Lone Duck Farm CSA Shares Now Available!

Some people know all about CSAs (and might even school us!) and others are left scratching their heads about what this acronym could possibly mean. So just in case youre wondering, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture (a buying agreement between the farmer and his or her community). CSAs provide pre-paid "shares" of the farms produce to individuals/families, who then pick up their box of produce on a set day (usually once a week). This allows the share holder to get to know his or her farmer, to have a stake in the growing process, and to have access to the freshest food available; it also allows the farmer to know how much and which types of food to grow, guaranteeing him or her a market for their hard work. Financially, shareholders/members pay less than they would if they bought each item individually, though there is some risk involved- CSA farmers may sometimes need to substitute one item for another, depending on growing conditions. And did we mention that when you pre-pay for your veggies (and can plan for a set amount of produce to enter your house each week), you might just find it easier to actually eat the recommended amount of vegetable servings? :)


Lone Duck Farm is about to embark on the whole CSA adventure, and wed love it if you came along! Were starting out with two share options- a full share and a half share, available weekly. Share holders can sign up for a three month season, and our first season will be starting in October and ending in December (14 weeks of delicious, fresh greens!). After that, shareholders can decide whether to commit for another three months, let their share expire, or to extend their share for even longer than just the next season! So what can you expect from each option?

Full Shares ($30/week = $420/season) include:
3 heads of living lettuce
1 bunch of kale OR swiss chard
1 bunch of watercress OR purslane
1 bunch of arugula OR endive
1 bunch spinach OR mizuna (a delicious, mild alternative)
1 head of pak choi OR celery
2 bunches of fresh herbs (basil, oregano, mint, chives, parsley, or cilantro)
1 seasonal item (see list below)

Half Shares ($18/week = $252/season) include:
2 heads of living lettuce
1 bunch of kale OR swiss chard
1 bunch of watercress OR arugula OR purslane
1 head of pak choi OR celery
1 bunch of fresh herbs (basil, oregano, mint, chives, parsley, or cilantro)
1 seasonal item every other week

Seasonal items may include: rhubarb, peas, mulberries, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, garlic, leeks, beets, onions, potatoes, or Brussels sprouts.


**As an added benefit, were also offering a discount on tilapia to our CSA members- about 15% per fish! And members get first notice of any other products that may become available as we expand our offerings.


At this time, were offering CSA shares on-farm, meaning that youd need to stop by the farm between 3 and 6 p.m. on Tuesdays to pick up your share for the week. If we happen to have multiple shares headed to the same area of town, we can discuss setting up a delivery option.

So does this sound interesting to you? Wed love to answer any questions you have or send you a sign up sheet! Drop us a line or give us a call- were excited to hear from you!

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Why you should grow strawberries in Coir

Which growing media works best for growing strawberries? Well, there are a few options including soil. People have grown strawberries successfully in media like Rock-wool, Perlite or Bark. Here in this article I want to talk about coconut coir as a media for growing strawberries and why it is the best of them all.

Benefit of coir over soil:

The following are the benefits of switching your strawberry cultivation from soil to coconut coir:

Traditional way of using soil as a growing media for strawberries has one major dis advantage and that is the pathogen problem. Unlike normal soil coconut coir does not infested with any harmful fungi.

On the contrary coir are enriched with trichoderma. Research has shown in the past that these fungi help reducing anthracnose disease in strawberry plants and thus work as a great substitute for traditional chemical uses in strawberry field. As a result you do not need to fumigate or use any other such methods which pollutes the environment to disinfect the media.

Coconut coir are high in lignin. This organic compound helps in the development of beneficial bacteria which in turn reduce the propagation of harmful ones in the media. These beneficial bacteria remain in symbiotic relationship with the plant and thus increase the overall productivity.

The water retention capacity of the coir go very well with the plant. Planting strawberries in coir requires less frequent watering and also eliminate the problem of water logging (due to its excellent drainage capacity).

Strawberries require considerable amount of oxygen in their root zones. So it is inevitable that the media for growing strawberries should have a good aeration property. That is one of the reasons that coconut coir is considered an ideal medium for growing strawberries. The high level of aeration and fantastic drainage property encourage the plant roots to develop its full potential.

Vertical towers are becoming more and more popular these days among gardeners especially in urban areas. Using coir in place of soil will also make the towers light weight and easier to transport.

Besides the high buffer capacity, coir also ensure slow release of nutrients for extended period of time and thus optimize plants growth.

Due to these attached benefits coir have been broadly in use in green houses. They have increased the productivity quite a fold.

Strawberries require calcium for their growth. So before buying any coir please check its labels. Normally coir dont have a lot of calcium in it. But as an amendment some companies have decided to add calcium in their buffered coir media. If your coir dont have added calcium you might need to add gypsum or perlite to make it suitable for growing strawberries.

A potting mix consisting of coconut coir, perlite and compost is ideal for growing strawberries. One of the best combinations is 50% coconut coir with 30% perlite and 20% compost.

For other information about growing strawberries check out our earlier article.

What do you think about the article? Express your views by using the comment box below. 

Dont forget to read:
Growing Strawberry: Some Points to Remember
Coconut Coir and its use as a Soil-less Growth Media

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Why Ive come over all Heirloom!

I hinted in my last post that I was concentrating on heirloom varieties this year and I thought I would write a short post on why.
I am allotmentless which is a bizarre and uncomfortable state of affairs but one I am having to learn to live with for now, but I do have a new garden. Obviously having a new garden is exciting but it is the typical garden of a rented house, with lots of lawn that has never been looked after, and some odd bits and pieces of plants that make little sense and have never been looked after, so all need a blooming good prune to stop them flowering 30ft in the air! They have all had a bit of a remedial prune but until I have seen them through a season, I dont want to do too harsh a prune although I am going to lose a couple of things because they are completely out of control. We have already found one border that we didnt realise was there, and there are a couple of other places where the lawn has obviously had borders begun to be dug out, but that are now just full of weeds. Those will be my next bit to tackle. But the odd, and yet interesting bit about the garden is it is on two levels, with the bottom level and the bottom lawn having a large, semi raised, south facing bed in it which will be perfect for veg. So at the moment the plan is to put veg in the lower part and ornamentals in the top. I am never quite sure where the line between veg and ornamentals is so there will, inevitably, be some cross over, but that, at the moment, is the basic, very simplistic, plan.

Some of last years harvest.

So I am going from full sized allotment plot to an area that is probably 4/5m sq so my usual habit of buying seeds I like the look of a flinging them in needs to be controlled. There is no point sowing trays and trays of seedlings that just wont get used, and although they could obviously be used for Incredible Edible Bristol beds, there also needs to be a line between that and what I do at home, so limiting myself is really necessary. Knowing that I have been gifted the American heirloom seeds that are #RonsToms and that I am taking part in Rob Smiths seed trials of heirloom varieties, it seems sensible to continue that theme of heirloom varieties in order to limit myself and stick with a plan that can also be a bit of an ongoing project in terms of looking at how they perform and documenting that.

The Lower Terrace!!

What I am most interested in is how long varieties have been in production and what the seed merchants say are the redeeming features that make them worth keeping going, as well as how easy they are to grow and whether or not they taste good, or in any way different from more modern varieties. And I want to know what they look like because what I really want is a beautiful area that is also productive because I am determined this garden will be stunning.
But before I can do this I need to barrow in a ton of soil to the veg beds!! Back soon.....

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Standing up for your beliefs

I went to bed, under my nice warm duvet in my comfortably heated flat, last night, in the full knowledge that there were protestors sleeping in freezing temperatures in the trees on our beloved plot, to try to keep the chainsaws at bay. Over the weekend they had slipped onto the land where the trees are and begun to set up a camp in the trees, determined to try to stop the chainsaws that were originally set to begin today.

So today I went to site, mainly to say thank you but also to see how things were and chat with other people about the protest and their part in it. What I found was a group of people aged from 1 right up to folk in their 70s. A group of people connected to the land, not necessarily at that site, but to land all across the city. A group of people who have worked on many different community projects that rely on our land to survive. Community projects that change and improve lives and if you have any doubt of that, please read Mrs Seven Storeys Up on this blog.

There have been plenty of news stories about this today, which is great as its been nigh on impossible to engage with any national papers until now. But I think its important to keep reminding people of a few vital points. Primarily, Bristol has the title of European Green Capital in 2015 ànd however much it is widely understood that improving the transport system must be a part of that, concreting over Grade A soils cannot possibly be. A good transport system, which connects the whole city and its suburbs well and efficiently is definitely needed in Bristol. Metrobus however, is not it as it misses out large pieces of the city(an estimated 100,000 people in East Bristol alone) and fails to support any of our hospitals or schools. The cynic in me thinks it moves people from South Bristol where there is a lack of local employment, up to huge business parks in South Gloucestershire. Business parks that are full of call centres and retail areas where people are unlikely to be earning the Living Wage. Hardly the jobs of dreams or the local jobs for local people that we should be encouraging.

We are also in the International Year of the Soil. A year in which we should be looking at the damage we have done to our soils since mass use of agro chemicals was brought in post the 2nd world war. A year in which we should be looking after our soils, encouraging good practise in order that we begin to repair our soils. A year where we look at how, going into an uncertain future, we protect the good soils we have, many of which are in urban areas where great soils such as that at Stapleton and on our Blue Finger are. After all its not as if we have unending amounts of best and most versatile soil-there is less than 3% of such soil across the entire UK.

But for me, whats most important is that we start to appreciate locally grown food on local land. Food grown by local producers, that support their community by producing top quality produce that keeps the local economy buoyant. Unless we start to fight for our land, this cant happen. Remembering that not just an allotment site but an award winning community food project, Feed Bristol, is at risk here, I ask you to look for your local community project and support it. You never know when it might be gone, possibly in the name of progress. 

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The Three Ws Who What and Why

Some of you who know us are probably thinking that its about time we got this blog up and running! We tend to agree- weve just been a little busy! Weve spent the last two years dismantling our every adolescent expectation of a glamorous, comfortable city life by buying a farm, putting in gardens and a greenhouse, filling up our barn, permaculturing the land, and generally getting a small homestead going while working jobs in the outside world. Now its time for us to update all of you on our progress and our current farm status!

Our journey started long, long ago in a land not-so-far away. The year 2009 found us living in Fond du Lac, WI in a nice house in a nice subdivision. Matt was a mechanical engineer, Elise worked in a non-profit organization. And while we were comfortable, neither of us was particularly happy. We knew something wasnt quite right, but we werent sure what it was. Luckily (at least in the long run), Matt got briefly laid off from work and we realized that the security we had always associated with a set paycheck wasnt actually all that secure. And if that security was an illusion, what else did we need to reevaluate? The increased time to read, cook, and do things around our home brought about lots of questions and changes that sent us reeling- but in the right direction.

We started to ask whether our current lifestyle was sustainable- not only financially, but for the environment- and how we could make it better for everyone involved. We read. And we read. And then we read some more. And as we read (and cooked from scratch more often), we began to explore what else we might be able (and even WANT) to do- could we do away with prepackaged food all together? What about growing our own vegetables? Making our own dairy products? Our own sweeteners? What about meat? Could Matt actually farm full time rather than commuting to Milwaukee every day? The answer was YES- but not where we were living. We figured that goats (and their owners) might fare poorly in a well manicured neighborhood that had covenants forbidding fences. So we put our house on the market and decided to search for a more earthy lifestyle, wherever that might take us.

Serendipity, later revealed as God, brought us to a 125 year old farmhouse on five acres just south of West Bend. We closed on the farm in May, and by June, we had found our farming gateway drug- chickens. But chickens arent called the gateway drug without reason, and our menagerie soon expanded to include not only our friendly, feathered bug-hunters, but some milkable mini-ruminants (who think theyre really dogs) and you guessed it, one lone duck (who seems to think hes just a chicken who loves bathtime).

The animals may have given us a name for the farm, but its our vegetables, fish, and other produce that are our mainstays. Were growing vegetables and fish in our 30x72 greenhouse, and are planting and permaculturing the rest of our acreage to further our three main priorities for the land- sustainability, diversity, and abundance. We want to grow as much food as possible while using natural fertilizers and insectaries (with beneficial bugs like ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps), companion planting, and prevention strategies; if we absolutely must use an insecticide or other "potion" we make sure that theyre OMRI certified or made from ingredients wed eat ourselves (garlic spray as a finished product might not be something wed eat willingly, but we could and probably do eat all of the ingredients in it).

Weve become fully rooted in living a low-impact, nature- and God-honoring lifestyle and it is our passion to help others do the same. After all, individual actions make the biggest impact when they inspire others to make changes, too. But not everyone has an inner farmer just waiting to bust out, and we firmly believe that you shouldnt have to become one just to live a less impactful life and have access to nutritious, delicious, local food. Not everyone has their heart quicken at the idea of thawing frozen water buckets in January and smushing potato beetles in July- and thats OK! Wherever youre at, we want to help- whether its providing your food for you, teaching you how to make cheese/bread/soap/beer/wine/etc., or giving you ideas of how you might improve your own backyard garden.

Well be updating this blog at least once a week and we encourage you to sign up for email updates. Some posts will have our updated product lists (you might also find it easier to check the appropriate tab, rather than scroll through all of the posts), while others will have tips, recipes, and everyday life stories. Check back often and let us know what you think!

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Build an Aquaponics Grow Bed

All the food CCRES produced during the year is given to poor families.

Measure the length and width of the aquarium with the measuring tape.

Cut the plywood with the saw to the dimensions of the aquarium you measured in Step 1.

Cut four beams the same length and width of the plywood you cut in Step 2.

Drill holes into two beams and screw them together at a 90-degree angle. Lay the other two beams across the aquaponics grow bed.

Cut legs for the aquaponics grow bed frame. Place the frame where you will use it and measure and cut the legs to the length you need, keeping in mind the need to make them longer if there is a slope.

Drill holes into the legs. Keep them flush with the edge of the frame and screw them into place securely. Place the frame onto the plywood you cut in Step 2.  

 

Place the grow bed right next to the aquarium or pond. Line the grow bed with pond foil the same length and width of the grow bed. Pour gravel on top of the pond foil in the grow bed. Cut a hole through the center of the grow bed and pond foil with the saw.

Place the water pump in the fish tank or pond and connect the water-in pipe to the pump.
 Pull the water-in pipe through the hole in the grow bed. Install the overflow drain into the grow bed and set it to a few inches above the height of the grow bed to prevent water from overflowing.

Fill the aquarium or pond with water and place plants into the gravel of the grow bed.

 

CCRES AQUAPONICS special thanks to Zeljko Serdar for presentation of “How-To” module.

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Why Perennials

Perennial Vegetables refer to those vegetables which you need to plant once and can harvest for several years. Plants such as Asparagus, Banana, and Artichokes are few of the examples of these wide ranges of plants. In this article we will try to bring out reasons why a Gardener should be thinking about planting more and more perennials in his/her garden. So let’s look at some of the inherent advantages of growing perennials.

Benefits of Perennial vegetables:

1.    Low maintenance: In contrast with the annual vegetables, once a perennial vegetable got established in your garden i.e. if the weather and soil suit its requirements, there is hardly anything you need to do. They are much more resistant to pests and other diseases and are much more self sufficient in terms of watering and also in weed protection.

2.     Great for improving soil quality: As they live for many more years than the annual vegetables, they tend to improve the quality of the soil by providing organic materials (decomposed roots and leaves) over the time period. It is generally found that the soil nearby to the perennial plant is much more fertile in comparison with the annuals.

3.    Prevents soil erosion: Tillage is one of the main causes of soil erosion. Loose soil erodes very quickly by wind, rain etc. Tillage also harms and kills many beneficial worms of your garden soil.  Once you shifted from annual to perennial vegetables you don’t need to till the soil every year.

4.    Helps in maintaining proper balance of the Ecosystem: Perennial plants generally provide a natural habitat for a wide variety of animals. Many of them are essential for your gardening success. Perennial trees make an area much cooler by providing shade and releasing moisture in the air. A large set of these types of trees can change the climate of your area locally.

5.    A far longer harvesting season: In most of the cases a perennial plant will offer you vegetables more times a year than your annual vegetable. When it coupled with a long lasting lifespan, its benefits doubles. It provides food during the time of the year when there is very little to get from any of the annuals.

6.    Miscellaneous benefits: Some of the perennial plants are ornamental. They will provide attractive landscapes with edibility features.  Some of them are nitrogen fixative in nature which will not only help them to generate their own fertilizer but also help other plants in the garden.


Now shift to the other side of the story. Here are some points which might make you think again about going all the way with perennials:


Sometimes the low maintenance features of these plants can create weed problem due to their intensive growth.

Some of the perennial plants have a very strong flavor compared to their annual counterpart which made people to avoid them.

Vegetables like Asparagus are very slow to grow and only after some years you will notice a good yield.


Having said that, you need to remember, perennial vegetables are not meant to replace annual vegetables. The best way to use them is to compliment your annual vegetables. An optimum mix of perennials and annuals will give you uninterrupted supply of foods and vegetables through out your life time.


 
Did you like the article? Share your views with us. If you think this will help somebody; please feel free to share.

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Astaxanthin Why you should be taking this powerful antioxidant

We like Astaxanthin, a member of the carotenoid family, a dark red
pigment and the main carotenoid found in algae and aquatic animals. It
is responsible for the red/pink coloration of crustaceans, shellfish,
and the flesh of salmonoids.


Astaxanthin however, is more than just a
red pigment, it is primarily an extremely powerful antioxidant. It has
the unique capacity to quench free radicals and reactive species of
oxygen and to inhibit lipid peroxidation.

 Studies have shown astaxanthin
to be over 500 times stronger than vitamin E and much more potent than
other carotenoids such as lutein, lycopene and ?-carotene.
Astaxanthin
was found to have beneficial effects in many health conditions related
to the Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders, skin health, joint
health, muscle endurance, as well as to the cardiovascular, immune, eye
and other systems.



 All the best from Croatia, CCRES ALGAE TEAM.?

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CCRES Microalgae Process Design

CCRES Microalgae Process Design

Join the ranks of hundreds of 
Energy Day organisers across Europe for the 
2015 EU Sustainable Energy Week!

CCRES Microalgae Process Design

The waters of the world house a tremendous variety of microorganisms able to use light as the only source of energy to fuel metabolism. These unicellular organisms, microalgae and cyanobacteria, have the potential to produce energy sources and biofuels, and many other products. To make economical large-scale production of such bulk products possible, the optimal design of bioreactors and cultivation strategies are essential.

Target group

The course is aimed at PhD students, postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, as well as professionals, that would like to acquire a thorough understanding of microalgal metabolism and photobioreactor design. An MSc level in bioprocess technology, or similar, is recommended.

Course contents

This course provides the essential skills for designing optimal microalgae-based production processes, for both research and commercial purposes.

Through lectures, digital cases and a photobioreactor practical session, the participants will learn:

1) how to describe microalgal metabolism quantitatively;

2) how to apply basic design principles and set up mass/energy balances for photobioreactors;

3) how to cultivate microalgae in fully controlled photobioreactors; and

4) how to integrate all acquired knowledge into optimal production strategies for microalgae biomass or secondary metabolites.

The daily programme is divided into approximately 5.5 hours of lectures and digital cases, and 2.5 hours of practical work. On Saturday and Sunday, 1.5 hours will be spent on practical work (microalgae do not stop growing at the weekends...). Saturday will also feature an excursion to the CCRES research facility, Zadar, Zaton, followed by a barbecue.

The course will be conducted in English and Croatian.

Course coordinators

Mr. Zeljko Serdar, President of CCRES

Mrs. Branka Kalle, President of Council CCRES

The course will be conducted in English and Croatian.

Location & accommodation

Lectures and practicals will be given at Croatian Center of Renewable Energy. Participants have to book their own hotel room.

Contact information

More information concerning the course content can be obtained from Mr. Zeljko Serdar (solarserdar@gmail.com).

For organisational matters please contact Mrs. Aleksandra Maradin, phone: +385-91-5475049.

Registration

To be able to fill in the registration form, you need to create an account, please contact solarserdar@gmail.com

The number of participants to the course is limited.

The final registration date is 9 June 2014.

Applicants will receive a confirmation of their registration within one week and will be informed about their acceptance to the course 1 May 2015 at the latest. When accepted to the course they will receive instructions for further course details.

The course is free for all CCRES members (which includes materials, coffee/tea during breaks, lunches one dinner and one BBQ but does not cover accommodation).

More info : 

http://www.eusew.eu/component/see_eventview/?view=see_eventdetail&index=2&countryID=55&sort=4&pageNum=0&eventid=4478&mapType=europe&keyword=&city=&organiser=&eventDate=&eventType=-1

We look forward to collaborating with you.

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Happy St Patricks Day!

Happy St Patricks Day!

 Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources

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Why Im an allotmenteer

Generally I dont make these posts directly about me but on Monday something will start to happen that is, to me, beyond belief, and so I thought Id try to put into words what my allotment means to me. And why.

Ive grown on various allotments since childhood. The seasonal processes of looking after the land, feeding it, digging and weeding it and growing food on it is part of who I am. And its not just because I love growing and eating fresh, local, organic food, although obviously that us part of it.

Working the land grounds you. It soothes the soul and allows you to slow down, to feel the seasons in all their beauty and in all their extremes. Being in the plot on a really windy day listening to the trees creaking brings the realisation of how we are, and always will be, in natures hands. Feeling the soil, working it gently and caring for it in a way that you know will bring it into maximum fertility, slows you down and forces the ears and eyes to hear and see what your hands are feeling and your brain to process that in a way that makes you think about the seasons, about past experiences. The turning of the seasons, the seasonal produce and the repetition of all these things whilst looking after and caring for that land is a powerful thing and one that as the seasons and the years pass, we realise we only know a tiny amount about. 

Sitting on the plot on a perfect summers day, listening to birdsong, watching the clouds as they pass, sowing seeds, potting plants on all with the heat of the sun on the back feels like a gentle caress. Talking to allotment neighbours, swapping plants and produce brings community to life. But even winter digging when the robin appears with every turned doc, looking for worms, makes you feel like someone or something powerful is pushing you on, willing you to succeed.

Working the land soothes the soul. We know that there is a compound in soil that raises seratonin levels, meaning that anyone suffering from low mood genuinely will be helped by working the land. Horticultural therapy works, and mixed with the sense of community on a site raises the spirits. Good food, good company and a natural antidepressant has saved people from despair.

And yet, as Monday approaches all of this is put into jeopardy. Trees that are wonderful for nesting birds and wildlife are bring felled as the horrors of a bus route that will cut 3 minutes off a journey, as long as traffic is clear, comes to life. 

The sadness I feel today is beyond explanation. 

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CO2 Generator

This is how to make a homemade carbon dioxide generator for your aquarium plants or algae.

yeast

  sugar

 tubule

 bottle 2 lit

 add sugar 50 g

 add yeast 20 g

 pierce stopper

 half a liter of hot water

 distilled water with the pores of Spirulina

 the pipe going into the water

 CO2 begin to sink into the water after 10 minutes

after a few weeks you have

 SPIRULINA

 CCRES SPIRULINA 

project of

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)

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