Aquaponics and you

Aquaponics could help you live a healthier lifestyle.

What is aquaponics?

A system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purifies  the water.

What is hydroponics?

The cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than in soil; soilless growth of plants.

What could aquaponics do for me?
The short answer is, it could allow you to grow a garden or plants indoors, because the space it requires is dependent on how big you want it, scaling from a bamboo plant in a beta bowl to something on a much larger scale.

The long answer.  The meat and potatoes.  The reason you most likely are here reading.  Traditional hydroponics and aquaponics completely redefine farming.  No longer do we need to slave over that patch in the yard that never gets enough sun, or it's always over grown.  Never again must you say you can't have a tomato plant on the 17th floor of a high rise.  We the small people have a way to fight back, a hydroponic garden.

Hydroponics can grow everything faster and uses substantially less water and with a lot less effort.  How?  You may ask.  Shockingly enough it's easier then you may have thought.

First, aquaponics uses substantially less water then almost everything.  There is virtually no water loss except for evaporation.  Second, aquaponics is generally grown in a contained environment, so there is zero weeding to be done.  Ever.  

So with virtually zero water loss and just about the only maintenance you have to do if feed the fish daily(or get a 7+ day auto feeder) and harvest your crops.  With an idea like that it seems crazy not to learn about it.  Now I'm feeling like an infomercial, but I promise I am not selling anything.  Only educating.

I built an aquaponics system for an initial upfront cost of under $200.  $170.06 to be exact.  Now with a few extras over time, mostly for convenience it brings the cost to about $300.  The $170 system included fish, light bulbs, fish food, the tank, media, and seeds.  The $300 system included things like improved lights, a second light fixture, a worm starter kit, and electrical timers etc.

Size, cosmetics, and overall thriftiness will contribute to most of your cost.  For example I saw a set up that used soda bottles(as the grow bed) connected with flex tubing and a sump.  Google search "unique aquaponics setups" and you can easily see some of the budget points in other peoples creations.  Speaking on creations don't be afraid to be creative.

Ok, we haven't really talked about how aquaponics could work for you.  If you live in downtown a yard is the sidewalk.  That doesn't give you much room to start a garden, right?  Wrong!  Honestly possibly one of the very few reasons when being wrong is good.  You can grow tomatoes in that skyrise or cucumbers in your condo.  Deer ate your green beans again, you can have an aquaponics system anywhere.

While I was with my neighbor last night she read my rough draft of this article and she stated something along the lines of "where would I possibly put this".  We started looking on Instagram and Google to see other peoples "small aquaponic setups", this trailed into a conversation of aquaponics vs hydroponics from a running cost perspective which we unanimously agreed that the cost of growing hydro is more expensive then buying fish food.    What we found made my night.  Target sells a beta bowl aquaponics system. Here.  Now that link does not send you directly to Target.  It links to the manufacturer.  I do not support or endorse that product.  Mention of it is for informational and or educational purposes only. 

If anyone wants more information on the aquaponics system I created, check it out on Instagram @Urbangardenman.

I hope you enjoyed the article,  and don't be afraid to garden outside the box.

~Daved1058

30 Thrifty tips help the environment

1) Buy office supply's made with post consumer content

2) Buy packing supply's made with post consumer content

3) Buy toilet paper made with post consumer content 

4) Buy plastic beverage containers made with post consumer content

5) Buy a recycled re-usable plastic beverage holder

6) Re-use your old plastic bottles for more beverages or ice

7) Leave styrofoam at the store and pick a re-usable, bidegradable, or recyclable option(my opinion picking anything else is better then styrofoam)

8) Use rechargeable battery's

9) Find a recycling center for used battery's (rechargeable or traditional)

10) Start a recycling bin in your house

11) If there is a bag in your recycling bin, crush cans, bottles, and break down boxs for more room

12) If possible don't use a trash bag in your recycling can

13) Use grocery bags as trash bags in your bathroom or office

14) Bring your own reusable grocery bags when you go shopping

15) Buy meat from a butcher with no plastic packaging

16) Use bio degradable wet wipes or flushable wipes instead of toilet paper

17) Start a garden (Fresh produce and 0 packaging)

18) Start a compost (0 organic material in your trash)

19) Bring your old ink cartridges from your printer to a drop off location

20) Recycle light bulbs at an authorized recycling center

21) Buy bulk stuff when shopping, less waste

22) Turn the old coffee can into a piggy bank

23) For pet owners, bio-degradable pet waste bags

24) Upgrade your ride to a hybrid car/truck

25) Upgrade your ride to a 100% electric

26) Upgrade your house to solar (tax credits and sell extra power to the grid)

27) Save the paper and stamp, Email letters when practicle 

28) Recycle your old phone (generally where you go for a new one)

29) Use an old coffee cup for grease drippings rather then an old can (clean the cup when grease is cool)

30) Paperless billing

This is not an all inclusive list, just some ideas to get you on the right track.

One mans trash could be a one mans treasure.

I 

hope you enjoyed the read.

~daved1058

Much to young to feel this damn old

"I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was" - Toby Keith

Today me and my fianceé went grocery shopping and we ended up spotting some vaccume cleaners.  Wait, go back a day or so.  We broke our vaccume and ended up in the market for a new one.  Weeks prior we have been talking about getting a new one but couldn't justify the purchase since we had one that worked.

Getting it home we were pretty stoked about getting it out the package and trying it on the carpet and checking it out.  It worked great.  

Life stopped for a moment.  

High points of my day are I didn't get hit by a car on my twice daily commute and I remembered to bring my thermas home to repeated the process again.

High points of my week are my pay check is correct and the weekend.

Then special events that occur after an inconvient  equipment malfunction such as an old TV dying and upgrading to something new or your vaccume cleaner cease to function and upgrading to a multi-surface with great suction.

When did life stop being fun and end up being routine.  I remember being 18 drunk as a skunk in a cab in route to a gentleman's club or being 24 four wheeling every day and fishing every morning.  Here I am a couple years later wondering how life changes so quickly you don't notice it, but slow enough you don't notice it.

I assume every story can have a moral, so the moral of this story would be: Don't forget to enjoy the fun your having.  Savor it, you don't have that kind of freedom again until you retire.

I hope you enjoyed the post.  Have fun and stay safe.

~Daved1058

The price of your soul

Most my childhood years and some of my young adult years(until I joined the military) I lived in this rural, backwoods, 1 light town that I would wager you never heard of before.

Once I joined the military I then moved everywhere yet stayed no where long enough to really amount to anything.  However, I picked up tidbits of life a long the way.  All of those experiences however jaded through the eyes of a sailor, has brought me to where I am today.  Living in the heart of the United States.  With the military as well as thousands upon thousands of other people packed like sardines into their belief of city and urban living.

So here we are at the heart of the problem or as the media portrays it, the solution.  The social ladder.

Everyone out there enjoys activities that the consider fun. Everyone has activities they must complete in order to have fun. If time travel was even remotely possible, I'd say travel to before there was electricity, before cars, before you needed to work 3 jobs to pay rent in down town Huston, Santa Monica, or Boston.  What is your soul worth? 2am pizza delivery?  How about your 600sq/ft apartment overlooking yet another apartment complex?  We just don't stop to think about the fact that those people who work that overnight delivery job is to afford their own studio apartment.

Honestly why do we sell ourselves so cheap?  Is the addiction to the convinces enough to convince ourselves the negatives aren't that bad?  

When growing up in small town in Maine the only thing your doing at 2am is sleeping.  With a housing density of only about 65 houses per square mile you can take a breath with out smelling the neighbors trash or hearing that Yorkie-poo barking in the unit above you all hours of the night. Compare that to Boston at about 5560 houses per sq/mi, or New York City with about 11,740 houses per sq/mi, talk about crowded.

In Manhattan NY, the average rent is about $4,000 yet the annual income is a mere $66,700.  With an approximate monthly income after taxs and such of $3600.  Last time I did math that leaves them in the red around $400.  People have to eat too.  The average American adult eats around $150 a month or more depending on if they enjoy eating out.  Transportation costs, the list goes on.
In Sanford ME, the average rent is just under $1000 and the average income is right around $33,000. With an approximate months income after taxes and such of $1775.  That leaves them in the green about $800 bucks a month. 

You guys are probably scratching your head and wondering what any of this has to do with anything.  I think that this has everything to do with everything.  Your only worth as much as you think you are.  Spending every last dime to stay "keeping up with the Jones's" does nothing but fill your life with anxiety.  When is the last time someone said nature doesn't make me relaxed because there is too much stress outside?  I can't say I have ever heard anything close to it before.  My question is simple. Why sell your soul to stay miserable?

"Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy." - Hamlin Garland

Traveling across Maine

VS

Driving through Massachusetts
                                                                              

Don't forget to take some time and smell the roses.  I hope you enjoyed the read.

~Daved1058







Sources:
www.bankrate.com
www.lendingtree.com

Go green save green

"Imagine if trees gave off wifi signals.  We would be planting so many trees and we'd probably save the planet too.  Too bad they only produce the oxygen we breathe."  Unknown

Everyone has heard this since you were young.  "Recycle, recycle, recycle", "save the planet", and "go green".  I'm not here to preach about recycling or even to tell you to do it.  At the end of the day it's each and every person's personal decision as well as their reason(s) why they do or do not recycle.

Let's look at trees.  They give shade, help prevent run-off, add a nice touch to a piece of property, provide a source of heat to millions of family's world wide, and they are even home to many animals around the world, and its disappearing at about 20 million acres per year.

According to The Paper Lifestyle, paper products takes up about 35% of our landfills.  

Let's take a moment to think about that, if we were to recycle more paper, that would free up a large chunk of landfill space for non-processable waste.  Prices for post-consumer paper products are comparable to virgin paper products, and in reality should prove to save you some money when you go to purchase your office supplies.  This is because it is cheaper to manufacture and as an incentive to purchase eco-responsible products.

Company's have started to resort to "tree farms".  That means that loggers have started responsible harvesting and have reduced the amount of virgin forests they must strip to supply our paper product needs.

Let's take a look at another popular item found in most people's house. Cans of soda.   One source claims the average American consumes about 600 cans of soda per year.  That is 1.6 cans per day.  

In result several states participate in a mandatory program called "bottle deposit".  That program consisted in charging a nickel(a dime in some states) per bottle and can, they have "redemption centers" in city's and towns where they gave you back your bottle deposit in return for the cans/bottles you redeemed.  Likely many of you reading this won't live in one of those states, that is why there is s second option.  

Scrap aluminum, depending on the day of the week and all that jazz, the scrap value could be as high as fifty cents per pound.  You would need about 34 cans per pound.  If your going to drink them and you have some storage room you might as well.  

You could always just put them in the blue recycle bins and put it curb side on trash day.

Are you feeling thirsty?  They say you should be drinking at least 64 oz of water per day.  When I think about drinking water I first think, that my tap tastes chlorinated so I reach in the fridge for a bottle of water.  

The United States consumes about 1500 bottles of water per second, and the world consumes about 50,000,000,000 bottles of water annually, says sources at Tree Hugger.

One 20oz bottle of water weighs about 7oz.  In the recent years they have started making those environmentally friendly bottles such as Dasani's "zero waste bottle", so the weight can vary by up to 50%. For the sake of math let's stick to the control weight of a bottle of 7oz.  
Every second the U.S. produces 656.25 pounds of plastic waste just from bottles of water.  There seems not to have a cookie cutter answer on the weight of a bottle anymore because they are constantly being "re-evaluated" and "improved".  For our purposes 7oz per bottle will work.

Was that a head of lettuce I saw go out in the garbage?  Ever though about composting, but didn't know where to start or thought I live in an apartment, don't I need it outside?  Well compost-able goods along with paper and wood products is estimated to take up to 65% of our landfill space.  I am not going to give you a how to guide. YouTube does that quite well.  Just the facts and some opinions. Composted soil makes some of the best potting soil(psst... and its free).  Go to Google and search "vermicompost".  Use it to grow a window garden for your herbs.  Give the nutrient rich soil to your friends and family and maybe they might give you a share of their harvest.  If you look at indoor compost bins (some are made of all recycled materials, 2 birds with 1 stone) they are designed for indoor use(like duh, its in the name) and have little to no odor. Some claim to "odor free".  Poke your head around to find something suitable for you and yours.

There are millions upon millions of other things that can and are recycled.  Take a look at Waste Managements site for a generalized list of what you can recycle and where.


If you are looking for a gift that has been given a second chance at life take a look at Uncommon Goods

That was my 2 cents.  Hope you enjoyed the read and stay green.

~Daved1058