Sid Deshotel

According to google;
The fragrant water-lily has both medicinal and edible parts. The seeds, flowers and rhizomes can all be eaten raw or cooked. The root can be boiled to produce a liquid which can be gargled to treat sore throats or drunk to treat diarrhea. The rhizomes were also used by Native Americans to treat coughs and colds.
So I would say yes

SILVERSEEDS SILVERSEEDS wrote:

boddah wrote:
silverseeds could you elaborate on what you are saying about the nitrates? are you saying that the leafy greens are becoming unhealthy due to a concentration of nitrogen? this makes some sense. can plants be tested reasonably cheaply to see if this is happening?

Yes, the leafy plants need less outside inputs then other land based plants. theres a few key things land based plants need..

leafy greens can often get by with little or none of that, and grow well, but they build up excessive nitrates. As for tests for such things? well I'm not sure really. you'd have to research it. the same greens can do this in soil as well. but being a water based system, according to many sources its pretty standard. I got the impression it was more like if you grow them like this, it will be an issue. Now if you had a real big growing bed, per amount of bio load they were expected to handle, Im sure it would be much less an issue. I wouldnt know how to tell you how to gauge this though.

How do you tell if there's too much nitrogen, if there isn't a way of testing how much nitrogen is a bad thing how do you know that there is to much there. Is there a point where the plants taste different or something like that that give an indication?
I've fiddled with aquaponics for over 8 years now and have had some successes and some failures,  just the same as with my dirt garden. Ive also had some of the best tasting veggies that I've ever eaten come from these systems.  
This past spring I got an 800 gallon stock tank that had a leak in it. I fixed the leak and filled it with rain water.
There are 2- 8" deep grow beds made from IBC sections one has hydroton the other expanded clay that is used for light weight concrete. Both of these work very well as filter/grow beds. The tank is stocked with 40 bait shiners. So maybe the fish to water to filterbed to plant mass does have something to do with it all.

Kristen Brandt wrote:I’ve been reading this forum for years and am so grateful for all of it and all of you! I’ve lived in the city all my life except two years on an old off grid homestead. Carrying wood and water, it was primitive and taught me a lot.

I’m a ‘lurker’ mostly on this site, don’t have much wisdom or experience to share. But I’ve learned so much that I hope to put into use someday in my yard at least. Was completely unaware that much management is needed here, everyone is so kind and respectful! Now knowing, I value this space exponentially more and will always do whatever I can to support your work. It is the future! I dream of someday soon creating a RMH in my basement to heat my house so thanks for making me feel like it could be done!

I'm a little like this person, I lurked for some time before posting and I try not to post unless it's just something that grabs at me.
Someone once told me that the person standing in the corner by himself was the most wise one at the party. How's that was the question. He's seeing and hearing what everyone else is doing or saying.
A lot of knowledge can be gained by just being quiet and observing what is going on around you.
Wait  a second isn't observation the first thing to do when considering a permaculture design?
I'm sure that my dad heard this from someone else but related it to me many years ago; 'Boy you can learn a lot by shutting up and listening.'
Tell me something and I might understand, show me something and I'll be able to do it.

So there are other sites besides this one?
What do you mean this is a social media site? I thought that's what FB is.
It's the self promotion from all those others that drove me away many many years ago.

I'm 68 Jane, so there's hope for you yet

I'm south of Alexandria about 50 miles.

Above all don't become discouraged or should I say overwhelmed. Do a lot of little things. See Hes has a point in that you can become bogged down in providing for your flock. A little at a time the turtle wins the race.
when I was a kid we didn't buy in supplemental feed. If for no other reason because we couldn't afford it. We still had eggs and chicken to eat when we wanted it. Our flock was definitely free range not even having a hen house to sleep in. Seems kind of funny now but they roosted in the 'chicken tree' in the back yard.
This past summer I took to carrying a 5 gallon bucket with a lid in the bed of the truck and picked up road kill for the soldier flies. Free food for the girls with just a small amount of work on my part. Sure it stinks occasionally but that's why the lid. I'll dump this into another bucket hanging about 5 feet off the ground that has a few 1/2 inch holes in its side in the middle of the chicken yard and that's the end of that chore. The larva find the holes and fall to the ground, the hen pick them up as they want. Once a week I was skimming duckweed out of the totes and drying it on a piece of sheet metal in the sun. Stir that into kitchen scraps and more food for the girls.
Once a month I'll spread a layer of wood chip or  some leaves that I've collected in the chicken house. The girls love it. They can turn a 6 inch thick layer of chips and leaves into mulch in just a couple of weeks. By the end of the month I'll get a large wheelbarrow of compost and the girls have fed themselves along the way. I don't even count this part as having to provide for the chickens, as much as they are providing for my garden.
That brings up another source of feed. Garden waste or over flow. I know that I may be the only one who occasionally lets some produce go to far, or I'll plant way to much of a thing, and the neighbors will only take so many eggplants or what ever before it becomes a problem, if you don't have chickens or a good compost pile on hand. A little at a time the turtle wins the race.

I'm making the commitment to grow duckweed in kiddie pools the coming summer. I've been doing it in a cut down IBC but it doesn't give enough surface area to get a really good harvest from. The key to getting the chickens to eat it willingly is to dry it and mix it in with whatever kitchen scraps that I can come up with. A quick search on google will tell you how much protein it can have based on how it's grown. I've used rabbit and chicken poo mixed into the water that it's grown in. It really does multiply very fast if given enough nutrients.
When you talk about growing chicken feed, I think that you need to think of more than just one crop as well.
Black soldier flies are really easy to get going here, I'm in the deep south and there's always plenty of road kill to be had. And duckweed will keep going pretty much year-round.
Another crop is worms. If you happen to have a couple of rabbits that are in wire hutches then the droppings will end up on the ground and the worms won't be far behind. After moistening the area I put a couple of old boards directly on the surface of the droppings and earth. In a week pick up the boards and it's an instant buffet for the chickens. I've also got hold of an old steel bathtub from a friend who was remodeling a mobile home. It's lightweight and sturdy. It will go into service this coming spring as a worm bin. This should give me another 'steady' good source of food for the girls.
Just like permaculture isn't about just one thing, neither can your source of food for your flock, if you want to provide for yourself and your hens.

It's hard to beat a good stewed rabbit dinner. Treat it just like you would a chicken.