I was pleasantly surprised to see my strawberry plant flowering yesterday!
Im also seeing some growth in the Basil planted in the windowfarm.
The green onions are doing really well, and I cut one to mix with my eggs for breakfast this morning. This marks the first time Ive eaten anything that Ive grown. Awesome!
The lavender on my windowsill is also starting to grow.
My little garden is coming to life! My betta, Tarzan, is happy! Our frog Henri is happy! Our cat, Alex, is happy! And, Im super happy!
I first learned about Permaculture in late Fall of 2013. I had been interested in aquaponics before then, but didnt know what permaculture was. I had seen the term permaculture mentioned on posts in reddit.com/r/aquaponics but didnt know what it was all about. I read a little, and watched some youtube videos, and more and more, it just felt right.
In my garden
During college, I didnt have much of an opinion on politics or activism, and I had no interest in gardening or ecology. Dont get me wrong, Ive always loved nature, and camping, and wildlife. But in my youthful ignorance, I felt that the worlds problems could wait until after I finished engineering school (and in all fairness, they did wait). I didnt have the sense of urgency to action that I feel these days.
Toward the end of school, my friends started composting, and eating healthier, and I noticed, but didnt change my own habits for a good while. But eventually, I started feeling bad when I didnt recycle in front of them, or if I used excess paper towels. And eventually I learned more about the world, and I wanted to use my skills and education to make it better, because frankly, the future seems pretty bleak at times. I started recycling, and turning off the lights more often. I had grown edible mushrooms in my college years using waste coffee grounds from a coffeehouse near my apartment, and was already very fascinated with fungi. Then I learned about aquaponics, and that fascinated my engineer mind.
My first aquaponics project
Earthship in North Philly
Id read about earthships online, and even got the opportunity to help build one on an abandonded lot in North Philly. It was that day working on the earthship that I met a guy who told me was into Permaculture. I went home and looked up this Permaculture thing, and it was all downhill from there (in the best-possible way, like riding your bike downhill).
At Burning Man in 2013
I had been building art (a friends projects at first, then my own) at the Burning Man Art festival since 2010, and adopted the idea of radical self-reliance (encouraging the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources) and leaving-no-trace. So, I had already entertained the idea of a possible homestead in my future. Over the 2013/2014 Winter, I listened to countless podcasts, watched video after video on youtube, and read books and articles all about permaculture. I had a 3 hour commute every day to listen to podcasts and an hour lunch to read books and articles. Thats around 4 hours a day studying Permaculture for about 3 months. I was amassing a good knowledge base, but had little experience outside of my aquaponics projects and my mushroom cultivation years prior.
My apartments windowfarm herb garden made from recycled materials
Rosemary in the Windowfarm
Oyster mushrooms in my kitchen
Lions Mane mushrooms in a homemade fruiting chamber
In Spring 2014, I started a garden in my landlords yard, and convinced him to pay for 2/3rds the initial cost for half the produce in return. The garden is now supplementing our diets, and giving me fresh ingredients to learn about canning and preserving. I signed up for a 7-month, one-day-per-month Intensive Organic Gardening class with Ben Weiss, a local Permaculture instructor. Ive learned a ton, and this has really made me look forward to being able to take a Permaculture Design Certification Course (PDC) in the future. Ive used much of what Ive learned in the class in my own garden. I tried composting in a bucket. Then I heard about my friend composting with worms, and had to try that out. Now Ive got tons of worm castings for the straw bale gardens I just set up. The straw came from a local farm. I got a load of mulch from a local tree service.
Learning to use a broadfork for a no-till garden in Ben Weisss 2014 Intensive Organic Gardening Class
Serviceberries (Juneberries) foraged from outside my works office building. They made a delicious dessert for my family reunion thanks to my girlfriend!
Ive taken wild plant foraging classes with local teachers, and have realized a more symbiotic relationship with nature. Ive found that my landlords property is filled with edible and medicinal plants like Woodsorrel, Bitter Dock, Lambs Quarter, Feverfew, Violets, Ladys Thumb, Dandelions, Clover, Purslane, and Plantain. Ive even gotten my landlord to start eating the weeds! It turns out, the property used to be a chicken farm, and when my landlord moved in, it was covered in grape vines, and berry bushes, and different fruiting trees. It sounded like a permies wet dream! He cut everything down except one apple tree, and paved over a large portion of the yard. Since Ive moved in and started gardening, weve had many conversations about organic gardening and permaculture, and I think he regrets having "cleaned up" the yard all those years ago. Now, were working to re-create a productive landscape on his property.
Scott Kellogg and Stacey Pettigrews amazing urban farm in Albany, NY
I took a Regenerative Urban Sustainability class at Scott Kellogg and Stacey Pettigrews urban farm in Albany, NY, which was amazing to see all the interconnected, regenerative farm systems. They were growing mushrooms, keeping chickens, ducks, and rabbits, gardening organically, maintaining large aquaponic systems, composting, and utilizing many other permaculture systems. From that workshop, I brought home some Stropharia (Garden Giant) mushroom spawn to introduce to my woodchips in the garden. Im nearly finished the second herb spiral Ive built, and I have two more planned for community gardens that I volunteer at.
My first herb spiral, at my parents house in Delaware
My second herb spiral, it just needs plants!
The point of this post isnt to brag about how much fun Im having learning and practicing permaculture. The point is that, you dont need to be in an ideal situation to make your situation work for you while reducing your footprint, and increasing your handprint. Large changes require small steps. I try one or two new things out at a time. This allows me to focus on getting it right, without taking up excess energy and time and becoming a chore. Ive done my best to cut out distractions like mindless TV and video games. I try to keep track of my projects and keep notes as a citizen scientist. I dont have any formal schooling in permaculture or ecology, but experience is the best teacher, and I believe that with dedication, anyone can teach themself to become an expert at almost anything.
My most recent garden update
Ive got a number of things working against me right now. I dont own land, I rent. I have a 3 hour commute every day. I dont know that much about gardening. I dont have all the skills that I want. But, Im using permaculture design and ideas in my every day life, regardless of my situation. I have friends who do container gardens on their balconies, and they compost, and thats all that they can do at the moment, but thats better than nothing. My first aquaponic system wouldnt even fit in my apartment, so I asked a friend if I could put it in his bedroom. My next aquaponic system was in my second floor apartment with a WindowFarm and a 5 gallon water cooler tank as the fish resevoir. When I moved to Trenton, NJ, I volunteered at a community garden and met some new artist friends with a studio and space for my next aquaponic system (currently under construction). Through working with these new friends, Ive potentially got a space and all the supplies needed for a large-scale, multiple IBC tank system that weve just begun to work on. Ive also helped out with their community improvement efforts through guerilla gardening on Saturday mornings.
Guerilla Gardening in Trenton, NJ
My largest, system to date is a single IBC-tank system in Delaware at my parents house. Space is a huge limitation for me, but Ive used my network of friends and family to find space to practice my passion.
My IBC Aquaponics in Delaware
One of the most important lessons Ive learned in life is to never limit yourself. There are enough circumstances in life to hold you back, dont let your own fears and insecurities prevent you from following your dreams. The more you explore and learn about how to live a more harmoneous and regenerative life, the more you can create the world you want. Prioritize the things that make you happy and fulfilled. Focus on whats important to you, and cut out the excess. If I can do it, so can you. One step at a time.
Advice from one of my heros
This post was inspired by the 7 July 2014 episode of The Permaculture Podcast with Scott Mann.
Ive been trying to compare the pros and cons of different types of aquaponic systems recently. Right now, Im working on constructing a 105 gallon setup at my friends apartment. Were making a simple flood and drain system, with a 50 gallon grow bed. Filling that grow bed will require almost 200 Liters of expanded clay or some other media. All that media is going to double the cost of our system. We were thinking about alternative methods, such as expanded shale or even something like legos (but we dont have nearly 50 Gallons of legos). The cost of buying a grow media for a large grow bed is so high, that it really got me thinking about alternative systems. Heres a list of pros and cons of various aquaponic systems. If you know anything that I havent listed, please leave a comment and Ill add it to my list and credit you.
Media Bed Systems
Chift Pist, Simple Flood and Drain (Ebb and Flow), Constant Flood (Continuous Flow)
Pros
·Self Cleaning - The grow media filters out the fish waste ·A media bed performs three (3) filtering functions:
·mechanical (solids removal)
·mineralization (solids breakdown and return to the water)
·bio-filtration
·Media provides better plant support and is more closely related to traditional soil gardening because there is a media to plant into
Cons
·Expensive growing media
A Typical Media Bed
Chift Pist
Pros
·Pump is in sump tank away from fish and wastes
·Water level in fish tank remains constant
·Great if you have a tall fish tank
·Larger water volume because of sump
Cons
·Extra equipment required (sump tank)
·Must have tall fish tank or stand
·Can take up larger footprint
Chift Pist system
Simple Flood and Drain / Ebb and Flow
Pros
·The grow bed can be separated from the fish reservoir
·Simple design - Only two major system components - lower cost
·It is easy to understand and learn
·Great if you have a tall fish tank
Cons
·Requires a timer or bell syphon · Pump is in fish tank, exposed to fish and waste
·Water level in tank fluctuates a little
Simple Flood and Drain system
Constant Flood / Continuous Flow
Pros
·Same as the Simple Flood and Drain, except when you remove the timer, the system is constantly flooding
Cons
· Pump is in fish tank
·Plant roots can become waterlogged, and areas of the grow bed can become stagnant and anaerobic as the flow of fresh water through the bed moves around any blockages
Constant Flood system
Deep Water Culture (DWC)
Pros
·Resistant against water temperature and pH fluctuations
·Excellent root development due to easy access to oxygen
·There is plenty of surface area for the beneficial bacteria to grow
·Very good for lettuces and leafy vegetables – used extensively by commercial farmers
Cons
·Requires additional filtration to remove solids
·Large plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. can be difficult, if not impossible, to support
Deep Water Culture system
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
Pros
·Both components (fish and plants) may be decoupled from each other whenever required and can/do operate independently of each other if required. I believe this is important in a commercial situation because it allows fish or plant production to continue when and if there are any problems with the other component
Cons
·Water susceptible to temperature fluctuations ·Requires additional filtration to remove solids · Roots that die and detach from plants can cause blockages in water flow
·NFT is only really suitable for certain types of plants, generally leafy green vegetables, larger plants will have root systems that are too big and invasive, or they become too heavy for the lightweight growing gutters
I often get asked about my own garden, as opposed to the allotment, and so I thought I would share a few pictures and talk a little bit about what goes on in the patch outside my back door. The garden is tiny and is part of a larger space that is shared with the house upstairs, so our garden is basically the patio area outside the back door and is delineated by the step down to the main garden. The main space is very wild and occassionally I go and hack some of it back but its not my space and so I shall concentrate on what is mine to play in. Firstly I have no soil so the entire garden is in pots and raised beds which were here when we arrived. When we first arrived the whole space was over run by brambles which we are still fighting, and with the ivy which still adorns the wall and which, now we are in control of it, lends a lush background to the space. The gardens main issue is its lack of biodiversity, which is an ongoing issue and will continue to be so. Being in the centre of a city means that the naturalised birds are seagulls and pigeons and there is not a hedgehog to be found for miles around. We are starting to see smaller birds by introducing feeders and with the wilder area at the back offering seclusion there have been a few nests in the garden this year but the thrushes and blackbirds we so desperately need to control the mollusc problem are not to be seen. And the mollusc problem is huge!! Twice daily patrols, organic pellets and now the introduction of a copper band around a lupin, many thanks to STV Peat Control, and we are beginning to win a few battles but in the rain last week that was so torrential I forgot about slug patrols, we lost 24 kale plants, 48 lettuces and my Monarda was eaten down to its roots. But more on Sluggmagedon in a future post!! In the meantime the fight to increase numbers of birds goes on along with the hope that we might be able to introduce a small pond into the wilder area which might bring with it some amphibians.....
The large banana plant came from the south east with me and will need to be repotted into a far larger pot next spring. I left it outside over the winter and it was perfectly fine-one of the joys of being in the city centre!
That empty pot needs filling desperately as well as being moved to a different point in the space. I think it may soon have the banana in it!!
A corner of the garden that has a large raised bed at the back and pots at the front full of echinacea, fuchsias, agapanthis and more. Ive spent all summer moving pots around until they worked and there is still more moving to do.
There are two benches in the garden, both of which are full of plants and seedlings!! This is a great sunny spot for the chillies which are ripening nicely. The really great thing about the garden is not only is it really secluded and has its own microclimate but it also is south facing.
This corner is still continually having to have brambles cut back in it but they are starting to get the message I hope.
The area under the stairs from the upstairs is really useful for propagation but at the moment there are more chillies ripening there.
Around 7pm, I found my Pleco sucking on a motionless tilapia fingerling. I then took it out of the water to examine it. It didnt moved for a while and I thought it was already dead until it started gasping about a minute later. Its body looked fine except for its brownish gills. I ran a stream of water through its mouth for a minute... But then I rethought about it and decided to cull it instead as it looked hopeless and I dont want it to rot and contribute more ammonia into the system...
To help them cope with their stress, I salted the water to 3ppt. I calculated that my system is currently running on 256 litres of water which should mean that I need 0.768 kg of salt to obtain 3ppt of salt concentration.
On the left: Roughly 0.76 kg of aquarium salt.
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Heres how to obtain the required weight of the salt:
3 ppt means 3 parts per 1000 in weight.
1 litre of aquarium water weighs very close to 1 kg.
That means you need 3 kg of salt for every 1000 litres of water.
Now you need to calculate the total volume of water in your system in litres:
Then you can obtain the amount of the needed salt by using this formula:
Salt weight(kg) = ppt number / 1000 * volume(litre)
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When adding salt into your system, dont just throw those salt crystals directly into your fish tank. Fish are curious and love to swim around the thick briny water surrounding the salt crystals and have a "taste" --- I know my guppies do. If they indulge for too long, theyll get salt burns on their skin.
What I did was I diluted the salt in a pail of water from the system. Stir the water to speed up the dilution process otherwise it may take hours. Once all the salt had diluted, you can dump them into the fish tank. The salt water will gradually get mixed together with the rest as the pump circulates the water. This sudden change in salt saturation levels is important as it will shock and kill most parasites in the tank osmotically.
* Note: Snails hate salty water and plecos probably wont be enjoying above 3ppt of salt.
Over the past two weekends I spent some time building an herb spiral at a community garden at 37th and Brown St in West Philadelphia. All the bricks were found in the surrounding neighborhood, and the soil from the Philadelphia Horticultural Society Community Garden next door. This little garden is maintained by Growing Home, a non-profit organization trying to empower communities to grow their own food on the unused land in their neighborhoods. This herb spiral was built entirly for free with reclaimed or donated materials. Everything besides the corn was seeded, since we didnt have transplants available. Hopefully in a few weeks Ill stop back and see how its doing. Check out the photos!
Went to a nursery yesterday and bought some herbs. I have always wanted to have a herb garden at the back of my house where I can just pluck some leaves and eat them right away. I bought thyme, stevia, oregano, lavender, and birds eye chili. They are organically grown and can be safely consumed...
From left to right: Lavender, Oregano, Stevia, Thyme... They came in nice plastic protectors...
Birds eye chili
Clockwise from top left: Stevia, Lavender, Oregano, Thyme
I will be leaving them in their soil filled pots for the time being. Ill only plant them into the growbed once I had done the planned water change mentioned in my earlier post. I dont want plastic chemicals in my herbs but I couldnt do that water change until the system is cycled...
I later did a water quality test. Ammonia : < 0.5 mg/l Nitrite : 0.5 mg/l
Ammonia & Nitrite test
4 tilapia died since my last update. Im not sure what was the cause of their death. Some were injured by other tilapias while others just died without any physical clue telling the cause. I noticed that some of them have brownish gills and they sometimes appear to gasp at the surface... A lack of oxygen or nitrite poisoning? Ill have to increase aeration... I also noticed that the tilapias kept pooping even though I had stop feeding them for two days straight. They are probably eating the floating algae since their poop is dark green in color... After that test, I fed them with 2 1/2 teaspoons of pellet feed...
