It has been a very busy and productive end of summer & early autumn time here at PVA. So its probably easiest to continue on from my last post and break into various other tangents as we go.
Shade Cloth
Well as predicted the black shade cloth roof was far too much shade and the plants showed it accordingly. All growth either stopped or became very lanky & leggie. I was lucky to aquire some second hand, industrial quality 5% shade / woven bird netting... as you can see it does require some repairs, it makes a huge difference. The size of the one single piece was large enought to cover the new chicken enclosure as well as new raised garden bed. We really dont want any shade factor added due to such few hours of direct sun in winter, but we still need to keep the wildlife out. We will keep the black shade cloth and simply slide it back over for the extreme hot & sunny few weeks we always get during summer.
We now have 8 healthy chickens well settled into their new home. Now included into our home food production is 5-6 eggs daily.
Peter has devised a brilliant DIY hanging feeder & water. Just low enough for the chickens to feed from, yet suspended high enough off the ground, with next to zero 'overspray' of seed onto the ground keeps potential rodent problems minimized.
The chooks are also getting good volumes of aquaponic green waste & cuttings, kitchen scraps & BSFL.
Peter has installed artificial day lighting to extend the day perception & encourage continued egg production through winter.
Black Soldier Flys
Well summer has really seen an explosion in our BSFL population. Our DIY harvestor is working an absolute treat ! During the height of summer we were getting perhaps a kilo per week, ive never bothered to weigh a sample batch yet . This time of year we are getting about 2 cups every 3or4 days.
New Raised Garden Bed
I was pushing for an 'Earthan Style' garden bed but it didnt happen... I am how ever delighted to have any extra square feet for food production. Just about anything laying around at ground level will be subject to the wallaby's having a sample nibble, so removable wire fencing was in order. The bird mesh cloth fits the whole system so well, now to final trim it to size.
DIY Solar Power Upgrade
As originally predicted, a larger off grid system was always going to happen by way of expansion.
A new building now known as the 'PVA Power Station' has been constructed.
It houses a new solar smart meter, a combo of 10kW & 2kW inverters and 2 aging 4kW batteries. On order are 6x 3kW batteries. Peter has done an amazing job with the wiring incorporating running the shed & workshop. The whole AP system & shed easily switch's from solar to mains with auto backups & recharging systems.
Filter & Sump
I admit that my setup has a very basic, static media filter setup. I do have plans to change the filter design as it can be a bit labor intensive requiring a good clean every 3-4months. What it lacks in serviceability, it makes up for in size. 1500ltr pond filled with 600ltrs of bioballs. Like the ever popular K1 media, these are also slightly negativly boyant. When they develop their biofilm they wish to float just below the surface. When cleaning time comes I simply backwash the balls and pump out 100-150ltrs of high quality biosludge and use as irrigation on the earth garden beds.
Veggies & Plants
Summer was a very abundant time with 5x more production than we could consume ourselves. I didnt put heaps of effort into doing or trying new veggie types due to so much other expansion work around the place. Notable stand outs were the usual lettuce & salad greens... tomatoes, leeks, spring onions, okra (both red & green) & yellow chilli's have also done very well.
A new addition to the aquaponics is a passion fruit. It has been trained up a wire, out through the wire fence and into the chicken enclosure. New wire will be added to the roof line of the enclosure so it may continue to spread across the top thus providing some extra shade for the chooks during summer.
I do have one new & very interesting plant that is going gangbusters in the aquaponics growbed - Luffa ! It has now grown to cover the sump/filter area on an overhead wire system. The 'fruit' are used as a natural sponge & im looking forward to making some soap to incorporate them with. Just love the bright yellow flower.
Other Additions
Include the 'dome' style roof support over the chooks. This was to raise the netting above the height of the growing passion fruit.
I have also completed the internal working area with the finishing of grow bed drainage with a blue metal path & timber retaining wall.
I have enjoyed an abundance of variety in our harvest's.
It has been a complete pleasure & I have loved creating and sharing some tasty meals for family & friends.
20 ingredients in 1 harvest -
Nasturtium, lemongrass, purple king beans, beetroot, kaffir lime + leaves, red Bull's Horn chilli, yellow Hungarian Wax chilli, curly parsley, green oak lettuce, spearmint, sweet basil, royal basil, spring onion, rock melon, continental parsley, banana capsicum, purple capsicum, mini green capsicum, red okra.
The system as at 6th May 2013 -
Our next fish harvest is due with in a week... Keep an eye open for the next update.
