æ¯é€±å ­ã€æ—¥é–‹æ”¾è¾²å ´å°Žè¦½ Farm Tour on Weekends

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Aquaponics Are we on a mission

So many of us start in Aquaponics as a way of feeding ourselves or saving a little money or better feeding our family. However some people, some who started out for one reason became aware that through A/P they could possibly help this planet and they became driven to use Aquaponics as a tool to help others.

So I started to go through my notes to see who, what, where and how. Heres what I found and I hope you enjoy.

“Living Food BankTM” to Provide Fresh Fish and Vegetables in Haiti

Luke’s Mission has extensive experience  using aquaponics, both in the US and in Haiti.

Vancouver Island Universitys ongoing efforts in the direction of sustainability are evident inside a preferred aquaponics mission happening

During a recent trip to New York City, Felipe from GlobalGiving stopped by Brooklyn Rescue Mission for a quick visit. Here is his postcard from the field

I  am writing to tell you about an exciting new opportunity for Brooklyn
Rescue Mission! We have been selected by the GlobalGiving Foundation to
participate in its Urban Farming Open Challenge

Our Mission Statement...
Provide support for those people who are most in need,
following Jesuss example.
AND
Attain sustainability and teach others to do the same.

Organization dedicated to promote Aquaponics in Europa. French, English, Nederlands

Olomana Gardens is a permaculture farm dedicated to serving the local  community as a demonstration farm for modern, sustainable food growing systems suitable for small-scale farms and even food production for residential lots.

The aim was to develop a system that could be widely replicated in economically blighted regions, used as a cost-effective vehicle to teach the public the importance of growing the right fruits and vegetables to ensure a healthy diet

Our intention is to empower people through the education of food production, nutrition, and cultural integration. The demographic that we would like to impact first would be the communities residing in regions on our Earth that are suffering from famine, disease, and malnutrition

The training is being conducted by Challenger and 16 ANC members are completing a Certificate II in Aquaculture.  It is planned that ANC members, once they have finished their training, will become mentors for other aboriginal communities to start their own aquaponics systems

Kijiji grows (kee-gee-gee) is a collaboration of farmers, artists, engineers, builders and educators who advocate for aquaponic gardening. Our mission is to bring aquaponics to the San Francisco Bay Area and change lives through urban sustainable growing systems in schools, homes and businesses

I really enjoyed the conference. It helped me see that my wife and I could contribute to serving the poor in ways that we didnt imagine. Theres enough information given to get started in Aquaponics. One day I hope to develop similar projects in Kenya and Nigeria.

An Australian sustainability collective has come up with a novel approach to bringing ecological organic food production into our cities. Their design is fast, efficient, cheap, demountable, and scalable. Welcome to the urban farming revolution proposed by CERES.

Build an aquaponics system to educate Central Brooklyn residents on the benefits of urban farming, healthy eating and improving healthy food access for residents in the communities where they live

Right, I think youll get the idea. There are a lot of people out and about who are striving to help my/your planet. Makes me feel pretty darn good inside.

So on that Note Ill bid you a fond fairwell....(O.K. So Im going all Mushy. So What)
Bye till Wednesday
O Z Z I E

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why I want to move

I have done many things in my life that some will never get to do. One would be that I got to touch a mustang that had only been captive for two years. She was big and beautiful, wild yet tame. There are very few things Id be less likely to forget than her and one of them was a funny thing her owner said.

"...when I moved to the big city."

Now this may not seem like a big thing to anyone. Where she lived was not the big city. In fact, it was a suburb area that was zoned for horses, goats, and so on. Im pretty sure someone could have had a dairy cow back in their barn. What made me giggle even more is that she moved into a tiny house that was probably put there before any other house around it. I cant say that it had a back door but had two doors to the outside. One door was in the living room and the other in the kitchen. The kitchen door led to a hallway that was parallel to it. Right across the hall was another door to the outside and to the left was a laundry room. Anyway, if you didnt go out that door, to the left was some stairs that took you to what I assume is another bedroom. Heck I dont know! From the living room, there were two rooms; a master and another room that looked like a normal bedroom but had a bathroom in it.

...and that was a city house to her....

From my understanding, she came from a place with no a/c. In fact, she couldnt figure out how to work what she thought might be an a/c. I showed her and she commented on how dumb she was. Of course she wasnt dumb at all. Her entire family and her husbands family were from a place where Id like to live. A place of beauty, peace, and in the middle of bum fuck nowhere.

In fact, it was so in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, I couldnt tell you were it was because I had never heard of it before. If Im correct, it was a small town somewhere in between Cottonwood, CA and Oregon.

My first encounter with a mountain home was when I was very little. A family that was very close to my family had
moved to a place which I now believe is Pollock Pines. I remember going down this super skinny road and hitting this beautiful house at the end. Of course that wasnt the best part. Her backyard was a few yards from a cliff. All you could see was a thin strip of black (the highway) and a vast



amount of trees. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my entire life. Ever since then, I have been set on getting out of the "big city" and out into nature.

Of course, while I worked out in Wilton, it was nice as well. Farm land is ok but not what I want. I like mountains and trees, not flat brown things. Im not dissing Wilton though. It was very nice and relaxing even when the pond was dry and the ducks were away. Here, Im at work for no more than 9 hours a day in a somewhat temperature controlled environment and it is terrible. There, I worked about the same amount in the hot July sun and still remains the best job ever. It was something about feeding the chickens, horses, ducks, (and dogs and cats back at home) that really made me feel good.

So reasons why I want to get out of here....

1. My kind of adventure is the kind you find outside.  Boy do I love outside.
2. I like trees...and lots of them.  Yes cities can have lots of trees but check reason number one.
3. I like seasons.  This may seem like an odd one since everyone knows that snow and I dont get along very well.  Well sun and I arent good friends either but one thing I DO like, is trees.  I love fall because the beautiful color it produces and as much as snow and I dont like each other, I love the beautiful things that it does.
4. Im paranoid.  I remember back on the Wilton ranch, the only theft they had in...well...ever really was someone that tried to steal a saddle.  Turns out that it was someone that boarded with them.  People in small mountain towns have more to worry about than stealing.
5. Im not materialistic.  Some city/suburban lovin folks could gladly take my place.

Annnd thats about it for now.  Moral of the story...I have a distaste for most modern day things.  Maybe Im crazy but whatever.  I miss my extra chores which included feeding chickens, horses, ducks, dogs, cats, rodents, and so on.  It is my goal to get back there.

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thoughts on vegan vegetarian pets

Anyone that personally knows me knows that I am always up to something.  Sometimes that something is harmless while other times, it leads up to something bigger.  Im not going to say what led me to this but in short, I was wondering what would happen if one of my dogs acquired a severe oral problem and they couldnt rip/chew/gnaw their raw meaty bones.  Maybe Id grind it up.  Maybe, Id feed them vegetarian!  While reading about vegetarian dogs, I noticed a few things.  Some vets are total quacks that believe any animal willing to chew on something like grass can be a vegetarian.  Some vets even suggested having a vegan (yes vegan) cat!  After sorting out the quacks, I came across people claiming to have dogs in the double digit age that have lived their entire life vegan/vegetarian.  I noticed that all of them had a lengthy amount of supplements given to them and so on.  They needed their teeth brushed and such.  Here is what I think about that.

1. Supplements?  Whats that?  My dogs dont need them because protein is easy to digest and vitamins are easily acquired from them.
2. Teeth.  Wolves in the wild dont brush their teeth and neither do prey model dogs.  Vegetarian dogs do though....
3. Fiber is really hard to digest and nearly impossible for even true omnivores like people (thank you college nutrition class!)  low and behold, it also makes some vitamins harder to obtain from plants which is why vegans should consume supplements.
4. poop.  I almost forgot what that looked like till dearest loving Adam gave Loki an apple.  My dogs poop more when they sneak plums and like fruits that have fallen on the ground.
5. Dogs dont eat fruit because it is good for them.  They eat fruit the same reason why a small child would eat chocolate.  Who cares about the health benefits?

In other words, I believe that a proper diet doesnt involve supplements and that, if one is eating correctly, nothing else is needed.  This doesnt mean I reject alternatives or anything, however.  Im allergic to fish for example.  Hemp is an awesome alternative for omega 3.



Now now pro vegan/vegetarian owners, dont go getting your panties in a bunch but hear me out.  Two dogs that died recently on the longest living dog record were either vegetarian or meatatarian (I guess you could say.)  My answer to this is that dogs now have access to what they didnt have years ago, supplements.

Before you vegetarian/vegans get super pissed at me, I think we could both agree one one thing, COMMERCIAL FOOD IS KILLING OUR PETS!!!  Most companies dont give a flying flip about our babies!  And Id never shoot down anyone that didnt feed meat to a special needs dog by the way.  I understand that dogs nowadays are being born faster than weeds are growing in unkempt lawns.

Cats...now that is completely unacceptable.  Im sure vegan cats do exist but its more like eating Soylent foods...just all multivitamin without actually being food.

Id also like to note that Im extremely shocked in how stupid vets can be.  There was a test done where cats were fed rabbits to see if theyd survive.  All of them got sick.  Lets say vets were required to take a nutrition class.  Rabbit starvation much?  Too much lean meat will kill anything!

Anyway, I still think vegan/vegetarian dog diets are a little on the iffy side (unless you have one of those cases where your dog is allergic to a crap ton of common meats out there.)  However, as a person into science and into medicine, I can say maybe I will try it someday with the whole supplements and lack of meat.  Will it be like feeding a filler with supplements or would the food be fine by itself?

Also Id like to note that I applaud human vegetarians.  Good work!  Im working towards being one myself!  However not everything is like a human.  Not for ethical reasons however (if it lived, it has a soul to me) but just simply for land management and a better me.

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Energia Using The EEPROM on TI Stellaris and Tiva C Launchpads

[Tonights post is by Ed Smith, participant in the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group]

Im writing this blog post largely because it took me quite a while to figure out how to use the Tiva-Cs EEPROM in an effective way. My hope is that this page will make life easier for future people who use the Tiva-C.

First up, these are the Microcontroller boards were going to be talking about today.




















The Stellaris LM4F120 / Tiva-C TM4C123 Launchpad and the very snazzy TM4C129 Connected IoT Launchpad.

There are plenty of other Launchpads worth talking about, but all of them fall into one or more of two categories: Launchpads I do not have, and: Launchpads containing no EEPROM.
Not having EEPROM makes this article about using the built in EEPROM a bit irrelevant, and if I havent used it I dont like writing about it.

Many programs and projects dont need to use EEPROM. All the variables are either burnt into the flash and never change, or are kept in RAM and updated as needed for that boot. When power is cycled the program starts fresh and off it goes. You dont need your calculator to remember what you did last week for instance.
There are other times when having some storage is extremely useful, calibrating sensors is a wonderful example. The Humboldt Laser Harp for instance uses EEPROM to store the calibration data for the laser sensors, as well as to store the MIDI "Velocity" of the notes. Without EEPROM you would have to either redo the mechanical/physical calibration every time you turned the harp on in slightly different circumstances (which takes 10-15 minutes), or recompile and reupload the firmware every time.
Almost any sort of sensor that requires calibration once in a while is a good use for EEPROM. Things like odometers or hour meters as well.
That brings us to the question of how.

How do I get access to the EEPROM of my microcontroller?
Im glad you asked!
If youre using an Arduino, or a TI Launchpad and the Energia IDE, the process is very simple.
First you include the EEPROM library (At the top of your program, add "#include <EEPROM.h>" without the quotes), then in your program you call EEPROM.read(address) and EEPROM.write(address, value) to read and store values respectively. For example:

This would read the value at address 10 into the someVariable variable, update it, and then stuff it back into EEPROM address 10.
The process is very simple, if your value fits into a single byte. That is to say, 0-255. If your value is 256 it will be stored as 0. If its 260 it will be stored as 4, and so on.
You have to do some bitshifting to split larger variables up into bytes and store the bytes individually, then bitshift it back together when you want to use it. Its very doable, but something of a pain.
There are add-on Arduino libraries that can be used to automate the bitshifting, though I have not used them.
What I have used is a slightly lower level method of EEPROM access on the TI Stellaris and Tiva-C chips.
This method and example still uses the Energia IDE, though I believe the code is more or less the same for TivaWare and the TI Code Composer Studio.

Instead of EEPROM.whatever, you use "ROM_EEPROMRead(variable, start address, length)" and "ROM_EEPROMProgram(variable, start address, length)".

The trick is, the variables you use are long integers (32 bits, 4 bytes) in an array, rather than single bytes.
The same operation as above, but with the ability to count from zero to a bit over four billion. Quite the improvement over 0-255.

You can also use sizeof(someVariable) rather than listing the number of bytes (so ROM_EEPROMRead(someVariable,10,sizeof(someVariable)); instead of 4) this is useful if youre using an array with more than one variable in it.
What I really like about this method is you can stick an entire array in just as easily, rather than the single member array we declared above you can declare an arbitrarily long array. Say 30 members. Then the exact same ROM_EEPROM calls store that entire array.
It does start to get tricky if youre using a number of addresses, the above example code uses address 10 as its starting point, it also uses address 11, 12 and 13, as the address is done by the number of bytes used. That 30 memory long array would use 120 bytes / address slots.
If you arent paying attention and write something else to the middle of that range youre going to be unhappy with the results!
You get 32kB worth on the basic Tiva-C, and 256kB on the Connected Tiva-C, so you can afford to be lavish.
The really entertaining part to me is that if you use the Arduino style EEPROM calls on the TI chips, the EEPROM library is converting them into the unsigned long flavor of call to interface with the TI MCU itself. That means that if youre storing an unsigned long using the Arduino method on TI chips, youre bitshifting it manually into bytes, then the library is bitshifting it back into unsigned longs and storing it. Bit of a crackup if you ask me.

When you do use EEPROM it is a good idea to think about how often it will be written to, if you write to it once per second you only get 27 hours of operation before you hit the rated lifespan. Real world testing of Arduino (Atmega328 MCU) EEPROM has shown it to typically get to well over 1,000,000 writes before it starts throwing errors. Atmel and TI are not willing to guarantee that youll get a million writes though.
Reads are free, read the EEPROM as often as you want, but try to keep the writes within reason. If you write once per minute youll get ~69 days of operation per the spec, or 694 days if your EEPROM does the >1 million writes many seem to. Once an hour on average gives you a very long lifespan indeed, a bit over 4,000 days per spec or 40,000 if youre lucky. Thats 11 to 110 years, which should be enough.

If you made it this far through this wall of text, congratulations! My next post will have more pictures.
I hope this was an interesting read and/or helped, look for a blog post about the Humboldt Laser Harp coming in the near future. This coming blog post will include some (most? all?) of the code for the laser harp, including the EEPROM bits.

--Ed Smith

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What A Great Day to have a Wednesday on

Suppose we had to have Wednesdays on another day......like Saturday. Then wed have no middle of the week... Or would we.....Hmmmmm....

Well the plants and the fish dont care So I guess I shouldnt either.

So the best I can do is, Blog on regardless.

WELCOME

A practical workshop on how to produce your own organic vegetables and fresh fish in one sustainable, closed-loop system, in your own backyard.
Organic vegetables can be grown highly efficiently while filtering nutrient rich pond water which contains a variety of aquatic life. Fish, yabbies, mussels etc grown in the closed system of aquaponics provide a renewable food source and are a fascinating and educational experience to watch grow.
Sydney Autumn Aquaponics - 2 Apr 2011 - 3 Apr 2011  9:00am - 5:00pm - Alexandria Park Community Centre - Alexandria, N.S.W. - Aquaponics Workshop

The Urban Conversion and Colorado Aquaponics at The GrowHaus - Excellent Video showing The Urban Conversion host Rodman Schley visits Colorado Aquaponics with JD Sawyer at The GrowHaus in Denver Colorado. JD shows Rodman how aquaponics works and demonstrates introducing trout into one of the aquaponics systems.

  Nightly, NBC Promoting a better way of life through sustainable living brought to us by Anne Thompson

A rooftop greenhouse at Manhattan School for Children will serve as a science ... Latorre explained that aquaponics is a combination of hydroponics — when ...

A GROUP of college interns, educators, and faculty from the Cape Eleuthera ... on the kids faces when they learned about aquaponics," said Eric Bethel

Currently a small Colorado-based aquaponics company in Denver has three aquaponic systems up and running in the space, growing lettuce, chard, basil, tomatoes,

Affnans Aquaponics. Amateur Urban Aquaponics, if I can do it, you can do it too ..:). Video Update - 30th Nov 2010. Brief update of my setup. Apologize for the bad video quality, I need a new camera

I have built and been running a homemade hydroponics system in my gagrage growing tomatos and have recently discovered aquaponics(using fish for the nutrient

Aquaponics is extremely productive and uses a fraction of the water used by traditional agriculture. It is a perfect solution for urban living with restricted space

Garden Food Aquaponics hydroponics survival preparation Permaculture independence, do no harm, circle of life, time to change. make the changes for mental health as well as earth health. Free food, will GMO Food plus! Watch the Video

vg Conversion Rate of 6% ~ An evolution in Hydroponics, currently one of the hottest gardening offers available. Learn how to grow ten times the plants in less time. ~ Affiliates GoTo:
Aquaponics Need Help

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Ok so I am going to try my hand at Aquaponics. Im trying to do this as a self renewable system. So I can save the seeds from the grown plants and re-use them. I can also have a seperate tank for breeding more fish. So now I have to figure out a few other things

1. Food for the fish. how do I breed grubs,worms, blood worms, etc without soil?

2. How do I power my pump without electricity? Im thinking solar or wind.

3. Due to evaporation and plants using the water how do I replace it? I was thinking a few rain barrels, but if it doesnt rain for a while......? Guess where I suggested he comes...


How to pay Murray Hallam a visit the hard/long way

The new gardening style with aquaponics

AQUA GARDENER: James Tinker built a greenhouse over the summer to house his breakthrough aquaponic system. Photo by Claire LaSure

It starts with some rocks. Then some water, fish and vegetable plants. They can go in barrels or tubs outside or in a greenhouse. An aquaponics garden is a growing system that may sound like an odd amalgam of natural ingredients, but they all add up to an efficient and tasty cropper’s dream. Take it from James Tinker, who has been gardening off and on for 30 years.

Growing Lettuce, Fish Together Helps Environment

Written by Paul Day

Reporting
Paul Day

DENVER (CBS4) ?

 

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CBS4s Paul Day observes fish at Colorado Aquaponics 

Children faced with challenge have existed since the beginning of time. But fundamental health issues plaguing todays youth are unprecedented: Obesity and diabetes, once rare in children, are epidemic.

While a variety of factors come into play, diets of processed food and sedentary lifestyles are two of.....
HONOLULU, HAWAII – Kaiser Permanente today presented a $20,000 grant to the Institute of Human Services to support vocational skills training in urban agriculture and an edible gardening initiative in conjunction with IHS’ Rooftop Garden project at its Women’s and Family Shelter.MORE

FISHSONG / WORMSONG

Saturday, December 4, 2010
Open house 9am-2pm
Farm tour at 10:30am
@ Massachusetts Avenue Project, 271 Grant Street, Buffalo, NY
A temporary installation in the Massachusetts Avenue Project’s new aquaponics greenhouse — a multi-channel sound piece exploring the hidden sonic ecologies of MAP’s innovative and sustainable aquaponics system

I was recently in Egypt (Sharm el Sheikh, Sinai) where I am trying to develop an aquaponic system.
The advantage caused by low cost of land, electricity (0.07$kWh) and labour are counterbalanced by low price of tilapia at 1.5$ kg and vegetables (whole sale price basil 2$ tomatoes cherry 2.7$ salad 0.1$) water 2-4$ m3, and the 800$ ton cost of fish feed. MORE

Thats all for now, Be back real soon.

Ozzie

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A NEW TWIST ON THE DEBATE

It seems we cant go a couple of days without Global Warming issues and opinions taking prime newspaper, radio and TV space. The latest finding coming from the E.U. which adds a new dimension to the opinions being formed. We all have our own opinion or gut feeling about global warming and it really is very disconcerting when we read some of the reports. So we need to be as informed as possible so that our personal considerations have legitimacy.

For this reason I felt a need to share this latest report  so that people following this blog can read absorb or reject as you see fit. However the end result is not to have an opinion but to have an understanding so that we can draw conclusions that will benefit our needs, and the needs of our families and communities.

So here is the link, the rest is up to you.

Now to work:
Can Aquaponics Benefit You?
 Im sure that youve heard the term hydroponics before. If you have you probably associated with watery produce. Back when it was first invented it was supposed to be the next big thing, that was until people started eating the food. Lately, theres been some buzz around whats called aquaponics.

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Commercial Aquaponics Farm - Aquaponic GardeningVisit to a successful Commercial Aquaponics Farm. Aquaponics is the Earth Friendly way to grow organic vegetables. Listen to Gina and T...
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Hamden High, SHA Students Shine at Science Fair
Hamden High students takes second place in one catagory, while an SHA student chosen to compete in NY competition.

Two Hamden students took prizes Saturday at the final day of the 63rd annual Connecticut Science Fair held at Quinnipiac University.
Yiyuan Hu, a junior at Hamden High School, placed second in the fair’s Life Sciences category. Yiyuan will now compete for more than

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New Grants from OHA Announced
BY MALIA HILL - The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has just announced the award of $329,000 in “Community-Based Economic Development” grants to nine programs that will help make Native Hawaiians “economically successful and self-sufficient.”

You know, when you read enough grant-type literature, that kind of phrasing really starts to drive you crazy.

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Training for Haitis Living Food Bank® Begins in Wisconsin

The launch of the first Living Food Bank® aquaponic system will bring fresh fish and vegetables to many. The construction of this system is nearing completion on the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in Haiti and the training for the individuals who will oversee the operation of the system has begun in Montello, Wisconsin.
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Locavores, SPIN Farmers, and Pumpkineers--Oh My!
Even Newark, N.J., is becoming a grow-it-yourself paradise
For many readers, the spring has just sprung and the grass is riz, as the poet said. Its time, in other words, to turn our attention to growing things or, more to the point, to words related to growing things.

A column last year introduced some climate-friendly food terms, such as foodshed, the area where a person or family can obtain locally grown food; food miles, the distance that a food item travels from its source to the consumer; and locavore, a person who eats only locally grown food. (I didnt know it at the time, but it turns out...
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The Local Food Revolution
By Michael Brownlee
A local food revolution is quietly unfolding in our midst right here in Boulder County. It’s a revolution aimed at rebuilding this region’s capacity to feed its own people, to ensure food security and food sovereignty for all.

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As Aragorn has begun, so we must go on.
Leni appeared almost the moment he had done so. MILLINOCKET SCHOOL DEPT was written up the side, big black letters against a yellow background. " So, my father, we dragged him out, groaning, to the cleft that is above in the breast of aquaponics in education old Stone Witch, that same cleft where Galazi had found the bones.
"He hath twice manfully served me. ? ?It is now a full hour past noon,? said ?omer. He was sterling stuff, even if he aquaponics in education a survival of darkness. At last she fell asleepand dreamed of a blond, grayeyed youth fighting for his life against a swarm of attackin

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I dont have a curriculum, but I do have a large file of powerpoint slides from Colorado Aquaponics.  Im also gleaning all of the information I can find. 2.  So far, all of my aquaponics systems have been funding by a couple of grants from donorschoose.org as well as a small bit of program budget funding.  My advisory committee has gathered up the funding I need to set up a greenhouse based system. We are setting up a fund with the three local banks that will allow my students to borrow the money needed to purchase fish, feed, testing supplies, etc.,

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(Aquaponics florida >> aquaponics i danmark) (west coast ...
aquaponics be constructed from trex deck lumber. how to care tilapia for aquaponics

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UCSD students team up with ECOLIFE foundation
A group of UCSD engineering students has joined the San Diego-based nonprofit ECOLIFE Foundation to develop technology that will help reduce the need for bushmeat hunting while maintaining the diets of residents of Ugandan towns.
They are building a sustainable aquaponics system for the communities that will be delivered this spring, according to a press release.

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Hernandos local harvest is bountiful
“I’m so excited,” Audry Mosher tells visitor Bill Bonner, right, as she shows off the swiss chard she planted in a Verti-Grow hydroponic container at the Auro Community Garden south of Brooksville last week. A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey has shown an increase in the number of farmers Hernando.

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Aquaponics and light choices to grow food thats worth the time and $$

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First of all Im posting this here because I plan to do the following as an organic flood table setup (using Bio-Bizz), or as an aquaponics setup....possibly even considering soil filled tray with drippers. The second reason I am posting here is to avoid all the senseless banter Id probably get in the lighting forum for inquiring about LED lights. And lastly, because I highly value the input of the people that hang around this forum.
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Biogas and How to Make a DIY Anaerobic Digester (Video)
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA
Biogas and anaerobic digestion made number one in HowStuffWorks list of wacky alternative energy, and poop-to-energy biogas projects have proven popular on Discovery News too. From biogas in Haitian slums to green gas being sold direct to UK consumers, there are plenty of examples of innovative projects turning biodegreadable waste into both energy and fertilizer. But how can someone at home get a piece of the action? The Urban Farming Guys have just released a great video showing how they built a DIY biogas digester using little more than some tanks, piping, rubber seals and a grinder. Oh, and a whole load of cow poop.

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Aquaponics Project to Provide Fish, Vegetables
Today was the last official day of our aquaponics setup. If you arent familiar with the system, you need to talk to Rev. Jeff Greer at Grace Chapel about it. He speaks with the passion and dreamers view of what this system could mean to this community in the future.

A small team took a random set of resources and have put together a fully functional hydroponic vegetable garden and fish pond together to work symbiotically to produce what could be a monthly harvest of food.
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Goodness Gracious, Great Gobs of Greens!
Full of texture and bursting with flavor, a well-constructed salad is anything but boring.
Italian-Style Arugula Salad
Salad of Strawberries and Watercress
Mixed Lettuces with Pears, Fennel, Walnuts and Parmesan
Arugula, Beet and Feta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Tasty Taco Salad
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NASA Begins Arctic Mission
This year’s Operation IceBridge continues the airborne surveys studying changes in polar ice, glaciers and sea ice, as a means of monitoring our global climate.
Courtesy NASA
Washington, D.C. — Researchers and flight crew arrived in Thule, Greenland, in mid-March for the start of NASAs 2011 Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to study changes in Arctic polar ice. This years plans include surveys of Canadian ice caps and expanded international collaboration.
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Eat in Season: Asparagus
Enjoy asparagus three ways this spring.
Tall, slender stalks of bright green asparagus are as much a harbinger of spring as is the highly anticipated melting of snow or pretty bulb flowers popping their heads and necks out of the ground.

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Wild About Dandelions
Learn how to use freshly harvested wild dandelion greens at their young and tender best.
I’m going wild again, just like I did last year. My suburban wildness?—?if such a thing is possible?—?centers on a simple spring ritual that starts in mid-April and continues through mid-May: harvesting wild dandelion greens at their young and tender best.
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Hope that gives you plenty to think about

Back Soon
O Z Z I E

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Im Late AGAIN But I think most will get this on time

First up, Murray Hallum has been working hard to improve his CHOP designs, So this is as good a time as any to Intro them. Here is the First...

And here is the same system with Swirl Filter/Settling Tank. I recomend that you read the notes on both of these modifications as they describe the reasons why these changes are justified.

If you are not getting Murrays Email notification for his blog, it could be a worthwhile idea.

While we are on Murrays sites you may care to heed a Warning

Now a point of view and a CHALLENGE.


 Aquaponics explored in course at Tom Ridge Environmental Center

 WARNING WARNING - Vancouver Island University’s ongoing efforts in the direction of sustainability are evident inside a preferred aquaponics mission

A new spin on science

There are stories about Native Americans helping early pilgrims by telling them to bury fish near the corn crop to help bring nutrients to the soil

Only a concept BUT -  this is a whole different kind of backyard pool conversion:

A site with quite a number of links

California men float their visions of changing current agriculture methods

 Fish for your supper at farm in a shop

 Update 120 things

And I thought I was getting Noticed. Oh Well.....

Aquaponics (Well sort of..) has reached Metcafe

OK Guys Hope you enjoy this lot, 

be back with more soon.

Take Care

OZZIE

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Time to catch up on the BSF

Trying to keep pace with all that is happening in the Aquaponics world is not easy because there are so many sites and blogs being updated with so much info which needs to be checked to see what is new and what is a variation on previously offered information. But the battle continues......So click on these....

The new BioPodTM Plus

Worms are great decomposers, and so are soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae

The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) is a common and widespread member of the family 

Black soldier fly larva and common house fly larva (darts);

DIY Black Soldier Fly Composter (3rd from bottom, Side Panel)

Ok, Next Time well go back to A.P.

Until then = Take Care

Ozzie

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Warm Climate FAB TOMATOES ALL YEAR ROUND with Aquaponics of course Check the Archives on the Right

aquaponics cheap eats – growing your own

it’s fun growing some of your own daily food needs using a smart aquaponic garden.

we feel like urban food rebels eating fresh yummy nutritious food that we grow using our own software code all the time.

see more  food we have grown and eaten here ….

                              ...oooOooo...

Aquaponics Gardening - A Beginners Guide [Kindle Edition]
Aidan Johnson (Author)

Digital List Price: $2.99 Whats this?
Kindle Price: $2.99 includes free...More








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Aquaponics to fight crime
The training provided covered topics areas such as system design, layout and maintenance, fish health and care, plant nutrient requirements and water quality.

By SUE-ANN WAYOW

IN an effort to fight crime and encourage persons to become more self sufficient, the government yesterday launched an aquaponics project in La Romaine,San Fernando...MORE

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Food out of water
Mainstream aquaponics faces economic and environmental challenges
By Zak Weinberg

Aquaponics systems depend on fish and plants co-existing.
Mickey Mouse has never been known for his green thumb, but a ride dedicated to aquaponics at Disney’s Epcot Center (surely a death-defying thrill) highlights the public curiosity for this growing trend. While an increasing number of people take an interest in aquaponics as a way to grow crops and fish — and Longmont is seeing the opening of a 7,400-square-foot aquaponics store — industry professionals continue to wrestle with...MORE

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Small Home Aquaponics Setup
I wanted to share with others who may be interested in aquaponics our first small home set-up that my husband designed. We just turned it on yesterday. There are a few small bugs to work out but it works like a charm. Of course we havent added any plants yet but I hope if there is anyone else out there doing this they jump in and offer any information and experiences they have found worthy to share. If you have ever had a successful fish aquarium you can do this...MORE

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Aquaponics Is Growing Farms in the Most Unlikely Places
 
By Ben Richmond
The world is growing and growing ever more hungry, and there isn’t a single, perfect way to get more food. The changing climate and a projected water crisis cloud the future of agriculture, but the sting of food shortages is already with us, catalyzing riots and political unrest in places like Turkey, Syria and Egypt.

But countries from Bangladesh to Yemen, and cities from Berlin to Tucson, are employing an ancient farming technique

                              ...oooOooo...

More Next Week...
O Z Z I E

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七月份「魚菜共生」訓練課程

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????…

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(?Facebook???????????????www.facebook.com/avataaquaponics???????????

????????????????????????DIY??????????(??????????????)?????????10:00~10:30?"??????"?Aquaponics 101"????"10:30~12:00?????????DIY???????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????????DIY??????????????????????????????????????????DIY??????????????????????????????????

1. ??????(Free Farm Tour)??????10:00~10:30??????10:30~12:00??????????????? (Aquaponics 101)????????????????????????????500????????????????????????????????????????7/6?7/28????????????????John Lysfjord?Michael Palmer????????

2. DIY???????? (DIY Aquaponics system)??????????7/28??2:00~5:00????????????????????????????

????????????????"???????"??????20???????????????????????????????????????????????????????(?16?)?????????????

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And the Beet Goes On Silver Beet that is

The two rules that I live by with Aquaponics.

!. Leafy Greens go by Raft

2. Almost everything else is possible in gravel/pebbles/clay

I know, someone out there is saying that lettuce etc. can grow by flood/drain in gravel etc and this is true. But when I put down a pair of beds to test lettuce in gravel against raft, the raft wins comfortably.

But as always, we all have our preferences...

Time to open my notes:....

For this Photograph, You can go to HERE and have a look at QUALITY.

Various other things have been harvested, including zucchinis, lettuces, silverbeet, lots of watercress, basil, beans, etc. More...

Answers from the Professionals MORE...

Including Silver-beet, MORE...

I cant, nor do I want to ignore this entry because the Information is literally rushing out of this site at the moment More...

Now to a young fellow and his progress with Aquaponics MORE.....

Aquaponics - the inside scoop on the closed-looped, fish and produce yielding system MORE...

FREE Aquaponics E-Books Click Here 

As always, More Soon.

Ozzie

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Pi Bot And Quins White House NFC Robot

Two Arduino-compatible robots are the topic of this post; the Pi-Bot and Quins White House NFC robot.

The Pi-Bot was launched via a Kickstarter campaign which successfully funded on April 10, 2014. The creators of this low-cost robot had a goal of $70,000 and they ended up getting $113,175. The Pi-Bot Kickstarter page explains the robot this way:

Pi-Bot robot

"The Pi-Bot is a uniquely designed (and affordable!) complete robot kit for anyone interested in building and programming robots!...We have developed the perfect hands-on learning platform for both students and professional engineers to learn the hardware and software of robotics...Our team has spent years testing all of the leading robotics kits on the market today. Although many have impressive features, they are either too complicated or overly simplistic... and always much too expensive. Today, a typical Arduino based robot usually costs over $150. Too often we spent money on kits that could not do much or were too costly to be practical. Not to mention, many of these kits used proprietary components that limited the scope of real-world usage. We wanted to change this...Modular platform for interchangeable sensors...Standardized Arduino C programming...We give you the flexibility to design your own projects with included line following and ultrasonic distance sensors. The modular chassis allows sensors to be moved and positioned for your convenience. No soldering is needed to fully construct your Pi-Bot! We are currently developing an assortment of new sensors and motors for even more capabilities in the future."

On their company website, the Pi-Bot creators have video tutorials for building the robot, downloadable chapters of the operating manual and code for the Pi-Bot.

If you want to buy this robot, you can do that from the Pi-Bot website order page. The current cost is $75 plus shipping, handling and taxes. Seems like a pretty reasonable cost.

Quins White House NFC robot

The second robot covered by todays post is Quins White House NFC robot. Quin is a 13 year old active maker from southern California who has his own website, call Qtechknow. Hackaday covered Quins robot that he built and took to the recent White House Maker Faire. The robot appears to be an upgraded version of Quins FuzzBot featured on Instructables. The Hackaday article describes the Pololu-chassis robot this way:

Top view of Quins robot and the controller

"This remote controlled, Arduino-based robot was created by a young student named [Quin] who likes to teach electronics classes at hackerspaces...The quick, little device uses a robot chassis kit with an XBee wireless module so that the controller and the robot can be connected together. An NFC Shield was hacked and split in half so that the wires could be soldered in place. [Quin]‘s goal was to develop a fun game that records the number of times the robot drives over NFC tags laid across a flat surface...The controller container was made with an open source 3D printer called a Bukobot. The enclosure holds an Arduino and another XBee shield along with a joystick and a neopixel ring, giving it a nice polished look complete with a circle of beautiful, flashing LED’s."

The other two robots Ive covered in the blog so far are the Hummingbird Duo and the PopPet. You can buy the Hummingbird Duo kit from Adafruit for $199 plus shipping. The PopPet will cost $80 AUD for the basic kit plus $15 AUD for shipping to the US, or $100 AUD for the advanced kit plus $15 AUD shipping.

So now the question is, who else is interested in building one or several microcontroller-based robots, and which one should we build. This question is one of the ones I plan to ask of participants at this Thursdays Humboldt Microcontrollers Group meeting. If youre interested in robots, please plan to participate in the meeting!

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