How to make a chicken waterer with nipple drippers

Made up a chicken waterer for the girls cage over the past few days.. This one is 25L/6½gal in size & should last the 4 of them for at least a week if not longer I think..



A closed in water feeder like this will also help to keep their water cleaner.. It was a constant battle with them scratching dirt into their old feeder so it needed cleaning at least every second day..  I think the closed in feeder will definitely take some of the "AWWW DAAAD" out of the daily chicken choirs..
I have already started to work on another design that I will have a crack at at a later date..

There are also the "Chicken feeder, Living greens feeder for poultry or rabbits"
& the "Cheap chicken feeder, how to build a bulk chicken/poultry feeder" clips that might interest you if your into doing some basic DIY jobs around the chook pen..

For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our "Bits Out the Back" Facebook page...
Have a great one All...

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Catching up with the chooks

Has been quite a while since a post was made on our poor neglected blog. So though I would pop up a bit of an update on a few changes to the chickens yard & water feeder..
To start with, the chickens water feeder has been modified to take another dripper station with both of them being connected to a float valve fed water barrel.. I think our daughters were more excited about this development than the chooks as it is one less job they have to do every day ;) 
The clip below is from a few months ago when the system was set up & will give you some idea on how it was made..



I have found that the barrel has started to grow a bit of algae after I neglected to add the apple cider vinegar.. You can see in the most recent update from the chook pen below..
Had a bit of rain over the past few days so thought I would show how we use dolomite lime to keep the odours down when the chicken pen gets a drenching.. It also doubles as a lice & mite treatment as well which is a bit of a bonus.. A new fence has been built down one side of the day yard as well which will help give them a bit of privacy from the neighbours dog..



Also thought I would include a look at how we are making up their nesting box filler using shredded paper.. Our shredded bills/scrap paper has been going into the worm farms for a while now & we have expanded our use of it due to Bianca collecting discarded "newspapers" on her daily train commute..  We are now using it  in the girls nesting box thanks to our increased supply..  



Would also like to use shredded paper & cardboard as bedding in the night pen as well but will need to stock pile a few more papers before we can manage that methinks ;)

Thats it for a quick little look at how the girls are going at the moment.. Hope to have a few more updates on the aquaculture systems as well as a run down on the soil patch posted in the next week or so, time permitting..

Cheers all & have a great one,
Rob :)

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Saving Sensor Data With MCUs And microSD Cards

microSD card with adapter

If your microcontroller (MCU) project has sensors collecting data, you may want to save that data in addition to, or instead of, controlling with the data or displaying it on an LCD screen.

One way to save data generated by sensors on an MCU project is to use a microSD card. The microSD card (SD means Secure Digital) is a relatively compact and inexpensive way to store digital information. The microSD card is 15 x 11 x 1 mm, and an 8GB Class 10 microSD card can easily be found for $5 to $10 as of June 2014 in the US. Many smartphones or other mobile computing devices use microSD cards for expanding the memory capacity of the devices.

SparkFun microSD Shield

Today well take a brief look at the relatively easy approach to saving MCU project data -- using a microSD card add-on for an Arduino. If you go the microSD addon for Arduino route, there are likely less expensive options, but the two safest ways I know of for an inexperienced MCU person is to go with the SparkFun microSD Shield ($14.95) and their microSD Shield Quickstart Guide or use the Adafruit microSD breakout board ($14.95) and their microSD breakout board tutorial. Ed Smith has experience with the Texas Instruments LaunchPad MCU board, so maybe he can do a future post about microSD BoosterPacks, and whether that data storage approach is significantly less expensive or easier to hook up and program.

I havent used either the SparkFun or the Adafruit microSD add-on component, so this is the voice of research, not the voice of hands-on experience. After I build a data-gathering MCU project, like a gardening project that measures soil moisture or light, I plan to use one of the microSD card approaches to save the data from the sensors. At that point Ill write another blog post to discuss the process to hook up the microSD reader to the other electronics and highlight any issues I run into with the microSD add-on.

Adafruit microSD breakout board

The Adafruit microSD breakout board may have advantages, such as smaller board size, compared to the SparkFun microSD Shield, but if the other project components can accomodate the Shield, the inexperienced MCU project builder might be better off with the Shield because its a more straightforward approach. Compare the SparkFun Shield picture, above left, to the Adafruit breakout board and breadboard approach, shown to the right. If your project is going to have other components that youll need the breadboard for anyway, the Adafruit approach might be nice so you have better visibility for jumpering parts together and observing the operation of the Arduino once youve got the entire project connected. Only the hands-on experience following the tutorials for the SparkFun or Adafruit microSD card modules will show whether one approach is easier to get operating or more reliable once your project is actually being used for its intended purpose.

Another approach to using microSD cards with MCUs is to make your own circuit board and buy the MCU itself and a microSD card reader. Ill cover that approach in the future after we start designing circuit boards and getting them fabbed. And Ill also need to do a bunch more research about interfacing the MCU and microSD card reader.

To give readers of this blog a better perspective on using microSD cards with MCUs, or other ways to save MCU project sensor data, I will try to get one or several posts written by people whove successfully built projects that saved the sensor data. If youve done that and are willing to write a post about it, please contact me via email at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com. Thanks!

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Grow Bucket Update with a quick walk through the patch

Just a update walk through Clip....

& an update on the Bucket experiment... (lazy I know....)

Shall do a proper post soon on whats been going on in the patch later this week...

Have a great one all!!!

: )»

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Aquaponic update vlog with lazy fish winter tomatoes

Has been nearly 3 months since the last aquaponic vlog update so here you go folks.
Winter has struck here & the fish are starting to get a tad lazy due to the cold water but the plants are still growing strong.

The tomatoes have had another trim today with a few branches strung up due to the weight of the new fruit forming.
Have noticed that the water level is dropping a bit more than normal so shall be investigating to see if there are any leaks developing on the pipe work. Im hoping that its just just the growth spurt weve seen over the past week or so that is causing the increased water usage.

Best be off & start working in the patch.
Cheers & all the best folks.

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Earth day Hangout with JT Bear at the Bronx Writing Academy

This afternoon was quite a day at the Bronx Writing academy!
After watching and discussing what earth day is/means, we had a hangout session with JT Bear. JT Bear is a gentle man from the west cost of Canada, who has youtube channel where he talks about his aquaponic set-up without hiding the problems he runs into.
We had a great time ! the students where a bit shy at the beginning, but they started to show what they had built, from top to bottom, explaining how the water flows from the bucket to the towers, as well as the difference between how on system is fed using store bought fertilizer and the other using compost tea. They showed in detail the different plants growing in the system : lettuce, spinach,"cabage" (actually Swiss chard), basil, cilantro, parsley, basil, and strawberries.

They then asked a few question to JT Bear about what he grows and why. They also asked if he was a cowboy ! JT Bear was a great sport and entertained the conversation with the students, going back and forth between subjects about our project, but also digression of video games and other.
The best question -I think - (from the questions "on point") was :
"Do you know what day it is today ? EARTH DAY !"
The students shared some of the thoughts about what we are doing to help preserve the environment. As one of the student say, by planting plants we help producing oxygen, and take carbon dioxide from the air. We also recycled salvaged wood and soysauce buckets, as well as made a worm composting bucket.

We finally ended the conversation and the excitement was palpable!

THANK YOU Mr. BEAR !

Finally couple of photos of the compost tea system on the left, and the "conventional" system on the right.


Thank you again!

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Aquaponic start up with Barrelponics

& were off !!!

Finely got motivated & set up the small barrelponic system using 2 x ½  drums as grow beds & a whole 44Gal/200L drum as the tank...

We used some saved metal for the stand along with recycled bolts & timbers...  We felt the old Hydroponic pump (14+ years old) should be left on the mothballs & a new one was purchased along with 5 x 45L bags of Hydroton to fill the tubs... Blue metal would of been cheaper but I think the weight would of caused some problems with the barrels distorting & possibly sagging in the centre...

Will be out there daily now for a few weeks taking the Ammonia, pH & Nitrate levels just to make sure things are kicking off nicely... I do have a slight concern that the pH was up a tad today nearing 8 so will be looking into adding some Acid to lower the levels tomorrow if it climbs again... Might start with lemon as we have so many on the tree & it goes so well with fish... **nods**  I have also been adding a cap full of Seasol seaweed extract to help the growth of the plants while it is starting up.. Will be searching a few forums into if it is a good idea to add worms or their "tea" to the system to help it out...

Now for the IBCs...
Have been cleaning some Besser blocks to line the base of the "trench" FT/FTs will be situated in but that is as far as I have gotten on the IBC system... I have been holding out for the BYAP IBC Manual that is coming out soon to see how different systems are set up before a decision is made on the final build...

 We have been on the lookout for cheap pipe & fittings for the IBC system... Made a start a few weeks ago by buying 2 buckets of used irrigation fittings including 3 brass gate valves for $5 at the markets...  Have used a gate valve & fittings already on the backup water tank for the system & a 19mm tap in the GB feed in line on the barrel system so has well & truly paid for itself already... Last Sunday we picked up 2 small drain fittings for the IBC grow bed stand pipes to sit in for $1 each...Still not to certain on the GB medium we will use.. I like the idea of scoria/lava rock but havent seen any for sale at the local suppliers... Might just have to be blue metal if I cant find it or it is to expensive...
Some helpful places to visit...
Just though I should mention the 2 places I have been lurking while trying to get sorted out...
Backyard Aquaponics & Practical Aquaponics...
Both sites have on line shops as well as forums that are full of helpful info...
There are other sites out ther but havent gotten past the forums of these 2 yet ....


Have a great one all...
: )»

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Aquaponic Q A session With Paul Van from Earthan Group

Last Saturday we were lucky enough to have Mr Paul Van Der Werf from the Earthan Group hold an aquaponic webinar/Q&A session from our backyard..

It involved people from as far away as Saudi Arabia & Canada asking question on all things related to backyard aquaponics & aquaculture.. After the webinar was over it was time for us locals to pick Pauls grey bits & chat about all things fish/plant related.. Was a great day, met some nice folks & picked up a few useful tips that will definitely help me out with our systems..

Pauls "go-to guy", Sockaponic ;)




Would like to thank Paul once more for taking time out to hold this session for us local enthusiasts & for all the assistance he has given myself.. Thanks too for not cringing at the silly questions I have tossed your way ;)
Would like to wish him & his family all the best on their move to the United Arab Emirates where Paul is in the process of building a 4400m2 integrated aquaculture pilot farm in the desert..
You can find Paul posting articles on his Earthan Group website where he also offers up loads of useful information/DIY ideas for us backyard enthusiasts.. He also posts regular updates on the progress of the large commercial aquaponics pilot farm on the Earthan Group Face Book page..

Cheers folks,
Rob..

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Coconut Prawn Curry with home grown spice

Have been teasing folks with pictures of our Coconut & Prawn/Shrimp Curry on Instagram & FaceBook so thought I would put a bit of a clip together as well ;-) While its great to be able to walk out the back & pick the spices fresh it can also be made with store bought ingredients as well.. 


Curry paste..

Chillies to taste (we use 2) + some for garnish if desired
Large thumb sized piece of ginger or about 2tsp of ginger paste
2 Large thumb sized  piece of galangal OR 3 heaped tsp powdered (not necessary but a favourite spice of mine)
2  Large thumbs of turmeric OR 3 heaped tsp of powdered
3 med cloves of garlic OR 2 heaped tsp garlic paste
¼ tsp salt
½ Tbsp oil

Chop spice into small pieces then pound all ingredients into a paste with a mortar & pestle OR you could cheat & use a food processor like me ;-)
A few tsp of water can be added if you are using powdered spice..

Coconut Prawn/Shrimp Curry..
Serves 2

oil for cooking
Curry paste from above or a good quality yellow curry paste..
¼ cup Shredded coconut 
1 med onion sliced into thinly
150-200g peeled prawn/shrimp  
10 water chestnuts, sliced or ½ small tin
½ med head of broccoli, cut into small florets & stem sliced thin
1 large handful of honey pod/sugar snap peas, sliced in half
½ capsicum/red pepper, sliced
200-250ml of coconut cream
salt

- Heat 2 Tbsp oil in Wok/large fry pan. 
- Fry curry paste for 1 minute then add shredded coconut, cook for another minute.
- Add onions & cook for 1 minute.
- Add in prawns & mix well with curry paste/onions. Some extra oil can go in if needed as well.
- When Prawns look ½ cooked add in veggies & mix well for 1 minute.
- Pour in coconut cream, mix through well then cover top of wok/fry pan & let curry simmer for 3 minutes to heat veggies through & finish off the prawns..
- Serve garnished with more chilli..
- ENJOY!!

Some optional extras to add would be a stalk of lemon grass added into the curry paste & a kaffir lime leaf added into the main dish with the onions

Hope you enjoy the dish as much as we do if you have a crack at it..
Cheers all :-)

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Light Up Your Life With MCU Controlled RGB LEDs

This evening I saw a recent EE Times article about using Arduinos to control RGB LEDs (red, green, blue light emitting diodes).

One of the first things that many people learn how to control with a microcontroller is an LED. It seemed like it would be good to learn a little more about LEDs, so I read the EE Times article. All I know about so far about LEDs and microcontrollers is how to light them up and that I should make sure to have an adequate pull-up resistor so I dont burn out the LED by putting too much current through it. I think. (For more on pull-up and pull-down resistors, see the Wikipedia entry or the article about the topic on ResistorGuide.com.)

The title of the EE Times article was a bit misleading because it specifies an LED lighting project, but that project was not mentioned again until the last paragraph of the article.

While the article was disappointing in terms of living up to its title, it did spur me to ask Google to fetch some information based on the keyword combo Arduino RGB LED. Google nicely did as requested, and it turns out there are a number of tutorials on how to control RGB LEDs with an Arduino. Likely lots of advanced tricks with RGB LEDs or interesting RGB LED projects could be found by reading through more of the search result for the above keyword combination, or by adding a fourth search term such as projects.

A couple RGB LED tutorials come from sources familiar to those who read a lot about Arduinos and microcontrollers. There are an Instructables tutorial and an Adafruit tutorial. The first page of search results also gave me a tutorial from new resource, OscarLiang.net. Havent had time yet to check out OscarLiang, but the RGB LED tutorial looked fairly detailed. RGB LEDs have a distinctive appearance -- the RGBs have four leads instead of the two found on regular LEDs. That may make it a little bit interesting to plug into a breadboard!

If Jeremy Blum doesnt cover RGB LEDs in his first six Arduino Basics video tutorials, Ill work through a couple of the tutorials I found today to learn more about using this type of LED.


In addition to the tutorials, the first page of results did have a couple projects. One was a straightforward Make: Project -- an RGB LED Lamp. Getting a little fancier was a Make: Project titled "Control RGB LEDs with this Android-Arduino Combo-Circuit." Controlling the LEDs with an Android would be kind of fun since I havent run into opportunities to combine Android and Arduinos for a microcontroller project yet. Ill have to see if someone else in the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group wants to work with me on that one. Ill have to research the project and find out how much the components for that cost.

Lastly, a pretty cool Arduino-controlled RGB LED project is the Wormhole Actualization Machine shown on BoingBoing (and other websites) in late May. This was an extremely complex project, at least to me, but the end result was really cool. You have to watch the video for this essentially useless but interesting device. Ill bet kids would love playing with it. It would be an interesting project to build, but a person would need to have a bit of extra cash and a strong desire to make what is essentially an interactive art project, or at least thats what it seems like to me. It could also be a movie prop, but if you made the Wormhole Actualization Machine for that reason, then youre going to also need to make a movie to go with the WAM. You make the WAM and the movie -- Ill make the popcorn...

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Growing Power with high tunnel aquaponics

Growing Power, Inc is an awesome social organization based out of Milwaukee that uses high tunnel aquaponics to great effect, producing upwards of 10 million pounds of food per year out of their ultra-intensive 3-acre urban farm.

The founder, Will Allen, is a MacArthur Fellow, and for good reason:



Heres a short overview of the aquaponics aspect of their operation:

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Back to basics with mulch

“Back to Eden” Documentary & Timer mulching..

Have been getting stuck back into a few jobbies in the patch the past few weeks as Winter is creeping up on us.. One job that we neglected to do for a few of the beds during summer was mulching.. We normally buy sugar cane mulch & top the beds with.. This is then turned into the beds before planting out the following crop.. Was reading on line (a Simple Savings thread from memory) where someone mentioned that sugar cane mulch tend to use up nitrogen when dug through the soil as added organic matter.. This is far from desirable when trying to build up fertile soils..  It wont be turned into the beds from now on & the plan is to make up our own mulch for future use from local resources.. 
One method of mulching we have become interested in is the “Back to Eden” method that some You Tube gardeners we follow have been using.. This documentary was a great mini refresher course in the ways of mulch that have helped us to rethink our mulching ways.. 
The core theme of the film is the use of semi composted tree trimmings/wood chips as a thick mulch that can help you to garden on undesirable soil types.. Other ways wood chips/timber mulch can be of great benefit to the health of all soil types are,

• Beneficial fungus, worms & bacteria will break the chips/mulch down from underneath working the nutrients into the soil improving soil structure so no tilling is required..
• Suppresses the weeds from growing & the ones that germinate on the surface are easy to pull due to the loose nature of the mulch layer..
• Insulates the soil from the extremes of cold & heat.
• It can be used in many styles of farming/gardening.. Orchards, veggie plots, pots on a deck or veranda could all benefit from a layer of mulch..
• Fertilisers such as composted manures & garden waste can still be added as a top dress.. 
• Liquid fertilisers like seaweed, worm cast tea & fish emulsion are a great to use as not only do they add nutrients but the action of the liquid will move nutrients from the decomposing top layer into the soil below..
• The wood chips hold water & release it when the ground around it dries out..

Our mulching progress..
We have been slowly processing a ½ rotten mango from our neighbours yard in the electric mulcher with some of this mulch already being added to bed #’s 5 & 9.. There is still more to mulch & we might play around with it in a few different mulch blends yet..
 The mango tree in the chook yard & some Chinese elms have been pruned then mulched up to run a few experiments.. The aim of all is to find which will breakdown the best into a usable wood mulch.. 2 barrels were set up with a mix of the different mulch, some lawn clippings, a large bag of off spinach leaves from a store & a bag of well composted horse manure that had a few worms inhabiting it.. Some castings full of worms were then added straight from a worm farm into 1 barrel to see how the 2 compare..
On Good Friday morning we purchased a Tumbleweed Composter from Gumtree then set about mulching the rest of the elms.. The mulch was used in 3 different tests to try some other methods of composting.. A barrel was set up with a mix of dried & fresh Chinese elm mulch with about 500g of  Dynamic Lifter to add some extra nutrients to see how it will go..  The Tumbleweed was also filled with the same mix as the barrel.. The last batch of mulch was left in a pile to decompose naturally with no additives & exposed to the weather on the spot of last year’s Good Bug Mixgarden..These will all be left until mid May when a comparison of all batches will be made.. Hopefully we will get some nice nutrient rich blends to use in the patch.. We shall continue to use sugar cane trash while we build up our stores of tree mulch.. (We will swap to Lucerne hay once the S/Cane runs out)
 Since mentioning it on the Brisbane local Foodsite a fellow member (thanks Even) pointed me in the direction of Jean Pain& his Brush wood composting methods.. Jean goes a few steps further using the heat from the composting mass to heat water as well as collecting gas to run vehicles & cooking equipment.. These other bi products from the composting process  have interested me greatly but I fear Bianca will not agree with modifying the car to run on methane from compost just yet..
The clip bellow runs through our progress with the different set ups & some of the results so far..

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.. Feel free to leave suggestions if you can see where we could improve in our methods..
Have a great one…

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Roundtable Discussion with Randy Maugins and Duncan OFinioan

Tonight on the One Peoples Roundtable Discussion, Lisa and I will be talking about the weirdness of the past week.... or two..... or 3, lol, discussing again, the fluctuations in the Matrix, the fuckupidness of the "Timelines" and..... CERN.

...Cause oh yes, CERN has been doing some seriously freaky shit, and as of yesterday, they hit 14TeV with over quadruple the "bunches" of protons.  And let me tell you, shit got really WEIRD.

Lisa and I will be talking to our old friend Duncan OFinioan, from the show "Shoot from the Hip", and Randy Maugins from Off Planet Radio.... hopefully.   Internet is seemingly illusive for Duncan at the moment but hes searching for a hot spot, and Randy will be join us for the second half of the show.  When it comes to CERN, Duncan and Randy are two of the most knowledgeable people around as they have been reporting on CERN since 2008.

So please join us tonight for the LIVE Stream Broadcast of the One Peoples Roundtable Discussion, at 11pm London, 6pm EDT.  You can watch the show live on CCN:

http://www.consciousconsumernetwork.tv/ccn-live/

Or Join us in the  Chat room on Lisas site:  http://www.lisamharrison.com/watch-live/

Or watch live, right here on RTS, or on the RTS Facebook page.

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Preserving With Instant Gratification

As were moving into the summer season, the fruit is ripening and our preserving marathon begins. However this year, I recognize we dont really have whole days to commit to canning so I am starting out with small batches here and there.  It feels more sustainable this way and also more enjoyable.  Last weekend we stripped our apricot tree and canned the delicious sun ripened fruit (leaving the firmer fruit to ripen indoors saving it from the deer!). My favorite method of canning is the raw pack method; so simple and fast.  My neighbor brought over a beautiful bag of pluots from her tree last night. Heres how I canned them using the raw pack method.  

Set a large canning pot 3/4 full of water on the stove to boil. Wash and sterilize jars, I use quart jars and sterilize them in the oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes.  Wash fruit and cut the flesh off the pit.  Pack jars tightly with fruit. You can add 1/2 tsp. of vitamin C powder or add a squeeze of lemon to prevent fruit from browning.  

Pour boiling water over fruit leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Some people like to use a sugar or honey syrup but I prefer plain fruit. Screw on canning lids and place into hot water bath making sure water level is an inch above jars. There are different canning times depending on the type of fruit. I can pluots for 20 minutes and in general I like to refer to the fruit canning chart in The Encyclopedia of Country Living.  

I love using this method because we are able to preserve alot of fruit in a short time.  There is no added sweetener yet the fruit becomes almost caramelized during the canning process leaving it sweeter than in its raw state.  Its wonderfully convenient to pull out a quart of home grown plums. apricots, apples or peaches and whip up a  pie, crisp, or galette by simply spooning out the fruit into a pie shell or making a quick crumb topping. This is also amazing over waffles and pancakes, yogurt, or vanilla ice cream- Haagan Daz of course! 
Have fun preserving and happy summer!

Top picture from tinysorganic.com

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Aquaponic system Maintenance Dealing with a nitrite spike

Have had a bit of fun trying to get some fluctuating nitrite levels in the system under control over the past few weeks but think I have it sorted now.. Made up a clip explaining how I think it happened & the steps taken to keep the fish safe..

Will be keeping what happened with this system in mind as I start to plan for the new tanks & beds that will be going onto the system.. Have already thought about altering the way the filter is set up to try & remove as much solids as I can before they make it to the grow beds..
I found both the folks on the Backyard Aquaponics Forum & Paul from Earthan group very helpful with the advice that gave .. Pauls site also has a great salt treatment calculator that might come in handy to some..

Thought I would post a bit of a look at how we managed to clean out the grow bed that was loaded with fish solids.. I think this is part of the reason there was a nitrite spike in the system in the first place..

Held off posting on the bed cleaning just so I could see the levels drop & stay stable for a week or 2.. I think this shows that the cleaning was successful in reducing the solids that caused the nutrient "spike".. 
Making the air spear was really easy & came in handy cleaning out the beds..

Thanks to Paul from Earthan group again for giving me the heads up on the design of the DIY spear..


For more regular updates & pictures from the patch come visit us on our Bits Out the Back Facebook page..
Have a great one All...
:)»

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