Creek Street Journal - Sunday 28th Oct. 2007

I re-assembled my NFT salad system today. We removed it from its former location over the main tank because, while the idea of stacking backyard food production systems has considerable merit, this particular arrangement was less functional than I wanted.

We moved our 800 litre system outside of the shed where it has lived up until now. It now contains 87 juvenile Jade perch. Nitrification is facilitated by the two 65 litre trickling bio-filters. These small units have operated flawlessly for the past 18 months.

We've attached a duckweed tank to soak up the nitrates on this little unit. The NFT unit will also assist in this role.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 21st Oct. 2007

Today, we set up our 800 litre aquaponics system at the southern end of the shed. We also relocated the duckweed tank (previously attached to our 1000 litre tidal system) and connected it to the smaller unit.
The small NFT set up that we removed from the tidal system will also be connected to the 800 litre system....to assist in soaking up the nutrients generated by the 87 Jade perch accommodated by the system.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 14th Oct. 2007

From the time we set up our most recent system, the fish tank has had a makeshift cover on it - to keep everything (kids, pets, leaves, too much sunlight, etc) out.
The makeshift cover made it difficult to access the tank in the way that I wanted so I fabricated a new top. The two hinged doors now allow unfettered access when I want to feed the fish, or clean the tank, while keeping the system secure at all other times.
I'm keen to grow as much of the food for our fish as I can so duckweed is an important plant for us. While it can be dried, it's easier (and more practical for our purposes) to freeze it so that we have year-round stocks. After harvesting, we squeeze most of the water out of the duckweed and place it into small plastic containers. Once it's frozen, I turn it out of the container and store it in plastic bags.
We discovered that, by feeding it out frozen, we avoid much of the mess that otherwise occurs in the tank. A quick tap with a hammer reduces a frozen block of duckweed to a handful of small pieces. When we throw these into the tank, the fish chase them around eating the duckweed as soon as it thaws and breaks free.
Our two gravel grow beds have been very productive during the past few weeks. In less than 4 square metres, we've grown as much silver beet, bok choi, coriander, thyme, oregano, parsley and lettuce as we can consume. In fact, the chooks have been giving us hand to sort out the surplus.
I've pulled several of the silver beet plants to make way for a wider range of vegetables. While the beds are looking a bit patchy at the moment, I'm confident that, in three or four weeks, they'll be bursting at the seams with more fresh produce.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 7th Oct. 2007

Today, I spent several hours fine tuning my aquaponics system. I pulled out the drains and opened them up so that my gravel grow beds drain faster. The NFT System that I mounted over the tank impeded my ability to access the tank to the extent that I want (for cleaning and watching the fish), so I've removed it.
I have about 85 juvenile Jade Perch in an 800 litre tank in the shed so I'll attach the NFT unit to this system.
We processed the remaining 13 broiler chickens in our most recent batch. They averaged 2.5kg.
The chickens yielded 750gm of chicken livers. Normally, I reserve the hearts and livers and fry them in a little butter before serving them on toast. Today, however, Jan made chicken liver pate.....and good it was, too.
While we have a 10,000 litre rainwater, a couple of the gutters on our house still ran onto the ground. To enable us to capture more rainwater, we set up a 200 bin with a submersible sump pump. A hose transports the water from the bin....under the house.....to the tank. Tonight, our new system got its first test when a brief thunderstorm passed over our area. Several hundred litres of rainwater that otherwise would have run onto the ground, found its way into the tank.
Our aquaponics system runs completely on rainwater so the new capture system is a welcome addition.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 30th Sept. 2007

We've just processed half of our most recent batch of meat chickens. Our ability to produce clean, fresh chicken meat is a cornerstone of our food self-sufficiency program.

The past few days have seen a rise in day-time temperatures that is having an obvious effect on our growing systems. While our tomato plants are still quite small, they are already fruiting up. Our mini-greenhouse is providing in abundance.....more than we can use. Our chickens and breeder quail are enjoying a daily salad of silver beet, herbs and even marigolds.

My book continues to sell well which is both satisfying and exciting. We're also attracting a good measure of very positive feedback.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 23rd Sept. 2007

Our 90 Jade Perch fingerlings are quickly outgrowing their current tank so a move to larger quarters is on the cards for next week.

Our focus on small systems means that we can move fish and tanks quickly and easily.

During the coming months, the hatcheries will begin to sell fry and fingerlings for a variety of species and I want to expand the range of fish that we keep. To this end, our next Aquaponics system is on the drawing board.

Creek Street Journal - Sunday 16th Sept. 2007

This week, we moved our latest batch of broiler chickens to their growing space which comprises a small hut (for night quarters) and a large strawyard.

To offset the gloomy conditions in the shed where the quail are housed, I've set up a light on a timer to provide an artificial day length of 16 hours. If you can control the amount of light to which quail are exposed, you can manipulate their breeding cycle.

In response, our new quail hens produced their first egg, and the distinctive call which signals the onset of sexual maturity in the cockerels, is becoming more frequent.

Recent rains (a rare thing lately) and the onset of spring weather have produce a flush of growth in the grass and weeds around our block.