Day 256

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Great for the kids.
2. Our current compost efforts aren't keeping up with our green waste from the patch
3. 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

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.