Microcontroller Kits For Students

Microcontroller (MCU) kits for students are of great interest to me for several reasons, but primarily because the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group will be offering one or several Intro To Microcontrollers sessions to any interested Humboldt State University (HSU) students this fall. Additionally, it will be great if we are able to connect with Humboldt County high school students to offer opportunities of interest to them for learning about MCUs.

(There are many middle school students doing cool things with microcontrollers. But there are only so many hours in a week, and a person has to make decisions about how to spend their limited time. My top student priority for the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group is getting as many college and high school students involved with the regions microcontroller community because that makes it easier on parents -- people in those two groups often dont need to rely on parents for transportation. However...  If any middle school students are interested in learning more about microcontrollers, or want to teach us new microcontroller tricks, wed be happy to have them at the bi-weekly meetings of the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group, and wed be thrilled to work with middle school teachers to figure out how we could help with microcontroller basics activities.)

So, back to MCU kits for students. I read an ARM press release yesterday about a new $50 Lab-in-a-box kits aimed at university students for DSP (digital signal processing) audio. While the focus of this kit isnt basics of microcontrollers, it does include an STM32F4 Discovery microcontroller board from STMicroelectronics. The press release says:

"ARM and its Partners will start shipping a digital signal processing (DSP) Lab-in-a-Box (LiB) to universities worldwide to help boost practical skills development and the creation of new ARM-based audio systems. This will include products such as high definition home media and voice-controlled home automation systems...LiB packages offer ARM-based technology and high quality teaching and training materials that support electronics and computer engineering courses. DSP courses have traditionally used software simulation packages, or hands-on labs using relatively expensive development kits costing around $300 per student. By comparison, this new DSP LiB...will cost around $50...The DSP kits, powered by ARM Cortex-M4-based processors, enable high performance yet energy-efficient digital signal processing at a very affordable price. We expect to see them being used by students to create commercially-viable audio applications."

Its not a bad thing that above Lab-in-a-box isnt a basics of microcontrollers kit. Many students may be a lot more interested in a kit focused on practical applications of microcontrollers, such as "high definition home media and voice-controlled home automation systems" than a kit that just teaches them microcontroller basics.

The next step for the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group regarding the ARM LiB kit is to contact a few instructors at Humboldt State University to find out if they are already working with ARM or one of its partners to obtain at least one LiB kit. If it appears no HSU faculty are already working on this, we can ask if they are interested in collaborating with us on an opportunity for HSU students to work with this kit. Two people at or near the top of my HSU list to contact about this are David Marshall and Ken Owens, who did a Robot Camp at HSU last week.

In the its a small world category, the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group will be an especially good partner for HSU or College of the Redwoods for working with the LiB kit. Just last week at the

Humboldt Makers meeting, John H did a fantastic talk and demo about audio with a single-board microcontroller. Part of Johns talk focused on the Wolfson audio card, so the Humboldt Microcontroller community has someone already very knowledgeable about using the audio electronics in the LiB kit. The Wolfson / Raspberry Pi combo picture on the left is from an Engadet article talking about the Wolfson card.

There are other MCU resources aimed at students. Here are a few examples -- these are aimed primarily at universities:

• Texas Instruments TI University Program
• Microchip Technologys Academic Program
• Atmel University Program
• Freescale University Programs
• ARM University Program (which includes ARM-recommended development boards for students, as well as other ARM topics)

If you know of other student-focused microcontroller programs or cost-effective kits, please send an email with a link or other info to arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com. It would be great to create a list of good microcontroller student kits and programs for Humboldt students to choose from. Id like to have at least three or four low-cost MCU Basics kits for student intro sessions, and it would be nice to have three or four other higher-cost kits for more involved MCU projects or workshops.

Because most teachers arent microcontroller experts, and because they are already responsible for cramming more stuff into their class time than is humanly possible, the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group might be able to offer opportunities outside the classroom for students to learn how to use Arduinos and other microcontroller-focused electronics. 

If youre a student, an instructor, or a parent of a student in Arcata, Eureka, McKinleyville, Fortuna, Trinidad, Blue Lake or any of the other fine parts of the Humboldt region who is highly interested in electronics or microcontrollers, please contact me. We can discuss ways to get you or your student(s) more involved with the Humboldt microcontrollers community.

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Aquaponics Workshop System build for Savour Soil Aquaponics

A fair few months ago I was asked to put on an Aquaponic Workshop by Michael from Savour Soil Permaculture at Laidley in SE Queensland. Was a bit hesitant at excepting the offer as I havent had much experience at teaching but must say Im pleased I did.

The workshop was held last weekend (21st Nov 2005) & covered the basics of setting up an aquaponic system for folks interested in expanding their food production in their backyards or small holdings.

 

A basic split flow aquaponic system was assembled from recycled components on site for Michael & his family. It made a great teaching aid on the day to help explain some of the basic construction methods & parts of a working aquaponic system. 

Heres a bit of a look at the system as it stands today. 

Must say that I was very pleased with how the system went together.  Its also fantastic to see Michaels familys enthusiasm in learning about the system as well as their eagerness in wanting to stock it with fish & plant it out. 



In the clip above I mentioned a suppliers list of sorts provided to the attendees & have also included it here below for those that might be interested.

Hope you enjoyed the clip & find the info useful.
Rob.  



Suppliers information for SE Queensland & Australia. 

Fish Hatcheries & Feed Suppliers.

I have bought from the first 2 and had no problems whatsoever. Ace Aquaculture has been recommended to me by a few folks that have used them.

http://www.seqfish.com.au/2.html

 http://www.ausnativefish.com.au/

http://aceaquaculture.com.au/

When ordering your fingerlings it is a good idea to ask if they sell small amounts of feed for your new swimmers. They grow so fast that it doesn’t pay to buy too much at once.

https://www.primo.net.au/shop/Ridley-AquaFeed

These folks supply Australian made Ridley aquaculture feed.

http://www.bignutrition.com.au/shop/

Stock smaller 4kg buckets of fish feed.

Farm supply store will also often stock some aquaculture feed as well. It isnt always out on display so it pays to ask the sales folks.

Pumps & Plumbing.

Ive bought a few air & water pumps from Guppys Aquarium & found them to have great prices.

http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.au/index.php

Ive bought other pumps like the Jebao (the one used in Michaels system) from a few reputable Ebay stores that deal in aquarium goods. Its always an idea to check out their rating before buying from them though.

The "Irrigation Store" is an online based site I buy my bulk PVC, barbed irrigation & bulkhead fittings from. They have a fixed $20 delivery fee on all orders. Works out a lot cheaper than the 2 big box hardware stores,

http://www.irrigationstore.com.au/PVC-Pipe-Fittings

Valves with removable blue handles are purchased at Trade Link Plumbing supplies for those that are concerned with little (or big) fingers fiddling with the system ;-)

I sell Uniseals, venturis & Root Pouches Australia wide through our small "Bits Out the Back" blog store.

Ordering info can be found in the link below,

http://www.bitsouttheback.net/p/bits-out-back-store.html#.U9bi2fmSyVU

OR you can PM me at

https://www.facebook.com/Bitsouttheback

OR Email me at

rb@bitsouttheback.net

Remind me you’re from the workshop & I’ll work out a bit of a discount for you ;-)

Best place Ive found for IBCs is on Gumtree & have picked up a few really cheap ones through there.

Barrels can be found at markets, farm supply stores like Sprengers (www.sprengersproduce.com.au), Gumtree & also recycle stores/centres like Reverse garbage (http://www.reversegarbageqld.com.au/).

My preference is for IBCs & barrels that have had food stuffs in them as they are normally easier to clean out.

Growing Media.

If youre in the Ipswich area H2Gro are a local hydroponic store that sell the clay based media & will offer a discount depending on how many bags youre buying,

http://h2grohydroponics.com.au/

Last time I checked they were selling 45L bags for $25 each with is almost half the price at other retailers.

If youre after growing medium other than clay many folks recommend road base AKA blue metal here in SE QLD as mentioned in the workshop. Please keep an eye out for contamination like concrete that both Michael & I found in the blue metal at our suppliers.

Its a good idea to do a vinegar test on any rock you want to buy to see if it will raise the pH in your system. You can do this on site at the landscape suppliers with a jar full of white vinegar. Pop a handful of rocks into the vinegar & if it starts to bubble its best to discard it as it may keep the pH constantly high in the system.

Backup Air System.

I did mention that Ive made up my own 12V Backup air system in case of blackout. I followed the plans on the link below.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9805

PLEASE NOTE, any work on 240V electrical circuitry HAS TO BE carried out by a licensed electrician.

Useful Sites, Forums & YouTube Channels.

I have a playlist on our YouTube channel with some of the projects/builds that have gone into our aquaponic & aquaculture systems which may help you out with a few ideas,

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBcWprMIwYYh9C2BDFMnIGeLdI6mfDpUe

I also have other playlists covering different aspects of our urban farm if you’re interested in a look.

Nate Story from Bright Agrotech has some great info on some of the finer points of aquaponics,

https://www.youtube.com/user/BrightAgrotechLLC

https://www.brightagrotech.com/blog/aquaponics/

Backyard Aquaponics forum is one of the oldest aquaponic forums & has a load of enthusiastic members posting about their own systems & helping others.

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/

Paul Van der Werf from Earthan Edge is one of the world leaders in integrated aquaculture & is a local to boot. Have found his site to be jam packed with ideas on DIY backyard builds, commercial systems & technical help. He has made it a subscription site but is well worth checking out if youre interested in building a small commercial aquaponic system.

http://articles.earthanedge.com/

His Facebook page has some useful posts as well & is well worth checking out.

https://www.facebook.com/earthanedge

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For the Love of Learning Educating Twice Exceptional Children

June first I had the honor of being part of an incredible panel of experts brought together to discuss Twice Exceptional Children on the show For the Love Of Learning, with LainieLiberti.   It had been a LONG time since I had participated in such an indepth discussion of one of my oldest passions: home schooling and UnSchooling.  It was a tremendous experience.

For anyone out there with "special" kids, children with learning "disabilities" or who question the mainstream educational "cookie cutter" system, this show is a must watch.

love d

For the Love of Learning Episode #18

Show Title:

Educating Twice Exceptional Children

Monday June 1, 2015  8:00 pm – 10:00 pm EST
Tuesday June 2, 2015 1:00 am – 3:00 am BST

Special Guests:

Dr. Melanie Hayes
Susan Baum, Ph.D.
Edward R. Amend, Psy.D.
Dani Arnold Mckenny

For many gifted children, school can be a challenge. But for a twice-exceptional learner, parents and educators,  it can be equally confusing and frustrating.  Twice-exceptional (or 2E) is defined as being gifted or of high intelligence in addition to having a disability of some kind.  Common second exceptionalities are autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attentional disorders (ADHD), behavioral issues, sensory processing disorder (SPD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia, central auditory processing disorder (CAPD).

There are no clear-cut profiles of twice-exceptional children because the nature and causes of twice exceptionality are so varied. This variation among twice-exceptional children makes it difficult to determine just how many of them there might be.

Many argue that this population of students “could be considered the most misunderstood of all exceptionalities”. In each situation, the 2E student’s strengths help to compensate for deficits; the deficits, on the other hand, make the child’s strengths less apparent. The interplay of exceptional strengths and weaknesses in a single individual results in inconsistency in performance. They might present any of the three profiles identified by educator and researcher and one of tonight’s panelists Susan Baum:

1. Bright but not trying hard enough
2. Learning disabled but with no exceptional abilities
3. Average.

Tonight we explore the challenges faced by 2E children with a panel of experts who have passionately dedicated their lives to these learners.

Bios of Tonight’s Guests:

Continue Reading HERE:  http://fortheloveoflearningshow.com/for-the-love-of-learning-voices-of-the-alternative-education-movement-epi18/

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How to make an easy as worm barrel farm for lawn clippings garden scraps

It really cant get more simple that this barrel farm.. I call it a dump & walk barrel as that is how I feed it.. A catcher or 2 or lawn clippings get dumped into the barrels & I walk away, its as easy as that.. The prunings & old plants from the veggie bed in the patch go in whole if they are small enough or get the once over with the lawnmower to chop them up a bit if they are to large..

A great type of farm to have under a fruit tree as any nutrients that leach out will feed the tree.. One like this will be added to a new bed we are making out the front soon..

For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Facebook page..
Have a great one All...
R?b..

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Here for your reading pleasure is an article from a You Tube friend of mine.. Was such a great article that I asked his permission & have posted it here for your reading pleasure.. If you would like to check out more of Dales clips you can find his You Tube channel Easy Grows It here, & the site that the article come from goes by the same name & can be found at easygrowsit.com .

How to save time and money when starting tomato plants for your garden

By Easy
easy@easygrowsit.com
February 24nd, 2013
If you, like many of us, grow lots of tomato plants for your garden every year, you start them from seed. Starting from seed can be tedious, time consuming and sometimes quite frustrating. You have to plan ahead so your little crop is ready to plant when the time is right. This usually means starting your seeds from 6-8 weeks before it’s time to plant them in the garden.
To start our seeds, some of us use 10? x 20? trays with cells for each seed. Others use anything from solo cups to microwave dishes from their last frozen dinner. It doesn’t matter what you grow them in, you’ll need to make sure they always get the proper amount of water, light and warmth to start them right. It requires a certain amount of attention at this stage and mistakes can set you back to the point of having to start over. Forget to water your little tomato plants and you could end up with plants that are stunted or dead and you could have to start all over.
At some point in the process, you’ll need to transplant the little seedlings into larger containers at least once. Depending on how large you want them at planting time, maybe twice. As I said above, it can get a little tedious and time consuming, especially if you’re doing the same with other plants like peppers at the same time.
The obvious alternative to growing tomato plants from seeds is to go buy small plants from a local nursery or home improvement store just before you need to put them out in the garden. Depending on how many plants you need, it can be quite expensive. If I remember correctly, last year the price of small tomato plants at home improvement stores were about US$3.50 each in 4 inch pots. If you bought a dozen plants, you were looking at around $42 plus tax. How many tomatoes would it take to make up for a $42 investment? That’s assuming all your plants survived to produce tomatoes.
So, starting tomatoes from $1.50 worth of seeds is easily more economical although much more risky and difficult. Buying plants somewhere is much less risky but much more expensive. What if I told you that you could have the benefits of both choices without the huge monetary outlay and without having to monitor dozens of baby plants from seed? Would that be something that might interest you? If it is, please read on.
For those of you that do not know much about tomatoes and tomato plants, let me give you a little background information before I move on. Tomatoes are actually a fruit, not a vegetable. I, like many, was not aware of this fact for quite some time and I was quite surprised to hear that. Tomato plants are actually vines, unlike, say, a bell pepper plant, which is technically a tree.
Vines are interesting plants. Some if not most vines (I don’t claim to be a vine expert or any kind of expert for that matter) will sprout roots when buried in soil. More roots means more water and nutrients for the plant as well as having a stronger base in the ground to support the plant. You can actually plant a tomato plant, with proper preparation, horizontally in a trench leaving just the very top of the tomato plant sticking out of the ground. It will develop many more roots than with the typical planting method and it will be much more strongly rooted in the ground as well. This is called the trench planting method. If you’d like to see exactly how this works, here’s a link to a You Tube video my friend Bobby (Mhpgardener on You Tube) did showing how it’s done…Planting Tomatoes – A Quick Tip
Tomatoes grow new baby plants at the intersection where a branch and the main stem meets. This intersection is typically called a crotch and the new baby plant that develops there is usually called a sucker. I am sure there is probably a more scientific name but gardeners usually call it a sucker because it takes energy away from the main plant to grow this new baby plant. Remember, a tomato plant is a vine and vines like to spread all over. Some tomato growers remove these suckers and others like to leave them on. I’ll leave that subject for another article.

Picture of a sucker growing from a tomato plant courtesy of mhpgardener of You Tube.

At this point, you might be saying to yourself, “This is all very interesting and good but what does all this have to do with how I get a bunch of tomato plants to plant in my garden?” I appreciate your patience dear reader and now that I have explained enough background information, let’s get to the point.
Suckers, as I said, are baby tomato plants. It’s like a another tomato plant growing out of the main tomato plant, which is called the mother plant. If you would snip off a decent sized sucker (six inches long or longer with a few full sets of leaves) from the mother plant and stick the bottom of the sucker in water, in a matter of three days to a couple of weeks, depending on the variety of tomato plant, you should see roots develop under and at the water line. Once they start to develop roots, those roots will grow at a very rapid rate. This is called “rooting” a plant. It’s also called “cloning”.
After the roots get a few inches long (don’t let them get too out of hand) you can transplant the new tomato plant into soil and it will grow like any other tomato plant in soil. Now, the really amazing as well as useful part of this whole process is that not only does the new sucker derived plant give you a whole new plant to grow, it doesn’t know it’s a new plant. To it, it’s a fully developed tomato plant, not a 6 week old baby plant that grew from seed and is still maturing. If the mother plant is three months old, the sucker is just as mature, just smaller. It’s ready to put on flowers and start bearing fruit right away unlike it’s six week old, grown from seed counterpart.
So now, let’s put it all together. If you needed a dozen or so tomato plants, instead of planting twelve seeds 6-8 weeks ahead of time, you could grow one or two mother plants a month or two earlier than that so they have suckers a few weeks before you needed plants to put in the garden. Not only will the sucker derived plants be more mature and ready to start producing right away, you’d be using less seeds and can still get more suckers later from the mother plant in case something terrible happens to your garden such as hail storm. The mother plant will continue to keep making suckers for you in case you need them.
I almost forgot! There’s another reason to generate plants this way. Not only will the mother plant give you lots of baby plants, chances are, depending on when you started your mother plant, it will also give you tomatoes as well by the time you start setting your new plants out in the garden.


Dont forget to check out Dales You Tube channel & Web site..

Have a great one all

: )»

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Time for an aquaponic system update the first fish harvest

Did another backyard aquaponic system update last week.. Its all travelling along rather nicely at the moment & am happy to report there have been no dramas as of late..  **knocks on wood**
Plant growth is still coming along nicely even though the temperatures have been dropping a bit.. Thinking we are still right to plant out a few more seeds though..

Should have the site for the mini fish farm all sorted by the next update hopefully..

Have taken the first 4 perch from the system to share at a bit of a family get together over the weekend.. 3 were not the largest but wasnt expecting too much.. Might pull a few more over Winter but not sure yet, shall see how we go..

Information on the iki jime method of despatching fish can be found here
http://www.ikijime.com/
& is well worth the look I think.

For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our "Bits Out the Back" Facebook page..
Have a great one All...
Rob..

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Why I wont get fish for now and compost tea experiment

The farm from above

Its been over a month and half now that I have set up the tower farm. In the process of cycling, I have discovered that eggshell can release ammonia (I should have guessed right ?), that pH drops quickly once the beneficial bacteria are established, and that the pH climbs back up in absence of new ammonia. I have also lost my green onion and basil.

The farm from bellow

pH has decreased then increased since no new ammonia was added

Since the system has "cycled", I have hesitated in what fish to get. I will not get fish for now. Why that ? After all the point aquaponics it to get fish to right ?
The reason is that I decided to have an apprenticeship about aquaponics with  Citizen Schools and while discussing with the Citizen Schools people, the fish seemed to be a down side for my plan, so I ruthlessly removed the fish from the picture.

Citizen schools is an association that brings professionals to teach after hours classes (apprenticeships and other programs) to selected middle schools in NYC. Only schools that have 85% of student who are eligible for free or reduced lunch due to their parents low income. Since the fall semester I have been volunteering there for an apprenticeship where we teach our students about heart health. Anyway, A few weeks back I proposed to have an apprenticeship where we would build an aquaponic system with the students and learn about the basic science behind it. So after discussion with the school staff I settled for an "other"ponic system, instead.


Since my all point about starting the system was not only to grow some food at home, but also on a sustainable manner, hydroponic seems like a bad alternative to aquaponics. From the sustainability point of view, hydroponic seems a bit difficult given the need to do full water change, and the need for concentrated fertilizers. An Internet search for compost tea tends to make one inclined to believe that compost tea is the panacea for organic gardening, because of beneficial microbes and a balanced NPK. This is why I have been experimenting with compost tea.

The farm has cycled, and nitrate dropped to 0

I have been making compost tea in the last 3 week ends, increasing the amount of worm compost each week. After "brewing" the tea, I measure the amounts of nitrate and ammonia. So far, I was not able to have a nitrate (or ammonia) level above the detection limit. last week end, I have "brewed" a compost tea using 1/4 of a cup of worm compost, 1 table spoon of molasseses (unsulfured) and shredded seaweeds in 2 cups of water, brewed it for a day and half. After a days and half, it still smelled like molasseses (I like that smell).  I also added some of this greengrow plant food, very diluted. Because I have just seen the nitrates dropping, I decided to add some ammonia source, I though about eggshells, but the pH has increased to 7.4; so given the pka of 9 for calcium carbonate (witch is what eggshells are made of)  I am not sure it is a good idea. Instead I bough a 1/2 gallon bottle of ammonia at the dollars store and added one mL (a bit less than 1/4 of a teaspoon) of it on Monday and Tuesday ( gave ~ 1 ppm reading) nothing yesterday, and now ammonia is back to 0. I will keep adding 1ml everyday for now, until I figure out how to make a strong enough compost tea (if that is possible).
I am keeping track of my experiment hoping that I could make a sustainable "tea"ponic system for the school.

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Backyard Farm garden update Air Pruning Compost plans for the patch 18th Dec 2014

Time for a bit of an update on the veggie patch in our little Backyard Farm now that Summer has well & truly hit SE Queensland..  
Was working on a few clips but they unfortunately got lost when the hard drive crashed so I thought Id give you a quick look at a few of them all in one clip.. 

Will have a follow up post on the wicking beds & how they fare during the high temperatures we had during Spring posted in the next day or so ;-)

If anyone in Australia is interested in purchasing the Root Pouches you can find a tab to our small store under our banner above..

Cheers all & have a great one.. 

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Tonics For Winter Wellness

Hey holistic health enthusiasts! Here are some of my favorite easy and effective ways to keep up a strong resistance through the fall and winter seasons.  All of these recipes act as prophylactics against cold and flu. Incorporate some or all of these into your weekly routine and you should notice an increased sense of vitality.  Dont forget your exercise and sleep!  

BEET KVASS

      I am in love with this stuff!  A wonderful liver and blood tonic, beet kvass is a surprisingly tasty fermented beverage made from raw beets, filtered water and whey.  A friend gave me the idea to add fresh lemon and ginger to mine.  Here is a basic recipe. (Definitely reduce the salt as the recommended amount is very salty.)

FIRE CIDER

A vinegar infusion made with organic raw apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, horseradish, ginger, and cayenne pepper.  This concoction is rich with acetic acid, mineral salts and vitamins.  The acidity kills many forms of bacteria on contact and helps aid healing and cleansing in the body as well as fight infection.  Fire cider is strongly ant-bacterial and anti-viral, great for boosting immunity and fighting off sickness, especially when taken close to onset.  It can be taken straight or added to water, juice, etc.  It is very spicy so nice to take with a spoon of raw honey.  Check out my recipe here.

-         

     GARLIC

     Add raw garlic to everything, fresh or cooked it does wonders for your immune system.

-    SEA VEGETABLES

      Seaweeds like kombu, wakami, and nori make great additions to soups, stews, salads and main dishes.  They supply optimum nourishment, enhance immune function, and revitalize cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, and endocrine systems.  

-    RAW HONEY 

      Honey is anti bacterial and demulcent, meaning it relaxes, soothes and protects tissues.  Honey is also nutritive and mildly laxative.  It is beneficial for relieving dryness in the throat and for treating cough and difficulty swallowing.  Combining honey with a strong infusion of sage is a classic preparation for relieving hoarseness and respiratory congestion.

-    MISO

      This fermented food is rich in vitamins, iron, potassium, anti-oxidants, and live lactobacilli, which enhance your bodys ability to extract nutrients from food.  Miso is easy to make at home.  This is the recipe we use.   

      DARK LEAFY GREENS

      Kale, collards, mustards, dandelion- all do wonders for your health.  Eat daily chopped fresh in salads, steamed with high quality butter, sauteed with fresh garlic and ginger, or add to soups.  These greens will give you your dose of vitamins and calcium, while keeping you looking and feeling youthful and radiant.  

-         

      MUSHROOMS

      Shitake and reishi are medicinal mushrooms.  Both are adaptogenic, revitalizing, regenerative, and able to directly suppress infection.  Cook mushrooms well (do not eat raw, as the chitin in the mushrooms needs to be cooked for awhile to break down).  Make a strong mushroom tea or broth for a nourishing morning drink.  

-     STOCKS and BONE BROTH

      Chicken, beef, fish and vegetable stocks are all super foods!  Bone broth can be a rich life enhancing foundation to to any meal.  A pot of simmering stock is an essential part of our kitchen.  We also make weekly root immunity soup.  Use the crock pot if you like, add astragalus and burdock roots, potatoes, carrots, garlic, lots of ginger, onions and seaweed. Cook until roots are soft then add miso, tamari, a squeeze of lemon or lime and some dark leafy greens or sprouts at the end.  

      Heres to winter wellness!!

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Building an aquaponic vermiponic system for a middle school in the Bronx

Demonstrating CPR at the Bronx Writing Accademy for students
A preview of  the engagement of the students next semester

This is exiting !  Citizen Schools, a non profit dedicated to extend learning hours in low income schools,  will allow me to create a 11 week apprenticeship centred on hydro-ponics! Even better, we were able to get a 500$ grant from Green Thumb for the apprenticeship!

I am looking for a couple of volunteers to help out. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please contact me though my google+ account or through the comment section.

The idea of the apprenticeship came up because of one of the students during this semesters apprenticeship at the Bronx Writing Academy ( the apprenticeship is called "Future Physicians" and we are preparing the students to present clinical cases for several cardiac diseases as if they would be MDs). The day the idea was born, we were talking about how food and environment can influence cardiac diseases using the NYC community survey maps. One of these maps shows that some places in NYC, including the Bronx, have much lower access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Since we were talking about food, we also pointed out how a lot of fruit and veggies are not "as good" as we think, because they were coming from sometimes very far like Florida, California or Mexico. I also mentioned that in NYC there are people who are trying to grow food in the city. One of the students said "Ho! we should do that!". Thats how the idea was born. We then visited Taqwa Community Gardens in Bronx, where one of the person there told us bout the Earth Savers Club and Green Thumb.

Because of the grant we will be able to build 2 "  "ponics, compare the growth, and present the system and results to the community at the end of the 11 weeks. On system will be an hydroponic system, the second will be a "teaponics" system - hence my experimenting at home. We will build the system out of 5 gallons pails collected from a local restaurant that will be used as grow beds and water reservoir. This pails will only be food safe pails (soy sauce, pickles and other). We plan on using shredded water bottles (PE - not polycarbonate) and milk bottles (as they also are food safe) for grow-media. Since the pieces of bottles will float, we plan on using another re-purposed material : pillow/comforter polyester fluff as a netting to keep the media in place. Additionally, since we got the 500$ grant, we may get a couple of commercially available grow towers, for comparison.

We will try to understand the basic physics, chemistry and biology behind a "  "ponic system. We will also introduce the notions of sustainability - in the particular case of food- and try to understand the balance between the cost of growing food locally and far away (in my neighborhood groceries store the very large majority of the fruits and veggies are coming from Mexico all year round). For the students who are more inclined to arts I want to encourage them to write poem, short stories or songs, or drawing painting to show at the WOW!

The program will culminate with the presentation of the system to the community around the school to show as many people in the neighborhood as possible what hydroponics look like and explain how it can be started for a low cost. We hope to get the authorization from the school to do that in front of the school in the little lawn with the flag-post so passer buy can be engaged.

""By the 6th grade, students from underserved communities still average 6,000 fewer hours of learning time than their middle-income peers. You can level the playing field by teaching an apprenticeship this spring. Teach a new and improved version of your last apprenticeship or try something entirely different. Sign up here."" From a citizen school communication

Cant wait to start building it and see how it grows!

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Cheap Chicken feeder 2 Living greens feeder for chickens

I have finely make up a "Living Green Feeder" for the girls pen.. A friend, tar Rosie, put me onto them a few years ago but I have kept putting it off.. This was a very easy build & only took me about an hour to make & install.. I think a basic one could be made from items such as upturned bread crates or wire baskets from an old fridge/freezer..




For more regular updates about the patch come visit us on our Face Book page..
Have a great one All...
: )»

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IBC Wicking Beds for renters

IBC Wicking Beds for renters...
We have some friends who are renting places with no garden space for veggies so it got me thinking how we could help them out... We came up with the idea of using the same food grade IBC containers we are using as Aquaponic beds & tanks as Wicking garden beds... By cutting them in ½ you can get 2 beds that are essentially large pots that you can grow quite a few Veggies & herbs in...

We were lucky enough to get 3 of them for $40 each... The only problem being that they contained "Liquid Boot A" which is a tar like concrete sealing compound that is used to seal concrete drinking water tanks, pipelines & concrete slabs for buildings... We could not remove the compound with a water blaster as it had dried to the tank so had to come up with another way to use them...  We decided on lining them with the 200um plastic to keep the soil from coming in contact with the residue in the IBCs... I think we could find others without the residue for under $100 which makes them cheaper than the colorbond alternatives you can purchase from hardware stores & suitable for renters who are not allowed to dig a garden for a veggie patch...
: )»

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Better late than never A quick catch up for October

Decided that my scratchings in the note book really arent a great way of keeping tabs on what is happening in the patch so have once again made a vow to myself to keep this blog up to date so I can keep track of any mistakes & successes we have in the patch while sharing it with the world, umm, a few others as well.. I might even learn a thing or two which would be nice..

Catching up on the patch...
I think the easiest way to bring you up to date is via a quick walk through of the veggie patch & aquaponic system.. I tend to do a garden walk through one week & an aquaponic one the next... I have posted the latest of each here for anyone interested..
The aquaponic one is up to date as it was filmed late last week..

We are expecting to have the sparky turn up first thing in the morning so by lunch time the aquaponics should be right to plug into its very own power source..

This garden clip was shot on the 5th of October... A new garden walk through will be shot later this week..

I always find it interesting to see the growth in the plants from fortnight to fortnight.. Some plants like the zucchini & pumpkins just grow so fast.. 

Seeds & seedlings...
A fair bit has been planted out over the past few weeks...

The list of seeds that we have been sown out were being listed in the "Planting Diary" but now I shall be listing them on the weekly blog posts instead..
Seedlings...
On the 13th of October we planted out...........
3x bush beans (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Bed#4
1x bush bean (Ipswich Twilight markets) into aquaponic bed
3x Bulls Horn Capsicum (saved seed) into Bed#1
3x capsicum (Diggers 7 colour mix) into Bed#1
2x capsicum (Diggers 7 colour mix) into Bed#2
3x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into IBC wicking beds (Aquaponics area)
1x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Aquaponic constant flow bed
2x lettuce (Ipswich Twilight markets) into Bed #4
1 nasturtium (Ipswich Twilight markets) was planted into each of the following beds,spice wicking bed (aquaponics area), spice IBC (behind chook house), pumpkin IBC & under the Kaffir Lime tree..

Seeds...
Today (16th October) saw us planting out a few seeds..
4 lots of seed were planted into coco peat pellets (thanks again Watsamadoing),
7x Purple Vienna Kohlrabi (Eden Seeds)
7x Osaka Purple Mustard Greens (BOGI)**
7x Tall Utah Celery (BOGI)
7x bok choi (BOGI)

**(BOGI = Brisbane Organic Growers Inc)


Garden Pond...
About a month & a half ago we decided to plant some water chestnuts into a bucket & keep it in a bathtub pond under the lemon tree at the back of the patch.. Probably wasnt the best idea in hindsight.. The pond had 8 White Cloud Minnows in it when the bucket went in but we quickly noticed a fair amount of leachate coming from it as well as finding a few deceased fish :(» The bucket was quickly removed as were the fish into a fish tank & the whole pond got a good cleaning from top to bottom.. The fish were quickly returned without the chestnut bucket & appeared to be doing rather well.. Well, they were that is until a White Faced heron decided to snack on 2 more.. We dont know for sure that it did but it was seen taking off, rather awkwardly, from the vicinity.. That left us with 3 minnows & little hope of their survival, until the other day that is......

We are rather pleased with this result & were surprised by finding even more over the past few days...

I suppose thats about it for now... Shall be back early next week with another planting update as well as any other interesting Bits from Out the Back...
Have a great one..
Rob...
: )»

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CHAOS Crisis for Britons visiting Greece Agenda Alert!

I literally had a jaw dropping *thud* moment when I read this article this morning.  There is so much double talk, programming, and hidden agendas in this, that it really cried out to be taken apart and analysed.  So lets take a read, shall we?

Ive changed the original story fonts to Red, and my highlights and comments are in blue, just to make it very clear.


d

Families face holiday CHAOS: Greece euro crisis could wreck travel plans this week

NOTE the code words:  CHAOS in all caps, and "crisis" - setting the framework of the article

A MASSIVE airlift will be staged to rescue tens of thousands of British holidaymakers if Greece goes bust and the country is thrown into economic meltdown.

So.... we all know that the Express is a rag newspaper, that relies of scandals and paparazzi type pictures to keep readers attention, but it is also one of the most widely read "newspapers" in England.

NOTE: "MASSIVE" in all caps,  and the code words to program responses:  "Rescue" and "economic meltdown", but also note the term "to be Staged"....  

stag•ing

 (?ste? d???) 

n.

1. the act, process, or manner of presenting a play on the stage.

2. a temporary platform or other structure used in building; scaffolding.

3. the business of operating stagecoaches.

4. the act of traveling by stagecoach.

5. the advancement of troops and supplies in a series of stages.

By ANIL DAWAR

PUBLISHED: 00:01, Mon, Jun 22, 2015 | UPDATED: 10:38, Mon, Jun 22, 2015

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