Countertop Taters!

I saw this photo on "Grow Food, Not Lawns" on Facebook and decided to try it!

Now, I'm trying to get into the habit of not only being frugal, but to reuse and recycle everything that I can.  You can purchase Gro-Sacks here and they aren't expensive.  However, I was pretty sure that I could recreate a growing bag of my own.



A simple Superstore shopping bag should do the trick!  I realize that the materials are likely different than an authentic Gro-Sack, and I expect this bag to rot away eventually.  But it was only 99 cents, and I already had it on hand.  It will be enough to contain everything for the meantime.  If I run into a problem with it, I will troubleshoot that when I get there!  :)



I found a plastic container to put the bag in.  This will help me to keep the water contained, and if the bag rots and breaks, at least everything is contained in here.  This makes it easy to move if I need to.



I had a few spongy, wrinkly potatoes that no one really wanted to cook and eat, so I cut them into pieces, ensuring that there was at least one eye on each piece.  Then I planted them into the soil.



I put the hillbilly gro-sack in front of the window next to our aquaponic tank.

And now we wait.... lol

Starter Aquaponics

So my beloved had this 20 gallon tank kicking around.  So he rigged it up so that the water from the pump would flow into the floating tray, and then down the tube on the right hand side.



He glued two seedling trays together, and then McGyver'd a toilet flush mechanism so that the water would flow out of the tray nicely.

At first he used heavy wire to hold the tray up, but the wire wasn't heavy enough, so we glued three layers of styrofoam onto the bottom of the tray.  That seems to work ok.  He also added an extra piece on the spout of the pump so that the water would flow into the tray.




Then I got busy and used some peat pots with regular potting soil to plant some seeds.  In the spirit of reusing what we already have, I was able to plant some red peppers, grapefruits, zucchini, and pears from seeds of things we had already eaten. My honey had some tomato and radish seeds kicking around, so I planted some of those as well.  I'm also regrowing green onions and celery on the side there.  It's coming along nicely.  It's really suprising how often you can cut down the onions.  They grow back so fast!

Next up - we gotta get a few fish.  We'll likely just get some feeder goldfish to go in the water below.  :)

Growing food...

One thing I love about the internet is that there are SO many people sharing ideas in every possible topic.  This includes growing food.

I love to think outside of the box, and if you get bunches of people thinking outside of the box, you can get quite a conglomerate of ideas to glean from.

For example, look at this bamboo growing trellis.  I guess it's not a real trellis, as trellises go.  And what if you took nice large pieces of bamboo like this, hanging one from the other, and hanging them in front of your big picture window?  You get lettuce all winter!  Or whatever else that can be grown in a long skinny tube.  Ah yes the wheels are turning...




And what is this?  Rows of Jelly Bellies?  Nope... it's Gem Corn.  I don't know how good it is to eat, but if it's tasty, then that would certainly make it FUN to eat.  If not, perhaps it could be decorative.  Either way, tons of colorful coolness.



Holy Shitake!  Mushrooms growing on logs.  We have tons of logs here... must set this up!  Can't wait for winter to end!  lol

Also, there are TONS of wild mushrooms that grow on our homestead.  Edible mushrooms.  *drool*


Aquaponics.  Growing food and fish.  This is a small countertop version, and so it's not an edible fish.  But this little fish still provides valuable nutrition to the plants above.  We currently have a tank set up on the kitchen counter in front of the window.  It's almost ready for plants and fish.  Gold fish.  For now... Our plan is to build a bigger system where we not only grow food plants, but also fish to eat.  Mmmmmm


Chickens!  Eggs!  This is an example of how we want to set up our garden and chicken system.  And we want a variety of chickens so we can have a variety of colored eggs, brown, white, green and blue.  :D



Recycled plastic bottles.  Now this is a very interesting idea for a green house.  I do believe that the bottles would have a somewhat insulating factor.


What a handy dandy basket.  Even if you didn't make it yourself, this concept could be used when picking out a basket to use in this way.  Maybe something from the dollar store?



This will be my kitchen this fall.  I have some jars, but I plan to get more at second hand stores.  :D



I've started collecting compostable materials.  I've been mixing them with the ashes from the woodstove and putting them into a galvanized steel garbage can (for fire safety).  When the can is full, I'll try to pick out a spot where I'd like to keep compostables when the snow melts and dump it out there.  I do like this idea though, tumbling compost.  Nice! 



Hmmm, Look at THIS aquaponics set up!  So many great ideas...



I've been reading up on how to store food over the winter.  Some people still have fresh veggies into May.



I have a collection of antique windows.  This is "ok" but I think one could be much more creative with gorgeous antique windows and doors in making a green house.  Just saying.  :)




Now, THAT is more like it!  :D


Ok, we have tons of logs around here... I wonder if this idea would work in pine trees?



Mushroom laundry baskets.  Interesting!



More aquaponics.  Love this idea.



So many ideas, so little time.  *sigh*

Ah well, on with my day.  Have a good one!

Video Blog - Book Review Chapter One - Breakup Book

I just realized that tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. My ex-husband and I were married May 17th, 1997. Wow... 13 years? sheesh... I felt wonky here and there today and I thought it was exbf stuff, and it probably is to a degree, but I think that anniversary dates can add old pain onto already existing, current pain...

I am so sleepy! I used to be such a night owl, and then I'd sleep in... but here I am, out of college for the summer, and I'm STILL waking up most days at 6:30 am!!! ugg.. As soon as this video is done being processed, I am hitting the sack, man. I got alot of gardening to do tomorrow! :D

Oh... speaking of gardening, my daughter wants to turn her old sandbox into a veggie garden! I picked up a new wheelbarrow today, so then I can have some soil delivered and can haul it around the yard to where it needs to go. It should be such fun. :D