Ben Zumeta

I have never raised fish for food, but I have a pond and have kept fish alive even in 5 months of summer drought. Some fish will survive to their ecological limit of density without aeration if they are not fed beyond creating a diverse habitat. Feeding increases the nutrient load from fish waste and therefore oxygen consumption by more micro-organisms consuming more fish waste.

I think the main conundrum with solar pond pumps is that plants filtering the water and providing habitat produce oxygen during the day, but consume oxygen in their dark cycle. So a battery seems necessary if one is going to depend on a pump for increased stocking density, which significantly increases the cost. An alternative to an electric battery is to use a higher water storage as a battery, pumping from the fish pond in the day with solar panels, then gravity feeding. Ideally I’d have a cascade or other aeration design running all day, or just at night if reducing heating of the water is important. Avoiding pulling from the deepest area is also helpful in that regard, as this is removes the coldest, most evaporation resistant water that usually has plenty of O2.

If I want to do a Sir Michael Caine impression, I just imagine I am a very dignified British baby.

I’d agree with Nina’s approach. A couple things I keep in mind:

Fruit grows much better on horizontal wood (but grape vines are flexible)

Cut at an angle for shedding water.

Airflow is paramount for healthy grapes, so cutting lower than trellis branches and ultimately thinning for 1-3 main stems—a left, right and maybe an upright if going for a higher trellis next year.

Cuttings are easy with grapes to expand, give away, or replant if it does bleed to death or die for some other reason. Grapes are generally very hardy thought once established, with most of my losses being due to drought in the first 2yrs.

The founder of Black Lake Organic nursery once gave a talk at Evergreen State College for their food program that I sat in on, and he asserted [“everything in sea salt is good for plants, or even necessary, except for the chlorine in NaCL.”] (paraphrased from memory) Most tap water has chlorine as well, and little of the other 70+ oceanic elements beneficial to most life in most contexts.

John Suavecito wrote:There are a lot of great questions and comments here. I use seaweed in biochar, as I have posted many times here in this forum.  I have also used freshwater algae that was overgrown in a lake. They are both highly nutritious.  As many of you mentioned, I don't use it to burn.  I make the biochar out of wood, mostly because we have a ton of extra wood here in the PNW USA.  I use the seaweed to inoculate the biochar after it has been burned and crushed.  I am able to lay it out flat and dry it.  Then I put it in 5 gallon buckets when it's dry. I just add some when I start the inoculation process, along with many other low cost/free nutritious amendments.  Remember, even if there are small amounts of toxins, charcoal and biochar are used as filters to clean, remove and store those chemicals where they won't get into the food.  This is even done commercially.  When I tested my soil, it was low in sodium, so I don't worry about the salt.  If I lived in a highly alkaline desert location I might.  

John S
PDX OR

Great point John, I do use kelp to inoculate biochar as well. Good to hear algae works as well.

I make a lot of biochar, but I would just mulch with seaweed or kelp. That is if it hadn’t disappeared locally in oceanic heat waves last decade.

I catch roof runoff from my house in a gravel filled trench/swale that runs into my zone 1 garden, dug with an excavator. I also catch road and driveway runoff in ponds and swales. This all recharges our spring below, which provides water to tanks atop the hill via a solar powered pump. When these overflow, it goes into an infiltration basin I recently dug.

I think peas and carrots are great gateway vegetables that really stand out when grown well. Strawberries are easy to grow and also have distinctively better flavor that can win people over from grocery store alternatives or not eating fruits and vegetables. If it would be possible to set up a farm stand near a school, church, or somewhere else people congregate regularly, that could help bring in customers in a dispersed area. I might then have a questionnaire or chat people up about what they’d like grown locally, or what they remember their grandparents growing or reminiscing about.

I think the thick chunky pnw conifer bark referred to is likely doug fir, possible ponderosa or jeffrey pine. All have been used as weed deterring mulch around my blueberries, and I think could possibly be a cardboard replacement for sheet mulching. I have also considered matted maple or oak leaves. This would utilize the plant’s physical adaptation to smother understory ladder fuels and competition.

Looks like I have it covered, thanks all!