Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What an upside-down world today. I hope Michelle Obama has the guts to keep the garden organic.

Interesting post JH. Liked your idea about get 3 in the U shape and cover the courtyard. Wonder how much one of those things really costs? That fancy house is rather amazing. Who would have thought it?

is it this crazy politico womans bill to outlaw organics and backyard gardening?

of course her hubby works for monsanto. no collusion there pffft!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLGuOQemnQ


better bring your body armor and watch where you step when you come to take my little garden down. i always thought i wanted a pot plant but declined because it was not legal. but now a tomatoe or my okra is gonna get me busted?


how can they even consider this bill? victory gardens in WWII kept us free and the older veteran guys i have spoken with about it said they really believe that. the sacrifices and self reliance put forth at home helped the win. gardening is our heritage all the way back.

this is nuts. they should tar and feather this
wench! impeach her at very least!

Makes you think they are trying to create another economic bubble ala green revolution or disguised as a food safety issue. Seems also a sign of desparation of a dying system.

If they pass a carbon tax for livestock here in Iowa the fallout from that could drastically change many lives.

not to be off topic but

Have you ever noticed that seeds are designed to pass through the body unharmed, and are able to grow afterwords. making the human or what ever eats it a tool for dispersal.

But we never take a dump outdoors so we don't spread seed of the plants we eat.

I've actually looked into the shipping container idea a bit. Prices on eBay seem to be about $3,000 USD per container.

I also did some investigating. Is about R35,000 here for a 6m container... excl VAT and delivery. A nice option for certain applications, but I would have to borrow on my morgage to do it. I can build here cash for far less with what is available on hand. Is actually amazing what can be used to build with if get creative enough.

Works well with animals like elephants. We like everything dehusked and ready to grab by the handful to crunch on... so yeah.... not a sustaninable Not to mention pressing seeds for oil etc.

Don't ya?

The poo farm used to do a good trade in fruit and veg until they roundup'ed the lot

car and truck tires packed with dirt make a fine solid and very well insulated structure

but it is an extreme amount of labor to make happen. extreme ill say again

i think containers would be hard to beat for quick strong cottage. the extreme labor will be to modify them and insulate to where you can stand to be inside of it.

containers are not easy boxes to work on, just due to their nature of being so tough.
semi trailers are easy. containers are not

i would leave the exterior doors in place and frame inside them for my steel entrance door and either devise some way to open the lock rods from inside or have a hatch emergency exit in the top , just in case someone locked your door while you were inside.

and do try to find your containers history manifest to see if it has spent its whole life
hauling hazardous wastes or toxic substances.

it is possible to get the manifest from larger dealers in containers that help show the boxes history.

I have a book called the $50 and up under ground house book.

The basic idea is:
Dig out the side of a hill.
Take local trees, burn the bottom so termites can not or will not eat it.
Set large post into ground to support roof and hold back dirt slide.
Set a board down
Pull plastic sheeting up
Back fill with dirt
Repeat to top then put roof on at same angle as the hill then cover roof with a couple feed of dirt.
The floor is made by putting down a layer of plastic then covering with sand and then covering the sand with carpet.

There are some pretty cozy looking house made this way. I just fear that with all the rain we get here water would leak in all spring.

the PSP building method greatly influenced my tornado bunker constrction. i have spoken to Mike Oehler on the phone before, he is a very nice feller and has great vision for low cost dwellings

I am in the process of building a rabbitry with low cost in mind.... using what is at hand... and buying in as little as possible. With rocks and river sand I only need cement and effort. I was given some bricks as a gift so have used those too but it wasn't essential. I have also bought in expanded metal for the windows and a regular door frame. The roof will be gumtree logs and thatch. I found an excellent manual on thatching done locally if anyone is interested. I will just collect long grass after the first frosts to use as roofing material. This is my first time I have built anything as big as this, but it seems to be going well so far. I will be using the same method for the chicken house... only digging foundations there so far. This way I can build cash... no credit. And learning new skills.

I'm a new member here and already I feel like I'm at home.

It's nice to know that there are so many like minded folks, of course if we all meet in one geographic location we can be assured we'll all be incarcerated or incinerated immediately.

Live Free or Die! No other options available when it comes to anyone thinking they will control, regulate, tax or abridge my ability to grow my own food in the manner I deem fit.

Remember this, it's only a theory until the first minute piece of evidence surfaces. Conspiracy is never associated with any non-harmful act but instead only with criminal acts. Criminal acts are always harmful to some other individual, there are no "tangible" or realistic exceptions to that fact only tyrannical & unjust laws.

"Gee, but it's great to be back home. Home is where I want to be." ~ Simon & Garfunkel, (Keep the Customer Satisfied)

Thanks.

I didn't get a chance to read all the posts here but scanned through the first few pages and the last page. I think when things like this begin to be discussed on an aquaponics forum it moves from being a conspiracy theory to being truth! Having said that, I'm a member of a conspiracy forum and these topics (and many more) have been being discussed heavily for a long time.

Monsonto is evil. Pure and simple. Nature has given us what we need to survive with no need to modify it's genetics. Although a majority of the food eaten here in the US is GMO food. I feel like GMO food is here to comprimise/decrease the health and well being of the people who eat it. (my conspiracy theory)

Water will soon become the new gold. There are already states within the US that restrict/deny the ability to collect rainwater. The water system's all over the world are being bought up by corporations. Some communities / cities / counties etc. are actually handing over the water source and/or delivery methods to corporations in what they THINK is an effort to reduce the water cost to the end user but has ended up actually raising the costs.

America is becoming too corporatized. What should be basics are being restricted, taken and sold back to the citizens at exorbatant costs. And we all know that corporations are all about the shareholders, not the consumer. Add to that the fact that corporations are considered "people" and the people who actually make the decisions are NOT held accountable for their actions and you've got the perfect scape goat for all types of horrendous behaviour. (Just look at the Bailouts!)

As far as growing things underground. It's something my SO and I have been seriously considering (literally!). To be honest, BYAP was a huge part of what we were/are planning.

I think one of the biggest problems people could run into is water supply. If TSHTF (the poo hits the fan) there could be serious interuptions in our everyday lives. Things that we've become used to and take for granted are going to become hard to get. Namely food, water and electricity.

We've discussed several different building methods that would allow us to build "underground". One is using containers, one using the PSP method and one using concrete/conrete blocks. Some of the problems we have taken into consideration with containers is they would have to be waterproofed so that they didn't "rust", and we aren't sure if they're structurally sound enough to withstand the lateral thrust of having earth around and on-top of them. Concrete is way out of our price range for the size place we would like. Concrete block is one of the things we're seriously considering, as is the PSP system. (We have the book as well!) After reading the PSP system of building we're thinking this one would probably be best for us, considering there are plenty of trees on our property that can be used.

Another one of the things we've discussed is having a section/room dedicated strictly to BYAP. Between rainwater collection and digging a well "inside" the house we'd have plenty of water and wouldn't be so dependant upon city water. Add in solar/wind power generation as well as numerous other conservation methods should see us through any rough patches.

Anyway, I could go on at length about this issue. LOL If you're interested in the forums I mentioned you can visit them at Above Top Secret

And there is plenty of evidence... sad to say. Nice to have you on-board organicus_rex. Welcome!