaic killed the corn. The sorghum has it, but because its a sugar cane, I thought the red streaks on the leaves were from the sugar. Closer look shows pale green streaks, as well. No more cane. I like corn.
After bragging lizards were eating all the cabbage loopers and so on, the collards look like somebody took a shotgun to them. No more damage and plenty of fat lizards all over. But, hornworms stripped the leaves off some chilis. Right now they’re fertilizer for the chilis.
The grape arbor will be the lathhouse when its done. grapes on one end, passion fruit on the other. Maybe New Mexico hops in the middle. While I have some shade cloth, right now money is needed elsewhere. The garden is half-planted, thanks to the surgery. Now, when fall seeds and plants should begin to fill spaces between those coming out.
Got garlic from a bro on Preppers, and ajo rojo from Yong Farms, down toward the border. The potato onions are here, today, and that’s one more experiment to see how they do. Ajo rojo is a Creole garlic and does best in the South. It was bred in Spain for medicinal and is one of the hottest garlics. Creoles should store at room temp for up to a year with no problems. Potato onions are devider onions. We used to see them all over when I was a kid. Old folks always said they have a better flavor, and can be stored for a year or more. each one should divide into up to 6 full-sized onions.
The multiplier onions are up, but we haven’t had rain for quite a while. We’re 2.25 inches below normal yet. The coast needs more hurricanes so we get some of the left over drool 🙂
One good thing, the temps are staying below 100, finally, and I can keep the house open. niio!
Glad the surgery is heaking. Sorry about getting sick while your healing. That. Akes life tough.
I envy you the long growing season but yes you need plenty of the female rain to make things grow. We haven’t had much rain so I water with soaker hoses. I try to get them be for the squash wilts. It’s the most sensitive to the water situation.
Were actually eating ripe tomatoes this year. The extra heat really helped them. Usually the cooler mountain nights keep growth slow. The corn will soon be ready to pick. I’m amazed my experiment with transplanting it worked 100%. Silks are beginning to darken on some ears. I love fresh corn. I could make a whole meal on just fresh pick corn when we get the first ears.
I’ve been giving away some squash. I plan to can a few pints soon. Not much else to can this year. I may try canning some Thompson seedless grapes. We have lots of them ripening at the same time. I’ll dry some for rasins.just one old grape vine I started from a cutting on a trip to the San Juquin Valley where my in laws lived. That vine is high now.
Best to you! The doctor had to cancel the appointment yesterday. He had an emergency. While I couldn’t have seen someone else, I can wait. The cold tried to come back, but it’s fading already. Like, if you read the previous post,you’ll see why 😉
Next year, no sorghum. The flour and sap are good, but easily replaced right now. Aphids carried the virus to the sweet corn. Next year, a lot of corn. I can live on that and watermelon 🙂 I’m trying to find a local variety of peach to plant in October. One of the King varieties, maybe. they like it warm. No answer from Starks on the trees that didn’t make it. I’m most sorry about the crap apple. It was going well, then the leaves browned. Cotton root rot, maybe. I’ll broadcast more sulfur over the patches on Monday.
My thomson didn’t survive, or the red flame from Starks. Funny thing, the cheap Concord is looking OK. Well, I like them best, anyway, fresh and juiced. Not gonna pick more prickly pears. You want any, come down and I’ll fill your truck. Come summer, than fill bags of napolitos, till I have enough to pickle and can. Next month, have to start the cilantro, beets, and so on in flats. It gets old doing that, but truth be known, I like it, too 🙂 I’m waiting for the potatoes to come up. A lot of volunteer sweet potatoes waited till the rains started, then came up.
Keep up the good work, keeping us moving. niio
I had a white cataba..a white concord. Wonderful scent when they were ripe. It didn’t survive my years away. This Thompson is the only one of all the grapes I had that is still alive. And it has made a bumper crop. We like rains but its more that I want for reasons. A few canned to add to fruit salads and chicken salad would be good. Going to take a few bunches to church in the morning.
We had rain this afternoon. Maybe 1/2″. More is predicted over the next few days. Its amazing how much life is in the rains.
I have a refrigerator in the truck. I’ll be glad when we can get it unloaded and brought in the mobile home.
Albuquerque really got the rain today. Lots of flooded streets. We didn’t get that here.
I haven’t been real sick but just enough to be pretty miserable. I missed church last week.
We have 4, 5 week old kittens in the house. Boy are they trouble. They knock things down everywhere.
Garden is really producing right now. I need to cut herbs to dry. I found a couple of long tarps in the shed so I’m ready to cover the garden for awhile.
I made a lowball offer on a commercial leather sewing machine with motor. It turns out one in. E-Bay. This should be interesting once its here and set up. I have a big box or garment leather and another box of 1/4″ leathers. Anxious to see what I can do with it all. The machine is also good for denim and upholstery vinyls. I have several boxes of those. Sounds like a good excuse to get the shed for sewing and crafts set up.
I think Monday they guys will be back to work on the new porch and the ramp for it. That is a blessing. I have a dozen yellow hots. That’s the first picking. Plus 6 others hot peppers. I’ll probably dry them. Throat is a little raw. Didn’t need hot pepper right now.
Get well.
Walk in blessings.
Hot peppers are supposed to be good for the throat. I do not know for certain. I use chew for throat problems. Even a very small piece knocks out the bug and heals.
I’d like to try a cataba. They were a favorite, behind Concord, back in Penna. But, I think they only produce up to zone 8.
All we’re getting so far is sprinkles, but the mountains are covered with fog. Even that’s welcome, if it soaks in deep. Morning was cool and damp. We need a lot of rain. Last night while entertaining the mosquitos I soaked down the garden. Because it’s supposed to be cool all week, a lot of things will be pollinated, but a little extra moisture means a heavier nectar flow in the blooms Even with the low pressure, bees are out collecting what ladybugs and other nectar eaters miss.
It’s good to see more honey bees, but not like a few years ago, when clouds of them made shadows on the land. Too many, and they start to kill animals and people.
I had a great night, thanks to the low pressure. Even waking up coughing didn’t bother a lot. Right back to sleep griping about the pain 🙂
The sewing machine sounds cool. I’ve seen them in booteries and tailor shops, but never used one. Poke, push needle, thread fake sinew. Do it over again. It passed long winter nights without a TV (which only puts me to sleep, anyway 🙂
Be blessed always. niio
Very helpful info….thank you!
High mountain desert here. Normal winter some night easily reach -10 and some years -20 while we can see summers in the neighborhood of 100 + or – a bit.
I’m hoping to get a Walapini pit greenhouse dug and slowly start working in it. I have old light weight trailer rafters saved to carry a simple plastic sheeting top.
I have several plastic fish ponds and may watch for a free bathtub or two. I also have a 100 gallon horse tank with a 2″ drain on it. Part of my planned planting will be in raised beds and much may be aquaponics. I have a new sump pump that was given to me. Might as well put it to use. I have enough solar panels to run it all and an inverter and solar charge controler. I have two deep cycle batteries. I’d need more batteries. They are the key to solar power. That’s a good start on setting it up. Probably start with dirt beds and a woodstove to supliment heat. Eventually I planned a rocket stove and metal 55 gallon drums of water for heat collection. That can change. With evolving plans I’ll have to see where it ends up. Fish and garden sound good to me.
I do want the Walapini and a root cellar dug out near each other. I may or may not decide to connect them. The root cellar will have a solid well sealed roof I can walk on. It will be the floor under the chicken coop. Rabbits could also move into the Walapini with cages across an end wall. They add good body heat and survive very cold weather without heat.
I just keep adding a tiny bit at a time to this place. Ducks will be separated from the chickens and the ducks will have their own pen next year. An abandoned fiberglas boat will become a duck pond. I’ll use an old sump pump to empty it for cleaning and send that water to the garden or one of the 330 gallon water tanks for the fruit trees. It takes planning and work to make it come together as a fairly self sufficient homestead. Just three acres but a lot can be done here.
Nice article on the basic setup. Any chance you can do a more detailed article on the IBC tote and Swirl filter set up?
A .ore detailed article would be interesting.
You would sell a lot more books if you would back off on the advertisements we have to read before checking out. You force people to go through all that before checking out and it is the wrong thing to do.
I have tried this on a small scale and while I love the idea I didn’t find it that practical in my situation. The main drawback for me is power and I found our supply to be less than perfect once my system was up and running. Our power goes out with storms or fires and without aeration the fish will die. Also living in a rural area the supply fluctuates enough that small pumps don’t last that long. Maybe if I’d scaled up it would have been better but I couldn’t afford it without knowing it would work here.
In the end I found it interesting but not suitable for me in the long term if the power went off. YMMV and just my 2 cents…
Power supply is always a problem here. Rural co-op. My home is 100% solar. I’m planning to keep gathering parts to make another solar array for the Walapini greenhouse. That will solve a lot of my problem with the electric here. I want to get my second well all solar powered as well.
You do keep up encouraged! thank you. Your posts are great.
I didn’t make it to Hatch. too sick yesterday and couldn’t drive. 600 mile round trip, ouch. but, God provided. The chili roasters drove to town and I got 80 lbs of roasted chilis for winter. Hey, they tell us we need to eat more fruit, and chilis are fruit.
Yeah, gonna get that shade cloth one of these days. 🙂 But, everything is now making fruit that survived the devil winds. Those are a worse problem than the sun. Hot, dry, winds up to 40 mph running down the funnel between two mountain ranges.
Burpee replaced the Grosso lavender that the wind killed. they sent another everbearing fig, as well, tho I told them the other one was all right, just not growing much. Be blessed. niio!
Yeah, one sister has that problem. 2 and more times a year, her electric dies. The bro-in-law is going to set up solar and batteries so at least the pipes don’t freeze again.
But, have you tried wind? I saw a few of those little lawn windmills used to aerate large aquaponics units. One was on a greenhouse, and they ran a steel cable thru a pipe to a small paddle. The ‘mill would turn a wheel, that the cable was attached to, and that moved the paddles ten feet away. I need to get a unit set up in the house and some towers for plants. Be nice to replace part of the roof, as well, with greenhouse panels that reflect most of the sun. our growing season is almost year-long. But, that heat and sun stop a lot of things from producing. Arizona is growing hydroponics. niio
Windmill is interesting.
I tell them that there is no one there or say blood a lot.
There are reptilians that kill and eat people. I have rarely gone to a store where there wasn’t a reptilian? There should be all humans on Earth, there should be no aliens here.
Have you read Alien Intrusion? It’s a movie, as well, and teaches what you can do to stop it. niio
My peppers hiding in the main garden are first cousin to firecrackers. Could almost take off the top of your head while making your ears burn. Great with a tiny bit added to the steamed and buttered yellow squash. Bland to temper fire.
Not doing much this couple of days. Sunday on the way to church in pouring rain, in albuquerque, I hydroplaned into the back of a guys pickup. AZ tags. He walked around and looked his car over. Then looked at my car. You fix your light and were ok. I would have been late but he called it ok. Just a black mark on his bumper. It tore out a screw holding the side set of lights loose. I’ll figure out something and fix it.
Not sure how much was the nerves or the hard hit but I feel horrible. Head hurts, upper back could use a chiropractor.
Lol. I’m always planning something. Guess that’s what keeps me going. I guess I’m feeling a bit down. 72 and my first accident. Nothing much came of it luckily. Still its messing with my head a bit. The sore neck isn’t helping. Hope the traveler is still as ok as his truck looked.
Lol. I’ll be fine. It isn’t my nature to stay down. But I guess a couple of down days isn’t bad. Ill take then and rest up. Then get back to work.
You live in Indian Country! Yer having too much fun again. Stop it before the cops show up. One more adventure, and thank God you’re mostly all right. Get the neck checked!
I hear folks down in southern NM say, Expect the worse, you’re in Albuquerque; loonie left in the nutty north. The couple that comes here with the chilis and pepper roaster get ‘way upset when you mention leftists. I told him he’s getting too old to have his face turn purple like that. He laughed but wow, they hate the libs.
It’s been going down in the 60s, at last, after that great rain we had. The temps are supposed to go no higher then the 90s, too, so what little is planted should start producing provided the winds don’t knock a tree over or something. The neighbors are not happy, 3rd year in a row their olives were blown off the trees. Lisa’s cousin has a small pecan grove, and they’re busy picking up all the pecans that blew down. 5 lbs for 3 bucks, and I want a bushel of them this year. We’re going to go to Apple Annie’s Saturday, I hope, to see if she has seconds on peaches and apples. Living in Penna so long, apples go with most things.
I’m going to go against a bad feeling and pick another bushel of prickly pear fruit. I’ll see if the neighbors want some. The juice is so concentrated it tastes gross straight, but half a cup to 5 of water and it’s like watermelon juice. Tasty, given I haven’t been able to shop much, and buying a large melon is still out of the question. Too much weight on the chest. Next year, nopalitos and the pickling jars. The remains, the pulp and thorns, are in a bucket turning to vinegar. There’s a few gallons of rice there, as well, next to it, becoming sourdough and rice wine vinegar.
The chilis are covered with blooms, those that survived with no care. Even those mowed down by hornworms look good. I’ll get plenty from them, and the roasters are due back in November with red hot chilis. I asked them to post in the paper (double page, local events for town) so folks know when they’ll be here.
All grasses have to go. the aphids spreading dwarf virus have to be feeding on the small grains growing wild (a millet). Last harvest for that and the sorghum both.
The rain set off the moringa. I can pick some daily. Tastes better than some greens, but I still like the amaranth. the Merlot is close to 5 feet tall, where it’s sheltered from the wind, and ready to bloom. The caudus (love lies bleeding) is slowly coming along. Mebbe too slowly if we get frost in October. Get that ache in the neck checked! niio
Youtube has something about the swirl filters and other information about setting up an aquaponics device.
Wow, tons of stuff. It’s almost dizzying how much is posted. niio
Someone gave me one of those cheap garages with a tarp kind of covering over a metal frame. The cover tore.
I plan to set up the metal frame and cover it with plastic shearing. I might just set it up over my garden for now and keep the tomatoes growing for a while. They have a lot of fruit set. Cheap and quick anyway
Yeah, I have a metal frame too, but the gas line, makes a nice arch, that the wind blows over, instead of hitting a flat wall.
It’s also a nice place to go, during the winter. On a cold sunny day, you can go inside, take off your coat, and pull weeds, or read a book, in 70-80 degrees.
The greenhouse sounds lovely.
Yeah, those are great I’m told. Iowa and even in Minnesota, they use them for hog barns and cattle sheds, greenhouses and so on. Would it fit over your greenhouse to be? Just a thought. and, seedlings from last year’s tomatoes are starting to show up in the garden. 🙂 niio
For now I hope to set it up over the garden. I don’t know the measurement until it is put together.
Hope your tomato seedlings bear you some fruit.
I hope so, too, but the season is late. No frost predicted till early December, but if the days get too cool, forget it. I’ll take a few in the house and have tomatoes early in the season. The cooler the nights get, the better those chilis are producing.
Did you read yet what I wrote to Fa? There was a stray dog standing outside growling at my dog. I got up and it only looked at me. A car went by and it took off. When SHFT hits, expect them in packs, and hungry. And, not afraid of humans. niio
Raining today!
Have my 2 tons of pellets here and stacked out of the weather. I bring them in 3 or 4 at a time. Try to make it just twice a week bringing in more once we need heat all the time. Its getting where an occasional evening with some heat would feel good. So far we haven’t used heat. We’ve had a few nights below 40° but not too bad inside yet.
The fridge is in. Runs great. Not much in in but I’ll add some along. I should have gotten milk. while we were out Wednesday. Guess I’ll get hubby up and around to go to town in a while. Need bread and milk. I bought 10 lb of ground beef Sunday. Need to divide it up and put most in the freezer. Pork tenderloin cut thin for cutlets was cheap so I bought a package and divided them up in sandwich bags in the freezer. I’ll do the same with the ground beef. I usually make 1/4lb patties and flatten them in sandwich bags to freeze. One bag is just right to make gravy to eat on mashed potatoes or to season spaghetti for two. Fry two patties for hamburgers or serve as if they were steak. Sometimes I make up a lot of meatloaf but freeze it as individual patties ready to fry. I may do that with this 10 lb. Have plain and half as meatloaf patties. The meatloaf patties broken up in chunks and fried makes good small meatballs in spaghetti. Guess I need some eggs.
Yes I have chickens but since the leg injury the neighbors have been feeding the ducks, chickens, and rabbits. I buy the food and they get the eggs. If I get the new pens up by spring they will all be closer to me and I’ll take care of them. Walking so far on uneven ground or carrying very much is still hard.
I plan on raising some rabbits for butchering this winter. I haven’t been up to doing breeding days. That needs to change. They are tender fryers at about 8 weeks or good for stews and baking around 4 months on up. A couple of the young roosters need to go as well.
We had 30 bags of pellets left from last winter. It was mostly a mild winter. Just a few really cold spells. There were 8 left the year before.
If we have a colder winter we’re better prepared. I have three 5gal propane bottles filled to start with and a new filled one on the cookstove. The bottle on the stove averages lasting 4 months. The others are for the heat buddy to keep the bedroom and bathroom from freezing this winter. I usually just run it a bit at night. Today feels cool enough I could enjoy a fire. Not freezing but after being in the 90s just 4 weeks ago the 45° in the bedroom felt really cold.
I may finish the cleaning up around the pellet stove so it can be lit. All the tools and stuff that were in here for building and repairs are stacked up around the pellet stove. Bit by bit.
I’ve been getting them moved to the respective places they are to be kept in. I’ll just keep a skill saw, drill, screws, hammer and nails, et to finish up inside the lower kitchen cabinets and the new shelves over the sink. A couple of paint brushes and one small paint tray will do for finishing up.
I’m hoping friends from the church will come today as arranged. I need help with some furniture pieces we can’t move. I need the desk out of the livingroom and two long low dressers and the office supply cabinet need moved in from where we stored them while we moved back here.
Always plenty to do. Life’s never boating. Lol, my kids knew to never complain they were board. I’d fix that immediately. 🙂
Walk in blessings.
Mo rain, but plenty of clouds and eager mosquitoes. It hasn’t rained for a couple of weeks. There’s no stagnant water and nothing in buckets or barrels. But, skeeters, galore.
Finally picked the biggest watermelon, the Ancient. It was overripe, but still good. It didn’t sound ripe when I thumped it, but they have a thick rind. Funny thing is, they’re outproducing the hybrid watermelon. Eggplants are almost ready to pick, and some squash. I get eggs on sale. they’ll keep for weeks in the fridge. Cut up a 10# bung of hamburger, 2.5 lbs packages. Made red beans and rice today, but without the rice 🙂 It’s like chili but a sopa seca. Most is in the fridge, and the dog snarls and barks because I put it away. The cowpeas are blooming. Spotty, just a few here and there, but they started. When they grab a pole, they jump as fast as they can. I use soap tree yucca flower stalks. I tried river cane, but that’s too smooth. Termites drill holes in the flower stalks, but they’re still strong.
When I planted the green beans, I scattered black radishes in the rows. Light, coarse mulch, water it in, and they’re up already. Kohlrabi left i the garden all summer is trying to bloom, again. come February, in go beats, carrots, and kohlrabi. Safflower, and a few other things. I got the itch and need to plant something 🙂 Walk in beauty.
Guess I’ll be having more free time for a while. Those in charge of our using the old train depot building for church decided we should close since there are now too few to pay the bills. Feels sad. Business meeting instead of church tomorrow. Then get what each one is taking home. I’ll leave the piano but bring home Bills drums.
That’s sad. No, you’ll expand the house church. niio
Yes most likely I will.
I should call the pastor, but can’t find the courage to. She’d be tickled to hear from me, but still…Donno. About like losing your grandmother. niio
I butcher and have kitchen scraps.. I’d cage the guts ect. Tilapia are banned here or at least were. That may have changed. I haven’t checked. Caged guts or unused parts from butchering would feed fish. What I’d do, and may yet do is, get guppies and catch some crawdads or buy some from breeders online. Set up #2 and#3 small ponds with with dirt several inches a thick so the crawdads can dig in for hibernation or breeding and hiding in either rocks or 8″-10″ lengths of 1″and 2″ pvc pipes. Save the guppies into a plastic tote or fish tank inside the greenhouse during freezing weather. Feed as before. Pump from that container with a screened pipe to circulate water through the 4″ pvc pipes for growing there. That could easily be all there is, a container of guppies to feed the growing plants but I’d want the seasonal crawdads and that can easily be added. The duck pond will be emptied for the coldest part of the winter. When it’s refilled the water will be flowing to the other ponds with over flow into the garden or some pumped into drums in the greenhouse.
I have solar panels , 2 90amh batteries, a solar battery charge controllers, a car grade 12v modified Seine wave inverter. Those will run a water pump on a timer to cycle water up through the pipes. Gravity will let the water drain down to the catchment container. I have a small 12v heater than can run directly from the batteries.
How is anything that requires electricity considered self-susaining?
Dale the only possible way is solar power.
“Feed the fish daily and enjoy harvesting your own food.” True but that does NOT make the system “self sustaining” as it requires a constant input of fish food to work out. So in SHTF times, you’d either need to have a huge amount of food stored or someone who can manufacture it for you.
Also you would need a constant input of fingerlings (baby fish) to replace those taken for food. That would require more tanks to grow on the fish to edible stage.
Plus these systems usually require the input of electricity to power pumps, lights (to improve winter cropping) etc. So an alternative power system would need to be employed. Also not “self sustaining”.
I am not saying that these are not, of themselves, a good idea, but I find the reality is often glossed over for the sake of……what?