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Comment by Sam Burton 7 hours ago

Just wanted to share something about persistence.  My wife was just about to let go of her dairy goat herd after nearly 3 years, because it just wasn't paying for itself.  People loved the milk, yogurt and cheese, but didn't buy consistently enough and the dairy was becoming a drain.  When word got out that she was thinking of selling out, customers started coming out of the woodwork.  People are begging for products.  She has decided to stick with it for the season and see if things are really turning around or if it's just  a spike.  She has worked hard and now it looks like things are beginning to move. 

Comment by Sam Burton 7 hours ago

Love it when Aquaponics come up.  Thanks Sheri and Damon for keeping the subject in front of us.  I have two systems going at the moment and will finish a third this week.  I am totally addicted.  I have a raft system in my greenhouse that is producing lettuce and herbs like a machine.  It has a few catfish in it.  I'm also using it as a hospital for tomato seedlings that were struggling too much to transplant.  They look fantastic after only a week.  My basil is outperforming my garden basil at a rate that should embarrass the raised beds.  I have a small continuous flow system in the garden that is planted out with squash.  The system is not really mature enough for squash, so I'm using a seaweed fertilizer foliant spray for supplemental nutrients until the system matures.  The system I'm building this week is a single barrel flood and drain.  It will be located in the middle of my self watering container garden.  The grow bed will mostly have greens as the grow bed is really there only as the biological filter.  The system's real purpose is to provide water and nutrients for the self watering containers.  After that, I'm setting up my aquariums for my tilapia breeding colonies.  Each of the three aquariums will also feed a small media bed and a raft grow bed.  I love this stuff. 

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on Wednesday

Thanks, Matt.  We have a good contact for framed hives, but we'll look into the top bar before committing to anything. I want to choose what works best for us in the long run. It's a whole new world to learn about...fun!

Comment by Matt Comisky on May 15, 2013 at 12:08am

Sherri,
A top bar hive is a style of hive that uses just bars, sometimes with a wax foundation starter strip, for the bees to build comb on. The more typical Langstroth hive uses frames with foundation (wax or plastic) for the bees to build their comb. Top bar hives are typically longer and around 12 to 16 inches wide unlike the more square Langstroth. There is a lot more can be discussed about these hives, but this is the brief overview.

Matt

Comment by Karen Wortman on May 14, 2013 at 8:38pm

I love the idea of Aquaponics.  It's on my bucket list.  Thanks for sharing your insight Sheri.  

Hope everyone is doing well. I know we are all busy this time of year. I am thankful that it is staying light out longer but there are still not enough hours in the day.  Our weather has been so strange this year that veggies are way behind normal.  Our farmer's market started two weeks ago and no one had many veggies.  Heck, even the strawberries are having a hard time getting ripe.  We had frost warnings Sunday evening and today it was in the 80's.  Crazy, crazy.  

I've had to lock all of my laying hens in the barn and they are not happy with me right now.  I brought new hens home on Saturday and that evening caught a fox enjoying one.  Thank goodness he only killed one.  I set traps and caught two raccoons by the coop as well.  I swear, this has been a terrible year for my and my laying hens.  I've got to come up with a better plan at least until I fully discourage the evil chicken killers.  

Everything else is going well. I am picking up my vintage camper this week and will start to the renovations so I can get Bubbles on the road quickly.  

How is everyone else doing? 

Comment by Damon on May 14, 2013 at 4:25pm

Thanks, Sheri. I just bought the book on the Aquaponic's source Website.

I'm always talking about fishing. It's neat that the two can be combined.

When you stocked your system with fish did you have to get a permit for something from the state?

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on May 14, 2013 at 3:33pm

Here are some images of IBC totes:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ibc+tote&client=firefox-a&h...

The most common size in the US is 275 gallon. 330 is a choice commodity if you can get them. We have a couple 1/2 totes that are about 130 gallons. IBCs are very often used in aquaponics.

You can make a simple AP system with one 275 gal tote by cutting 14" off the top, flipping it over and setting it above the larger part. Like this one: http://theaquaponicsource.com/2012/01/17/ibc-tote-aquaponics-system...

The larger part, now about 200 gallons, becomes the fish tank, and a pump carries water into the smaller, upside down section that becomes the growbed. This is how we started. You could do very well with goldfish & minnows.

Comment by Luke Townsley on May 14, 2013 at 2:52pm

IBC = intermediate bulk container

Once you know what they are, you see them around quite a bit. They are squarish, hold about 450 gallons and have a metal bar cage around them around them.

Comment by Damon on May 14, 2013 at 1:46pm

I was thinking of gold fish and minnows obviously for fish bait.

Comment by Damon on May 14, 2013 at 1:45pm

What's an IBC? Root beer?

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