I've been brainstorming for ideas to allow me to grow a protein source sustainably in an urban setting. I found a few videos on You Tube today that explain all the in's and out's for raising rabbits. Rabbits provide a source of protein and rabbit manure provides a source of natural fertilizer for vegetable gardening. The manure can be easily composted with red wiggler worms to produce a valuable soil amendment.
The gentleman in the videos provides an excellent source of information about raising rabbits for food and with the videos it should be possible for almost anyone to emulate his efforts and raise Florida Whites, a small rabbit that provides a dense source of meat, that can be raised in a small area.
His videos have inspired me to seriously consider raising rabbits in my garage. If you live in a typical urban subdivision that prevents you from raising chickens, goats, or other small livestock, rabbits may provide you a viable alternative.
I'd also like to provide a little head's up about Video #4...it demonstrates a humane way to butcher rabbits for meat. If you are uncomfortable watching livestock being prepared as a food source, then please think twice about watching the video. I personally think the methods used in the video are as humane as I could ever imagine them being. As a young person, I helped my grandmother butcher chickens many, many times. Compared to methods she used, the method demonstrated in the video is very humane.
If butchering your own meat makes you personally uncomfortable, then perhaps you have a friend or relative who can do it for you.
As another alternative, you can raise rabbits for wool instead of for meat. An angora rabbit produces about 15 ounces of wool annually. The wool can be spun into yarn and knitted into clothing, or the wool can be sold.
For additional information about urban rabbit farming, here are a few websites:
The New Urban Chickens
Urban Self Sufficientist
Farm Tina Butchering Rabbits
Farm Tina Raising Rabbits
Bob McCarty Writes
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Backyard Swimming Pool Aquaponics
I watched a little NATGEOTV this afternoon. I really enjoyed seeing the aquaponics system in this video episode: http://ning.it/xbwoJT Too bad I don't have a swimming pool. :-) Catching supper in the pool every night would be pretty cool, but I don't think I could eat the duckweek shakes like they are doing. Read more at GardenPool.org.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Concerns About Imported Food
According to Tony Corbo, a columnist for Huffington Post, U.S. food imports are rising dramatically.
"U.S. food imports grew from $41 billion in 1998 to $78 billion in 2007. The growth has come in consumer-ready foods, such as fruit and vegetables, seafood and processed food products. It has been estimated that as much as 85% of the seafood we now consume is imported, and depending on the time of the year, upwards of 60% of the fresh produce we consume is now imported. Officials from the FDA have stated that about 15% of the average American diet is made of imported food products." Read more at Huffington Post.
I first became aware of imported beef from Canada, but more recently seafood, fruits, and vegetables. I think this is a very dangerous proposition since most of it is untested. The volume simply prohibits it.
An online acquaintance of mine and publisher of a popular bbq forum posted an item last week regarding his experience with canned fruit from a Midwestern grocery store. The respondents were generally apathetic about it (except for a very small minority).
Has it come to this? Does the prospect of eating dangerous and harmful imported food that is not inspected for contaminants not concern the average American? It definitely should.
Here are some of the measures we have taken to reduce the amount of imported food we eat:
1) joined a local CSA for purchasing vegetables
2) support a local food buying club to purchase locally raised eggs, pork, beef, and bison
3) planted a backyard garden to begin growing our own squash, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, and collard greens
4) joined a Meet-up Group to learn more about locally grown food
5) exploring online information about farming at AquaponicsCommunity.com
We plan to add more as we learn about them. If you'd like to learn more about sources of local food to help avoid food imports, please visit LocalHarvest.org
"U.S. food imports grew from $41 billion in 1998 to $78 billion in 2007. The growth has come in consumer-ready foods, such as fruit and vegetables, seafood and processed food products. It has been estimated that as much as 85% of the seafood we now consume is imported, and depending on the time of the year, upwards of 60% of the fresh produce we consume is now imported. Officials from the FDA have stated that about 15% of the average American diet is made of imported food products." Read more at Huffington Post.
I first became aware of imported beef from Canada, but more recently seafood, fruits, and vegetables. I think this is a very dangerous proposition since most of it is untested. The volume simply prohibits it.
An online acquaintance of mine and publisher of a popular bbq forum posted an item last week regarding his experience with canned fruit from a Midwestern grocery store. The respondents were generally apathetic about it (except for a very small minority).
Has it come to this? Does the prospect of eating dangerous and harmful imported food that is not inspected for contaminants not concern the average American? It definitely should.
Here are some of the measures we have taken to reduce the amount of imported food we eat:
1) joined a local CSA for purchasing vegetables
2) support a local food buying club to purchase locally raised eggs, pork, beef, and bison
3) planted a backyard garden to begin growing our own squash, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, and collard greens
4) joined a Meet-up Group to learn more about locally grown food
5) exploring online information about farming at AquaponicsCommunity.com
We plan to add more as we learn about them. If you'd like to learn more about sources of local food to help avoid food imports, please visit LocalHarvest.org
Cottage Food Law
I wanted to share some research I've been doing regarding the cottage food laws that provide some possibilities to prepare certains types of food products from a homebased kitchen. Not all states offer this possibility, but certain states do. Here's a list. Farmer's Market Coalition has a nice article that offers sources for further research as well.
It's important to understand that all states are different and what's allowed in Illinois might not be allowed in Florida, for example. While jams and jellies are allowed in many states, canning pickles from home is rarely allowed. As with any regulation, they are subject to change. If you decide to pursue this, it's important to stay current with changes to the rules that affect homebased operators.
From HomeBasedBaking.com:
Many local Michigan micropreneurs have used the cottage food law to launch their business with low costs and then once established transitioned to a larger commercial operation once the $15,000 cap is reached. Here's an article about a cupcake baker.
The farmer's market near my home is packed with small farmers and urban gardeners taking advantage of these new regulations to launch their own small businesses. Here's a link to the specific rules in Michigan.
I applaud the states who have crafted regulations to losen the reins on some of the food safety regulations. I've read many other accounts online where the unemployed and under-employed have launched small businesses to help them overcome their current financial struggles.
It's important to understand that all states are different and what's allowed in Illinois might not be allowed in Florida, for example. While jams and jellies are allowed in many states, canning pickles from home is rarely allowed. As with any regulation, they are subject to change. If you decide to pursue this, it's important to stay current with changes to the rules that affect homebased operators.
From HomeBasedBaking.com:
As with any other business endeavor there are certain rules and regulations that govern the industry. These rules and regulations are set by the individuals states and cover the types of items that can be sold, where vendors can sell, how products must be packaged and labeled and much more. There are currently 31 states that allow citizens to bake from home for profit in some form.Most of the states have a cap on how much revenue you can earn from a homebased food business. In my state, Michigan, it's $15,000. In other states it's $25,000, or somewhere inbetween.
Many local Michigan micropreneurs have used the cottage food law to launch their business with low costs and then once established transitioned to a larger commercial operation once the $15,000 cap is reached. Here's an article about a cupcake baker.
The farmer's market near my home is packed with small farmers and urban gardeners taking advantage of these new regulations to launch their own small businesses. Here's a link to the specific rules in Michigan.
I applaud the states who have crafted regulations to losen the reins on some of the food safety regulations. I've read many other accounts online where the unemployed and under-employed have launched small businesses to help them overcome their current financial struggles.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
More Hydroponics in the Basement Garden
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| Hydroponic kale |
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| Hydroponic lettuce |
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| Hydroponic spinach |
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| Hydroponic collards |
IBC Tote Aquaponic System
If you've always wanted to build an IBC Tote Aquaponnic System, but don't know how the Aquaponic Store provides you an alternative. They have a 1 grow bed or 3 grow bed option. If I could grow outdoors in Michigan year round, I'd purchase one of these myself.
Friday, February 3, 2012
World Water Day
My plans include a 100 gallon fish tank and approximately 3 x 6 feet grow bed. The system I will be building can be scaled larger or smaller based on the amount of space that's available.
I could use a 150 gallon fish tank and two grow beds, or three grow beds and a 200 gallon fish tank. Aquaponics offers flexibility and affordability because with a little pre-planning and creativity, it's an easy do-it-yourself project. Stay tuned for updates.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Using Worm Castings in Hydroponics
I've been using vermicastings (i.e. castings from worms) in my deep water culture bubbler system for a couple of weeks. The 2 lbs of castings are stored in a paint strainer bag and submerged in 9 gallons of water. The castings are generated by 1 lb of European Nightcrawler worms that compost my kitchen scraps and a large amount of coconut coir used as bedding material. The "bubbling" comes from aquarium air stones and an inexpensive aquarium air pump that aerates the water.
Today while removing the old castings and replacing them with fresh ones, I noticed something very interesting and somewhat surprising. Live worms! I counted 5 or 6 without really looking too hard. The worms weren't just living in the top of the castings, but there were several submerged deeply under water.
I've been keeping worms for 3 years. Based on my experience, too much water in a worm bin is not healthy for the inhabitants. When things get too wet in the worm bin, I often find "drowned" worms. It's rare that I get that kind of water in my bins these days, but as a worm keeping newby it happened more often when I would overfeed them.
I can only guess that the worms were able to survive in the deep water culture bins because of the aeration being provided by the air pump. If worms can survive in that environment, then the plants must like it even more than I thought. :-)
Today while removing the old castings and replacing them with fresh ones, I noticed something very interesting and somewhat surprising. Live worms! I counted 5 or 6 without really looking too hard. The worms weren't just living in the top of the castings, but there were several submerged deeply under water.
I've been keeping worms for 3 years. Based on my experience, too much water in a worm bin is not healthy for the inhabitants. When things get too wet in the worm bin, I often find "drowned" worms. It's rare that I get that kind of water in my bins these days, but as a worm keeping newby it happened more often when I would overfeed them.
I can only guess that the worms were able to survive in the deep water culture bins because of the aeration being provided by the air pump. If worms can survive in that environment, then the plants must like it even more than I thought. :-)
Deep Water Culture Update
I took a few recent pictures of my basement hydroponics gardening project.
The collards are thriving in my deep water culture bubbling resevoirs, but they took longer to get started than the lettuce and spinach. I am sure the low intensity light generated by the T8 bulbs is a factor, but we've already had one harvest and judging from the health of the roots, we should get several more.
Similar to the collards, the kale was a slow starter. We've had one harvest so far and it looks like we're due for another soon.
We've had about 15 servings of salad from the hydroponic lettuce since I planted in in early November. One of the plants has slowed down, but the other 5 are still growing well.
The spinach is really doing well in the deep water culture. Some people told me that I would have trouble growing spinach in hydroponics, but so far I've had great success.
This tub of spinach is being grown in a much diluted hydroponic nutrient resevoir. Instead of 18 ounces of nutrient per 10 gallons of water this nutrient is being grown in 12 ounces of nutrient and about 2 lbs of worm castings in a paint strainer bag.It's an experiment to see if I can stretch the hydroponic nutrient farther and reduce costs. This the second week since I planted the seedlings and they are picking up speed.
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| Collards |
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| Kale |
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| Lettuce |
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| Spinach |
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| Spinach growing in vermicastings deep water culture |
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Vermicastings for Deep Water Culture
In my basement gardening project I've been going through 1 quart of nutrient every 3 - 4 weeks. Because I am a regular customer, the local hydroponic store gives me a 10% discount, but it still costs me $19 and change. As a way to help offset some of that $19, I am experimenting with vermicastings in one of my deep water culture bins.
I've been using red wigglers and European nightcrawlers to compost my kitchen scraps, newspapers, and cardboard. I've used the castings successfully in my ornamental plants and backyard garden, so I put a couple of pounds of vermicast in a paint strainer bag and suspended it in one of my hydroponic bins.
It's only been a week so far, but I've got my fingers crossed.
I've been using red wigglers and European nightcrawlers to compost my kitchen scraps, newspapers, and cardboard. I've used the castings successfully in my ornamental plants and backyard garden, so I put a couple of pounds of vermicast in a paint strainer bag and suspended it in one of my hydroponic bins.
It's only been a week so far, but I've got my fingers crossed.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Winter Kale and Spinach Harvest
Today we received our first significant snowfall of more than an inch accompanied by some of the coldest temperatures of the year for the Metro Detroit area. But the cold temperatures didn't stop me from harvesting fresh kale and spinach for a dish my wife calls Easy Greens Bake from the Geraldson's Community Farm Farm to Table Cookbook.
It was 19 degrees outside when I harvested this collander full of hydroponic vegetables. Growing fresh vegetables outside in Michigan this time of year is impossible, but with hydroponics, efficient lighting, controlled temperature, and effective nutrients veggies these can be grown year round. I grew these in a spare room in my basement garden.
It's a rewarding feeling to grow food, harvest it, and eat it within 30 minutes. Now that's fresh!
It was 19 degrees outside when I harvested this collander full of hydroponic vegetables. Growing fresh vegetables outside in Michigan this time of year is impossible, but with hydroponics, efficient lighting, controlled temperature, and effective nutrients veggies these can be grown year round. I grew these in a spare room in my basement garden.
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| Hydroponic spinach and kale |
It was 19 degrees when I harvested this collander full of kale and spinach today. Growing fresh vegetables outside in Michigan this time of year is impossible, but with hydroponics, efficient lighting, controlled temperatures, and effective nutrients; veggies like these can be grown year round. I grew these in a spare room in my basement garden.
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| Kale, spinach, onions, tomatoes, and eggs = Easy Bake Greens for supper |
It's a rewarding feeling to grow food, harvest it, and eat it within 30 minutes. Now that's fresh!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Malabar Spinach
I'm always on the look out for ways to maximize yield in the smallest foot print possible. As far as spinach goes, the Malabar variety seems to fit the profile perfectly. I've seen many pictures on the web suggesting that this type of spinach grows like a bush and reaches 6 feet tall. It sounds perfect for an Earthbox.
GrowingGroceries.com has a detailed review of this spinach. Based on his impressions, it kind of sounds like most other types of greens. It's probably an aquired taste, but for me most greens are. The older I get, the more I like them.
Spinach is normally a cool season vegetable, but this variety reaches maturity in 50 - 60 days and will grow in warmer weather. Now if I can just find some seeds....
GrowingGroceries.com has a detailed review of this spinach. Based on his impressions, it kind of sounds like most other types of greens. It's probably an aquired taste, but for me most greens are. The older I get, the more I like them.
Spinach is normally a cool season vegetable, but this variety reaches maturity in 50 - 60 days and will grow in warmer weather. Now if I can just find some seeds....
Beekeeping?
My brother-in-law has been keeping bees for more than a decade. We usually buy at least a 6 pack of 2 lb jars of honey each year. The availability of honey from my private source has declined these past couple of years due to increased work duties cutting into his part-time beekeeping endeavors.
I know very little about beekeeping, but I do know it can be pretty difficult to manage honey production realiably year-in and year-out. As is the case with most types of agriculture, some years are simply better than others. Several thousand honey bees do most of the work, but there are environmental concerns and pests that must be managed.
I have never really lived in close proximity to my brother-in-law, so I haven't had the opportunity to learn any of his beekeeping secrets. I've performed a few "beekeeping" searches on the Internet and have learned a little bit about beekeeping as a hobby and/or part-time business. People keep bees for the honey, making candles, skin care products, soaps, lotions, potions, and some even harvest queens to market to other beekeepers. There are thousands of resource websites, retailers, blogs, wholesales, education courses, etc. on beekeeping.
Linda's Bees is one of my favorite blogs about keeping bees in the Atlanta Area. She has provide a detailed list of equipment needed to get started. There are many local beekeeping associations and there is a website that lists hundreds of beekeeping links. There's also many, many sites that provide quality beekeeping equipment.
Will there be a bee hive or two in my backyard this spring? Time will tell I guess, but the benefits for my other gardening endeavors are plentiful. They might also help cure my sweet tooth :-) I have may hobbies already, so my first task will be convincing my wife that I need to add another.
I know very little about beekeeping, but I do know it can be pretty difficult to manage honey production realiably year-in and year-out. As is the case with most types of agriculture, some years are simply better than others. Several thousand honey bees do most of the work, but there are environmental concerns and pests that must be managed.
I have never really lived in close proximity to my brother-in-law, so I haven't had the opportunity to learn any of his beekeeping secrets. I've performed a few "beekeeping" searches on the Internet and have learned a little bit about beekeeping as a hobby and/or part-time business. People keep bees for the honey, making candles, skin care products, soaps, lotions, potions, and some even harvest queens to market to other beekeepers. There are thousands of resource websites, retailers, blogs, wholesales, education courses, etc. on beekeeping.
Linda's Bees is one of my favorite blogs about keeping bees in the Atlanta Area. She has provide a detailed list of equipment needed to get started. There are many local beekeeping associations and there is a website that lists hundreds of beekeeping links. There's also many, many sites that provide quality beekeeping equipment.
Will there be a bee hive or two in my backyard this spring? Time will tell I guess, but the benefits for my other gardening endeavors are plentiful. They might also help cure my sweet tooth :-) I have may hobbies already, so my first task will be convincing my wife that I need to add another.
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