Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All,
When I was growing up, we took great pride in how much of the food served for dinner was grown in our garden. I was raised organic and vegetarian, and we ate well. Dad would pull the generously-topped pizza from the oven and announce, "I grew everything but the cheese and the yeast!" And yes, that year we grew wheat, and he ground the flour himself.

So here's the challenge: tell us what you had for dinner (or breakfast, or lunch), and how much of it you grew yourself. It'd be nice if you provided the recipe, but I admit that I don't use precise recipes (my mother-in-law still curses me for that), so a general idea is fine, too. Also, tell us what ingredients you produced, and what was purchased. I'll go first, and it will be soooo easy to best this one as far as producing it yourself since my tanks are still mostly hypothetical, and most of you are heading for summer:

We had tilapia in crushed tomato with salad and mashed sweet potato for 2 adults and 2 kids.

- 3/4 pound (1/3kg) Tilapia (store)
- 1 quart (1 liter) diced canned tomatoes (dirt garden, home-canned)
- 1 onion (dirt garden)
- Tandoori seasoning to taste (store)
- olive oil (store)
Chop and saute the onion in olive oil in a deep frying pan, add tomatoes and all liquid, bring to simmer and reduce. Add tandoori seasoning to taste. In the last 10-15 minutes, add tilapia fillets and cover with tomatoes. Simmer until done.

- salad greens (store)
- cucumber (store)
- carrot (store)
- cherry tomatoes (store)
-dressing
You know how to make a salad. (Remember, we're late Fall now here. Spring or summer, I'd have grown everything but the dressing.)

- sweet potatoes (dirt garden)
- apple sauce (yard, home-canned)
- butter and salt to taste (store)
Peel and cut sweet potatoes, boil until done. Mash lightly. Add a few large spoonfulls of applesauce, plus butter and salt to taste.

--Janet.

Wow Janet! That's great! I can't provide anything like that yet as (you may have read) we live on a rock farm and the dirt garden doesn't do much except grow rocks. But, with the system nearly ready to go all this will change.
As it is we currently only supply our own eggs, herbs and mulberries.
Waiting, waiting, come little fishies, do a poo for me...


.

Thankyou Jaymie for formally addressing me personally!:D


LOL

I have had more food produced from my compost heap this year than my veggie patch (waters a bit tight with my now expanded family). But soon I will also take over the world!! (sorry... aquaponically speaking) < mind you I don't think I will match your system Jaymie mine will only have a small 3100L fish tank

every bit counts

I'm a... "it's not the size of the fish tank thats important, it how you use it" kinda guy

absolutely!

Today's lunch was bacon, eggs, tomato on toast.
I made the bread courtesy of good ol' breadmaker and Laukes breadmix (best in Australia), tomato was from my garden, eggs homegrown, thanks to Goldie and Plucka, and the bacon came from Primo, so there's a one-in-nine chance I took that pig to the meatworks on my semi.
Olive oil from the Barossa, frypan from Circulon, stove from Blanco, I don't know where the LPG came from, sorry.
It was delicious !!! :rabbit:

I'm not, big is best !!!!hehehehe

Hi Janet,
Tonight we're having quiche, sauteed cabbage and baby carrots

4 adults (3 of them are teenagers) and 1 child...
Quiche:
10 or 12 eggs (our chooks are laying heaps atm)
2 - 3 sliced up spring onions (garden)
1 cup baby spinach leaves, torn up a bit (garden)
1 cup cheese (shop) - shredded
1/2 cup cream (home grown, but not my home, neighbours)
handful of chopped italian parsley (garden)
Thyme (garden)
pastry (shop, frozen sheets)
Salt & pepper (shop)
Mix everything together except pastry, pour into pastry lined baking dish and mod oven for about 45 mins. It will make enough for the kids to take a slice each for play lunch tomorrow too...

Sauteed Cabbage:
1 small head of green cabbage coarse shredded (last one from winter garden)
1 brown onion chopped (shop)
2 rashers of bacon chopped (shop)
2 - 3 cloves of garlic crushed (garden)
1/2 cup of chicken stock (home made from home grown chook)
Throw it all into a pot on a low heat, stir occassionally and cook until cabbage is tender...
Baby carrots from a friends garden steamed with some herbs and finished with some butter, salt and cracked pepper (all from the shops)...

Growing our own food was part of the reason we moved to this area from Melbourne... better weather (it's been raining for weeks and we're going to be flooded in in the next day or two ) so it's cool to actually see it happening. A freak hail storm last week wiped out 95% of my vegie garden so I'm madly planting it up again and spending way too much time reading the forum and day dreaming about fish... lol
Andi

Most of my garden stuff is imported from my grandfathers down the road, as i've let my dirt garden go whilst obsessed with AP........

Last night:

penne pasta (store) with canned olives ( GF garden) parsley ( my garden ) and a touch of tomato "sauce" done the italian way, stored in long neck beer bottles for use in pasta sauce) (home made in bulk, but with market tomatoes)

Bit of a salad with mixed leaves (my garden) olive oil (store) and a couple of eggs (GF garden)

Actually i've only just realised how much fresh stuff i pinch off my grandfather I'm building him an AP system as payback. LOL

well tonight we will have whiting from the beach(2K to beach walk)
garnished with chives(garden)
tommies(garden)
lemon (friends garden)
oregano(garden)
tyhme(garden)
green salad- cucumber(shop)
spinich(Garden)
mixed lettuce-(Growbed)
Potatoe salad- cube pots, quick cook and chill add mayo(shop)
garlic(Garden)
ginger(shop)
sprigg fennel(shop)

Every time a lettuce leaf reaches a half decent size, my kids pick it and eat it, I doubt if any produce will ever make it to the table !!

think that is a good thing Mon.

You guys are making me feel really bad. Before Aquaponics I was able to make such claims as my dirt garden included all sorts. At present all I am able to put before my family from the garden is:
- pumpkin
- sweet potato (orange and purple/white)
- Zuccinni
- Garlic
- lettuce
- tomato
- silverbeet
- eggplant
- galangal (like ginger)
- various herbs, including parsley, corriander, basil, chives, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, mint, tarragon, lemon grass

On the way are cucumber and chillis.

I will try and get my arse in gear and get a decent winter crop in and then prepare my beds for a varied summer crop next year. I think that although it is great and interesting to grow exotic things, getting the staples under control is the key. So in addition to the above I will aim to grow:

- carrot
- onion
- spring onions
- potatoes (I do this on hay - but did not this year)
- broccoli (winter)
- beans (summer)
- peas (winter) I always grow snow peas - yum

I also want ot get my layers going again (got eaten last Xmas by foxes and am in process of fixing pen) and I think I am close to convincing the wife to let me grow eating chooks as well (she has alwyas been dead against it).

I reckon meat hens are a great idea. We have only had one, but in no time flat, fed just on scraps, it grew to 3.1 kg's dressed!