More Barrels !!!

Yep...
Not afraid to say it...
Im Addicted...
**Sigh**
But in my defence 1 is to be turned into a worm farm...

½ of the other will be used to make a Wicking Barrel for some Strawberries I saved from being overrun by Cabbages last year & a stunning Pink Flowered Strawberry was bought yesterday at the local markets... I did go looking for some Celery but all stalls were out or didnt stock as they think it to warm to plant it at the moment... Might have to venture to The Chain Store that shall remain nameless to see if they have any as most local nurseries are not stocking as many veggie seedlings as they once did...
Planting out the Babies...

Saturday we planted out the Cabbage (Red Dutch) into Bed #1(left) & Kohlrabi (White Vienna) in Bed #5 (right) after harvesting the Beetroot & some Lettuce...
The Kent Pumpkin you can see growing between the 2 beds in the Picture to the left is going to be left in with the Tomatoes & Capsicums... It can grow down the path & onto the "lawn" between us & the neighbours...  I dont hold out much hope for anything planted in the "Pumpkin Bed"... It was filled with the same "Premium Soil mix" as the Spice Barrels & none of the plants look like they are doing as well as they could.... The plants have been feed worm juice & Seasol this week so we can only wait & see...
 We also put in a few rows of  Darwin & Red Mignonette lettuces into Bed #4  as well as some Pak Choi into Bed #3 to fill in some space between failed Beetroot & the slow growing Eggplant seedlings...
The Ginger & Galangal Barrels didnt have the soil changed in them.... We had a bit of look at them & they appear to be draining alright as they were ½ filled with the Soil mix we made & only had the last 10-15cm of dodgy  "Premium Mix" ... Will just need to keep an eye on them...
The plot as a whole is starting to come along nicely... The Lemon tree is covered with fruit at the moment.. This is only the second year it has fruited in the 6 or so years we have had it.... We have Eggplants fruiting, Tomatoes starting to ripen, the "Rainbow" Silverbeet have bounced back, the Beans are producing a meal worth every day or so & there will be a few salads made with thinned Beetroot & Silverbeet seedlings this week....The Carrots are still being thinned out & being used in a few dishes... Made a really great Golden curry with some Carrots &  our stored Sweet Potato...

Our young friend has been hanging around a lot & is getting quite used to us being in the garden with him in his tree...
Have tried to find some curl grubs to feed him but they appear to be hiding to well...






This weeks harvest....
Beetroot, Lettuce,  Zucchini, Shallots, Baby Dragon/All Seasons Carrots,  Strawberries, Beans, Eggplant, Bay leaf, Basil, 3 eggs a day & some Lemongrass to make Tea with...
Rain....
5.5 mm this week....



Have a great one all.....
: )»

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More Magic Wool

Our annual winter wool class last weekend seemed to be a success. We had fun learning some basic felting techniques such as needle felting and making wet felted soaps.  Both were a hit with the children who did not want to stop once class was over.  The color combinations were beautiful!  Hot spicy chai, lentil soup with cheddar muffins, and gluten free brownies topped off our afternoon.  Working with wool is a perfect way to enjoy a cold, blustery day.

Resources for felting supplies:
-Paper Scissors Stone: waldorfsupplies.com 
-Any foam mattress store (for less expensive needle felting boards)
-Local artisan yarn stores: more expensive but usually have unique materials and colors

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The Straw Bale And Its Many Uses

Mighty straw bales...utilized in almost all of our projects, they are especially valuable for use with the livestock, in the garden, and for creative endeavors like building.  The straw bale is an essential reusable staple on our homestead.   Check out some of the ways we reuse this free available resource.

Cold Frame/Mini Greenhouse

Simply made from bales and old windows, this greenhouse fits about twenty wooden seedflats.

 

Natural Building

making cob with clay, straw, sand, and water

 Animal Bedding 

 Compost Material

layers of  green grass, horse manure, straw and a variety of compostable scraps
 from around the farm make a nice hot pile

Growing Mushrooms

 Mulching Garden Beds

potatoes do well mulched heavily with straw
photo by Lori Eanes

Childrens Archery Range

Another good idea: Straw Bale Compost Bins

For the small scale farmer and urban homesteader the possibilities are endless.  You can find bales for sale at your local race track, feed stores and often free on craigslist.  

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More Internet Blackouts and social media glitches

Facebook had outages today in the US - even made the main stream media "news".   On Monday I said that I expect these social media site "blackouts" and "glitches to get worse.... and it has.

On Facebook this evening I made this post:

CALL OUT:

Social Media has gone down several times- Skype globally on Monday and yesterday and today facebook has gone down for short periods. Im having internet issues in general with outages several times a day- and have to reboot the router? Im getting reports from all over about internet slow downs and outages- especially for the past two weeks.

Are you having internet issues? Where are you and what type of issues?

These are the responses so far:

* Facebook would not open for me today until this afternoon and I am in Texas 
*Texas as well....no facebook for about 15 minutes, but its been glitching for me about a week now. This is what I saw all day the other day.....no friends? Ummmm, try 2500 plus, not to mention all of the groups Im in or pages I like.
*BarcelonA skype tonight heart emoticon
*yep ... very slow internet or wont load Facebook or Yahoo. Have had to reboot quite often today Dani.
*Norway, slow internet past couple of weeks, facebook wont completely load all the time today.
*CA, SF Bay Area - slow & quirky but working
*FB was down here in VA for about one hour.
*Very slow Internet in Manchester and Facebook very on and off
*Illinois...FB has had trouble connecting on my phone off and on over the past few weeks
*NY - Skype out on Monday. Not aware of any other issues.
*No problems Los Angeles
*London okay.
*i have excellent internet here in puerto rico...the last two weeks ...there have been more noticeable interruptions,,,outages...and slow downs...
*Skype out Monday and for a few hours today. Facebook has been tough all day hard to post replies, shares and view links. Found that my computer protection had somehow been turned off between 11 am and 2:15 pm.~ when I was offline and not at home. THAT has never happened before........has to be done "manually". ahem. I am in Gig Harbor, WA. Funny, I actually came into FB here specifically to check is this was happening to anyone else. Voila, your post was the first one to show up.
*FB was down in Tacoma WA this morning
*Everything fine here in Florianopolis, south of Brazil. Did the pope just sent a 666 sign today at the US Congress or what!
* Toronto. couldnt connect at all to FB earlier and then slow signal.
 *Slow slow slow -- for a few weeks now
 *Trouble with Facebook last night and this morning. YouTube has also been funky along with internet connection. SE Wisconsin usa.
*In Idaho. Once in the morning the server we have. Slows down to the point of being slower than hell. And then again in the evening for about 15 minutes. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Same with a friend in Utah. Yesterday Facebook was insane. Didnt work very well all day every time I tried to go on.
 *Oklahoma. FB was off for only a few minutes for me today (That was the first time ever.), but the main problem has been with the router and messages telling me Im connected to an Unknown (WiFi) Network, which then causes the system to fail and I have to unplug it to get everything working right again. The latter has been happening off and on for a couple of weeks. Our internet speed always goes up and down. *shrugs*

   *** Dani Arnold-McKenny: hmmm, thats exactly whats been happening to us here in Morocco all week. ive rebooted the router at least 10 times today

 *Facebook down twice today ... Skype and cell phone dropping conference calls pertaining to our awareness. Other technical messages why I cant connect..Florida...
 *Yes have had to start rebooting router as constanty losing connectivity over last 2 weeks. Geelong, Australia.
*Skype was down, not sure about FB as was not online at the time - internet connectivity seems the usual crappy level - Cape Town, South Africa
 *All is well here in Ontario Canada just like it always is smile emoticon
*I had an issue with skype on wednesday...as I could not call anyone..and I was showing off line all day(england)
* (mid Ontario)   Interestingly, as of yesterday morning, I believe my phone gave itself an update without my permission.  All of a sudden, I can’t charge it.  It charged the night before no problem.  I tried 8 different chargers to no avail.  Eventually, I got a different message stating that the charger I was attempting to use was not an apple product.  I used the girls’ charger, the only true apple charger left in the house (they almost never last more than a month) and lo and behold, it charges with that.  I have NEVER had an issue with any of these chargers before.
*(NY) My whole computer goes down andreboots for no reason, sometimes Skype, sometimes Google -gmail, or Facebook goes crazy, today again a lot
*My computer has been turning off by it self too lately today twice (france)

So my friends.... as far as Im concerned, this is a major move that we need to keep track of.  As I said in the original post below- do you have alternative communications worked out?  Plans in place to be able to contact your groups etc....

I think this is "them" testing the public and getting us sort of "immune" to these black outs- getting us use to the internet getting slower and going down at odd times.....  they want us complacent and docile...... unsuspecting....

Please keep an eye on this my friends!!!  This shouldnt be ignored.

love d

ps:  my paypal has been down- Ive just got it back again.  My email is down,..... half of the messages I cant reply too, nor can I access my folders or my address book!!!  my skype is randomly sending my messages at different times, and some messages are taking DAYS to get to me.  .... Im beginnign to think about going back to sending post cards!!!!! lol.

http://removingtheshackles.blogspot.com/2015/09/coms-during-social-media-black-out-or.html

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Getting more from your broccoli a tasty brassica salad

 Harvesting broccoli to get more from your plants..
Broccoli would have to be one of my favourite plants to grow.. It starts off with a nice tidy little head of green goodness only to go onto providing you with countless meals of side shoots for months to come.. We were concerned that we didnt plant enough broccoli for the season but we have started to be flooded with side shoots from a few of the plants.. 

 We now have the second crop starting to produce as well so I think we will be sorted for broccoli until the start of Summer now at this rate :) Not sure what we will be doing with the punnet of seedlings I have to plant out yet..


 Brassica salad...

We have been making up brassica salads for quite a while now & they have become a side dish here that is loved by all.. Thought I would post the recipe here even though a similar version has been posted elsewhere before.. It is one of those salads that gets whatever is growing out the back tossed into it.. The only ring-in veggie for this one was the capsicum/bell pepper,the rest came from the garden or aquaponics..



Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad..

1 Small head of broccoli .

1 Small head of cauliflower.

Remove the florets from the broccoli & cauliflower then chop into smaller 10¢/Nickel coin size pieces necessary.. Dice the stem of the cauliflower & broccoli finely.. I cheat & use the food processor ; )»

½ large red capsicum/bell pepper, diced finely.
3 stalks of celery, sliced thinly.

Large handful of cherry tomatoes, whole or sliced in ½.
Handful of parsley, chopped finely.
½ doz onion leaves, sliced thinly.

1/8th cup pine nuts lightly toasted.. We also like to use macadamia nuts as well.
Hand full of brassica flowers. Mustard greens flowers give the salad a nice little kick if you have them.

Dressing…
½cup yoghurt.
¼cup Mayonnaise.

1 heaped tsp of Dijon Mustard.
1 heaped tsp of honey.
Salt & pepper to taste. 

Mix all dressing ingredients together & add salt & Pepper to taste..

     Salad…
Add all the salad ingredients except for the flowers & mix well..
Add the dressing & mix again..
Serve up & use flowers as garnish..

It is a great salad & can be made with almost any salad veggie you have on hand..  
The left overs from this dish were supposed to be lunch today but decided that they would be better used as a side for tonight meal.. Will just be adding a few extra broccoli side shoots to boost it out a bit..
Hope you enjoy it if you give it a whirl..

For more regular updates, pictures from the patch & other happenings come visit us on our Bits out the back Face Book page.. 
Have a great one All...

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More beds more plants »

Had a huge list of jobbies to finish yesterday but only finished ½ of them I think...
There was seed to sow in beds, seeds to sow into punnets, cuttings to take, some transplanting, seedlings to plant out, Chook pen to clean/re straw, some pots to organise for a Wetpot garden, wicking barrel to organise, set up a trellis for some climbing peas, sift some more Cracker dust to add to the beds, place & fill the bathtub bed & join the lime tree beds to make 1 larger one...

From the list we managed to,

- Sifted more cracker dust,
- Lime & put some bedding straw down in the Chook pen,

- B? started to clean out Bed #8 by transplanting some flowers to under the Lemon tree & a sage into Bed #3,
- The washing machine barrel had the Lemongrass removed, potted up for a family member... That was an hour long Battle I dont want to go through again... OH the Carnage !! B? planted out the barrel with some Lavender seedlings after the soil was freshened up with some home "cooked" goodies...
- Some seeds were planted out in punnets for the Wetpot garden...

- A new bed was made by joining both Lime beds together& filing it with 2 bags of horse manure, bag of composted horse manure, blood n bone, rock dust, the last of a soil delivery that was stored in the bath tub & the last ½ of a bag of "5 in 1" that was found under the house... 2 poles have been put in for a future trellis for some Tomatoes... Onions are planed for this bed along with a Garlic or 2...
- A wicking barrel was placed between the washing machine barrel & the Zucchini barrel at the end of Bed #1 along with some bits of mango trunk... This helped make a small retaining wall so we could fill the hollow between the new Lime bed & Bed #1 with some soil we have had stored... The grass removed from the new bed was placed in between the 2 beds & some "good bug" mix was sown behind the barrels...
Some compost tea (Thanks Praxxus) was also made & added to a few of the seedlings & some plants I feel are struggling... Will be interesting to see how they go as I have left a few as control  plants to see what the difference will be...
I will be a busy this week finishing off a few trellises, planting out some of the seeds & seedlings listed above... I think it is time to check some of the Compost barrels to see if any have finished cooking down so the compost can be bagged up & the bins refilled...


Just to finish up, we visited my parents on the weekend & had to grab a shot of dads Friends...

We counted 13 plants in pots grown from heads of fruit they have bought or "pups" from the past few years plants... The centre shot shows 2 pups forming below a fruit... You cane end up with 3 plants for the next season if all pups survive... The shot on the right was just to show how pretty the fruit is when young... Rather spectacular Me thinks... The 2 to the Right are our first 2 plants... I am hoping to have enough to do a little strip don the fence line with the neighbours...

Thats about it for now...
: )»

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The Roundtable Discussion No More nicey nicey time to tell it like it is!

The time for kid gloves, political correctness and worrying about bruised feelings and "triggering" people is well and truly over.   No more nicey nicey.  No more sugar coating.  No more mincing words.   Its time for the cold harsh reality of what the fuck is going on right now.

Tonight Lisa and I will be joined by Lily Earth and ohhhhhh boy!  We have a lot to say.   Tonights menu of topics will include Mind Control, "AI", Programming and Rituals, the use of auto suggestion and blatant programming by Hollywood, and ..... the Savior Meme.  

This will not be a lovey dovey, feel good, sweeping strings while we frolic through fields of flowers on unicorns kinda night.



Join us tonight on the Roundtable Discussion, LIVE Stream on CCN at 11pm BDT/ 6pm EDT

http://www.consciousconsumernetwork.tv/ccn-live/

Or Watch live and join us in the Chat Room on Lisas website:

http://www.lisamharrison.com/watch-live/

Or watch right here on RTS

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No More Tilapia GMO Nonsense

Tilapia hatcheries that throw out non-GMO claims are playing to an audience shrouded in fear and ignorance for financial gain.  The truth is, the term GMO was invented by journalists, television writers and newspaper reporters as an acronym for another made-up term, genetically modified organism.  Today the term non-GMO is used to market products to consumers who are fearful of a process that they dont understand.

Genetic improvements have been developed by breeders and growers for over 8000 years.  Moving pollen from one plant variety to another to generate new seeds with traits from both plants happens in nature with the blowing of the wind or on the bodies of bees. But even if the pollen is moved by the hands of a farmer, the results are still the same. In more modern times, scientists use other methods to induce changes by using chemical compounds or irradiation.  Obviously when people hear chemicals they immediately think of all the skull and crossbones warning labels on their household cleaners and bug sprays. But remember, to a scientist, H₂0 is a chemical, to the rest of us, its just water.  And irradiation is also used to cold pasteurize hundreds of everyday foods. Even farm animals are selectively bred for a number of reasons, including the prevention of disease and improved production using such techniques as artificial insemination or embryo rescue.  The truth is, almost everything we eat today has been genetically modified in one way or another within the last 8000 years.

Genetic engineering is different from genetic improvements in that genes from any species are introduced. As a way to illustrate this difference, genetic improvements can be made by combining two types of corn but not one variety of corn and one variety of rice.  Rice pollen will not pollenate corn.  However in the laboratory, scientists can take genes from either plant and create a new variety of either.  This is genetic engineering.  The resulting plant may be more corn than rice or more rice than corn but ultimately it will be a new variety of one or the other, similar but different.  There is another level of genetic development called precision breeding which is sort of a hybrid between genetic improvement and genetic modification.  The methods used in precision breeding are far more predictable than anything else, and can result in getting exactly what the scientist is after.

For a tilapia hatchery to be truly non-GMO they would have to sell natural colored random sized and shaped, mixed-sex, certified pure strain tilapia exactly as they were from ten thousand years ago.  Like it or not, breeding for size or color is just another form of genetic improvement.  And we all know from the fear mongers that genetic improvement falls under the dark cloak of GMO.

At Backyard Tilapia, we sell everything from pure strain naturally colored tilapia exactly as they were 100 centuries ago to one of the most genetically improved hybrids of all time.  Yep, GMOs are served here, and were darn proud of it.

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Microcontrollers Libraries More Than Just Reading About MCUs

Libraries are places where people in a community go for information.

Some libraries are starting to provide more information about microcontrollers (MCUs) than just books for you to check out and take home with you to read. Around the USA, libraries in cities large and small are starting to offer hands on classes that involve working with MCUs, most often Arduinos.

Doing a search on Google News for libraries currently offering classes or workshop activities involving MCUs turned up eight libraries who recently had an article or a blurb about those MCU activities. The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN, has maker spaces at two of its libraries and the May 25 article about them mentioned an Arduino class, as well as two robotics classes and a circuit board class that likely involve MCUs. The Allen County Public Library got involved with MCUs and the maker movement with a mobile maker space a few years ago:

"The library has also had a partnership with TekVenture, a non-profit Fort Wayne company. TekVenture’s Maker Station mobile laboratory was moved to the library’s lot at Washington and Webster streets three years ago, where the staff provided laboratories and workshops for library employees and patrons. Georgetown is still in the process of growing a crop of makers, Georgetown Branch Manager Lisa Armato said. “Thus far, people are mostly just taking classes and then afterward some come to practice...Another boy, who was an avid gamer, designed and made 3-D copies of a device that attached to a smart phone and to free up the player’s fingers for easier game playing on the phone’s screen. “He printed off his design for $3, took them to school and sold them to his gaming friends for $10,” Gregg said...“Everyone is very excited about all the new learning opportunities,” Armato said. “All of our classes are filling up, and we have waiting lists for some. We are seeing all ages, from 9-year-olds to senior citizens, learning side by side,” she said."

Other libraries have smaller budgets or are just starting to get involved with MCUs via introductory classes. Two libraries currently in the news who are also offering Arduino classes are the Westport Library in Connecticut and the Mead Public Library in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The May 15 article about the Westport Library says:

"A workshop on how to use the Arduino board, a small programmable microcontroller board, will be taught in a six-session workshop at the Westport Library...The Arduino board is an open-source electronics platform used for robotics, and all kinds of other projects...The sessions are for anyone with an interest in electronic circuits and the ability to learn coding. Each session will focus on a new problem...participants who have an Arduino kit should bring it. There will also be kits for use provided by the library. The workshop will be using the Sparkfun Inventors Kit for the class, which is available at for purchase..."

The May 19 Sheboygan article says:

"“Wanna race?” 14-year-old Christian Henke asked as he elbowed his dad, Andreas, at the Mead Public Library on Saturday. The father and son had just sat down to try their hand at building their own self-driving robot car at the Sheboygan Connects activity day at the library...The simple robotic vehicle, which Christian and father worked on, had two large wheels and a rear caster. At the front of a robot, two sensors turned 180 degrees on a servo to determine which course was the least obstructed...The robot was controlled by an Arduino circuit board, a simple programmable electronic prototyping platform..."

The first step towards having libraries offer classes with Arduino or other MCUs is for local makers to talk to their librarians and offer to explain more about the small computing components and why the library might want to consider offering some classes or workshops with them (often with the local makers developing and leading the classes or workshops).

**********

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Doomsday Preppers Costa Rica tilapia episode is just plain wrong

It is appalling how much tilapia farming misinformation was highlighted by the NatGeo program Doomsday Preppers.

In the episode, a man from Kansas packed up his family and moved to Costa Rica. Part of his prep was to start an aquaponic garden. I dont think that anything that was said by him or displayed on the screen by the shows producers was correct.  But let me review just to make sure.

First, the guy made a statement that the spot he selected for his pond would be good because it would provide the tilapia with shade. Tilapia do not need shade.

He intends to feed his tilapia only duckweed, but he only has enough duckweed pond surface area to feed one tilapia at best.

The shows producers made a statement that "some estimates" are that every gallon of fish pond water can support one square foot of hydroponic garden. This isnt even close. But, I guess they can hide behind their "some estimates" preface so they can blame the 3rd grader who gave them "some" of their estimates.

The guy is raising his tilapia in an earthen pond which is about the worst possible way to construct a pond.  If he tried that in the United States, the Nile tilapia he bought would die of cold due to the heat sinking nature of earthen ponds.

The announcer claims that tilapia grow to two pounds in eight months. Nile tilapia grow to one pound in eight months from fingerling size.  The size of the 50 tilapia he took from the tilapia farms net were all over 1/2 pound to begin with, so I suppose that eight more months will get them to well over a pound, but the announcer makes no distinction.

The man from Kansas thinks that 50 tilapia will provide him with a surplus.  Assuming he harvests his tilapia at two pounds each, he will only yield about 45 pounds of edible filets. So every person in his family of four will enjoy just over 14 ounces of meat per month or about 3.4 ounces per week.  I suppose if he only eats a tiny portion each week, that will satisfy his family, but wheres the surplus?

I hate shows that get tilapia farming wrong. They only contribute to all the misinformation on the Internet and create more work for me. Since the airing of the show, I have had to explain to our hatchery customers that duckweed ponds have to be really large and that tilapia do not need shade. Im sure that Ill have to explain all of their inaccuracies before the show stops airing.

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