Hamish's System

[Hamish]

The weather is getting much warmer and the jade perch are getting much bigger and feeding like you wouldnt beleive. They will eat 6 times a day with cos lettuce inbetween! Last night I extended the hours my pump runs. I was pumping 7am to 7pm to keep the water warm - now I am pumping 6am to 11pm. I figure the extra nitrification and airation will be good for water quality as the feeding load increases through spring and summer.

[nick]

are you still running heaters and what temp is your tank now?

[Hamish]

Yes I still have the heaters in the tank - although I dont think they are doing much. I will reset the power monitor tonight and see how much power they are drawing over a 24 hour period.

I think I will leave my heaters in the tank permanently - if they are not needed due to warm weather then the thermostat simply doesnt turn them on. But they are there to take the chill off if we have a cold snap.

Current tank temp sits about 24 - 25oC. It would seem that with current day temps in the mid 20's and night time lows in the mid teens - the heaters are not working at all during the day - and very little at night when the pumps are off and the tank is covered.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/IDCJDW4050.latest.shtml

[djs-sa]

just to add on the heater side, in adelaide still cold nights but i am only using 1 300w heater per tank and a/con is down 3C room was hot yesterday,

[Hamish]

Ok - can someone tell me why some of my tomatos look like they are inside out? I dont live near any nuclear reactors - so all I can think of is that the flowers were not polinated properly? Any ideas?

[Jason Palenske]

Sometimes they're casing doesn't completely split as their forming causing to fill the gaps, other times it's like twins, it was trying to split. Disney World does stuff like that on purpose to make mickey mouse shaped fruits or melons. Overall the main part of the mater should taste fine but the smaller parts may be a little off taste wise.

[Hamish]

Thanks Jason :D

[Jason Palenske]

No problem, apparently I paid attention to some of the things my nutty farmer relatives have said.:D

[anniefish]

Hi Hamish,
just wondering if puss went for a trip, or just dreamt of one.:)

[Hamish]

He will go on a one way trip soon if he doesnt start earning his keep :D

[wannabee]

Ok - can someone tell me why some of my tomatos look like they are inside out? I dont live near any nuclear reactors - so all I can think of is that the flowers were not polinated properly? Any ideas?

It looks a bit like a tomato equivalent of the navel orange.

Mike

[anniefish]

Hi Hamish,
Ha, ha, ha, aren't all cats like that? Will they go with you to the farm? There is talk about having to register cats in town, what a debate! I think it's a good idea, you have to register dogs and they do a lot less damage than cats. How many birds and native wildlife are killed by cats?
Interesting tomatoes, I wonder if you can develop a new variety, might be some money in it!:rolleyes:

[Hamish]

Hi Ann,

Yes both cats will come with me to the farm.

Both my cats are indoor only - so they cant harm any birds.

Hopefully they will keep any mice down in the house on the farm.

[alexmac]

Hi Ann,


Both my cats are indoor only - so they cant harm any birds.

.

We have one cat raised with chickens, one raised in the city (Melb) and they never attack birds. One cat not raised on our farm does kill parrots and the odd pidgeon.
Our cats are the best rabbit, rat and mouse control we have.
Alex

[Jonathan Dyer]

Just to add to the little side show on our farm we have at any one time over 10 cats with an abundance of small birds all around our house and they don’t bother with them even birds that are 10feet away from them they look but don’t touch, perhaps this is due to the cunning nature of the small birds when the cat gets too close they just fly away as well as the open environment, there really isn’t an issue whatsoever. Since we have had large numbers of cats I haven’t seen a rat in over 8 years not that there were many around here and mice numbers are down (one cat brought a mouse in last night), but if a plague ever happened (as it has before) I’m sure puss in boots would be up for the chase and then bring them inside and patronise it for 2 hours.

[gtpratt]

Hi Hamish,

Years ago I dabled with hydroponics and I grew my seedlings in my film canisters with a hand cut slice in the base, these used to be free from photo shops but now I think you will need to buy comercial grow pots.

Any how, I used a mix of vermiculite and perlite, this allowed the water to flubble up the media then the plant grew healthyly and happily.

I am planning to do something similar with the aqua ponics only difference being I now have more knowledge.

We got excellent crop of veges sweet strawbs etc.

The only seeldings I bought were strawbs as they are hard to germinate.

I found those pots to suit a 50mm hole at the mudgee aquaponics shop for about $6 per hundred and plan to isolate the plants in these in my grow beds.

Will let you know how that goes.

Kindest regards.

Graham.:)

[GaryD]

Hi JD,



.....perhaps this is due to the cunning nature of the small birds when the cat gets too close they just fly away....
It's probably also a clue about the cunning nature of the cats who probably find hunting the birds a lot easier when you're not around to scare them.

Gary

[Jonathan Dyer]

Trust me if our cat caught a bird I would certainly know, feathers would be spread throughout our house. They just don’t care.

[Hamish]

Hey all - a quick update. I have finally got the contract sorted for the purchase of the property. All signed and deposit paid - so happy days. Settlement in about 28 days. Yahoo :D

I have a car loan to pay off ASAP - so will be back to the workforce for a while until I can get that out of the way. Being debt free is stage 1. Then stage 2 is getting into the hard but fun world of self sufficiency - hopefully before the wheels fall off the economy completely.

With the combined gremlins of peak oil and climate change banging loudly on the door I think we all need to batten down the hatches.

On the AP front I have been harvesting a daily supply of lettuce, cucumber, beans, snow peas, raddish, silverbeet/ruby chard, spinach, coriander, Italian parsley, strawberries and today my first decent handful of cherry tomatoes.

I have noticed a serious reduction in my food bills over the last couple of months due to home grown produce - which is great.

I have become known amongst family as the guy who brings the salads to family dinners and lunches - fine by me as it doesn’t cost me anything! Which is great at the moment while I am not working. They all rave about how fresh the salad is.

So if you are still trying to decide if you should set up a system or not I say go for it! The system will repay itself many times over in the years to come - especially as food prices spiral out of control.

[GaryD]

Hi Hamish,

Yours is an excellent example of how someone with a tiny backyard can assemble a system that provides a very tangible return on their investment.

Gary

[fishfood]

Good luck with the venturee bad luck about going to work [what actually do you do ] so when do you shift lock stock and barrel!

[Hamish]

Would say it will take 12 months to gather the funds to be able to shift totally. The property I purchsed was a bargain but more than I was originally wanting to spend - but well worth it. It just means I am a slave to the system for another year. Atleast I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have worked most of my life in advertising - somethig I use to be proud of until I realised a couple of years ago that advertising is the motor that drives the world of consumerism. Well I guess im stuck with it for now as its all I know. I just have to do my best to be as green as possible in my personal time and try to help others be green too.

[wannabee]

I thought advertising was about convincing people to spend more money than they want on things they don't want. (Excuse my cynicism - good to see you have found yourself, Hamish).

Mike

[daniel]

I have worked most of my life in advertising - somethig I use to be proud of until I realised a couple of years ago that advertising is the motor that drives the world of consumerism. Well I guess im stuck with it for now as its all I know. I just have to do my best to be as green as possible in my personal time and try to help others be green too.

If it's any consolation hamish, you are not the only one. I have been producing marketing material for Mcmansion developers for over ten years and hate myself for it. It makes me feel very hypocrytical most of the time. Like you, I am aiming for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Having a firm plan makes such a positive difference.

[Jonathan Dyer]

What so there isn’t another way of looking at it hey guys. Wouldn’t you say that promoting products that are environmentally friendly (wind power, battery cars you get the idea) or are useful to society enabling us to grow and develop our understanding couldn’t be seen as a virtuous cause?