Quick Catch-up...

So much has happened since the last post in August. In the last post we had just acquired the fish for our system and the little guys ranged in size from 2-4 inches. I would guess that they range in size now from 6-8”.  We did lose one fish but the 20 fish that we have left are producing the beautiful vegetables that you see in the photo above.
We’ve been really fortunate with the warm temps we’ve had thus far this “winter”. On Christmas eve I was wearing shorts because it was in the mid-60’s outside. That was really bizarre but I’ll take it (except I’m not real fond of the mud we currently have). And it’s been raining A LOT! Which also means that it’s been cloudy A LOT. So glad we installed the big lights because the lack of sun would be a killer for us right about now. I think over the last two weeks, we’ve had one day of sunshine. When the lights are on, I swear I can see things grow. The lights are fantastic.

We have about 1/2 of the raft space planted out in some type of greens. We have beta blend (baby beet greens), head lettuce, Kweik lettuce (a beautiful lime-green lettuce similar to butterhead lettuce), a gourmet blend, a mild mustard blend and pomegranate crunch (a beautiful variegated red leafed lettuce that has a nice crunch to it). I’m working on the re-seeding rate to determine how often I will get a harvest from them for market. Although we can get four cuttings from a raft, three seems to be optimal with the best re-growth rate. In about one quarter of the raft area we have cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, fennel, garlic, basil and peppers.
It has been fascinating to watch the system and learn its nuances. Today’s stats on the greenhouse: The air temp is 60 degrees (lights are on cause guess what…it’s CLOUDY AGAIN). The water temp is 58.9 degrees. In the aquaponic training that we attended, we were told that the nitrifying bacteria will not do well or will die if the water gets to 65 degrees or below. We haven’t had 65 degree water for quite some time (since end of fall when the sun actually did shine) but everything is thriving. We are taking this risk and doing this experimental growing to see how cool can a system like ours go and still grow veggies in the winter. The only heat to the system are (4) 300 watt aquarium heaters (2 in each fish tank) to heat the approx. 4000 gallons that we have in the whole system. I think the saving grace for our system has been the lights. The tilapia are fine…they can live in water as cold as 40 degrees. They do eat less and consequently will poop less so we’ll need to monitor the nitrate levels to make sure the plants are getting the amount of nutrients they need.  Right now we’re selling lettuce greens and our free range eggs. We’ve had a bunch of new customers over the last week and our girls are doing a great job of keeping up with the egg demand.
Speaking of growing, the girls are looking beautiful and have quite the personalities. We bought an electrified net type of fencing because our neighbors weren’t as fond of their free ranging as we were. That worked well for most of the girls for a day or two. You have one or two rebels in every crowd and our flock is no exception. I put up another 4’ of fence on top of the electrified 4’ fence and there are two that are sassy chicks who should be wearing a giant “S” on their chests. They jump to the top of that 8’ fence in a single bound and out they go. But they do return when they’ve made sure the bird feeder clean-up near the house is taken care of and they’ve made their rounds. When I do a head count at bed-time they’ve made it back safe and sound.
 

We've started framing out an outdoor trough that will hold the big, sprawling things like tomatoes, cucs, and zucchini . My son came up just before Thanksgiving and helped me frame out this 44’ trough. I got it insulated yesterday so that we can start it early in the spring and continue late into the fall and the water warmth will hopefully be maintained. This will be maintained separately from the inside system (it will have its own fish tank and own water pump) and shut down in late fall. I’m building it so we can drain the return water line to avoid any nasty busted pipes and the fish will go inside and join their friends in the greenhouse. We’re working on the planting dates for the items that will be grown outside, because we can start them in the greenhouse and get a jump on growing for early harvests. At least that is the hope….
In other news, we got the farm’s boundary lines identified with a surveyor. I made up stakes with colored streamers and marked out key areas. This will be necessary next fall when our land comes off of the CRP program and we can create pastures. There always seems to be lots of projects to be done around here, especially since my mom has lived here for almost 30 years and hasn’t kept up the maintenance on many of the outside buildings. I see some new shingles in our future for these buildings.
I think that fast-forwards you to the end of 2015 and what we’ve been up to here at New View Farm. We wish you all a bountiful 2016, full of good health and prosperity. We’ve been blessed with a productive year and look forward to producing amazing food in 2016. See you next year!

LiveJournal Tags: greenhouse,tilapia,New View Farm,fish,troughs,surveyor,aquaponics