Aquaponics system cropping already!

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Well, it was only four weeks ago that the system was completed and the seedlings planted. The growth in them is visible on an almost daily basis, to the extent that we are already cropping lettuce and mizuna leaves.

Four weeks after initial planting

The fish are all well, though are hungry because we are still not feeding them daily as yet as this would overload the water in these early stages. It is important for the nitrifying bacteria to increase and do their work-converting the ammonia from fish waste to nitrites and then to nitrates. At the moment this process is still settling in, though the ammonia levels are now dropping and the nitrites increasing. The next step is for the nitrites to also drop because all the ammonia is being converted to nitrates, which is plant food!!

 

Hello trout!

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In not too long at all, we finished preparing for the aquaponic system…….

Spa moved, ground being prepared for the system

Once we had finished all the ground work- a retaining wall (two in fact), about 100 slabs, lifting and relaying pavers, moving the biofilter…..the system was set up by Backyard Aquaponics ….

All set up, ready for fish and veggies

Then we had a trip to buy some fish, deciding on 50 trout, which struggled a bit on the trip but revived once in the tank. Of course, most projects have setbacks– and this one did too!! We lost 20 fish overnight as they tend to leap high into the air…and clean out of the tank! This resulted in another trip for more fish, and a net to cover the fish tank, something we should have thought of in the first place!

Trout safely under their net

Planting the grow beds

Preparing for aquaponics!

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Well, as we have said before, there is never nothing to do!! As a further step towards sustainability we are setting up an aquaponics system near the pool. The aim is to continue to run Silver Perch in the pool, but in the aquaponics fish tank to run Barramundi in summer and Rainbow Trout in winter. We just need to prepare the ground…….

First step is to remove the existing pool fences

View to the west-where the system will be

The ground needs levelling

We will have two different levels because there is quite a slope!

Regrowth!

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Well, within four weeks of the ‘big bushfire’ there is some regrowth happening-even before the rains!

Grass trees sprouting up just three weeks after the fire

Sprouts of green shooting from the burnt ground

Time will tell whether some of the Spearwoods and Melaleucas will grow back, but the Grasstrees certainly have.

Another fox…..no, it’s an eagle!

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We seem to be having a run of death and destruction.…

It has happened from time to time….and now it is time again! THIS week we have lost two more animals…..to a Wedge-tailed Eagle!

One day we came home to a stripped duck carcass, and decided it was not like a fox attack….maybe it was a cat?? The next day we lost our gorgeous Australorp rooster….but there eating it was a magnificent Wedge-tailed Eagle. Well, what mixed emotions!! How amazing this creature was- huge, majestic…..but also hungry….and eating OUR stock! Needless to say the camera was grabbed, but it was a bit quick for us so the photos are blurry.

Quick photo before it saw us and flew off-eating the rooster!

Watching from a safe distance

Circling overhead- that beautiful wedged tail!

Seedlings ready for Autumn planting!

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The seed sowing was quite successful with most things growing in the new shade house! It won’t be long before they will all be able to be planted out into the veggie garden that the chooks have been scratching around in for the past few months, adding extra ‘fertiliser’ as they go through the scraps.

Seeds sprouted!

Fortunately, there are also a few natives we have managed to repot from other areas, so once the rains come we will be able to revegetate small areas that were burnt out in the fire.

We also have had a rush of field mushrooms come up in the paddock…a sign of the cooler weather!

Mushrooms grown in the paddock

Not another bushfire…..

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But this time it did burn through about 5 of our 10 acres…..fortunately for us the back five acres away from the house and animal/food production areas.

Fire burning in the paddock behind the veggie garden and orchard

Nonetheless, it caused plenty of damage to the natural bush plus the areas we had been regenerating-

Burnt through

Not a lot left!

the fences were either burnt or cut by the fire brigade to get to the fire. What an amazing job they do!

Leaving to get more water

The water pipes to each paddock for the sheep were melted, and we lost four struts and strainers for the gates…..

Strut and strainer and sheep feeder burnt

The Australian bush is amazing though, and will often come back very well after a bushfire…..so fingers crossed.

Visiting Heron!

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We have had a few visiting heron over the years, but not many as photogenic as this one!! We had mixed feelings seeing it- on the one hand it is lovely seeing the wildlife visit, on the other we knew it would be after the Silver Perch we put in the pond!!

White-faced Heron searching for silver perch!