Picking from "the patch"

Day 365

2010-12-31T17:30:00.001+11:00

365 days of aquaponics gardening. It's been an amazing journey of discovery for our little family. We've grown some amazing produce and fish and had some great times in amongst it all.

We've tried many different methods including seedlings, seeds, mixing them all up, keeping them separate.

We've done everything from root vegetables, leafy vegetables, pumpkins, herbs and everything in between. We've shared our crop, and preserved many bottles and jars full of chutneys and sauces.

To those who have taken the time to read, share and enjoy our rantings, Thank you. It's been a pleasure to have you along for the ride. We hope we've shown you something and inspired you to try aquaponics.

We thought it only fitting to end were we started. The first strawberry for season 2010 but definitely not the last.

THE END.

Day 348

2010-12-14T19:14:00.006+11:00

The first delicious, crisp, fresh salad of the season. Nothing could be better. Mixing fresh herbs into a variety of lettuce leaves and I'm in heaven. I just wish my pictures were better.

Day 346

2010-12-12T18:24:00.010+11:00

Just today we had the good fortune to have a visit from a family who come from the town I grew up in. Rohan, his wife Kim and their two daughters came down to have a look at the AP system and also do a spot of fishing.

It was a great afternoon and Rohan took some amazing images.

You have to check out his blog but most importantly check out the images of the AP system.

urban oasis aquaponics

I just wish I could do images like that.

Day 345

2010-12-11T15:15:00.000+11:00

Today was an exciting day. We smoked some of our trout. They have only just come out of the smoker so we haven't tried them yet. The are in the refrigerator to cool down.

It's great to have another food source in our own backyard.

I stumbled across this little beauty and now that I have used it I know that I could smoke around 12 trout at once.

Here you can see just one level that has 5 trout on it very comfortably.

And here is the result. They smoked for around two and a half hours

And we cryovaced them to store them for the coming months.

Day 343

2010-12-09T18:41:00.000+11:00

If you remember back to Day 276 you may be as amazed as what we are of the difference. What you see in these pictures is all the seeds we planted now growing strong. Its amazing though just how fast things grow once they are moved into the AP system. It is truly a growing machine.

It wont be long and we'll be eating some of these.

Day 342

2010-12-08T19:27:00.000+11:00

It really is that time of year. So much going on and it seems no time for the little things which most often are the most important. We have also been experiencing the craziest weather in about 14 years. It truly is over the top. Rain, rain and more rain. We can't complain though as we can certainly do with it.

We added 150 Silver perch into the tank this last weekend. Our summer fish. It's a completely new breed for us and we are really looking forward to seeing how they go. They have settled in extremely well and for the first time ever we haven't lost one fish in the transition.

We planted out recently our seedling into the grow beds and the growth is once again truly amazing. I'll get some pics o n the weekend and show just how its all going.

We'll also be fishing out the last of the trout before we get some hot weather. We have bought a smoker and plan to smoke them.

Day 332

2010-11-28T17:51:00.000+11:00

The weather here in Australia is warming up and just last week we had 3 days in a row above 30oC. It's time to start harvesting some trout.

We invited some friends over and set about doing a spot fishing. We caught around 60-70 and there is about that many left in the tank. Here is a shot of the average size. We cooked one up in the wood fired oven and they tasted great.

Here is Grace catching a rainbow trout.

This is our friend April. This is a great pic and I'm not sure who is more scared. Her or the fish.

Day 328

2010-11-24T19:04:00.000+11:00

Today we had the good fortune of having one of Australia's top gardeners and a presenter from Gardening Australia come to visit and have a look at our backyard. She was accompanied by the Mayor of Wyndham Vale, Heather Marcus. I unfortunately had to work but from all reports the backyard was well received.

It's great to know that we are getting interest in all the hard work we have invested and now starting to enjoy. Who knows maybe one day we will make it on to an episode of the TV show.

Day 327

2010-11-23T19:27:00.003+11:00

Well we've been a little slack in posting for awhile... but we've been busy pulling out all the old winter veggies and planting for spring/summer. Just today we celebrated the arrival of the first strawberry and Grace was thrilled. She hasn't been feeling the best lately and this perked her up..

Here's to all the new and yummy crops we'll be enjoying in the coming months.

Day 311

2010-11-07T18:30:00.011+11:00

Today we decided it was time to remove the old and plant the new. What this also meant though was we had a huge harvest of many things. Herbs and spinach to name a few so we decided to dry the herbs and make our own dried herbs to enjoy over the coming months. If you haven't done it before which we hadn't then get some fresh herbs from your garden and dry them and crush them up. The flavour and aroma is so intense. Nothing at all like the supermarket bought jars.

We also had more spinach and silver beet than we could carry and filled two laundry baskets. We blanched, finely chopped, sealed in bags and froze 200gm portions of these beautiful greens and it now means we'll be able to have quiches and omelettes and all sorts of delicious things over summer without the hassle.

Day 305

2010-11-01T10:47:00.012+11:00

1st of November and a huge harvest of Broad beans. They are everywhere now and Grace managed to fill her pink wheelbarrow with the delicious crop. Now the fun part is to double pod them and eat them.

We'll pull most of the broad beans out soon as some of our seeds are ready to go into the AP and we need some space. So looking forward to watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini and corn just to mention a few.

Day 299

2010-10-26T19:09:00.000+11:00

Finally we can enjoy some broad beans and the girls loved picking them. They are very slow growing but so worth the wait.

Matilda snagged herself a big basketful of silver beet, purple peas, broad beans and herbs.

It makes us very proud when we see the girls enjoying the backyard and all its yummy treasures.

Day 289

2010-10-16T20:26:00.000+11:00

Argh... the winter crop is slow and boring. I came so close to pulling out a couple of the grow beds today but stopped myself. Our seeds are growing and are just about ready to be put in the AP system and I have no room because I have so many winter veggies in there. It's a great situation to be in, but bring on the yummy summer veggies.

We did get an awesome rainbow over the patch today though. Something nice out of all the rain we've been having and the tank is now over half full.

Day 286

2010-10-13T19:38:00.000+11:00

One of the best parts of having you own veggie patch is being able to pick only want you will eat at that time. Why buy a whole head of broccoli, huge bunches of spring onions, celery etc that you wont use.

Tonight I went in search of some broad beans but unfortunately they are still stretching out and growing but I did find some beautiful purple snow peas and about a small head of broccoli. Adding some spinach that is growing like a forest and we had the perfect sized veggie portions for our night meal and the rest is still in the patch growing not sitting in the fridge dying. FRESH IS BEST!

Day 282

2010-10-09T10:57:00.002+11:00

I spent this morning in the backyard with the girls cleaning the chook pen, chasing the chooks, feeding the trout, looking for broad beans, purple beans and Grace found a "broccoli" which was actually a cauliflower. Such an amazing way to spend the morning with the girls. Some of the seeds we planted a few weeks back are ready to be transplanted to the AP.

We needed to clear and area so pulled out these leeks and planted about a dozen pumpkin seeds. Tonight we'll enjoy these leeks. Just need to decide what we'll cook.

Day 280

2010-10-07T20:23:00.001+11:00

It's time to admit that with broad beans I have no idea. Zilch, nada, nil. Tonight we were transferring all the trout from the smallest tank into the large one in preparation for getting some Silver perch or similar for the summer months when we decided to take a look at the broad beans to see if there was anything growing. I noticed something weird and went to look and realised it was a small bean.

Thats when it twigged. The beans start growing down low. We found numerous beans and so we picked a few to try. The small tiny ones when double podded and eaten raw were buttery and sweet. Oh it's going to be great times ahead. I just hope I can resist and let them grow out.

Day 279

2010-10-06T19:20:00.000+11:00

Today is an exciting day. We finally had our Solar Panel System installed. It is a 2.88kW system comprising 35 panels.

This will more than offset any power our aquaponics system uses and hopefully close to all the electricity we use.

Just another part of us doing our bit to become as sustainable as possible.

Day 278

2010-10-05T22:31:00.002+11:00

And another slight adjournment.

I thought I'd show you what's on the other side of the post and rail fence that separates the AP system from the rest of the backyard.

It's our other passion in the garden and another part of our sustainable back yard. The Australian bush is a great place to take time out in. What we have done here is start to recreate a part of that. An area we can come into at the end of the day and wind down. The nearby AP system with the sound of water makes it feel as if we have a small river running by as well.

This whole garden is just now gone two years old. If you want to see a video of the day we planted the garden you can see it here. You'll see just how much its grown from day one.

Here it is 2 years ago.

And the same perspective today.

A couple of pics I played with in photoshop.

Day 277

2010-10-04T19:07:00.021+11:00

Today I want to tell you all about Dirtgirl World. I know there are many people who read this blog from all over the world who have kids or grandkids. Dirtgirl is a great Australian character who is aimed at young kids. The blurb about this show I have added below but if you can get your hands on this our find it on TV some where make sure you watch it. It's is so good for kids to learn about their gardens. They will be busting to get out in the garden.

Oh and her website is here. Dirtgirl World.

dirtgirl is a gumboot-wearing girl who grows awesome tomatoes, knows cloud names and drives a big orange tractor.
dirtgirl's backyard is full of friends. There's scrapboy, her best friend, who's a whiz with junk,grubby with her grub’s eye view, ken the weevil, a super stunt star with a healthy fear of heights,roger the rooster and the chicks, hayman, the monosyllabic scarecrow and thegreenthumbs...real kids in real gardens having unreal fun.
dirtgirlworld is a celebration of life outside.
It's a place of bizarre insects, underground tunnels, vaudevillian trained chickens and performing stunt bugs.
Funky pop songs, guitars with attitude, beats, grooves and loops all blended with a tractor, make up the infectiously cool music in dirtgirlworld.
This musicentric series explores the natural world and invites the audience to 'go get grubby' in the big world outside.
dirtgirlworld is a place where we find out that we protect what we love.
As dirtgirl says...'it's all about balance'.
Made for 4 - 7 year olds, dirtgirlworld takes this audience to a world where real and unreal hang out together.

Day 276

2010-10-03T17:12:00.000+11:00

Its been a fair bit of time since I've posted and the only reason is that it's been a busy couple of weeks. Spring has sprung though and the patch is getting very full. We are still waiting for those broad beans to appear though.

We are in full swing planting seeds in soil ready to plant seedlings in the next few weeks.

We have planted so many different varieties of seeds that we should have a massive abundance of produce this coming season.

Grace helping me choose the seeds.

Matilda (the Destructor) "helping" me empty the pots.

Ready for a top layer and some water.

Day 262

2010-09-19T20:05:00.013+10:00

You can tell its spring when the colours start appearing. All this and more is growing in the patch and we are starting to plant seeds in potting mix to grow seedlings for transplant into the AP in the coming months.

Our plan is to pack it so full it will be bursting for the spring/summer seasons and harvest as much as we can. Exciting times.

Day 258

2010-09-15T21:33:00.000+10:00

Here it is. Our new 3400lt rain water tank. We purchased this with the money we received for winning the Sustainable Gardens competition last Sunday. Its going to help us be even more sustainable and will be used to catch rain water to top up the AP system. It gives us the capacity to basically store enough water to fill the entire AP tanks once over.

It will be great in summer which is when the most evaporation occurs in the AP system. So now we just need a bit of rainfall in the next couple of months to fill it up. Here's hoping we can get it full.

Day 257

2010-09-14T20:20:00.001+10:00

I've just realised that we are nearly into the last 100 days of Harvest 365. Its amazing to think just how much we have grown of our own food. I haven't posted every day as I didn't want to bore you all with another "bunch of spinach" post but we have picked a significant component of our daily food.

We have come along way and learning every day. We have won the award and hopefully shown others what can come from an AP system. The best part is it's only the start of the most productive season of the year so it can only go uphill from here.

Today we ordered a 3400ltr rain water tank. We used the $500 form the sustainability competition to buy the tank so we'll always have a reminder and we are going another step toward bringing the system to a self sufficient one.

Anyway enough of my rant. Here's todays pick. All that fresh coriander torn up and tossed through the stir fry.... I can still smell it on my hands... Bliss.

Day 256

2010-09-13T18:35:00.010+10:00

Another long day at work and we wanted to get something on the table fast for dinner. My wife asked me to pick as much as I could and came up with this fantastic "frittata" style dish.

Once again the flavours are just amazing. Even if you have just a pot and some soil, try growing some fresh herbs. You'll get hooked.

Day 255

2010-09-12T19:35:00.000+10:00

We did it. We were awarded today with the First Prize in the Sustainable Garden Competition at the Wyndham Sustainability Festival. It's a great achievement for us and one we greatly appreciate receiving. It makes all our work over the last couple of years in the garden worthwhile and one that will keep us aiming to be even more conscious of what we are doing with our block.

Hopefully it will also help get the word about aquaponics out there as well as others discover the different elements that bring our sustainable garden together.

Part of the award was $500 and we are going to use that money to purchase a larger rain water tank to harvest rainfall to keep the AP fish tanks topped up over summer.

So a HUGE thanks to the Wyndham City Council and the sponsors of the competition. It's great to see organisations getting behind a great cause and bringing sustainability to the forefront.

Day 253

2010-09-10T20:24:00.000+10:00

How could I resist taking this image. A bunch of fresh parsley offered up by my daughter. It's the end of another week and tonight we picked leeks, cauliflower and parsley for our dinner.

I'm playing around with the photos to see if I can go to the next level for the pics I take for the blog. Not sure if this works though.

It was all a bit much for our youngest one though. She was getting tired and over posing for a photo.

This is the seeds the girls planted a little while ago. The have been living in our oldest daughters bedroom for the last couple of weeks and are growing strong. Each day the girls have a look to see how they are growing. Wont be long before these go into the AP system ready to produce beautiful heirloom tomatoes for us.

Day 250

2010-09-07T20:20:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow is judging day, as we have two judges from the local council coming to look at the garden and "the patch" to see if we will take out the Sustainable Garden Award. We are very happy to be finalists but even more excited that aquaponics might get more exposure in our area by the inclusion of our backyard in the competition.

Tonight we picked a bowl of pac choi, silver beet, herbs, celery and I pulled a carrot to see what size they are at now. It made a great stir fry.

Day 249

2010-09-06T20:01:00.004+10:00

I've always wondered if there were people out there reading our blog. We enjoy writing and every now and then we get a comment which we think is fantastic. I had an idea recently to see if I could find who might be looking in on our day to day ramblings. I was actually surprised what I found and very humbled with some of the comments. I want to share some links of those who are linking to us and what they say.

Homestead Basics
Past homestead skills combined with modern advancements makes urban Homestead Basics for Self Reliance today

The Expensive Tomato
This online journal is dedicated to show friends and family the progress I am making on my Aquaponics Greenhouse.

The Aquaponic Source
The Aquaponic Source was started in Boulder, Colorado in November 2009 by Sylvia and Alan Bernstein.

So if you are a reader please write us a comment on today's blog entry. Even if its just your name and what part of the world you are from. It would be great just to see from where our readers are. And to those you who have written such wonderful things about what we are doing, Thank you.

Day 248

2010-09-05T19:20:00.054+10:00

Wild, wet and windy is probably the only way you could describe the weather we have been having in the last few days. With flash floods across most of our state and winds that have been bringing down trees, I was a little worried about what we would be faced with in the patch the next morning.

We had winds last night of around 90km/h and when we woke the next morning we had surprisingly little damage. The broad beans are on a small lean, as are some of the leaks but overall it survived the storm..

All this rain has cemented my thoughts that we need to get a much bigger tank. At the moment we have a 240lt wheelie bin which I have setup to catch the rain. It helped in the early winter when we needed a small top up but we really need to catch a heap more so that over summer we can top up the fish tanks with water we harvest and not from the tap.

Today was a beautiful spring day, so I pottered around, tying things back, trimming off dead leaves etc and enjoying the sun.

We took a few trout out to see how the are looking and were surprised at just how big they are getting.

You can see from these pictures that they spread across my whole hand.

Another job I have been wanting to do is give the tank a scrub. It can get a little build up which I like to scrub back and release into the grow beds. As I went about doing this job my 3yr old daughter took the camera and took a couple of pics. She did a great job and I must say I really like this one of me.

This is another one she took of the potatoes we are growing. It's the one thing that is hard to grow in a AP grow bed so we decided to grow these in the straw that we take from the chook house. It's a great circle of use and reuse and we will benefit from this with some fresh home grown spuds in a few months.

Day 246

2010-09-03T20:12:00.000+10:00

We've just been announced as finalists in our local councils Sustainable Garden competition as part of their Sustainability Festival.

This is a great achievement for us as we have put a lot of work into the whole backyard with native plants etc that attract native insects and birds. Its been designed to be part of the Aussie bush and low maintenance with only water from the annual rain fall to keep the plants going.

Obviously a big part of the yard is the Aquaponics System which with its many parts you have read about including compost, chickens etc all add up to a sustainable system.

We are very excited about attending the winner announcement next weekend and will let you all know how we go.

Day 241

2010-08-29T05:02:00.045+10:00

This is a late post as I must have been distracted by a busy week and forgot to add this one.

It's actually a good thing I guess. Last weekend we spent a wonderful morning in the patch with the girls. Seeing these images this morning gave me a great smile as it reminded me of how great it was.

One of the things we absolutely enjoyed growing last summer was tomatoes. I think its one of those crops that no matter who you are, you'll enjoy growing and picking your own tomatoes. I remember last year we actually bought the tomatoes early in the season. Even the lady at the nursery commented on that we shouldn't be growing them at that time of year. Strange...she was selling them! We ended up with a bumper crop and we are still enjoying the tomato sauces we made even to this day.

So it was with great excitement that we planted some tomato seedlings about a week ago. We are keen and if we lose them to a frost so be it. If the gamble pays off again we'll have another great crop early in the season.

However we thought we'd start an insurance plan and have some fun with the girls. We bought some tomato seeds and some seed mix and spent the morning with the chooks running around our feet, teaching the girls how to plant seeds.

They are so easily impressed and it slows you down to enjoy such a simple thing as planting a seed, giving it some water, sun and attention.

The girls had a great time learning about seed growing and they water the seeds daily with their water sprayers waiting, watching for something to pop up out of the soil.

The seeds we planted were three styles of heirloom tomatoes and basil. They were all mixed in the one seed packet and were died in different colours which was another fun thing for the girls as they were planting red, blue, yellow and black seeds.

So if you have children in your life. Grab a seed and a pot and a bit of soil. Take the time and plant a seed. It will slow you down and who knows, you may also plant the seed of learning that may benefit your children's children in the future.

Day 240

2010-08-28T10:22:00.000+10:00

We have some exciting news today about the AP System. Inspired by a comment from a reader way back on Day 25 we have put 2 new poles at either end of the patch and raised the roof of the shade cloth.

This will make it a great spot in summer and keep the water cooler. So big thanks to Bob. Read Bob's comment here.

Day 236

2010-08-24T20:09:00.000+10:00

5.2mm of rain has fallen in the last few hours, topping up the tanks once again and giving the rest of our backyard a great soaking. I had to dash out in the rain to grab some produce for tonights meal and some herbs for tomorrow.

I have a new local butcher who stocks goat meat. I haven't had much of a chance to try it, so inspired by a co-workers recipe I am marinating a shoulder of goat in white wine, EVOO, Garlic and some amazingly fragrant herbs from the patch. We'll slow wet roast it tomorrow and see how it goes.

I picked parsley, rosemary and thyme and they smell beautiful. The rosemary has beautiful purple flowers at the moment as well. It must be nearly spring.

Day 234

2010-08-22T18:31:00.001+10:00

What a magnificent day. Spring is definitely on the way. Just a tidy up of the patch today and this week we installed something new. It will make it a nicer place to be over summer in the patch. I cant reveil it just yet but it is something someone suggested as a comment here in the blog a few months back. As soon as its completed I'll post up a picture.

So for now I have a few pics of what's growing. Its really taking off.

In the foreground we have lettuce and the background is bok choy.

Heaps of Beetroot.

Very happy to see a couple of Cauliflowers coming along.

Cabbage, but I cant remember the variety.

Leeks... we have heaps. A big bowl of potato and leek soup is on the cards I think.

And last but not least, the silver beet. It's been great over winter but I'l be glad to see it gone.

Day 229

2010-08-17T19:34:00.000+10:00

Leek, Silver beet, Cabbage, Coriander, Parsley, Thyme and Rosemary. That's the pick from the patch today and I had no idea what I would do with it. A quick look in the pantry and six eggs and salt and pepper and a meal was devised.

Cooked in a flash and we had the most delicious frittata I have ever tasted. It was like a fresh salad and the herbs danced on in our mouths. I can't begin to describe the freshness and its days like today that I think it's totally worth it.

Day 224

2010-08-12T19:56:00.003+10:00

I had a very inspiring email today from a lady who lives in the USA and reads our blog.

It's great to receive feedback from readers so please if you are a reader and can spare a few seconds to write to us or leave a comment it would be great.

I wish there was a way of telling just how many people are out there. Whoever you are, thank you for taking the time. We genuinely hope you are enjoying the updates as we go through the year and Lori, I will endeavour to take the time to post up the recipes.

On to todays pick from the patch, we still had some of the cabbage we picked left over from the other day. I actually went to the fridge thinking we'd have to feed it to the chooks but it's easy to forget just how fresh our produce is. It is only 2 days old, not weeks as supermarket produce. It still had an amazing crunch. But what to do with cabbage?

We have heaps of silver beet in the patch so I googled and came up with a Sautéed Cabbage and Spinach recipe. Easy enough and I'd just substitute the silver beet.

Here is my adaption of the recipe. Its actually very nice but make sure you don't overcook it. The greens should still have a good green colour and the cabbage a slight crunch.

1/4 of a shredded cabbage

Equal amount of shredded silverbeet

1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tablespoon of butter

a couple of pinches of salt

a couple of pinches of sugar

In a saucepan over med-high heat, heat oil and butter, add and cook cabbage, salt, and sugar, stirring frequently, until cabbage is tender-crisp. Add spinach; cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly.

You can see here it still has lots of colour.

We grilled a chicken breast, sliced it and placed it over a good sized mound of the sauteed cabbage and silver beet. Oh and yes! Our chickens are still safe.

Day 221

2010-08-09T20:07:00.000+10:00

Well its been awhile and its been very cold. They patch is humming along though. The growth in the last week or two is amazing. We had some strong rain which filled the tanks to the max and this has meant we have a strong overflow which is really causing the water to be very aerated. The trout are going nuts and eating heaps and the plants are growing at a great rate. We have got so much going that it wont be long until we are back in the swing of things. I can almost smell Spring.

But tonight I went out to the patch and I found a cabbage ready for picking plus a Cabbage Patch Kid. Our daughter Matilda is starting to come out and get involved. The girls just love picking in the patch.

Day 207

2010-07-26T19:47:00.000+10:00

Winter is so hard. I can barely seem to fit in the time to get out to the patch before dark. Tonight it was picking in the dark and I keep thinking I should get a head torch.

Tonight I picked a handful of leeks. The crunch as I chopped them for a lamb and leek casserole was amazing. You just cant buy that sort of thing.

This is a fairly basic slow cooked lamb dish. It has lamb, leeks and potatoes and is baked for 3 hours so it is for tomorrows dinner. This is the layer of leeks over and under the lamb.

Topped with sliced waxy potatoes and fresh thyme from the patch and it smells amazing.

Day 206

2010-07-25T17:34:00.000+10:00

The patch yielded up some treats this afternoon which consisted of Silver beet, Snow peas and Cauliflower. I think this variety of Cauli is meant to be a purple variety but we never leave it long enough. We did have one awhile ago that was very open like this one that had a bit of a purple tinge but it too was consumed too early. Its too tempting to leave them in the garden.

Day 205

2010-07-24T11:37:00.000+10:00

We're still here. Its just slow progress. I did a bit of garden maintenance this morning. Cleaning out dead leaves etc.

You can see in this picture we have leeks that are almost ready to harvest. They were grown from heirloom seed.

In this picture is broad beans. They seem to be taking ages but ones again from seed. I read this morning that they are very slow growing so it's reassuring.

And this fellow. Our first cabbage has very limited days. Cant wait to have a crisp coleslaw. Those outer leaves will go straight to our chooks who have been having a great smorgasbord of all sorts of green leafy waste from the patch. We've had 3 eggs so far as well which is great. They really seem to be settling in well.

Day 192

2010-07-11T18:28:00.001+10:00

Today we picked up our chooks. Three Belgian d'Uccle's (pronounced dew-clay). Until we spoke to the breeder we had no idea these beautiful hens even existed.

They are so placid and have great colouring and have become a great addition to the patch. We want to give these guys all our green waste from the aquaponics garden so they can turn it into compost for us and we'll also get some delicious eggs as a bonus.

We have called them Polly, Molly and Daisy. They are so much fun to watch.

Today we let them out for the first time for a little walk. It will be good when the weekend comes so we can let them out a bit longer.

Day 188

2010-07-07T17:59:00.001+10:00

We've been contemplating for quite a while now about getting some chickens. We think it would be great for a number of reasons including

Great for the kids.
Our current compost efforts aren't keeping up with our green waste from the patch
We could use the eggs they produce and the chook poo as a compost.

So we bought ourselves a Chook pen. I pick it up in two days and our weekend project will be building the pen and getting it ready for some chooks. We are going to get Isa Browns as they are great layers and fairly good with kids. We really think it will be a great addition. They can eat our lovely green waste from the patch of which we have heaps and it means we'll get fresh organic eggs. I'll post some pics in a few days of our progress.

Day 184

2010-07-03T18:44:00.000+10:00

6 months. Can you believe that its gone so quick. It seems that it wasn't that long at all since I first started this blog. Certainly things are slowing in the patch and I do need to get out there and do a little clean. Its becoming a little over grown and needs a good tidy so I will do that tomorrow. But to celebrate half a year we decided to pick some more and tonight we enjoyed silver beet, cauliflower and the most successful carrots yet. We've never had much luck with carrots but these weren't too bad at all.

Well here's to the next 6 months. As spring will soon be here I can only imagine how much busier this blog will get. Thanks for sticking it out with us and we look forward to the second half of the year in the patch.

Day 178

2010-06-27T16:39:00.002+10:00

Its the middle of winter but today is a gorgeous sunny day. I thought I should take some pictures to show whats going on in the patch at the moment.

A delicious firm, white cauliflower almost ready for picking.

This is pak choi. Grown from seeds and it should only be a few weeks before we'll be able to start enjoying these.

In the foreground is spinach and broccoli, in the back is broad beans.

Beans flowering pink and red.

Snow white flowers of the snow pea. Maybe thats where the name is derived from.

A great sight to see at this time of year, a bee coming to enjoy the patch as much as we do.

Day 172

2010-06-21T19:24:00.000+10:00

Yes we are still here. In fact today is the shortest day of the year. A real celebration as it means we can only look forward from this point on. I've learnt that veggie gardens slow right down at this time of the year. The things you can grow plus how slow they grow. We are still getting a bit out of the garden but not a lot. We haven't given up... just slowed our pace.

Day 160

2010-06-09T19:12:00.000+10:00

The cold wintery days show just how much previous generations must have relied on preserving their winter crops. Our system has slowed right down and we are just slowly watching things grow.

We still have some great picks of cauliflower, beans and silver beet but they are growing slowly. We took out quite a bit and replanted recently too which has meant we have less mature plants. On the up side the butter beans are stretching their yellow toes and it won't be too long before we have an abundance of those.

Our broad beans are starting to flower but as of yet no beans are showing.

We are however using a bit of our preserved summer crop which is great. We are even considering taking another step with our "patch" and getting a couple of chickens. They will assist us with our compost from the leaves, stems and things we have left after we pick our yummy veggies and also provide us with eggs.

Day 156

2010-06-05T15:14:00.013+10:00

Today I thought I'd show you the engine behind the whole aquaponics system - the fish. We currently have 2 types. Murray cod and Rainbow trout.

The trout grow so quick but the Murray's are very slow. Without these little beauty's our system would not do well at all. The look so healthy as well which is a way we test how the system is performing. Healthy fish + Healthy veggies = Healthy AP System.

Rainbow Trout

Murray Cod

Day 149

2010-05-29T21:19:00.000+10:00

Today we finally bit the bullet and stripped the beans grow bed right back to the ground and replanted. Our experiment of mixing seeds didn't fail but wasn't the greatest either. The beans shot straight up and took over which meant other things struggled a little.

As we were pulling things out we found so many things like carrots, radish and leeks. Very small ones though. its as if they just hadn't had the sunlight to grow well. We kept them all bar the radishes and replanted them. We also replanted the spinach, cauli's, broccoli and beetroot.

You can see in this picture the grow bed is half empty and this is the stage that we started to find so many things that had been hidden.

We have done the growbeds in two different ways so far. Mixed seeds and lines of seeds. So this time we are trying a new approach. We made a 3x5 grid that covers the whole growbed. I actually cant believe that I didn't take a still shot of the grid but I was making a video as well at the time and it slipped my mind. Anyway in each cell of the grid we will plant seeds of each variety of veggie for that season that we want to grow. It means we will have 15 things in each grow bed.

I have put both these bottom two pictures in so you can sort of see how it will go. We replanted the things we wanted to keep, put in some seedling and also some seeds so it should stagger a little the produce we get.

Here's a link to the youtube video I made of the replanting by grid. Have a look as it's explained a little better. Video Link

Day 146

2010-05-26T18:58:00.013+10:00

We've decided to pull out the grow bed with the beans that got hit by the frost. We have waited enough time for it to recover so its time now to get something else in and growing. So we have a bit to get through including these radishes. Were going to pickle them. I've never had pickled radish so its worth a go.

On the other hand the broad beans are starting to form. Looking forward to a dish with fresh double podded broad beans.

And another first for the season. Cauliflower. Its been teasing us for awhile now. Ever so slowly growing and tonight we couldn't wait any longer. Out it came and like last time we think this size is perfect. It hasn't had a chance to get to big and is tender and sweet. We have baby carrots and baby peas, why not baby cauli's?

Day 143

2010-05-23T18:29:00.000+10:00

Well you'll have to excuse the photos today... the low light isn't very forgiving and my youngest knocked over the Nikon SLR a few days again smashing my favourite lens which means its a little harder now getting the shots.

After we pulled out all the plants from the grow bed in the last post we ended up with a heap of celery. I had no idea what to do to preserve it and looking online I just got a lot of "freeze it" suggestions. I can just imagine what it would be like after being unfrozen and even just used in soups and stews I still don't think I could eat soggy celery. I had to think a little harder and thought celery salt.

So we chopped up all the celery into small 2 inch pieces and dried it out in the oven overnight. This is th e result. Small matchstick size celery stalks. I pounded them in the mortar and pestle to a fine powder and then added Maldon sea salt.

And the result. A jar of beautiful celery salt. It tastes fantastic and will be great used in all sorts of dishes over the next year.

Day 139

2010-05-19T19:10:00.000+10:00

This is the grow bed I mentioned in the last post. Its getting a bit scrappy and could do with a good clean up. We have big broccoli plants that we've taken from in the hope they may produce more but they aren't. Celery is very bushy and it could do with thinning out as well as a myriad of other things that could be moved around.

So after about 30 minutes EASY work we now have this. We transplanted anything we wanted to keep into other grow beds except the herbs which we moved to the near side of the bed. Plants transplant so easily and we found hundreds of worms in the roots of the broccoli and rhubarb. It was almost like a worm nursery in each root ball with huge clumps of small worms.

We planted out the empty space with another crop of winter veggies. It should be ready by the time we have gone through the other things growing now and keep us going daily with a fresh pick of wonderful veggies.

Day 138

2010-05-18T19:12:00.008+10:00

Another pick of the patch and we have some fantastic greens. The beans are back but ever so slowly and snow peas are in fine form.

We are thinking about cleaning up one of the grow beds to plant some more seeds and move on from some of the things that are almost done.

Day 132

2010-05-12T17:53:00.000+10:00

I've been eyeing off these beetroot for awhile now and today was their day to shine. Beetroot has been probably the best performing root vegetable in the aquaponics system and not only do they provide the tuber but also the leaves can be used in salads for a nice beetroot flavour crunch.

Tonight I wanted to prepare these fairly simply and in a way that may not be known to many people. I picked some rosemary and chopped it finely, added it too the grated beetroot and with some salt and pepper, an egg yolk and a dash of flour to make beautiful beetroot rosti. Some sautéed spinach from the patch and an oven roasted chicken breast and dinner is served. Let me tell you. This was amazing.

Day 131

2010-05-11T18:13:00.000+10:00

It is freezing at the moment. We've been having such mild days and all of a sudden we have been hit with a cold snap. We recently had a small frost and it's taken a toll on our beans. We haven't had many beans at all over the last week or so. Just the occasional one.

On the other hand the cauliflower's are coming along nicely and broad beans are just a week or so away. Tonight I was able to pick a good handful of snow peas.

So tonights pick for dinner was pak choi, broccoli, snow peas, a few beans, spring onion and a number of herbs. Straight into the wok and a little hoisin sauce and a pork rack and we are done.

I commented to my wife tonight about when we last bought veggies from the supermarket. Neither of us can remember. Its a good thing. All we need to do now is sort out some potatoes and we may never have to go back again. Here's hoping!

Day 127

2010-05-07T17:09:00.000+10:00

Yes it's been awhile. Now that winter has hit us its really effecting the daylight hours we have to be able to take images of what we are picking. We are still picking, and eating some great things but without some decent lighting I cant take great pics.

I will do my best over this weekend to fix that situation and post some pictures of how its all going. Be patient with us and in the mean time get yourself a copy of the latest BYAP magazine here -> Backyard Aquaponics Magazine

Its got great articles and even a story or two about our system.

Day 122

2010-05-02T09:12:00.000+10:00

Sunday morning and enjoying a cooked breakfast is one of life's indulgences and being able to walk out the backdoor and pick fresh spinach to add to the cooked breakfast makes it all the more enjoyable.

In the short walk out to harvest this mornings spinach I got to thinking just what this means. I am not a "greenie" by a long shot but I do think more of our impact on the earth as these things are being more and more talked about.

By growing our own we not only provide ourselves with amazingly fresh produce full of nutrients that we all need but we eliminate things like the distance our food needs to travel to us. A bag of spinach bought at the supermarket has so many "miles" attached to it from the farmers equipment used in sowing and harvesting, the freight from the farmer to the market. The market to the super market, and then my car trip to and from the supermarket. We then buy a product that may have been picked a week or two ago and usually its more than we need so the excess is thrown in the garbage. I have no idea of what the farmer has sprayed or fertilised the product with either.

On the other hand I know exactly what has been added to my spinach. Sunlight, Water and fertiliser from the fish. I have picked the grubs off by hand and that's it. Its super fresh. From paddock to plate is minutes not weeks.

I even took the plate back to the paddock and it was still hot when I arrived. Not bad hey! So it may just be a small thing but every bit helps and I know my family is getting some of the freshest ingredients around. I just need to work on a chicken coop!

Day 121

2010-05-01T16:48:00.002+10:00

WOW. I just realised that we have reached Day 121. It's pretty much 1/3 of the way through our 365 day picking from the patch journey. It feels like a long time but also feels like it was just yesterday that we started this blog. We've taken an amazing amount of produce from the patch in that time and learnt so many valuable things to help us through the next 2/3's of the year. We have people from all over the world reading the posts and we feel honoured that you are taking the time to join us.

Not only are we online but we have also started a regular coloumn in the Backyard Aquaponics magazine. The 1st article has just been released and we look forward to getting a copy to see how it reads.

So before I go on too much here is todays pick.

Beans, beans, beans and more beans. I feel like I should be in an old western. Thats all they ate and its the majority of what we are getting from the system at the moment. Daily we get a feed of beans plus silver beet and some spinach. An Asian dish with pak choi once a week is also currently a hit too.

I did manage to work out what the plant I couldn't identify a few posts ago was. Broad Beans! Did I mention beans :)

We did lose a Murray Cod. He was outside the tank. Must have jumped out. He was still moving but was past any redemption so I had to dispose of him.

We had some friends over for lunch today. We picked a few herbs including Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley and we also picked radishes and beans (did I mention beans?). We had some delicious seafood with the herbs added for flavour and side dishes made with the other produce.

We did notice a new cauliflower growing which is exciting.

And finally some snow peas. They'll go well in a stir fry with the pak choi.

Day 118

2010-04-28T16:49:00.012+10:00

The nights are definitely getting longer and its getting much harder to get out to pick something after work and before dark.

But we are still getting produce from the patch. It's really time to be pulling out the slow cooker and making those sort of dishes to warm you through but we are still experiencing the warmer days so its been a real hard thing to think of things to cook. Winter vegetables and warm weather don't mix well.

Day 116

2010-04-26T20:57:00.001+10:00

Another great "pick" from the patch today. Much the same as yesterday with the addition of some spinach.

With some slow cooked chicken drumsticks, rice and wok tossed greens from the patch we were able to do Dinner tonight and Lunch tomorrow for under $6. It's great knowing we are saving a heap on the vegetables and they are so much nicer and have 0 kilometres to travel to get to us which is helping reduce our carbon footprint.

Day 115

2010-04-25T13:12:00.007+10:00

Another update and as you can see we have a lot growing. I picked beans, pac choi, celery, chilli, coriander, a couple of very small carrots and some spring onion.

And the meal we produced from it all. The flavour of freshly picked and simply fast cooked greens is wonderful.

I also did another youtube video which shows some of the Murray Cod and Rainbow Trout. See it here. Youtube

Day 111

2010-04-21T18:01:00.000+10:00

Today I have for you a bit of a picture fest. We did pick some beans for dinner and a heap of silver beet for the neighbour because we cant keep up with it but I wanted to show you some more pictures.

The first two are of a new "hot house" I found while we where on holiday recently. Its basically 3 pieces of bamboo and some plastic. Perfect for the grow beds especially when we have small seedlings in winter.

A bit of a wide angle shot to show you just how well its all going now. The grow beds are very full.

Also while we were away we found another couple of "friends" for our daughters to put in the patch.

A dragon fly

And a fairy.

And last bu t not least, one of the heirloom seeds. I have no idea what it is. I think it maybe the Kohl rabi but cant be sure. I am hoping it is because I love the stuff.

Well thats another day in the patch with a few pics to show you. We hope your enjoying the blog and feel free to pass it on to anyone you think maybe interested in aquaponics.

Day 109

2010-04-19T22:28:00.000+10:00

Beans and Broccoli was the pick tonight which was conducted in the dark. Daylight savings has gone and by the time I get to pick it's night. I think its time to invest in a head torch so I can see what i'm picking. Nevertheless we still got a good pick and it was delicious.

Day 108

2010-04-18T21:04:00.000+10:00

Today's pick was a breakfast one. Spinach, silver beet and chives. These where wilted with butter and put on muffins with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. A perfect start to a Sunday.

Day 105

2010-04-15T16:30:00.012+10:00

After writing yesterday's post I decided to go and search out just whats growing in the mixed seed grow bed. Now that daylight saving has ended though it meant I was going to have to search by torchlight.

This did however help me find many extra radishes that I had not previously seen. They reflected brightly like warning signs in the night saying "pick me!"

I did find some carrot tops but not a lot else. I'll have another look tomorrow and see if I can come up with some other things. I might need to Google the stages of a swedes growth to see what I am looking for but for now... its radish eating time.

Day 104

2010-04-14T19:00:00.000+10:00

I have a big dilemma. I cant remember what I planted in the growbed that I mixed the seeds up in. It's great to look around and hunt for something but when you cant remember what you planted then how can you look for it?

So I am glad to say I did a video of it and this is what I planted. (see it here AP - Seeds - 310110)

Chives, Radish, Zucchini, Carrot, Beetroot, Cabbage, Dwarf beans, Leaks, Swede, Cucumbers, Broccoli and Silver beet.

So I know we have picked so far Radish and Beans. I have noticed what I thought was spinach but its obviously Silver beet. I will have to have a good look tomorrow for signs of the other things.

Also a lot of the Heirloom seeds are coming up. A few new ones that I've never seen growing so again I am not sure what they are but time will tell.

Day 102

2010-04-12T19:33:00.001+10:00

We're back. We had an amazing holiday but the whole time we were away I wondered how the patch was going.

We had a relative kindly feed the fish while we were away and we offered a free for all on any produce they could eat but even with that I am still amazed at the amount that is in the grow beds.

The fish are doing very well and I netted a couple of the Murray Cod and they look very healthy. I'll take some pictures tomorrow of them as I was running out of light now that daylight savings is over.

This is the difference in growth in 12 day of the seedlings from the last post. We picked some of the baby pak choi tonight.

You can see how full it is looking here. The beans and radishes are going full tilt in the background grow bed.

Broccoli tree.

And the best part after just 12 days this is what we picked tonight. Purple beans, Green Beans, Radish (2 varieties) Silver beet, Broccoli, Pak Choi, Beetroot, three Strawberries and Rhubarb.

Its a monster harvest. and it's so fresh and organic.

Day 90

2010-03-31T17:23:00.000+11:00

A couple of parting images. Here is one of the trout looking very healthy.

And the 10 day challenge. Here is an image of the latest planted grow bed. When I return in 10 days I will post another pic to show how much its grown.

Day 89

2010-03-30T21:21:00.000+11:00

Thursday we are off on Holidays for 10 long days. I wont be posting for the whole time as we wont be picking. It will be interesting to see how things are going in 10 days.

We have a family member feeding the fish for us so they will be fine.

So to all of you who have been following the blog, Have a safe and Happy Easter and we'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Day 87

2010-03-28T20:26:00.000+11:00

Now that our get together yesterday is over we decided to get picking in the patch and take out some of the yummy things we have been waiting to try. We left a few things in just so people would see the on the day.

So today was a big pick. A rock melon, cabbage, chilli's, radish, beetroot and rhubarb. Now you may notice the rhubarb isn't red. Thats totally fine as not all rhubarb goes red.

I really wanted to make some rhubarb and ginger jam but looking at the green rhubarb I knew when it was cooked it would go a brown colour. I thought red food colouring would do the trick but really wasn't happy with using artificial colours at all. That's when I hit on an idea. Beetroot juice! A perfect rich red that would add flavour and a strong red colour to my jam. The beetroot we picked today would be perfect.

And here is the result. It was late in the night so I couldn't get a great shot with the low light but its a gorgeous red colour with out looking fake and we used an organic veggie from the patch to help bring the colour and not something artificial.

Day 86

2010-03-27T20:11:00.006+11:00

Today we hosted the Melbourne BYAP Autumnal Meet Up and it was a huge success. Over 20 people attended and shared experiences, food and drink. We fired up the wood fired oven and cooked many pizzas as well.

We were very happy about how the system was looking on the day and got some great feedback.

Here is a group photo of the people who attended.

Having a look over the system and chatting.

Many eyes looking over the system meant many things were found. I think over 20 caterpillars became fish food and this little crab spider was left alone as he is a good hunter of aphids.

A big thank you to all who attended. We had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed your company.

Day 83

2010-03-24T18:40:00.000+11:00

Not a lot has been happening. We have been working on the patch getting it ready for the aquaponics meeting we are hosting on Saturday. It's really looking good and we have been trying not to pick anything so it's at it's peak for the day.

We'll pick a heap of stuff on the Saturday to have for lunch so I'll post some pics after the event. We planted the heritage seeds just 5 days ago and already today we have sprouting. It will be fun to grow some of the different vegetables we haven't tried before.

Day 79

2010-03-20T20:20:00.003+11:00

When all the cows were sleeping
And the sun had gone to bed

Up jumped the scarecrow
And this is what he said!

I'm a dingle, dangle scarecrow

With a flippy floppy hat

I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that!

My daughter has been singing that song for the last few weeks so we decided to make a scarecrow today. We are using "the patch" as a way of teaching our kids about where our food comes from. How it grows when it grows etc. We are trying to make it fun for them too and things like the scarecrow are ways they can join in and have some fun.

This is a photo for Chris who was asking about more photos of the whole system. This one shows a little more of the system we have built. I'll try and get an even better one soon.

We welcome comments on any part of what we are doing. Feel free to ask questions or even just let us know what you think.

Day 78

2010-03-19T20:43:00.000+11:00

An exciting new veggie has been picked today from the patch. Breakfast radishes. These are long rather than round and are were crisp and hot.

We made a radish butter with some sea salt butter and thyme mixed in which topped of a 100 day grain fed steak just nicely.

Day 77

2010-03-18T21:00:00.002+11:00

Its time. Our new heritage seeds arrived and its been 6 weeks since we planted out last seeds.

To keep in rotation of our grow beds to ensure we have a continuous crop we decided to pull out the zucchini, the squash and a few other things. Its so easy and fast to just pull out old plants and put in new seeds,

What I did find in the midst of it all was our eggplants. No fruit though as I think the plants were not getting much sunlight so I've kept them and transplanted them. We'll see what the do and if the continue to grow.

So tonight we planted a mix of heritage seeds including Aquadulce Broad Bean, Purple Podded Pea, Purple Dragon Carrot, Medio Enana de la Halle Brussel Sprouts, Cherokee Wax Butter Bean, Red Russian Kale, All Red Leaf Amaranth, Superschmelz Kohl Rabi, Autumn Giant Leek and Sicilian Violet Cauliflower. Its going to be great growing some of these things we've never seen or eaten before.

We once again mixed the seeds up and scattered the all around. We are finding its a great way of deterring in pests and helping the plants stay stronger.

Day 76

2010-03-17T19:20:00.000+11:00

What is the weather doing? We have massive rains one day, the next it's 34oC, and then its beautiful Autumn days. Summer has ended here in Australia and I'm looking forward to hearty winter vegetables and using our summer preserved ones.

Beans have started forming on the vine and even the start of some early snow peas.

Our bean crop should be full and abundant from our seed experiment. This image below is just 46 days from when we planted the seed. That's less then 6 weeks and the growth is amazing. Heaps of buds and flowers starting to poke their white faces out to greet the Autumn sun.

Here we have Zucchini flowers poking out as well. Just short of six weeks from seed. We planted these right at the end of the season but as they grow so quick in the aquaponics we think it will be fine to catch some at the late end of the season.

Day 72

2010-03-13T11:57:00.001+11:00

Today isn't about picking but more about how our rhubarb is going. The leaves are huge. I haven't seen rhubarb growing since I was a kid in my parent backyard so I cant really remember how big it got but these leaves are huge. I could use one as a blanket for my youngest daughter.

I cant wait to poach the rhubarb in sugar syrup to have with some sheep's milk yoghurt.

Day 71

2010-03-12T19:30:00.001+11:00

A glorious day at the end of a long week and nothing better than holding on to a bit of summer by picking one of the last lettuces for a crisp, light salad.

Not sure what this variety is but it had a pleasant bitterness. I'd welcome any comment on what this one might be.

Day 69

2010-03-10T19:02:00.002+11:00

Today I ordered a heap of heirloom seeds and there's a few reasons for this.

I want to grow things as they were many years ago before they were modified to suit transport methods etc. To grow things I have never eaten or seen before to open up our food tastes and I'd like to learn seed saving so we can plant from what we grow each season. By using heirloom seeds we have a better chance of growing from seeds produced in the garden.

The seeds I have ordered are Aquadulce Broad Bean, Purple Podded Pea, Purple Dragon Carrot, Medio Enana de la Halle Brussel Sprouts, Cherokee Wax Butter Bean, Red Russian Kale, All Red Leaf Amaranth, Superschmelz Kohl Rabi, Autumn Giant Leek and Sicilian Violet Cauliflower.

They all sound very exotic and different and I cant wait to have them growing in the patch. They are all suitable for the current season so we will plant as soon as possible over the next few weeks.

Day 68

2010-03-09T20:19:00.008+11:00

Silver beet, what a treat. Crisp green leaves and snow white stalks. That was our pick today from the patch. Just sautéed in butter, salt and pepper. Very simple but very tasty.

Day 67

2010-03-08T19:42:00.000+11:00

With a long weekend on offer we disappeared to a favourite location of ours down the coast. The fish would survive for three days without out us but I feed them up a little to make sure.

While we were away the biggest storm for the last forty years went through Melbourne and we registered 51mm of rain at home. We had no idea what we'd come back to but with stories of 10cm hail I was hoping it wouldn't be too bad. On our return the only thing that we had was the rain. The tanks were full to the brim and we have around 240 lts in reserve for any evaporation over the next few weeks. Our system has an overflow between the large tank and the small one which operates in such a way to provide fantastic aeration. Its great to see it working to its full potential now.

The plants were doing great and some extra seed we'd planted last week is sprouting.

Tonight we just wanted an easy dinner so some wilted spinach with scrambled eggs was a great easy meal after a weekend of camping.

Day 64

2010-03-05T20:57:00.000+11:00

Is it a giant squash? Is it a tiny rock melon? Did you pick both? If you did you'd be correct. I discovered this squash as large as any i've ever seen and also found this rock melon bobbing in the tank like the last one. The melons are falling off the vine at the moment and this is the third to do so in as many days.

It's the labour day long weekend and we'll take these little beauties on our camping trip.

Day 62

2010-03-03T20:33:00.001+11:00

Growth in the patch is hurtling along now, so massive thanks to the trout.

We've had 3 small rock melons growing for sometime now and today I noticed a fourth. They have slowed right down in their growth though which is a little disappointing. A combination of the less nutrient and the end of their season I think is the main causes but tonight one was missing. At first I thought one of our dogs had taken it but I soon found it bobbing in the tank.

The suicidal rock melon. It's only about the size of a softball, maybe slightly bigger.

First it jumped from the vine trying to end its short life only to end up in the tank to try and drown itself but I was there just in the nick of time to take care of the situation.

I quickly sliced it in half to release the most amazing aroma. Ripened on the vine to the point it falls, shows just how these should be eaten. I can still smell it. The flavour was intensely sweet and the texture was firm but melted in your mouth. This is probably the highlight of the aquaponics for me so far and will become a seasonal favourite.

Day 59

2010-02-28T21:37:00.001+11:00

Today's pick was just a few herbs. It's all I needed for the dish we made tonight which was something I have been thinking about making for years. Its a variation on a dish that has been handed down for generations in my family. Its the simplest of dishes and I was never sure if I should attempt this new one but today we decided to try it. We picked fresh parsley and rosemary from our patch.

Our three year old daughter used the pestle and mortar and crushed up the rosemary with sea salt and extra virgin olive oil.

We then roasted a free range chicken upside down, which is the first time i've done it that way. It worked well by allowing the juices to run through the breast meat keeping it moist. It's flipped just at the end to brown. We tore the chicken meat into pieces cooked the pasta and the rosemary was added to the pan juices to blend with the pine nuts and sultanas. it was then all tossed together with parsley and this is the result.

A new twist on a family favourite.

Day 58

2010-02-27T19:13:00.004+11:00

We are starting to see some progress in the patch now that the new trout have been introduced. The system seems to be picking up which can take a short while. The trout need to produce ammonia which triggers the bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrite to start reproducing to deal with the increased levels of ammonia and then the same happens with the bacteria the converts nitrite into nitrate. Then last but certainly the most important the plants start to take on that nitrate and grow. We have noticed some great growth in the leafy vegetables, including spinach and silver beet.

Some of the other things are just growing bigger and as you can see below our squash is a great size. My wife is even eating things like cabbage now as its flavour is so much different grown in the patch. We pick them smaller and they are not bitter at all. It actually has flavour and the nutrient loss is nil as we eat them straight away with no over cooking. Happy days.

Day 56

2010-02-25T21:16:00.000+11:00

Today was one of those days where I got time to feed the fish and that was about it. I did however prune right back the vietnamese mint. We have a heap of it and I want to keep it under control. I am taking it into work tomorrow where an eager bunch of work mates will gladly snap it up and use it for all sorts of delights.

We had a quick look around the tank at the Murray Cod. I don't know how they do it but they are so good at hiding. I managed to net a couple and take a picture though. I couldn't catch the biggest one but they are slowly getting bigger.

Day 55

2010-02-24T19:30:00.002+11:00

Well the fish must be doing their thing as we were able to pick a bunch of silver beet today. Have a look at the larger image by clicking on the picture of the silver beet. It will show you just how fresh and crisp it should look. Its not limp at all like the supermarket stuff. Its amazing.

My wife picked this spinach early in the morning and today made a variation of a roly poly. Using freshly made pasta and 3 different cheeses, ricotta, parmigiano reggiano and barrel aged feta.

It was delicious. I even went back for seconds. Nothing like fresh home made pasta and greens picked from your own garden.

Day 54

2010-02-23T21:40:00.000+11:00

Well the trout are going exceptionally well. We lost 7 on the second day but only because they jumped out. We had planned to put a cover over the tank but I thought they wouldn't be able to jump out as they are so small at the moment so wasn't in a great hurry. Sadly I was wrong but we now have a temporary cover to stop them jumping. They have settled in really well and the water temp is 20oC.

We've been picking some squash and strawberries and yesterday I picked a bunch of different herbs to mix through creme fraiche that was added to a smoked trout risotto. Yummy but it wasn't our trout yet.

All in all we are slowly getting back on track now that the trout are in.. The cooler weather will start soon but I think by then we'll have the system cranking along again just nicely ready for the Autumn/Winter crop.

We are considering pulling out most things in the 3rd growbed soon and transplanting them to the 4th. That way we can plant seed in the 3rd keeping in line with our plan to rotate the grow beds.

Day 51

2010-02-20T16:55:00.001+11:00

We are taking a small gamble today. We have introduced 150 rainbow trout to our aquaponics system. I have been looking at long range forecasts and I think we are clear of all the hot weather now. We have today and tomorrow to get through but so far its going fine.

We have very energetic little trout swimming around in the currents produced by the pumps and they seem to be loving it and these 150 nutrient producing trout will help us get the system cranking again.

They are so much more lively than the Murray Cod. It's quite a treat to watch them swim around.

We even found a few well hidden veggies in the grow beds. A couple of large squash and a cucumber were just some of the things we found today. Sometimes it seems we need to just look harder. In fact my wife found them. Maybe I need to look harder next time.

Day 50

2010-02-19T19:29:00.001+11:00

Well its been quite a few days since I last posted. Not because I have been slipping but I felt I mat have been raving on a bit. I'm disappointed I cant be showing you great produce being picked. Nothing is really ready.

We have used some herbs over the last few days and I cut some stalks of celery tonight for a Bolognese sauce but thats about it. Our seedlings are going well. 19 days since they were planted.

In the mean time while we wait for some more things to pick here's some videos of the seedling progress.

Day 45

2010-02-14T21:26:00.040+11:00

Another day where not a lot is happening. I really am starting to realise how much timing is needed to ensure the constant availability of fresh produce and avoid non harvest periods.

I have read that if we ran out of fuel in the world, our supermarkets would hold enough food for 3 days. It's a scary thought but I don't see it happening in the near future, but it sets me a challenge.

Could i get our aquaponics system to the stage where if the supermarkets ran out of food for any amount of time, i could support my family with food. If you knew that for 2 weeks you needed to be able to support yourself and family could you do it?

The fish would obviously be there to eat, but it also means we would need fish big enough to eat. That I feel is something I want to aim for. I need slow growing fish and fast growing fish. The fast growing fish so we have a constant supply of fish to eat. Trout in winter, silver perch in summer? The slower growing fish to help keep the system stable and producing the nutrients, but also a back up if we need fish and the others aren't up to size at that time.

As far as the veggies go, I also need the constant nutrient from the fish to keep them going and also timing of the grow beds so that even if its a small harvest we can manage each day, at least we are harvesting.

It's a lot to aim for but the ease of the aquaponics system means I can achieve it without back breaking soil digging. I don't have to rotate crops because of nutrient loss. I just need to plant for the seasons, stagger the grow beds and watch it grow.

Day 44

2010-02-13T19:16:00.000+11:00

Last night I was watching one of the gardening shows on tv and they were talking about picking your zucchini's when they are quite small. I have been waiting for them to grow to a much larger size but the have been rotting before they had a chance to grow. So tonight we picked our first zucchini's and another few squash.

Day 43

2010-02-12T09:35:00.017+11:00

Overnight we received another dose of rain which now takes our tally to around 700 lt of rain water harvested and added to the system. I hope now that all our water can come from the skies rather than the tap.

Only 2 strawberries came from the garden today but Grace refused to eat them. We bought a punnet of strawberries from the supermarket last week and she tasted a couple and decided she didn't like them. Now she wont eat the ones from the garden. She is obviously used to the sweet freshly picked garden ones and the bad taste of the bought ones have left her with a taste and she doesn't want to eat any at all.

Seeds are still growing strong and I am thinking of thinning out the two original grow beds into one so i can get ready to plant new seeds in a week or so.

Day 42

2010-02-11T20:41:00.000+11:00

Rain glorious Rain!

Today we had 17.6mm of rain which filled our rain catchment tank twice. Its a 240 litre wheelie bin designed specifically for the task.

Only this week I installed the pump and not too early as we were able to drain it once into the fish tank just before we received another down pour which filled it in about 5 minutes. A total of just under 500 litres of water was added to the fish tank which is fantastic.

Our aim is to use only rain water to keep the tank full so in the future we may put in a large tank which would store water for the summer evaporation.

Day 41

2010-02-10T20:24:00.009+11:00

Not much to talk about today. Our Diggers Club seeds arrived and I have to make sure I don't order online in a hurry late at night. I ordered things that need to be planted in spring. I guess that I can always start collecting the seeds for the next spring crop. Our water temp hasn't gone over 28oC which is great. The Cod are very active. See you tomorrow.

Day 40

2010-02-09T21:09:00.000+11:00

Today I want to show you how much the seeds have grown since planted. We planted the seeds on the 31st Jan and the post on the 4th Feb shows a small amount of growth. Now only 9 days later on the 9th Feb we have the most amazing growth.

The best part is we aren't totally sure what is planted where. We know a couple of them are pumpkins and a few different beans but the rest is a mystery. We are really looking forward to the treasure hunt.

I also think this will be good for helping with any pest as they will become disorientated and may find it hard to attack any particular plant. The only real issue with pest though so far is cabbage moth and there caterpillars. They have staged an airborne attack but the Murray Cod love the caterpillars.

Day 39

2010-02-08T21:55:00.000+11:00

Just when I thought we weren't going to get anything from the patch for awhile I found a few little gems tonight. Squash. They are everywhere. Just hiding well. I also noticed the zucchini are starting to take off again. The system slowed a little recently but the last few days the Murray Cod have been feeding really well. I think the cooler water has triggered this. The shade curtains are keeping the water a lot cooler and tonight after two very warm days the water was only at 28oC. This extra feeding will result in extra nutrients produced by the fish and the plants will take off again.

So tonight we had from our system, cabbage, squash and pumpkin. The pumpkin was small and didn't have a lot of flesh so I was interested to see how it would taste. To my utter surprise it had so much flavour. Often a bought pumpkin is bland and even watery. This was the opposite and was amazing. I still have a half pumpkin left so will take a pic tomorrow to show how it looks cut.

Day 38

2010-02-07T21:56:00.002+11:00

Today is the marking of 12 months since we first put in our large aquaponics system. You can see from the images that we started with one grow bed and 1000lt fish tank. It was up against the wall of the house. Then within 12 months we pulled down our 2 garden sheds and with 2 stages of work we went to 2 grow beds then 4 with an additional 3000lt fish tank.

This day as you can see from the original image was very hot. My mate Peter jumped in the tank with a beer to cool off. This image was taken just before the first fire of Black Saturday. It was the hottest day on record. It will always be a day we remember those who lost their lives.

Day 37

2010-02-06T17:38:00.016+11:00

I think I have to concede defeat at the moment. Our patch has given up about 80% of the summer produce. We really don't have a lot to pick at the moment which is a result mainly because of the way I planted the original 2 grow beds. We planted them at the same time which meant we were harvesting from them both at the same time.

My new plan is to use all 4 grow beds in a rotating fashion. As we sow the 1st growbed the 2nd will be at seedling stage, the 3rd at almost ready to harvest and the 4th will be what we are eating from. I can see this as the way to move forward and keep a constant supply. So for the moment we will just keep you updated on the progress of our just sowed bed and the bed that is at seedling stage.

Day 36

2010-02-05T17:24:00.000+11:00

Today's pick was actually a couple of accidents. In looking around at what we had growing both of these fell of the vine . Maybe the aren't accidents and maybe it was time to for these to be eaten. We'll find out soon when we eat these.

To give you an idea of the sizes the capsicum is about the size of a golf ball.

Day 35

2010-02-04T22:00:00.001+11:00

An update on the seedlings today. Its been 4 days since we spread the mixed seeds over the growbed and already we have a heap of shoots coming up.

Click on the image to see it close up.

It always amazes me and I just love seeing the new growth. I am already trying to work out just exactly what it is thats growing.