Urban farming and the rest us....

One of the biggest things that irritates me is Urban farming. Not talking about the practice of urban farming but of the lean that urban farming in New York State is just in NYC.  It is bothersome that NYC is all that folks think of when they thing of NY State, personally the are biggest social economical baggage that the state has and the state would be better off without it.  That being said, just do some research on Urban Farming in NY State.  Even Cornell University focuses in on the city in their guide "Guide to Urban Farming in NYS-Revised 1.24.13".  What about the rest of us aspiring to be urban farmers, to be self sufficient on what little lots we own.  To make the most of the space and help make our communities a little better, maybe even to have a small cottage industry farm.  I think for the 99% of us not in the city it comes down to how our local governments be able to tax us over it, fee us to death and pretend in this collapsing economy that they, the pinky out officials, that have been elected are there for us.  How can we as the urban farmer convince city hall to back off and let us pursue our growing desires?

5 Slow Cook Breakfast recipes from Mother Nature Network

•  Slow Cooker Banana Walnut Oatmeal – Slow cooker oatmeal is perfect for a quick morning meal, and the combination of whole grains, bananas and walnuts will keep bellies full until the lunch bell rings.
•  Breakfast Burrito Filling – Lean pork, eggs, vegetables and spices cook overnight and are ready to fill a tortilla for a fast breakfast that can be eaten on the walk to school if necessary.
• Slow Cooker Baked Apples – Raisins, honey and cinnamon simmer all night with green apples to make a sweet, healthy breakfast that kids will run to the kitchen for.
•  Crockpot Whole Grain Breakfast Cereal – So different from cold, pre-packaged cereal, this cereal mix uses six different whole grains that cook overnight. In the morning, add natural sweeteners, fresh or dried fruits, or nuts to customize this fiber-rich, natural hot cereal.
•  Crockpot Breakfast Risotto – Apples, brown sugar and spices get mixed with Arborio rice and slow cooked overnight for a creamy morning nourishing breakfast.

Hot Stuff and Aquaponics

It has been a while since I blogged anything but I think it is necessary to give all of you an update.  I have been focusing a lot on Facebook with photos and quick post and it dawned on me that we are only covering our growing test and our Aquaponics, where is the HOT STUFF?  After last season bad habanero production it became apparent being a hot pepper grower and product creator was not going to be easy, good growing years, bad years, bugs and disease all can be uncontrollable.  We need a way to be able to produce our own stock either all year or a way to start our own seedling earlier and cheaper.

Buying raw materials is expensive.  If we look at our Zombie Jac's Habanero Hot Sauce, we would need a 10 lb. bag of powdered habanero's to produce.  That powder does not give the same taste and consistency that we want in our products and the cost of $80 per 10 lb. bag  Add in the other ingredients that would mean we would have to charge almost $9.00 a bottle just to cover materials.  So what does this have to do with Aquaponics?  Simple, in a effort to be sustainable, self-sufficient and produce a high quality, all natural hot peppers products we turned to Aquaponics.

Aquaponics is the combination of Aquaculture and Hydroponics.  While many growers use hydroponics there is an inherent problem with the waste water.  Many metal salts are used to get nutrients to the plants to grow and by law that water can not be dumped down the drain as it is toxic it that state.  Not for the plants but for people and animals.  Aquaculture on the other hand has it's problems as well, waste. For centuries man has raised fish for eating and, well fish do what fish do, eat and poo.  Fish farmers often turn to other traditional farmers to sell the waste to for fertilizer, but the processing of that waste is costly.  Aquaculture blends the two by using the natural waste and bacteria to feed the plants in a closed system and returns the water clean to the fish.

Plants also have show to be healthier, disease free and insect resistant than those grown in the ground as well as they grow up to 30% faster and are typically ready for harvest in half the time .  On the flip side water usage is 90% less than traditional growing, requiring nothing more than weekly top offs and most Aquapons use rain water stored in barrels.  We typically use 1 gallon a week to top off our fish tank.

Back to topic we have been offered some land to plant peppers but we also would like to get a greenhouse built to do this Aquaponics outside on a larger scale, while eventually replacing the goldfish we are using now to fertilize the beds with Tilapia or Trout for sale or for our consumption at home.  We also hope to take our best habanero, jalapeno, carrot, tomatoes and other key items we use and grow all of them ourselves, that way we can control the source of the vegetables as well as cut cost since to buy a habanero seedling cost $4.00 a plant and one habanero pepper can produce 100 plants from seed, the savings is pretty easy to see. Hence in the end all of you will get better, cheaper, higher quality HOT STUFF from Zombie Jac!