Sometimes the answer is nothing
Tyler Ludens wrote:I'm a big fan of Black Soldier Fly larvae to turn nasty dead things into handy fish or chicken food.
Michael Jameson wrote: I assume chickens go nuts for the larvae?
Idle dreamer
"The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?" Gandolf
Michael Dierne wrote:Be careful of making it a direct staple for anything you intend to eat -even for milk or eggs. That much fish will definitely impact the taste of the end product. Edit: actually if I could rely on a supply I'd create a few catfish and prawn ponds and use that as their food. No problem worrying about a "fishy" taste there.
Alder Burns wrote: So the ideal in my mind would be to feed the fresh fish scrap to any critters that might eat it....poultry
Idle dreamer
Alder Burns wrote:Never thought about the issue of flavor! Being a lover of seafood myself I would probably love it. Fish meal is in fact one of the protein supplements that I use when I can't get free sources. But yes, anything fed in quantity might affect the flavor. I wonder if this applies if the stuff is fed to BSF first and then these are given to the hens?
Michael Jameson wrote: I wanted to look up whether mercury is passed on to eggs or not.
Idle dreamer
Alder Burns wrote:I wonder if this applies if the stuff is fed to BSF first and then these are given to the hens?
"The rule of no realm is mine. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. Did you not know?" Gandolf
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Michael Jameson wrote:
I have chickens, this could be good. Ill need to investigate what sort of container allows for easy harvesting. I assume chickens go nuts for the larvae?
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If you have bears where you live you might consider giving this up.
Standing on the shoulders of giants. Giants with dirt under their nails
Michael Jameson wrote:I reached out to a local fish processor, and today dropped off my first garbage can. They throw away their scraps, and are more than happy to give them to me. My plan, such as it is, is to layer with woodchips and let compost. My understanding is roughly a 3-1 ratio of woodchips to fish will be about right, I figure I will modulate it based on the smell. I am buying a small woodchipper to process the fish bones and heads and assorted parts through first.
Can anyone make any other suggestions as to what I should be doing to make this amazing compost?
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steve bossie wrote:we have alot of junk fish species in our waters here. i catch 100 of them . put in a sealable barrel w some molasses and let them ferment for 3 months. leave the lid a little lose for gas to escape. even the bones disappear. makes the best fish emulsion!
they are mostly 4 to 15''. i put them in wholewith some water. sometimes i throw some comfrey leaves in there. stinks for awhile but the end product, the smell is tolerable. i dilute 2oz. to. a gallon water.Michael Jameson wrote:
steve bossie wrote:we have alot of junk fish species in our waters here. i catch 100 of them . put in a sealable barrel w some molasses and let them ferment for 3 months. leave the lid a little lose for gas to escape. even the bones disappear. makes the best fish emulsion!
do you chop them up / chum them, or just throw them in whole? How big are they? just trying to get a sense of how much processing is involved.
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yes they were but any fish scraps would work.Gurkan Yeniceri wrote:Are the fish wild caught?
I was also thinking to collect fish carcass from a local fish shop. There were salmon and other fish but It's been pointed out to me that farmed salmon has a lot of nasties that you wouldn't want in your soil. I knew this but ignored somehow.
Recently, I went there and picked up wild caught flathead carcass about 8-9 Kg and they are anaerobically fermenting as we speak with strained kefir and rice. In about 4 months all the bones and meat will dissolve creating the most valuable liquid fertilizer ever. I didn't use any sugar.
Sometimes the answer is nothing
Sometimes the answer is nothing
We also toted the heads and guts from king salmon down to the garden in five gallon buckets and twenty gallon wash tubs, with instructions to dig holes in the garden rows and bury all the offal. That was disgusting; we never managed to bury them deep enough and they would float back to the surface in a state of terrible decay. Then we'd be yelled at and told to carry buckets of sawdust to go and cover the mess. Come spring the whole garden would be rototilled and shaped back into new rows, with fish vertebrae flying in all directions behind the rototiller. But by then the smell would be gone and the new crop of potatoes always thrived.
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Michael Jameson wrote: My understanding is roughly a 3-1 ratio of woodchips to fish will be about right, I figure I will modulate it based on the smell.
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Switching from electric heat to a rocket mass heater reduces your carbon footprint as much as parking 7 cars
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