Visit to Bluegrass Aquaponics

I've been working on my own aquaponics project for a while now.  Still working on the greenhouse so the smaller proof of concept system I put up is still in the garage.  But I was fortunate enough to get a personal tour at Bluegrass Aquaponics in Versailles, Kentucky.

I was meet by Lora Ginter (her husband and co-owner Ed was not available) and shown back to the greenhouse.  

The have a terrific setup with media beds, raft beds, seed starting and of course lots and lots of fish tanks.  It was obvious that Lora knew a lot about aquaponics and walked me through their extensive setup.   My backyard setup is going to be a lot simpler.  

I learned a lot about media beds (check out growrock as an alternative to expanded clay and/or gravel), filtering and how to handle the solid wastes.  They have several extra filtering tanks that aren't mentioned in most of the documentation that I've read.  I was very impressed.  Also got some great ideas about planting.  Things l would not have thought about planting Lora and Ed are having success with.  

They are growing lots of lettuce, tomatoes, kale, other greens and even brussel sprouts and cabbage.  I love brussel sprout and have never been able to grow cabbage that tthose pesky cabbage worms didn't get to first.  Can't wait to try both.

And soon they will be offering live tilapia.  You should have seen the size of these fish.  I plan on going back when they do and getting a few.  I not only love tilapia it will give me some practice on filleting them.  Can't get much fresher than that. 

Lora and Ed (met Ed as we were wrapping up the tour) are enthusiastic about aquaponics, sustainability and providing the best possible product to their customers.  I purchased some of the lettuce they are growing (they were delicious).

Visit their Bluegrass Aquaponics Facebook page for more information.  Be sure to follow their progress as their business grows.

Hope my own project works out as well.  Thanks again Lora and Ed for letting me take a look at your system.  I enjoyed it immensely.

Know where your food comes from, know how it gets from farm to table.

It's Friday the 13th. Wonder what the chickens are up to.

Visit to Chicken Ridge Farm

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an add on Craigslist about some French Black Copper Marans chicks available.  Marans being one of my favorite breeds of chickens I had to check it out.

French Black Copper Marans

Marans are not only colorful birds but lay the darkest eggs of any chickens.  These birds are always refered to as marans even if there is only one.  Must be a French thing.








 After several emails and text messages I got to meet Julie the owner of Chicken Ridge Farm.

It was a 90 minutes drive each way but it was definitely worth it.  Julie has a great collection of rare chickens.  Several of which I brought home with me.  One of the breeds she raises is

English Chocolate Cuckoo Orpington

The picture does do this bird justice.  The coloring is awesome and would look great in anyone flock. Julie also is starting to raise one of the strangest chickens around.

AYAM
CEMANI

These birds are totally black inside and out.  Julie held one while I opened it's beak and the tongue and inside of the mouth is also black as night.  Reportedly all the internal organs are also black.  Though we didn't test that.  Oddly enough this bird lays white eggs.  Go figure.

And now to my favorite breed.  Or at least it's my favorite at the moment.  Julie has some spectactular Crested Crème Legbars.

Crested Cream Legbar

There are three things I love about these chickens.  The color of the eggs.




The fact that the chicks are easily sexed at birth.

The girls have a chipmunk stripe and the boys have a spot on their heads.










And of course the funny little tuft or crest of feathers on their heads.








Check out the Chicken Ridge Farm's web site. www.chickenridgefarm.com And if you get a chance to talk to Julie, tell her Bob says hi and thanks for the great birds.

What to do with extra Sunflow Seeds

I planted giant sunflowers and had an abundance of sunflower seed.  What to do with them..... ?

Watch how big his cheeks get.  He ran off and came back for bowl after bowl.  I hope I don't have sunflowers popping up everywhere next spring.  No telling where he stored them.

Fall Harvest

It's getting colder and rainier in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  So it was time to get the last or almost last of the vegetables harvested.  Still have a few winter squash on the vine hoping to get a bit ripper before picking.

Was a good year.  No pest problem, everything seemed to produce well and overall I'm very happy with how this year went.  Here are some pictures of the last harvest.