What we’re up to this week

June 7, 2010 by 5 Comments
rasterstein sl

I mentioned a while back that we were thinking about digging up a bunch of the pavers in our courtyard and putting in some new growing beds. Although I haven't mentioned much more about, we have been thinking about how to realize this plan and finally found the perfect edging stones that will help us complete the task at Bauhaus (home improvement store). The stones are called "Rasterstein SL" and are 30cm long, 20cm high and 20cm deep. We wouldn't have minded if they were a bit higher but we're … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Projects, In the Garden, Veggie & Herb Garden Tagged With: ,

Filling & trimming our aquaponics grow bed

June 3, 2010 by 8 Comments

I talked a little bit yesterday about the different types of aquaponics growing media that are available for consideration. As I mentioned, we went with expanded clay pebbles (4-16mm big) which were actually made exactly for this purpose. The exact pebbles we got are actually a brand new type of aquaponics pebble that is hitting the market so we were really excited to be one of the firsts to try them. Because we're planning several aquaponics systems around our homestead, we went ahead … [Read more...]

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Selecting aquaponics growing media

June 1, 2010 by 7 Comments
aquaponics how to

It's been a while since I talked about our aquaponics system, but we have indeed been working on it and it's actually running very well. We've had our beds filled and even have plants in it but I putting the events down in words has taken a while longer. When building an aquaponics system, there are several growing media which can be considered. You may be lucky enough to have an endless supply of small pea gravel or river rock in your backyard. Or perhaps you will be using lots of growing … [Read more...]

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What’s so great about aquaponics

May 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I know you've been reading the word "aquaponics" a lot lately on this blog and I don't think I've really explained what it is. So in case you're curious but just lack the time or sincere interest to go learn more about what it is and why people love it, I'm going to save you a trip to Google. Aquaponics mashes together hydropronics (growing plants without soil) and aquaculture (farm-raising fish). By linking together the fish tank to a grow bed, you are taking the wasted nutrients from your … [Read more...]

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Wild garlic pesto

April 29, 2010 by 5 Comments
wild garlic pesto

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum AKA bear's garlic, ramsons or Bärlauch in German) is a wonderful chive cousin that we're lucky to have growing in our courtyard and a bit in our garden too. At Mackenzie's christening dinner, we were served a wild garlic soup that was just incredible. I vowed after that to never let our Bärlauch go unharvested again. Last year, I still missed it because I didn't think about it until the wild garlic had bloomed and apparently the leaves get really bitter after that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Expat Life, Foodie Desires, In the Garden, Natural Living, Recipes, Veggie & Herb Garden Tagged With: ,

Medium-sized aquaponics how to — The grow bed

April 20, 2010 by 6 Comments
aquaponics grow bed

Be sure to check out the first part of this aquaponics how to in case you missed it. So you've got your tools and materials together and you're ready to start building. Here's where I'd recommend getting out the sawhorses if you have any. Working on the ground sucks. Or maybe we're just getting old. First you're going to build a support frame for the grow bed which is attached to the large plywood board you've got. Ours is 105.5 x 165.5 cm, which when added to the lumber will make our … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, DIY Projects, Expat Life, Featured, Homesteading Life, In the Garden, Veggie & Herb Garden Tagged With: ,

Medium-sized aquaponics how to — Preparation

April 19, 2010 by 4 Comments
tools

A couple weekends ago, we decided it was time to start putting together our first aquaponics system. It's a 500L fish tank with  200L sump pump and a grow bed which is 120x180cm large (30cm deep). Our intent is to grow either catfish or tilapia in it and crawfish in the bottom of the fish tank. The sump will only be used for water overflow and to flush the system. We will eventually add a few more small beds and a few wall pipes too with hopes of adding a bit more filtration since that's a lot … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Container Garden, DIY Projects, Featured, Homesteading Life, In the Garden, Veggie & Herb Garden Tagged With: ,

Building our first Aquaponics system

April 12, 2010 by 7 Comments
Aquponics building site

Last weekend I had another one of those wild ideas that suddenly just manifests in your brain when you look at something. A little light goes off and you wonder why that thought never crossed your mind before. We get a lot of those around here. Pure moments of genius. Well, in our world anyway.  And we always share them with one another in an almost apprehensive way; knowing what we're about to say could sound totally insane when it's out of our mouths. It's always prefaced with one of us … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Aquaponics, Container Garden, DIY Projects, Homesteading Life, In the Garden, Veggie & Herb Garden Tagged With: ,

Come on spring!

March 26, 2010 by 1 Comment
03252010_mapping new beds courtyard 01

It's hard to imagine that spring would suddenly be here in full force after such a long, cold winter, but we have had some absolutely incredible weather the last couple weeks. Highs in the 60's (15-18°F) and plenty of sunshine. So I decided to get outside and slowly start getting things ready for the growing season here. The almanacs and forecasts are still predicting some pretty cold nights ahead, so going full force with planting isn't in the cards yet...but we have a lot of ideas and things … [Read more...]

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Rethinking some of our projects for 2010

January 5, 2010 by 5 Comments

Aside from all the good cooking and eating we did last week, we also used the time to think a bit more about our projects for 2010 and hoped to get started on at least one of those projects last Saturday. There is a company in Frankfurt called Becker that specializes in all things wood. Wood for building furniture, wood flooring, veneers, outdoor wood, wooden doors...if it's wood and has to do with building, you can probably find it there. We planned to finally go check out one of their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Homesteading Life, In the Garden, Natural Living Tagged With: , ,
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